[Unclenick]

Still hard to imagine you couldn't get a better shot after they got through the door. I'd never shoot through my front door. By the time a got the ladder out and climbed up high enough to be sure a miss wouldn't land in my neighbor's living room across the street, the door would already be broken down. If not, the door caving in while I was climbing the ladder would put me in a literally precarious position.

The hotel shooting reminds me of being in a hotel two years ago when someone banged loudly on the door of my room. I looked through the peephole and could just make out the distorted toe of the shoe on the guy hiding around the corner. Then he stepped out and repeated, so I called the desk to send security up. Then insults started coming through the door. Then security arrived. It turned out to be a hotel regular trying to play a joke on his friend in the next room. If I'd shot him it would have been justified I expect (this was in Texas), in light of all the stories about people attacked in hotels that you hear. But it also would have been bad karma all around. Not to mention a miss going into the room across the hall, which I consider unacceptable.

Cooper's rule 4 stands as unexceptionable, IMHO. Maybe I'll be able to come up with a scenario where it doesn't, but I haven't yet.