Foster kids

   / Foster kids #51  
Bob,

Lots to say. I'm sure I"ll forget something but here it goes....

Deadly Force is Deadly Force. There is none of this crap of
"I'll shoot him in the leg." and everything will be ok that people
are indoctrinated by the morons on TV. First of all one can
only use Deadly Force to when one has a reasonable belief
that a life is in danger. Now there is more to it depending
on state laws but ** I ** would NOT use Deadly Force in
any other situation. Its just asking for legal trouble at a
minimum and prison time as a likely result.

So a BadGuy is in someone's house. The BadGuy has a gun. The
GoodGuy thinks the BadGuy going kill him or his family. So he
shoots the BadGuy in the leg. Hmmmm. Does shooting the
BadGuy in the leg prevent him from shooting anyone else? No.
He is still a threat. And he has likely shot our GoodGuy.

People get shot all the time. Sometimes they drop dead. Most
often they still keep going. Even with wounds that will eventually
kill them. People who have been shot do NOT always drop to the
ground and stop their deadly actions. In fact they MOST OFTEN
do NOT.

Its not logical to shoot someone in the "arm" or the "leg" when they
are trying to kill you. Most people are going to miss shooting an arm
or leg anyway which will give the BadGuy more time to hurt the Good
Guy. Using Deadly Force is Deadly Force. If the BadGuy is NOT a
threat to GoodGuy's life then GoodGuy had better not use Deadly Force
otherwise GoodGuy is going to be treated like a BadGuy. If a life
is not at risk dont use Deadly Force.

If GoodGuy catches BadGuy trespassing on his land and then shoots
BadGuy in the leg the court is going to consider that a use of Deadly
Force. Telling the judge that "I only shot him in the leg." ain't going
to do a thing except be taken as an admission of guilt. Shooting AT
someone is a use of Deadly Force. Even if you intend to miss. If they
ain't threatening someone's life. Don't shoot....

Hope I cleared that up! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Dr. John Lott, who I believe is at the University of Chicago has done
lots, no pun intended, /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif of research on firearm use. He used
to be at the University of Florida but I'm pretty sure he has moved. The
liberals hate him because his research is so good they have to attack him and
not his results. I have an early book he wrote that said there are about
a million uses of a firearm to prevent a violent crime every year. His
latest research says two million uses. Most of the uses do NOT require
the firing of the firearm. Usually just the sight of the weapon causes
the BadGuy to run away.

Again YOU are responsible for YOUR family and only YOU can decide what
to do. I know the county where my property resides might only have 10
deputies on duty to cover the entire area. Response times are NOT
going to be very fast if I have a problem.... If you have law enfocement
that can respond quickly then maybe you are ok. But maybe you are not.

YOU do need to ask if you and your wife could use the weapon. If the
answer is no that tells you something. I was in a class once where the
instructer asked if the trainees could shot someone. He set up a situation
that was black and white. No if, ands or butts. You shoot BadGuy or
BadGuy shoots YOU. Only about a third of the class said they could shoot
the BadGuy. I was horrified. My reaction was you people need to leave.
And NOW! If you can't do this then I and the public do not need you on
the streets. But there it is...

There is another book called "On Killing." The author escapes me. Its
a very good read and I think the author is right on the money about
most of what he talks about. He sites a bunch of different books that
I have read but I never connected the dots like he did. The basic
premiss of "On Killing" is that most people are not condition to kill.
That Killing is very hard and difficult. Unless people are condition
to kill they find it difficult or impossible to do. "On Killing" provides
lots of evidence to back this up. And if you think about the statements,
the movies/TV shows, music, video games, etc., that we bombard our
kids with it should scare the heck of people....

But I digress! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Martial arts classes are good if they are the right classes. There
is a lot of crap in some classes. I studied for three years in
a school that was very good and did get into "street" fighting
techniques. Defending against knive and gun attacks for example.
There are many schools that don't teach such things. And maybe
they should not for all I know. But if our BadGuy is 22 feet away
from me with a gun pointed at me and I'm a 300 degree black belt
I think I'm gonna die if he shoots! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif I might have a slight
chance since I'm a 300 degree black belt but frankly I would rather
have my SW 4506-1. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

I picked 22 feet for a specific reason that maybe we will get into
later.

