Ethical Dilemna?

[Mike41793]

I saw this issue sorta briefly mentioned in the thread about a good starter handgun.

(Youre carrying a gun in this hypothetical situation). If you came home and saw someone walking out the back door with your jewelry box is it worth it to shoot the person and take a human life over $300 worth of jewelry?

My initial reaction to reading that was absolutely yes, id have zero problem doing it. In fact if i saw someone (a person i didnt immediately recognize) walking out my back door with any of my stuff id have no problem shooting them. It would have to look like an obvious robbery though. Now i personally dont have any guns. I've put some serious thought into getting one eventually but at the moment the most dangerous gun i own is a pellet gun lol. Do you guys think that my opinion would change after i got a handgun? Am i a bad person for reading that and having that kind of reaction? I'd just like to hear what people think on the subject. I feel like my initial reaction sorta makes me sound like a trigger happy psycho lol. If youre comfortable saying so, let us know if you have a gun. If you have any stories similar to the hypothetical scenario go ahead and share them if you like.

[OctagonGecko729]

I personally would not take that shot, I would confront the guy though, if he then presented a threat against my life or the life of others I would fire. It is easy to say that you could kill someone in a hypothetical situation but in reality it is alot harder then that (outside of psychopathy). Especially if the reasons for doing so are foggy at best. Hell, some folks still end up with PTSD or insomnia even when they took a shot in obvious self defense.

Also, Ethics is like nutrition. It has barely anything to tell you about these lifeboat situations. Its the same as going to a doctor when your 70 years old with 150lbs of fat, throat cancer from a history of chain smoking going back 30 years, a liver thats about to collapse from overdrinking, a limb thats falling off, and a brain tumor and then asking the doctor to fix you. Hes pretty much just gonna tell you your screwed.

[Don]

In Virginia you could be charged with murder for that. That is not self defense. In fact, we had someone here charged with murder when he shot someone breaking into his car. You can not use lethal force to protect property.

[Freakie_frog]

I own gun's lots of gun's I carry, both on my person and in my car. Are you a bad person for having that reaction? in a word No. Would I do it no but then again I can't access the threat level you might find yourself in that would cause you to make that decission. But being armed means that in every situation you're different than the people you're around. Because of that you have to have a different mindset than other's. Give you an example, two years ago I on accident cut a guy off in traffic, he get's all pissy pulls in front of me and at the next light gets out of his car and starts walking toward my car. I rolled my window down and appologized for it and was serious. He stands at the front of my car with my wife and new baby in it yelling and threating me telling me to get out of the car bla bla bla, but he never came past the headlight's. I kept my cool didn't move fast or raise my voice and kept a level head. To this day the guy never knew that he was standing less than 6'-0" from dieing on the cold asphault because of it, I never even put my hand on my weapon or reached for it, no need had he kpt walking and gotten to where he could get his hands on me I might have simply taken the weapon out and kept me hand on it while never even pointing it at him or letting him know I had it.

When you have the ability to end a life you have to do everything you can to not need to.

[sorraia]

To me, no, it isn't worth it. The biggest reason behind my answer: Where I live, if you were to shoot someone in that situation, you would probably find yourself in prison with a murder charge. Prison vs $300 loss... I'll take the loss of money.

What I would try to do is get the best ID description of the person I could, and maybe even try following them while on the phone with the police.

If I was in my home and they entered without permission, that would be a different matter. I've already been in the position of having someone under the influence of drugs trespass on my property at 2AM while I was home alone with an infant. Did not know the person was there until the next morning when I got up and saw the evidence and then reviewed my security cameras. That was the day I bought my shotgun.

[DooLittle]

If they were exiting, no. Probably not. If they were threatening me or my family, absolutely in a heartbeat.

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[Andybill]

We have had a lot of cases up here in Washington where home invaders were shot down by the resident and in many different situations. There are huge gray areas when it comes to home/self defense and in the situation you presented in Washington you would go down for murder. I know for it to be justified the invader has to be in your house with no intentions of leaving when you gun them down. If you confront them and they turn and bolt even if they are running down the stairs and you took the shot from the top you are going down. You have to think smart when it comes to home defense and in the heat of the moment thats not an easy task.

[MrLang]

Agree with Doolittle


I'd probably take a less than lethal shot to the back of the knee and then beat them to a pulp with my fists until the cops showed.

[BrandiR]

I don't think you're a bad person for having that thought. It's really easy to say that you'd snuff someone out for stealing your stuff, especially for a guy. Not to get into a war of the sexes or anything, but that's how men are wired. They protect what's theirs and if we were to get into the deeper psychology of it, I'd say it's probably not the thought of losing your stuff that would anger you nearly as much as the thought of someone TAKING your stuff. It's in a man's nature to exert his dominance and someone jacking your crap is a display of his dominance over you. In turn, you think, "I have a gun, I win!" Cap, cap.

I'd like to believe that you're more human than animal and if you were presented with this scenario in real life, your human side would conquer the male animal in you. I have a gun now, but it took a long time and a bad experience to get me to consider it. I am nonviolent to a fault and I have always been pretty sure I'd let anyone do whatever they want to me and never even consider taking their life over it. People that I love were assaulted and the gun conversation came up again. My boyfriend is a gun guy and he has taught me a lot about shooting, safety, etc. But he couldn't convince me that I'm a good candidate for carry. He asked me, "If you would refuse to protect yourself, would you refuse to protect Madison too?" Madison is my daughter, and the answer was a resounding and completely honest, "NO!" In defense of her, I'd kill anyone. Anyone at all, and I wouldn't hesitate, or feel guilty in the least.

I do have a gun now. I need a different one, so I don't currently carry. But I have one at home that I could use should the need arise. I really, really, really hope it never does. It probably never will. In my CareBear influenced opinion, saying you'd shoot someone over a jewelry box doesn't make you a bad person. But I do think you should ask yourself and answer yourself honestly, "Do I carry a weapon in case I ever need to protect myself/someone else, or do I carry a weapon because I'll be damned if someone is going to steal my stuff, or cut me off in traffic, or call my girl a nasty name in a parking lot!"?

**Disclaimer : I am NOT saying that Mike is not a bad person. I am just saying this one little thing doesn't make him a bad person**

[DooLittle]

I'd probably take a less than lethal shot

This ^. Not necessarily shoot to kill, but shoot to prevent harm to myself and family until police arrived. Knees would be great...

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