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mjn · December 9, 2001, 10:53 PM

This talk about jewelry stores and HD scenarios brings to mind an incident that actually happened here recently:

Guy goes into a small jewelry store, pulls a handgun, and announces a robbery. Owner says, basically, "no problem, take what you want", while pushing the silent alarm button. BG loads up and walks out the door, only to find himself looking down the muzzles of about five police shotguns. He quickly drops the gun, gives up, and goes off to prison.

Note here that the good guy never pulled a gun- I don't know if he even had one- and I can't imagine a better outcome to the situation. I think there's a tendency to think that the solution to any such problem is "pull a gun and start blasting", but isn't it true that that's often a good way to escalate the situation to people getting killed unnecessarily? How do you decide when to shoot?

December 9, 2001, 10:53 PM	#1
mjn Member Join Date: November 16, 2001 Location: Puget Sound Posts: 68	Real life scenario This talk about jewelry stores and HD scenarios brings to mind an incident that actually happened here recently: Guy goes into a small jewelry store, pulls a handgun, and announces a robbery. Owner says, basically, "no problem, take what you want", while pushing the silent alarm button. BG loads up and walks out the door, only to find himself looking down the muzzles of about five police shotguns. He quickly drops the gun, gives up, and goes off to prison. Note here that the good guy never pulled a gun- I don't know if he even had one- and I can't imagine a better outcome to the situation. I think there's a tendency to think that the solution to any such problem is "pull a gun and start blasting", but isn't it true that that's often a good way to escalate the situation to people getting killed unnecessarily? How do you decide when to shoot?