Two Webcast Questions: Teaching Kids about Guns & Limits of Self-Defense

dianahsieh · July 2, 2011, 10:23 AM

Every Sunday morning, I host a live webcast on practical ethics and the principles of living well in a live webcast.

Last week, I discussed how and why parents should gun-proof their kids, rather than kid-proof their guns. I posted that segment to YouTube here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JT2wyZyt44Y

Tomorrow, I have another gun-related question to answer -- on the proper boundaries of self-defense. The question is:

"Is it moral to not defend yourself if you will get into legal trouble for doing so? As I understand laws on self-defense, you must be "in immediate danger of death or grievously bodily harm" in order to use lethal force. How is this reconciled with the morality of "shooting before he shoots you" or "hitting before you get hit"? In other words, preemptive attack may be seen as assault, but there might also be a threat of force. Is it moral to not defend yourself to avoid assault charges? In the case of using a gun to defend yourself, this could mean the difference between you dying at the hands of your attacker or living, but going to jail for murder. What should you do?"

If you'd like to hear me (and help me!) straighten out this rather confused questioner, come watch the live webcast and join in its text chat at on Sunday morning at 8 am PT / 9 am MT / 10 am CT / 11 am ET at:

http://www.RationallySelfish.com/

This week, I'll also answer questions on moral obligations of children to parents, real life evil, and the reasons to donate blood. And then I'll do a segment of impromptu "Rapid Fire Questions."

If you miss the live webcast -- or if you'd like to check out past episodes, you'll find them posted at podcasts here: http://www.NoodleCast.com

You can subscribe to the podcast RSS feeds here:

* Enhanced M4A Feed in iTunes: http://bit.ly/day9dO
RSS: http://feeds.feedburner.com/noodlecast-m4a

* Standard MP3 Feed in iTunes: http://bit.ly/9NREjD
RSS: http://feeds.feedburner.com/noodlecast-mp3

I hope to see you on Sunday morning!

hermannr · July 2, 2011, 12:36 PM

I am sorry I cannot do your podcasts, I am on dialup, but I will give you a suggestion on where to look about some thing that could be considered as to when to shoot and when to not shoot.

Several years ago (2005) there was a man that entered the Tacoma Mall and randomly stated to shoot the place up. There was another man there with a CPL who drew his pistol and commanded the shooter to cease.

The shooter then turned on the CPL holder and shot him several times (5). The CPL holder almost bled to death.

Obviously, if the guy is already shooting, you don't bother with the warning, you just drop him.

A semi-complete version is in this wiki article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacoma_Mall_shooting

dianahsieh · July 4, 2011, 05:02 PM

Thanks for the very instructive story, hermannr!

For anyone interested... an audio recording of Sunday's webcast is now available as a podcast:

http://bit.ly/lFniQh

Just the question on the proper limits of self-defense is also available as a YouTube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U2gGNzddqQ

And again, here's the video on teaching your kids about guns:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JT2wyZyt44Y

To automatically download all episodes of the webcast, subscribe to the NoodleCast ( http://www.NoodleCast.com ) feed:

* Enhanced M4A Feed in iTunes: http://bit.ly/day9dO
RSS: http://feeds.feedburner.com/noodlecast-m4a

* Standard MP3 Feed in iTunes: http://bit.ly/9NREjD
RSS: http://feeds.feedburner.com/noodlecast-mp3

Join us for the next live Rationally Selfish Webcast on Sunday! As usual, I'll answer questions on practical ethics and the principles of living well on Sunday at 8 am PT / 9 am MT / 10 am CT / 11 am ET. Just go to http://www.RationallySelfish.com at the appointed hour to watch the live video and join in the text chat.

cambeul41 · July 4, 2011, 05:45 PM

Excellent! I have sent a link to this thread to several family members with children.

