Originally posted by Tigeress
Would you not feel a moral obligation to prevent death of innocent women and children in the event you were armed and observing a maniac like this slaughtering us?
Had I been in that malled armed I would have been compelled to unload as many clips as I had into this nut job and let the non-present armed police sort it out later when they finally got there.
Easy to say, I know, but I feel that very strongly. I am sure I would have shot him where he stood and never to loose a single moments sleep over doing so... The F&*$@ing Bastard.
TIGERESS
I'm quoting this particular post as it was the starting point for a couple others. Tigress lets talk real world here for a few minutes.
Texas law, which doesn't apply in Omaha Nebraska BTW, is worded in a very nice way. One thing I want to point out is that it will take some court decisions to firm it up. Here is what I am saying. It was quoted that the law allows you to "stand your ground" when faced with a potentially deadly situation. "Stand your ground" does not mean go out looking for a "bad guy". It can be taken to mean defend yourself and others when faced with a threat, not go looking for a threat you are not facing at the time. To do that could be taken as being a vigilante. Removing the duty to retreat does not mean you have been given the option to advance into a situation, it just means you do not have to flee if confronted.
Some other factors here.
This shooting happened in a rather populated place. That means you have to find the suspect in a crowded environment already in a panic mode. Not as easy as it looks on TV especially if he decides to move about concealing the rifle.
The suspect was firing a semi auto rifle. Trying to hunt down a person who has that while you are armed with a pistol is a very very poor tactical choice particularly when you factor the above situation and he has taken a superior tactical position such as an upper floor balcony looking over an open area.
Factor also that you are not trained for this kind of job. That means you have not been taught how and when to move and how to figure an approach to the suspect without being a victim yourself. You also have no additional firepower to call upon to help out and no way to direct help in real time to get the real bad guy.
Consider that the Police, who are called to the area will likely only be told there is some person, unknown description that is shooting people in the mall. Now there you are looking for the bad guy holding a gun. Instead of concentrating on the real bad guy, they are now concentrating on you if they see you first. All kinds of bad things can happen there. Including the bad guy getting away while you are being dealt with.
If the situation is that you are walking along the upper floor balcony and you just happen to see this whackjob start shooting into the crowd, fine, hose him down. You are there, identifying the threat is simple and accurate and you just might have surprise on your side before you pop the first round. I would hope that you shoot accurately and incapacitate him before he can unload on you.
There are any other number of things that can have a bad outcome if you decide you are going to go looking for the bad guy to "save the day".
As another person has stated, redeploy away from the threat. If confronted directly, take action.