On the other hand a firearm is not always the right answer either. They
can be a liability as well.

BUT, it certainly is easier to learn to be proficient with a firearm than it is
to be proficient at a martial art. NC requires 40 hours of firearms training
during a Police Academy. Florida in the 80's was also 40 hours. That 40
hours include handguns and shotgun. So in a week and maybe a 1,000 rounds
someone is proficient.

After a year or so I was proficient in my martial arts. Maybe. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif Seemed
like the more I learned the more I knew I had to learn. Every month I would
think, "Wow, I really am getting to know what I'm doing." Which implies that
the previous month I did not. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Of course martial arts are FAR more than what we are talking about. And if
one is profiecient in a martial art and firearms, well, thats the cats meow!
/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Guess I had better wrap this up. I know I'm forgeting something but
I can always add to TBN! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Later...
Dan
 
   / Foster kids #52  
<font color=blue> I should do some research.. like, how many times have criminals been scared off by the mere sight of a gun, without it having to be used? Or is it true that if you aren't willing to use it, it's best not to have it at all? </font color=blue>

Just wanted to throw a couple of comments your way -

Regarding the "statistical research" portion - just be sure to always consider the source. Quite frankly, a lot of the "statistics" put out by "gun safety" organizations is highly "massaged" to imply that guns just get you into trouble. The NRA gets a bad wrap for a lot of things, and acknowledging that they have an agenda just as any other organization, they often give a much more complete picture of where they get and how they "massage" their stats.

Just personal opinion, but I agree with the statement that if you are unable to bring yourself to use deadly force in the appropriate situation, it's the same as putting the gun on the table for the bad guy to use. ("appropriate" is dictated by a:law; and b:your personal beliefs). Don't count on it scaring them off - It might - but I wouldn't be willing to bet my life on it (which, after all, is exactly what you are doing.)

Also, depending on where you live, it may actually be illegal to "shoot to mame" per se.
 
   / Foster kids #53  
Bob,
Congratulations on your fostering decision. Sounds to me like you have a good handle on things. We took that plunge many years ago now...pre-teen and teenaged sexually abused girls. Ended up adopting 4 as thier cases were so sever there was no reconciling with their famlies...if you can call them that. Had a frightening experience late one night right after a court hearing where we were threatened, and my wife roughed up a bit by one of the girls relatives. (I don't know why they think the foster parents are to "blame" in these situations.) Anyway...to make a long story short, we were awakened to sounds of pounding on the door and several people running around the house...it was summer with the windows open and we live deep in woods off the road. Pretty easy to hear stuff outside. I have guns...always have for sport. I picked up one of my pistols, grabbed a clip (from a different place) and told my wife to call the police. I probably should have stayed put, but I went outside...I was scared and very angry both at the same time. The attackers backed off a ways into the woods. I got this bright idea and fired off a few shots into the ground and yelled out "I think I got one!" That kept things quiet 'till the police arrived. Turns out these were just kids tormenting us for some reason. The faked shooting froze them behind trees in the woods. They came out with hands in the air as soon as they saw the police drive up. End of episode. I often wonder what I would have done had this not ended up being such a tame confrontation. I wouldn't have been any the worse off during all those years without the guns...but it's not hard to imagine that there could have been a real tragedy that night as well.

Our kids are all gone (and one back again recently.) Have I got stories!....and a much wider "world view" than I would have without the fostering experience! Oh yeah...we had 3 bio kids or our own during this period of our lives for a total of 7 girls!

Good luck...and drop me a line if you ever want to swap stories. Seriously...I be happy to help in any way.

Bill
 
   / Foster kids #54  
<font color=red>I picked 22 feet for a specific reason that maybe we will get into later.</font color=red>

okay Dan I'll bite, why 22 feet?
 
   / Foster kids
  • Thread Starter
#55  
Hi again folks,

Thanks for the extra input here. I'm kind of torn, but I'll tell you.. the one nightmare scenario of a bunch of drunken or drugged-up hoodlums coming into the house and doing whatever they want because I am utterly unable to do anything about haunts me a bit.