DieHard06 · July 5, 2011, 09:30 AM

Both videos were very good. Thank you for posting.

dianahsieh · July 27, 2011, 09:18 AM

In last Sunday's Rationally Selfish Webcast, I answered another question on firearms, particularly on concealed carry. The question was:

"Why would an ordinary person wish to carry a gun? In your July 3rd webcast, you mentioned that you have a concealed carry permit. Why? Even if a person should be allowed to carry a firearm, shouldn't we rely on the experts -- namely the police -- to protect us from criminals?"

The video of just that segment is here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=643M_Me6vdI

The whole webcast -- where I also answered questions on the effects of immortality on ethics, the morality of hiring illegal immigrants, explaining egoism to others, and more -- is also available as a podcast:

http://blog.dianahsieh.com/2011/07/n...y-selfish.html

As always, the full archive of past episodes are available as podcasts. You can review them and subscribe to the feed at http://www.NoodleCast.com/

Watch the Rationally Selfish Webcast live and join its text chat every Sunday morning at 8 am PT / 9 am MT / 10 am CT / 11 am ET. Each week, I answer questions on practical ethics and the principles of living well, drawn from a queue of questions submitted by listeners. Just go to http://www.RationallySelfish.com at the appointed hour!

dianahsieh · July 27, 2011, 09:27 AM

One more thing that I forgot to mention... I love answering these questions on firearms in my webcast, as I know that some people in my audience are skeptical of firearms, usually for the standard leftist reasons. I can't answer questions on technical issues in shooting, but I'd love more questions on the ethics and politics of owning and carrying firearms for self-defense.

So if you'd like to submit a question, click here.

If you want to check out and vote on the other questions in my queue (none of which are firearms related right now, alas!), just click here.

July 2, 2011, 10:23 AM	#1
dianahsieh Junior Member Join Date: November 5, 2002 Location: Sedalia, Colorado Posts: 8	Two Webcast Questions: Teaching Kids about Guns & Limits of Self-Defense Every Sunday morning, I host a live webcast on practical ethics and the principles of living well in a live webcast. Last week, I discussed how and why parents should gun-proof their kids, rather than kid-proof their guns. I posted that segment to YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JT2wyZyt44Y Tomorrow, I have another gun-related question to answer -- on the proper boundaries of self-defense. The question is: "Is it moral to not defend yourself if you will get into legal trouble for doing so? As I understand laws on self-defense, you must be "in immediate danger of death or grievously bodily harm" in order to use lethal force. How is this reconciled with the morality of "shooting before he shoots you" or "hitting before you get hit"? In other words, preemptive attack may be seen as assault, but there might also be a threat of force. Is it moral to not defend yourself to avoid assault charges? In the case of using a gun to defend yourself, this could mean the difference between you dying at the hands of your attacker or living, but going to jail for murder. What should you do?" If you'd like to hear me (and help me!) straighten out this rather confused questioner, come watch the live webcast and join in its text chat at on Sunday morning at 8 am PT / 9 am MT / 10 am CT / 11 am ET at: http://www.RationallySelfish.com/ This week, I'll also answer questions on moral obligations of children to parents, real life evil, and the reasons to donate blood. And then I'll do a segment of impromptu "Rapid Fire Questions." If you miss the live webcast -- or if you'd like to check out past episodes, you'll find them posted at podcasts here: http://www.NoodleCast.com You can subscribe to the podcast RSS feeds here: * Enhanced M4A Feed in iTunes: http://bit.ly/day9dO RSS: http://feeds.feedburner.com/noodlecast-m4a * Standard MP3 Feed in iTunes: http://bit.ly/9NREjD RSS: http://feeds.feedburner.com/noodlecast-mp3 I hope to see you on Sunday morning!

