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Would you have opened fire in this situation? Armed Shopper Opens Fire at Walgreens.

Savage206

Regular Member
Joined
Apr 23, 2011
Messages
53
Location
Lexington, KY
absolutely not. Based on the article the guy that opened fire should have criminal charges brought against him. Had he seen them pointing their firearm at someone that is a different question but based on the info from this article they were on their way out and the threat was over....at that point be a good witness.....not sure what that guy was thinking.... :banghead:
 
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ColeMD17

Regular Member
Joined
Mar 14, 2011
Messages
68
Location
CdA, Idaho
Hi Cole, it is my understanding that the shooter was outside and did not see what had transpired inside - still not enough info to take the shot, here too. :lol:
yeah. definitely a no shoot then.


Cole, some of this depends on what your states' Citizen's Right to Arrest statute sets forth. In most states, a citizen has the right to arrest under certain circumstances and also the right to use deadly force ... but it is a very narrowly defined set and you might want to look up the statute for your state and see what limitations you have.
Yeah, in my state, you can perform a citizen's arrest on a person, whom you have witnessed in the commission of a misdemeanor, or when you know the person has committed a felony. You must communicate intent to perform an arrest, and tell them what crime they are being arrested for. You're then authorized to use (only) as much force as is reasonable and necessary to restrain them and immediately deliver/turn them over to a peace officer or magistrate.

No! Absolutely not under any state law for civilian carry at this time. Not even law enforcement can do this without very compelling RAS.

Now, as a goal to legislation and normalizing the uses for handguns, that is something that might be looked into for the future ... but, let me ask you this ... how many folks do you know that you would want to be able to do this whenever they thought it a good idea? It is a bit of a slippery slope and there are pros and cons that I am not sure just any 'joe citizen' should be making that decision when it might affect my life. OK, it's a BIG slippery slope :banana:

Oh, I definitely know it would be frowned upon under current law. I was just asking for opinions, like you said, for in the future. I know it's a tricky question, I don't even claim to know the best answer myself, which is why I wanted to expose it for debate. definite pros and cons to allowing that kind of behavior. It could lead to catching the guy, or even better, preventing his escape in the first place! You don't want armed and dangerous suspects out on the lam. but on the other hand, you don't want armed and dangerous suspects anywhere near you, either, not to mention when they haven't consummated the commission of their current crime! (plus, obviously, anytime you fire your weapon poses a risk in itself. that fact weighs in, too.) maybe it's better to let them get away? either way could turn out worse than the other. who knows? flip a coin.
 

DWCook

Activist Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2010
Messages
432
Location
Lenexa, Kansas
In my opinion there is not enough information here in front of me to make a justified response to the question. Basically if this is all we had information wise on a shooting....we be in a very hairy legal mess. Running into vehicles in a parking lot, or even running into mine does not justify a reason for me to shoot at the suspects. The chances of hitting innocent people around you is WAY too high to consider to open fire. Some of you may disagree and ignite the flame on how shooting them is legally justified in reason. But like I said too risky to be harming innocent civilians around you and too risky to start a legal battle for yourself.
 

Gensai

New member
Joined
Aug 29, 2011
Messages
6
Location
CT
From the information ive read, no i dont think i would open fire, not even draw my sidearm. If they were armed and threatening lives, then yes. From what i read though, they were just shop lifters who booked it in a car.

It seems to me, drawing and firing only would create panic amonst everyone present and possibly put other people at risk.
 

Sangre

Regular Member
Joined
Aug 20, 2011
Messages
53
Location
Virginia
Based on what I'm seeing in the article I definitely don't think that I would have. There could be more information that's not there that might change my mind but I doubt it. Unless the guy was driving towards me and I couldn't jump behind something, or he was driving towards someone else I can't imagine I could justify opening fire unless he was shooting out the window or something crazy like that.
 

sharkey

Regular Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2010
Messages
1,064
Location
Arizona
No

Edit to Add: The manager approached armed shoplifters? Were they armed with binaca or something?
 
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