Ga. mom shoots intruder 5 times, saves children

[The House of Isaac]

A hammer is short, she can still fight. A crowbar is long, his weapon is less useful then.

Are serious? Because this woman is definitely a fucking hand to hand combat expert!

Who isn't? Plus, a hammer isn't that hard to use as a weapon? (Not sarcastic, really serious)

[Sailsia]

Except, I doubt many people would do that... little ole' me wouldn't... besides, how would a hammer help when "According to The Blaze, he finally cornered the family in an attic crawlspace."

A hammer is short, she can still fight. A crowbar is long, his weapon is less useful then.

Do you know how fighting works? The crowbar has a longer reach, so he can hit her before she hits him.

[Insane Kidney Mentality]

Except, I doubt many people would do that... little ole' me wouldn't... besides, how would a hammer help when "According to The Blaze, he finally cornered the family in an attic crawlspace."

A hammer is short, she can still fight. A crowbar is long, his weapon is less useful then.

Under that logical, I'd be brilliant to go up against a machete with a pocket knife.

Yeah, no.

[Sailsia]

Are serious? Because this woman is definitely a fucking hand to hand combat expert!

Who isn't? Plus, a hammer isn't that hard to use as a weapon? (Not sarcastic, really serious)

Just... just leave.

[The Black Forrest]

"According to WSBTV, Chapman told a reporter late Friday night that Slater has been placed on a ventilator with punctured lungs, a punctured liver and a punctured stomach. Chapman said he has four exit wounds. He said doctors will operate to repair the damage."

It sounds like she didn't shoot at his face.

Sometimes bullets move around quite a bit once inside a body.

Also, maybe shes a bad shot. Aimed for the head, but didn't quite hit the intended target.

More like it's more dramatic to say she shot him in the face.

Most likely she freaked, pointed and started firing......

[Risen Britannia]

Are people seriously trying to use this case (where a .38 revolver was used) to justify assault weapons?

[The House of Isaac]

A hammer is short, she can still fight. A crowbar is long, his weapon is less useful then.

Do you know how fighting works? The crowbar has a longer reach, so he can hit her before she hits him.

But he cornered him, so they had less room to move.

[Gear 1]

I told this group earlier that both I and my wife had been victimized in the past. I have not and will not tolerate any criminal. You try it sometime. I exist because I take precautions. Hope you like it when someone tries it with you. (A criminal already breaks the "acceptable" social norms. So why should my response to him fall into them? Let the fucker burn in hell sooner rather than later.)

Okay, Batman. Your anecdotes are not reason enough to let society fall to pieces.

Get a life. Society doesn't fall to pieces when I protect my family from someone I don't want around in my home. If society fell to pieces, I would be shooting a lot of people who were trying to get into my home or they would be out to shoot me. And nobody would have much to say about it because they would be trying to save themselves too.

[Galdius]

Are serious? Because this woman is definitely a fucking hand to hand combat expert!

Who isn't? Plus, a hammer isn't that hard to use as a weapon? (Not sarcastic, really serious)

You do realize that not everyone is capable of knocking a guy out with one hit, plus she would most likely only piss the guy off more..you been playing to many video games.... (Coming from a gamer)

[Eoghania]

This is where civilised society differs. Every citizen has a duty to act to improve society. She failed in that duty.

I'd say removing a criminal improves society. Or have you now moved on from "If she had let him know she was home he would have just left." to "If she had let him know she was home he would have left, rethought his life, and reformed himself into a caring and productive member of society."?

Rehabilitation > Punishment. And no, he would have just left, not committing a crime there. Small steps. It's how you change a world.

[Gauntleted Fist]

Hrm. After looking at the sources and looking it up on a local news site I think the woman did the right thing in regards to that particular situation. Maybe she should have tried to answer the door, but I'm not sure how that would have changed the outcome so that's just pointless speculation at this point.

[The House of Isaac]

Who isn't? Plus, a hammer isn't that hard to use as a weapon? (Not sarcastic, really serious)

You do realize that not everyone is capable of knocking a guy out with one hit, plus she would most likely only piss the guy off more..

Ohhhhhhhhh...I am also blonde.

[Insane Kidney Mentality]

Sometimes bullets move around quite a bit once inside a body.

Also, maybe shes a bad shot. Aimed for the head, but didn't quite hit the intended target.

More like it's more dramatic to say she shot him in the face.

Most likely she freaked, pointed and started firing......

Aim down your sights. *Nods*

[The Black Forrest]

Okay, Batman. Your anecdotes are not reason enough to let society fall to pieces.

Get a life. Society doesn't fall to pieces when I protect my family from someone I don't want around in my home. If society fell to pieces, I would be shooting a lot of people who were trying to get into my home or they would be out to shoot me. And nobody would have much to say about it because they would be trying to save themselves too.

*sighs* Why does gun talk make everybody go ITG?