Does anyone ever really know if they are capable of shooting someone until the first time they do it? (I just had a tastless idea about an alternative to lethal injection in death sentence cases, but I won't mention it.)

I think I'll do two things, as a start. One is to begin the martial arts training. Maybe I can get rid of the paunch at the same time. /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif And the second is to look into firearms training around here. Maybe the State Police would be the people to ask? If they don't provide such training, they should at least know who does..

Thanks again everyone! I'm trying not to become paranoid, because I know the realistic chances of something like this happening are small (but non-zero.)
 
   / Foster kids #56  
Bill,

If these questions are to personal then don't answer them or send them by email.
It won't hurt my feelings! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

How did you bio kids handle the adobted children? Did it cause a lot of stress between
you and the bio kids?

Did the adobted kids handle the adobtion, the new family, etc?

Where the adobted kids of the same race as your family or different?
I know that is a hot question now a days but I just don't see why
children who need families should be litmused tested by race.

I have thought of adobtion but its such a HUGE undertaking. The
thought of actually adobting scares the heck out of me! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Thanks for the any info.
Dan McCarty
 
   / Foster kids #57  
ewoss3

There is a drill, I think its called the Tueller Drill, but I'm sure I'm
botching the name. Basically if a person with a knive is within
21 feet, 7 yards, of a person with a holster gun. Most times the
KnifeMan can run up and get the GunMan before the gun gets
into play.

There are things the GunMan can do stop this but I think the
first lesson from the drill is that if the KnifeMan has a knife
in his hand The GunMan better have a Gun in his hand. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

If GunMan is caught flat footed by KnifeMan then its a time
a distance game. GunMan has to move to buy time/distance
to get the Gun into the match. So to speak.

Later...
Dan
 
   / Foster kids
  • Thread Starter
#58  
<font color=blue>...Good luck...and drop me a line if you ever want to swap stories. Seriously...I be happy to help in any way.</font color=blue>

I'll do that, Bill, and thanks! My address is rft@flare.net, so if you would send me your email I'll drop you a line. We could do it here, but I'm afraid I'm already straining Muhammad's patience with all of this.

Hey, I know.. I can get this back on topic by suggesting to the assailants that if they will just hold on for 15 minutes while I warm up the tractor, I'll come back and run over them with it. Think that would work? /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

Another thought I had was to find an Apache helicopter and install the forward looking Infrared and 50mm cannon on the front of the tractor. That cannon might be useful for cutting down stubborn trees, and the infrared would be good for nighttime tractoring. Okay, don't mind me.. just in a goofy mood today for some reason. /w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif

Best,
Bob
 
   / Foster kids #59  
A few years back there was an incident with a Dallas area cop. BadGuy charged him with a knife, cop shot, BadGuy was killed. If memory serves, the BadGuy's family sued or something like that saying that "he wasn't a real threat" because he was "so far away" when BadGuy was shot.

I'm not sure what tape they used (could be the one below), but the defense (cop) used this principle to show that BadGuy was indeed a threat. Just thought you might find it interesting....

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.recguns.com/HowClose.html>http://www.recguns.com/HowClose.html</A>
 
   / Foster kids #60  
Bob-

I don't think you're being paranoid at all. Unfortunately though, the statistics that say "you won't become a victim" are probably a bit lower than you might think.

I will say that it is amazing how one's perspective changes once they have been victimized by a criminal. I won't bore you with a bunch of details other than to say I've been on both the law enforcement and victim sides of the coin.

I'm not saying you should or should not purchase a firearm for your personal defense as it is an intensely personal decision because there are real life & death questions only you can answer. (This has NOTHING with what your rights are to bear arms - that's a totally different subject)

That being said, I think you are pointed in the right direction in that you want to contemplate & educate yourself more before you make that decision.

There's a law enforcement fellow pretty well known and respected in the self-defense circles named Massad Ayoob. You might find some of his books/videos/classes/information of value. Here's a link to his site.

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.ayoob.com/>http://www.ayoob.com/</A>
 

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