I know people who have been in that situation in war, and @Dawn is right about that being the ones that haunt you.
And I think we do have to think this through, because when the bullets are flying its too late, the thinking it through time may kill you and others.
Some people may think its cold, but I have to compare it this way… consider a 9 yr old firing into a crowd.
Option one is I don’t shoot to stop the threat because they are a child… how many people die? What if its me? What if it’s not me?
Option two is I do shoot to stop the threat despite their being a child… how many people die? What if its me? What if it’s not me?
My right to protect my own life and the life of innocents is not trumped by the shooter being a child. If lives are going to be lost, there are still choices to be made. One child’s life against the lives they are taking. It’s a hard, cold math, but I know how it totals out for me.
Having done that math in advance, I hope, would help me make the best choice in the moment. Having done that math in advance is not going to mitigate all the emotional consequences, no matter what choice I would actually make.
Not sure about a bank robber, but they were scheduled to release one after the 1st of January, and he had multiple felony convictions, multiple misdemeanor convictions, and had failed to appear in court several times… but they were going to release him due to the new law… and de Blasio wants to give them movie tickets and hope they come back for court.
The names some vets were called when they returned was not … ‘respectful’, and yes, children are at times involved in conflict.
Other cultures may not consider children the same as we do, and in some regions of the world, children make up armies, and in some areas children are terrorists, and in some… including the US, children are gang members, and the prey and victim are getting younger.
We can all hope to avoid it and never have that situation arise, but we should all think about it, consider it, and prepare… just as we should for as many different situations as we can think of.
And the 7&8 year olds coming at us kicking soccer balls. I hated our “make friends” missions in Kabul…absolutely detested the missions. Ask any OEF or OIF Veteran.
This is what some children are taught Muslim countries. And it is REALLY PUSHED IN PALESTINE. And also Palestine also pays ANY OF ITS CITIZENS REWARDS FOR THE KILLING OF ISRAELI’S OR ANY TERRORIST ATTACKS ON ISRAEL.
What pissed me off is our overpowering politicians and media created it. Nothing like using soldiers for re-election propaganda. Giving out food (MRE’s) and candy to little kids looks great on the nightly news. But what happens when we didn’t have enough for all the kids running along side our convoys; they threw rocks. It was a nightmare for several reasons, but mostly it took our attention away from the real threat.
Not to mention, some of these kids were recruited by insurgents…enough said.
This is something you should have settled in your mind before you ever go to the basketball game. You will not have enough time to settle it when the victims start screaming.
Personally, I do not look at age…I look at the threat. Other lives, just as important, are being lost, and if I’m in a position to end the violence, I will do my best to do so.
That’s because the kids in Tennessee have zero fear of punishment. The judges here are too easy on them. Teens escape from juvenile detention all the time in Nashville.
The problem is that judges in areas like Nashville almost have no choice because the juvenile justice centers are so overcrowded. It’s almost like they flip a coin in determining if said defendant is a threat to society or not.
Looks like the coin flip is in favor of letting the bad ones go free. The town fathers better get themselves together before people realize that Nashville may not be the new Las Vegas after all.
There are a few things left to say about this for me.
Like some I have been in a military situation where kids are to be feared, intentionally or not. But that isn’t the issue for me.
The issue partially comes from an experience I had a few years ago. I went many years without a CCW while I was still working because I worked for a School District and I wasn’t interested in locking my weapon in my car and risking theft. Then I left the district and could get a CCW but didn’t bother. Then I retired to a easy life in a retirement community where I could take up my hobbies and do charity work. One day I was walking my small dog down a side walk way in our community when I started across the street in front of three young men dressed as if they were Hip Hop stars. As I passed in front of them I heard one say, “I could have capped him from here”, as I turned to look and see him making like he had a gun. It was just turning dark and I realized he could be serious.
I applied for and got a CCW after that and carried everyday after that. I made it a habit not to go to places where I couldn’t carry. I don’t go to school sporting events. I don’t walk into a bar. I don’t use stores where they have a no weapons allowed sign. So I wouldn’t be there to stop a teen shooting at a school sporting event.
I have moved and have resubmitted for a LTC in my new state. I took the class and was instructed about the no guns allowed areas in this state. I will avoid them as best as I can. But like other have said a shooter is simply a threat that needs to be stopped the age of the threat matters little to me. I have USCCA to help protect my rights in a legal matter of self defense and I have USCCA to defend me against the family of the miscreant if they attack me in civil court. Either way I am doing all I can to return home and not being the one taking a dirt nap.
IMHO, a threat is a threat. Be it teenager or older. At the risk of sounding cold hearted, when faced with a similar situation I would not let my mind process it any further then that. I would react to stop the threat and sort the emotions out in the aftermath.