[The House of Isaac]

Who isn't? Plus, a hammer isn't that hard to use as a weapon? (Not sarcastic, really serious)

You do realize that not everyone is capable of knocking a guy out with one hit, plus she would most likely only piss the guy off more..you been playing to many video games.... (Coming from a gamer)

I am a blonde...I don't play video games...We need more hammers.

[Shayul Ghul]

I can't fucking believe some of you people. Like she shouldn't have shot him because he only had a crowbar.... of course, how she's supposed to know he only has a crowbar is beyond me.

Now, I suppose you could say that she should have not fired and just held him at gunpoint, and many of you already have. However, those of us with a concealed carry permit, or any handgun training at all, know that pulling a gun is not a game. You are only ever supposed to draw your weapon on someone when you truly believe that your life or the life of another is at stake, and with no hesitation about actually using the gun. It's a good thing some of you don't have guns, talking about trying to hold someone up during a home invasion... that's how good people die. You have no idea what a burglar or trespasser has on him/her, you have no idea what kind of individual that is. The one second you're deciding not to shoot is the one second this scum is pulling a gun out.

To think, I actually saw a post where someone said he had a fake gun that a friend had made look real. Well bravo, buddy, that's a great way to get killed. Sure, if a trespasser wasn't going to shoot you when breaking in, I wonder if pulling a gun on him, whether fake or not, will have the intended effect of making him leave, or possibly the opposite effect causing him to draw his weapon and kill you. Sounds like an awful chance to take, but it's your life.

Plain and simple, a criminal, a scumbag piece of human shit (6 arrests in 4 years in one county, and at least one of them a violent crime?) breaks into this woman's house. She has no idea who he is or what he wants, but she's had the sense to arm herself and hide her kids rather than playing chicken at the door screaming "I have a gun" as if warning a possible gun toting mad-man of that fact is a great idea. The man forces himself inside and she can hear him rummaging around, though whether he's stealing things or looking for the family, how would she know? Finally, after what may have been several tense minutes of hiding in a crawl space, the trespasser opens the door. Now we have a mother with two kids to worry about face to face with a large male trespasser who's already holding a crowbar, and may have god only knows what other weapons. Fortunately, rather than being a chicken-shit, this woman has the stones to pull the trigger in a justified situation in an attempt to kill the perpetrator.

As I said before, anyone with a concealed carry permit knows that you do not pull your gun on someone unless you actually intend to use it. You never pull your gun on someone hoping that threat alone will solve the situation. I have a 10mm hand gun with a 8 round clip and room for one in the slide. They're all hollow-points. Anyone ever breaks into my home, there will be no warnings, no misses. There will be some very large holes in a very unfortunate trespasser, end of story. These people made a CHOICE, to do crime. Everyone goes through tough shit, but not everyone steals and burglarizes people to get through it, so you can only blame the situation so much before you have to take a good look at the person making the choices. If you make the choice to do crime then you are accepting all of the risks that go along with that crime. Risks like jail or prison, risks like betrayal or back-stabbing by other criminals, and risks like breaking into a home in a country full of people that have a legal right to defend themselves and getting shot full of holes.

Doesnt clarify that almost killing the man is right. The same thing could be said where a man cut off a robber's appendage with a samurai sword during a robbery a while back.

What are you talking about "right"? There is no time for that kind of bullshit when your faced with a life or death situation and only a couple of meager seconds to react. The trespasser may have a gun or he may not, but he's broken into your home and the risk of him killing you is to great to ignore. Either risk your life second guessing and asking moralistic questions or open fire and kill the son of a bitch that shouldn't be there in the first place. Sure, it's easy for a bystander or someone who reads about it in an article to ask all kinds of questions and theorize about what "could" have happened, but for the person that is actually there, with only a couple of seconds to make a life or death decision, there's no time for that shit. For someone in that situation, the choices are quite clear: shoot or die.

[Eoghania]

Five shots to the face by surprise when one shot after threatening to shoot would suffice is excessive. His checking whether anyone was present speaks to his unwillingness to risk ANY resistance whatsoever.

He is alive and thus the force was not excessive. Would could argue it was under the amount of force allowed by law, actually.

The definition of excessive is different to lethal. In some cases lethal force is perfectly appropriate. In others, more than the least force is excessive.

[Hallistar]

Well, I certainly am proud of her, but did she have to shoot the intruder? Isn't that unneccesary? I mean, be reasonable, if you fire a gun into a person, not once, but 5 times, doesn't that mean you may have psychological issues. She is either overprotective, has a violent streak, or is always next to guns. Maybe she has done violent things. She saved her children, which is great, but is it necessary to do that? She should have at least attempted to reason with the intruder. If not, just knock him out with a hammer blow. Maybe the intruder escaped a mental ward, or he is very confused, or perhaps he is a robber, and because no one answered the door, he proceeded to attempt to rob her. The intruder was wrong, and the mother was wrong. Nobody wins, and there will always be some person who is traumatized and very upset by these sorts of things. A study on extreme social Darwinism should be used here. The reasons people do these sorts of things is beyond me.