July 27, 2011, 09:18 AM	#6
dianahsieh Junior Member Join Date: November 5, 2002 Location: Sedalia, Colorado Posts: 8	Another Webcast Question: Concealed Carry In last Sunday's Rationally Selfish Webcast, I answered another question on firearms, particularly on concealed carry. The question was: "Why would an ordinary person wish to carry a gun? In your July 3rd webcast, you mentioned that you have a concealed carry permit. Why? Even if a person should be allowed to carry a firearm, shouldn't we rely on the experts -- namely the police -- to protect us from criminals?" The video of just that segment is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=643M_Me6vdI The whole webcast -- where I also answered questions on the effects of immortality on ethics, the morality of hiring illegal immigrants, explaining egoism to others, and more -- is also available as a podcast: http://blog.dianahsieh.com/2011/07/n...y-selfish.html As always, the full archive of past episodes are available as podcasts. You can review them and subscribe to the feed at http://www.NoodleCast.com/ Watch the Rationally Selfish Webcast live and join its text chat every Sunday morning at 8 am PT / 9 am MT / 10 am CT / 11 am ET. Each week, I answer questions on practical ethics and the principles of living well, drawn from a queue of questions submitted by listeners. Just go to http://www.RationallySelfish.com at the appointed hour!

July 27, 2011, 09:27 AM	#7
dianahsieh Junior Member Join Date: November 5, 2002 Location: Sedalia, Colorado Posts: 8	More Questions on Guns! One more thing that I forgot to mention... I love answering these questions on firearms in my webcast, as I know that some people in my audience are skeptical of firearms, usually for the standard leftist reasons. I can't answer questions on technical issues in shooting, but I'd love more questions on the ethics and politics of owning and carrying firearms for self-defense. So if you'd like to submit a question, click here. If you want to check out and vote on the other questions in my queue (none of which are firearms related right now, alas!), just click here.

July 2, 2011, 12:36 PM	#2
hermannr Senior Member Join Date: March 24, 2011 Posts: 730	I am sorry I cannot do your podcasts, I am on dialup, but I will give you a suggestion on where to look about some thing that could be considered as to when to shoot and when to not shoot. Several years ago (2005) there was a man that entered the Tacoma Mall and randomly stated to shoot the place up. There was another man there with a CPL who drew his pistol and commanded the shooter to cease. The shooter then turned on the CPL holder and shot him several times (5). The CPL holder almost bled to death. Obviously, if the guy is already shooting, you don't bother with the warning, you just drop him. A semi-complete version is in this wiki article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacoma_Mall_shooting

July 4, 2011, 05:02 PM	#3
dianahsieh Junior Member Join Date: November 5, 2002 Location: Sedalia, Colorado Posts: 8	Thanks for the very instructive story, hermannr! For anyone interested... an audio recording of Sunday's webcast is now available as a podcast: http://bit.ly/lFniQh Just the question on the proper limits of self-defense is also available as a YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U2gGNzddqQ And again, here's the video on teaching your kids about guns: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JT2wyZyt44Y To automatically download all episodes of the webcast, subscribe to the NoodleCast ( http://www.NoodleCast.com ) feed: * Enhanced M4A Feed in iTunes: http://bit.ly/day9dO RSS: http://feeds.feedburner.com/noodlecast-m4a * Standard MP3 Feed in iTunes: http://bit.ly/9NREjD RSS: http://feeds.feedburner.com/noodlecast-mp3 Join us for the next live Rationally Selfish Webcast on Sunday! As usual, I'll answer questions on practical ethics and the principles of living well on Sunday at 8 am PT / 9 am MT / 10 am CT / 11 am ET. Just go to http://www.RationallySelfish.com at the appointed hour to watch the live video and join in the text chat.

July 4, 2011, 05:45 PM	#4
cambeul41 Senior Member Join Date: October 9, 2004 Location: Southeast Michigan Posts: 101	Excellent! I have sent a link to this thread to several family members with children.

July 5, 2011, 09:30 AM	#5
DieHard06 Senior Member Join Date: February 28, 2008 Location: Easton, PA Posts: 216	Both videos were very good. Thank you for posting.