ORIGINAL: robbcayman
ORIGINAL: kdvollmer
This is going to sound cold as hell to some, but 15 doesn't change anything. A real gun, is a real gun, and it doesn't matter who pulls the trigger,an adult, or a 15 year old kid.the result is still the same. That might make living with it harder, but I am not willing to get shot just beacuse they look 15. I said it before, if they are robbing a store, and using a gun to do it, commiting this illegal violent crime, then why would you believe that they won't use that gun. Age has nothing to do with it.
Lets look at a little history:
Colombine....need I say more
Seems that those kids shot execution style here recently in the news, one of their shooters was a teen age kid. Just food for thought.
I used to be an Army recruiter outside of oakland, a guy I was working with was shot shortly after i left recruiting duty and wasn't able to join. The shooter, some little punk gangbanger.
TO eldequello: you're right in saying,none of us knowhowwe will react in this situation. But regardless of age, itis stillthe innocent vs the criminal, which is why I BELIEVE I could still shoot. Lord, I hope that I never have to find out.
TO robbcaman: i agree, it is better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6.
I know what you are saying, but what if it was a 15 year old and the gun turned out to be a fake. Or worse yet, he was stealing the money to get his sick little brother a treatment his family couldn't afford. I think most (myself included) assume this is a dangerous killer, but what if it is not? Would this change your attitude on killing him??? After thinking about the situation I may try to get him to drop the gun, if he didn't then he is dead.
Sure, nobody wants to shoot a 15 year old kid. But it still comes down to whether or not you are willing to gamble with Freds life, or yourown. Read the scenario, you have your gun drawn and Fred makes eye contact with you. What do you think that armed criminal is going to do, not bother to look and see.
As far as the gun turning out to be a fake. Until he s down, and somebody canpick it up and see, that guy is still commiting a felony act of Armed Robbery. And as far as what the money is for....cold as it may sound, that is irrelevant. Even if there is a sick little brother, thereare childrens hospitals to help kids like that. Look into the Shriners. IT IS STILL ARMED ROBBERY. IT IS STILL ILLEGAL. If somebody has a gun and are robbing this store that I am in, it is not my responsibility to be like " hey kid, what'cha need that money for" and to reason with him. He has made a concious choice to ROB at GUNPOINT this store. At that age, everybody knows that is wrong and illegal.
See back when I lived in California, and applied for a CCW, and because it was California, it was denied, I continued to try to get it. I was talking with several guys I knew on the Sheriffs Department about carrying...etc. I made a comment that I wasn't looking to carry 100% of the time and to be some gun toting danger to society, lookng to be the vigilante. They told me that if I were to give it to me, that they would hope that I would carry all the time. No sense in giving a permit not to use it.
(read this didn't say they wanted me to be the crazy guy vigilante, but somebody that would carry in just this situation.)