If she really was cornered with her children in a closet (I'm assuming it was a walk-in closet) when the intruder discovered her, I don't think it would be an atmosphere conductive to calm and collected reasoning.

Speaking as someone whose been in (similar) melee situations before, using a hammer or other such item isn't a guaranteed way to force them to stop, considering that the intruder could've disarmed her easily or pinned her down.

I'm still mixed over whether she should've shot him or not, but I can see why she might be panicked to that extent, if she was cornered after retreating.

Shotguns are recommended in cases of home defense, however, as it wouldn't be near as easy to disarm, and is designed to spread out bullets at close range (typically in the stomach area), meaning she would've needed to shoot only once if she were to fire it. Her revolver would have been better suited for an outdoor scenario at longer-ranges, where accuracy mattered more.

As for not answering the door, while I do find that strange, I don't see why she would be obligated to. I do wonder though if she had a peep-hole on the door to see who it was.

And, as others have said, the castle-doctrine does give her legal clearance in this case. Here in Missouri, the castle-doctrine extends to any building where occupancy will take place, or a vehicle. There isn't a stand-your-ground law here, however, so you have to be in a specified building first.

[Eoghania]

So wars didn't exist before "teh ebil Guhns" existed?

Dude, People kill. Guns are merely tools. It cannot do anything
without manual manipulation of its components.

Ban people then... *Nods*

The crime? Life. The sentence? Death.

[Dilange]

Okay, Batman. Your anecdotes are not reason enough to let society fall to pieces.

Get a life. Society doesn't fall to pieces when I protect my family from someone I don't want around in my home. If society fell to pieces, I would be shooting a lot of people who were trying to get into my home or they would be out to shoot me. And nobody would have much to say about it because they would be trying to save themselves too.

Bad storytelling 0/10.

[Miss Defied]

Get a life. Society doesn't fall to pieces when I protect my family from someone I don't want around in my home. If society fell to pieces, I would be shooting a lot of people who were trying to get into my home or they would be out to shoot me. And nobody would have much to say about it because they would be trying to save themselves too.

*sighs* Why does gun talk make everybody go ITG?

Well, people who get boners when they handle firearms get e-boners when they talk about handling them?

[Insane Kidney Mentality]

Hrm. After looking at the sources and looking it up on a local news site I think the woman did the right thing in regards to that particular situation. Maybe she should have tried to answer the door, but I'm not sure how that would have changed the outcome so that's just pointless speculation at this point.

You can't change the past. What's done is done, we're just trying to justify it and criminalize it between us fellows on the internet.

[Galdius]

You do realize that not everyone is capable of knocking a guy out with one hit, plus she would most likely only piss the guy off more..you been playing to many video games.... (Coming from a gamer)

I am a blonde...I don't play video games...We need more hammers.

just leave.....

[Miss Defied]

Well, I certainly am proud of her, but did she have to shoot the intruder? Isn't that unneccesary? I mean, be reasonable, if you fire a gun into a person, not once, but 5 times, doesn't that mean you may have psychological issues. She is either overprotective, has a violent streak, or is always next to guns. Maybe she has done violent things. She saved her children, which is great, but is it necessary to do that? She should have at least attempted to reason with the intruder. If not, just knock him out with a hammer blow. Maybe the intruder escaped a mental ward, or he is very confused, or perhaps he is a robber, and because no one answered the door, he proceeded to attempt to rob her. The intruder was wrong, and the mother was wrong. Nobody wins, and there will always be some person who is traumatized and very upset by these sorts of things. A study on extreme social Darwinism should be used here. The reasons people do these sorts of things is beyond me.

If she really was cornered with her children in a closet (I'm assuming it was a walk-in closet) when the intruder discovered her, I don't think it would be an atmosphere conductive to calm and collected reasoning.

Speaking as someone whose been in (similar) melee situations before, using a hammer or other such item isn't a guaranteed way to force them to stop, considering that the intruder could've disarmed her easily or pinned her down.

I'm still mixed over whether she should've shot him or not, but I can see why she might be panicked to that extent, if she was cornered after retreating.

Shotguns are recommended in cases of home defense, however, as it wouldn't be near as easy to disarm, and is designed to spread out bullets at close range (typically in the stomach area), meaning she would've needed to shoot only once if she were to fire it. Her revolver would have been better suited for an outdoor scenario at longer-ranges, where accuracy mattered more.

As for not answering the door, while I do find that strange, I don't see why she would be obligated to. I do wonder though if she had a peep-hole on the door to see who it was.

This should answer some of your questions
viewtopic.php?p=12394846#p12394846

[Insane Kidney Mentality]

You do realize that not everyone is capable of knocking a guy out with one hit, plus she would most likely only piss the guy off more..you been playing to many video games.... (Coming from a gamer)

I am a blonde...I don't play video games...We need more hammers.

Nay, get a meat cleaver and a butcher knife. Much more threatening.