Welcome to Aftermath, a portion of our First Line email newsletter where Attorney Anthony L. DeWitt walks you through a real-life self-defense incident and shares his key takeaways.
A 15-year-old male, armed with a handgun, attempted to rob an Atlanta home shortly after dark.
The homeowner was also armed and shot the teen, causing him to collapse and die on the scene.
The homeowner called police and reported the robbery attempt while neighbors called 911 and
reported shots fired in the area. Police arrived to find the teen still holding his firearm.
Would the age of an armed attacker change your response? Why or why not?
Given the example, how would you determine their age before taking action? Iâm not seeing how age plays any factor in a decision to end a threat. FAFO.
NOPE! GOT GUN?----CONSEQUENCES ABOUND! It doesnât matter their age(s) , Never did, the Enemy used Women and Children to throw us off guard (Offend our sensibilities shooting a Woman or kid amirite?). WRONG! They had AK47âs and all sorts of junky handguns to kill us so I defended myself and my guyâs. We hosed them down.
Some delusional folkâs STILL think that we should all act more Chivalrous or â Knightlyâ in a Firefight these days. I see some posters here that feel we should be the âDoor open for a Womenâ kindly in a Self defense situation. We shouldnât âstoopâ to the level of our attackers. Another Error buzzer for that noise. THE ONE THING WE GUNNERS SHOULD NEVER FORGET---- YOU BETTER BE DAMN SURE WHEN YOU BREAK LEATHER (or Kydex) THE THREAT IS SOMETHING YOU CANâT TALK YOUR WAY OUT OF OR SAFELY RETREAT FROM!
Iâm living my life, protecting and enjoying my Family
If youâre a bad Guy and you have evil in youâre heart you are standing in the way of that is UNACCEPTABLE!.
If you are old enough to squeeze the trigger and you come for me and mine? GAME OVER, GOT WILL?
There are a few instances where age doesnât make a difference; this is one of them. Apparently being in a position of power around kids doesnât make a difference either if you are in the Government or the Catholic Church.
There is a good reason why this kid is dead and Bernie Madoff is alive. Whenever you are going to steal, use a briefcase, not a gun.
Though it was a young teen the gun he was carrying was not a consideration of age. The threat is real and the consequences are real too. It is a shame that these things happen but they do.
The age of an armed attacker has nothing to do with the threat of the crime. If the attacker is old enough to be armed and do the crime, they are old enough to take responsibility for their actions and consequences. In this case a 15 year old can kill you just as dead as a 95 year old.
Defense first, emotions later. I would regret the necessity of taking someone elseâs life, but I would never regret being able to defend myself and my family.
As much as I hate saying this, my answer is âmaybeâ. If it were a 5 year old kid, I would hesitate. As the scene set up here, I would not hesitate. To me, the question is too open ended, though 99% of the time I donât believe age would be a factor at all, unless it was clearly some child that entered without malice, but how would you know. So, back to the 5 year old⊠Iâm running it through my brain before firing.
The age of the attacker does not matter. If a person, age unknown, breaks into my home and is armed, I wonât have any chance to ask them how old they are or ask to look at their ID to check their age. The only response I can give is to protect my home and family. If that means using my firearm to take that person out, them they shouldnât have been in my home. Also, Iâm not going to shoot to just hurry them because if they are on drugs, they will very likely keep coming, therefore the best action is to shoot to kill. That will stop them. Back in the 70âs our local Sheriff told my Father-in_law and me that if we had to shoot someone attacking us, to shoot to kill because a dead person canât defend their actions as something other that what it was while an injured person can and a jury would possibly see them as simply a hurt person. A dead attacker canât sue. An injured attacker can.
I usually enjoy these types of posts, but there is too little information here to make a well thought out response. I would like to see more details (if available) to better understand all aspects of this encounter, rather than just respond with a âknee jerkâ response. USCCA, you can do better than this.
Absolutely not. Point a loaded handgun in someoneâs face, expect a loaded response. Age is not a factor when your life and your familyâs safety is on the line.
