11-22-2008, 09:31 AM
My earlier rather wordy treatise on flight instruction was intended to make one point. There can be a great gulf between theory and what you actually get when you are facing an emergency. It's not that I find the concept of "two warning shots to the head" abhorrent in this day and age of crystal meth. However, the attitude implied is that the homeowner will be in control of himself when the time comes and will not have severe tunnel vision allowing him to see only what he wants to see.
I would go to jail for the rest of my life rather than see a loved one raped and murdered. If however I blow someone away that really wasn't a threat, I still go to jail for the rest of my life. Now that is just plain stupid. My point is that I have seen smart people do stupid things with expensive airplanes that could have gotten people killed, often because they read something in a book that made an impression but unfortunately they did not read enough things in enough books to get the entire picture. It is a recognized risk and as such lots of training goes into doing the right things in the right order at the right time because in an emergency it is very difficult to think. By definition you are not thinking. You are reacting instinctively. I think this applies to the handling of firearms in an emergency. The hunter in my previous post was able to work the action of the gun and pull the trigger but he literally did not see what he thought he saw. He thought he was sighting along the barrel of the gun but he obviously was not. Thank goodness he had been trained to hold the muzzle in a safe direction. It was learned by practice and required no thought. Unfortunately his hunting success was poor enough that coming face to face with his quarry counted as a startling emergency.
I have to say from my own youthful experience that young people can be amazingly stupid. I don't know how to reliably differentiate between those that are merely stupid and immature from those that are threatening. I recognize that today crystal meth can make animals out of people. There was a woman murdered in Ewa Beach on Oahu by a 15 year old whom she was going to testify against because he had broken into her house earlier. If anyone deserved two warning shots to the head it would be him. Nevertheless there are some out there who are merely stupid and immature thrillseekers.
The point about picking a better neighborhood before resorting to gunplay has some merit in that moving away or not moving in in the first place is certainly an option, however onorous. All options should be considered, even if it is only to reject them. To never have considered an option means you don't have full command of the facts.
When I train my students we go over things that have gone wrong for others and really dig into them so the student does not have to do this analysis later in an emergency. I think lots of first responder types like fire, police, EMT get similar training. I readily tell them that there are some times when they should be, if not afraid, at least on edge, because at certain times they have fewer options and they may need to pick one alternative and go with it at maximum speed. Moral; you should analyze things as best you can beforehand. Some options may be eliminated entirely as having too many negative consequences. As a result you should be confident but not foolishly complacent. Two warning shots to the head may be the correct response in some rare circumstances but it still smacks of complacency in a way. There is no easy answer.
I would go to jail for the rest of my life rather than see a loved one raped and murdered. If however I blow someone away that really wasn't a threat, I still go to jail for the rest of my life. Now that is just plain stupid. My point is that I have seen smart people do stupid things with expensive airplanes that could have gotten people killed, often because they read something in a book that made an impression but unfortunately they did not read enough things in enough books to get the entire picture. It is a recognized risk and as such lots of training goes into doing the right things in the right order at the right time because in an emergency it is very difficult to think. By definition you are not thinking. You are reacting instinctively. I think this applies to the handling of firearms in an emergency. The hunter in my previous post was able to work the action of the gun and pull the trigger but he literally did not see what he thought he saw. He thought he was sighting along the barrel of the gun but he obviously was not. Thank goodness he had been trained to hold the muzzle in a safe direction. It was learned by practice and required no thought. Unfortunately his hunting success was poor enough that coming face to face with his quarry counted as a startling emergency.
I have to say from my own youthful experience that young people can be amazingly stupid. I don't know how to reliably differentiate between those that are merely stupid and immature from those that are threatening. I recognize that today crystal meth can make animals out of people. There was a woman murdered in Ewa Beach on Oahu by a 15 year old whom she was going to testify against because he had broken into her house earlier. If anyone deserved two warning shots to the head it would be him. Nevertheless there are some out there who are merely stupid and immature thrillseekers.
The point about picking a better neighborhood before resorting to gunplay has some merit in that moving away or not moving in in the first place is certainly an option, however onorous. All options should be considered, even if it is only to reject them. To never have considered an option means you don't have full command of the facts.
When I train my students we go over things that have gone wrong for others and really dig into them so the student does not have to do this analysis later in an emergency. I think lots of first responder types like fire, police, EMT get similar training. I readily tell them that there are some times when they should be, if not afraid, at least on edge, because at certain times they have fewer options and they may need to pick one alternative and go with it at maximum speed. Moral; you should analyze things as best you can beforehand. Some options may be eliminated entirely as having too many negative consequences. As a result you should be confident but not foolishly complacent. Two warning shots to the head may be the correct response in some rare circumstances but it still smacks of complacency in a way. There is no easy answer.