(...when I first clicked 'shoot to kill' earlier, I was only the 2nd vote...).
I say that if you ever have to point a firearm and shoot at someone, for whatever reason, then you have to know deep in your mind and heart that that one bullet, no matter the calibre, has the potential to kill them. People die all the time from one freak shot from a supposed lowly .380 or .22. Most of us here dont leave the house or even just walk around the house for that matter with less than 9mm.
You may want to believe that youre going to stop them. But you have no control once that bullet leaves that barrel. If you have no choice other than pointing that weapon and pulling that trigger then you are shooting at them with a chance of killing them. Saying I will shoot to stop a threat is all well and good for some but just not very realistic to me. I am either going to: miss them completely, hit them and wound them and actually do the job of stopping them from harming any one until the authorities arrive, or kill them. Pretty simple. I just cant say with any certainty that I am not going to kill someone by shooting them with my 9mm, my calibre of choice, that all I am going to do is stop them.
What I want does not figure in the equation. Its up to physics. Im intelligent enough to know that my firearm is a potentially deadly weapon. Therefore I can only honestly say that if things have been brought to the point where my only alternative is to shoot at another human being with a firearm, then I will be shooting to kill.
If things got to the point that I was in a situation where I couldnt box or knife my way out of a deadly encounter and had to pull my weapon and shoot someone, then its already a serious enough situation where I dont care if I stop them or do kill them. I just want the situation to end. I wouldnt ever want to have to live with someones picture in my mind knowing I ended their fun on this planet. But if it came down to my life or theirs I like living here too and will protect myself and my family best as I know how. I just cant predict with any certainty that I am going to merely just stop someone from hurting someone by shooting them with a gun- an object that has a high potential to cause deadly harm.
I say that if you ever have to point a firearm and shoot at someone, for whatever reason, then you have to know deep in your mind and heart that that one bullet, no matter the calibre, has the potential to kill them. People die all the time from one freak shot from a supposed lowly .380 or .22. Most of us here dont leave the house or even just walk around the house for that matter with less than 9mm.
You may want to believe that youre going to stop them. But you have no control once that bullet leaves that barrel. If you have no choice other than pointing that weapon and pulling that trigger then you are shooting at them with a chance of killing them. Saying I will shoot to stop a threat is all well and good for some but just not very realistic to me. I am either going to: miss them completely, hit them and wound them and actually do the job of stopping them from harming any one until the authorities arrive, or kill them. Pretty simple. I just cant say with any certainty that I am not going to kill someone by shooting them with my 9mm, my calibre of choice, that all I am going to do is stop them.
What I want does not figure in the equation. Its up to physics. Im intelligent enough to know that my firearm is a potentially deadly weapon. Therefore I can only honestly say that if things have been brought to the point where my only alternative is to shoot at another human being with a firearm, then I will be shooting to kill.
If things got to the point that I was in a situation where I couldnt box or knife my way out of a deadly encounter and had to pull my weapon and shoot someone, then its already a serious enough situation where I dont care if I stop them or do kill them. I just want the situation to end. I wouldnt ever want to have to live with someones picture in my mind knowing I ended their fun on this planet. But if it came down to my life or theirs I like living here too and will protect myself and my family best as I know how. I just cant predict with any certainty that I am going to merely just stop someone from hurting someone by shooting them with a gun- an object that has a high potential to cause deadly harm.
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