From: watt-alan@net.yale.edu (Alan Watt)
Newsgroups: rec.guns
Subject: Re: Bad tactical position ( was Psychology in Defense)
Date: 16 Nov 92 23:07:37 GMT
Article-I.D.: news.1992Nov16.161515.5452
Organization: Yale University, Computing & Information Systems


In article <Bxrvs1.3AH@scylax.uucp>, scylax!tiglath@uunet.UU.NET writes:

|> A. The perp has hurt someone in my family, I am holding him at gunpoint.
|> again he doesn't obey but indicates he wants to go, call it quits,
|> and gently, unmenacingly, he moves to leave.  Do I let him go?

Yes.  Your first obligation is to remove the immedate deadly threat to
yourself and your family. Your second is to get prompt medical
attention for your injured family member.  Only after these two do you
worry about assisting the police in capturing the assailant.  Letting
him go accomplishes the first, and clears the way to accomplish the
second.

|> B. Some one is picking the lock. I heard the noise and I see a black 
|> clad figure slowly entering the now open balcony door.  I am behind the 
|> door armed,  do I shoot first?   The way I see, if he is a burglar
|> and I make a noise 99% chance he'll flee,  if he is a deranged sadist
|> he has found his target, for which he might be well prepared.
|> Am I expected to take this chance?

You are behind the same door the intruder has entered?  In this case
he can't "flee" without approaching you.  If you see a gun in the
intruder's hand, you can shoot immediately and without warning.  Otherwise,
you should avail yourself of whatever cover is available and order
the intruder to stop.  I don't think the 99% figure applies to break-ins
of occupied dwellings, by the way.  I would assume that anyone breaking
into my home at a time when it is generally occupied (and especially
at a time when people are asleep) has hostile intentions.
 
|> C. The good guy is sick, old and weak.  He holds the perp at
|> gunpoint in his small bedroom, the perp has a knife in his waist. he is
|> young, muscular, large and ferocious looking.  He laughs at the 
|> commands, feeling his superiority in spite of the gun trained on him.
|> The old guy is having a nightmare, shaking, his nerves frying.  He
|> knows that in spite of the gun in his hand, he is no expert and if
|> he blinks or makes the slightest mistake he'll be history.  He feels
|> that if the tension continues he will not be able to control it and
|> he may even faint.  Does he shoot before his nerve runs out?

This is the sticky one.  Does good guy have reason to believe help
is on the way?  If so, he should wait it out.  Any movement of intruder's
hands toward knife in belt represents an immediate threat.  The key
question here is does the innocent citizen holding the gun have *reasonable*
grounds to believe the intruder is about to make a deadly assault.  In
the circumstances described, if the intruder is withing striking distance
and merely draws back his fist, that would qualify.  But if the old man
acts out of *blind fear*, he is outside the law.  If the old man is so
weak he can't hold the gun level for more than a minute or so, this
may be one of those rare circumstances that justify a "leave now" order,
followed by a warning shot.

The general principle is the assailant must have initiated, or would
appear to a reasonable person to be about to initiate, an assult which
could reasonabley result in death or grave bodily injury to innocent
person(s).  However, once you have established this threat, you are
under no obligation to give the assailant a "fair chance" to kill you.

Someone who has unlawfully entered you home armed with a firearm
has etablished both hostile intent and lethal capabilities.  You can shoot
him even if his back is turned to you.  For ethical reasons, and to
avoid any possible legal difficulties, you may want to give this intruder
the chance to retreat from confrontation, but you need not if doing so
would place you or other innocent lives at greater risk.
-- 
  Alan S. Watt
  Yale University			Computing and Information Systems
  Box 2112 Yale Station			(203) 432-6602
  New Haven, CT  06520-2112		Watt-Alan@Yale.Edu