Are your skills good enough to protect your family?

[Big_Red]

Here is the scenario:

It is the middle of the night. All of a sudden you are awaken by the sound of your kid's voice screaming "Daddy! Daddy!" or "Mommy! Mommy!"

You jump out of bed, grab your gun and rush into your child's bedroom. There you see some dude holding your child at knife point.

What do you do?

Are your skills good enough to take a shot and take the sicko out?

My shooting skills are still far from where I want/need them to be so I for one, would not feel at all confident that I could take a direct shot without harming my child.

What are your thoughts?

 

[EddieCoyle]

Mine are.

I've drilled it into my kids: If someone breaks into the house, no matter what the bad guy tells them to do, they are to scream at the top of their lungs, try to run away, fight with all they have, and when they see me - duck.

 

[Gabe]

If someone breaks into the house, no matter what the bad guy tells them to do, they are to scream at the top of their lungs, try to run away, fight with all they have, and when they see me - duck.

You rule!

 

[Another_David]

I think you've been watching too much TV. Taking a distance shot in such a hostage situation isn't really an option. If you're indoors in close quarters you either rush them and shoot at point blank range or try and talk them down. I'm guessing most here would prefer the rush.

 

[Big_Red]

I think you've been watching too much TV.

No, not really. I am just trying to find out whether you could take the shot if that was your only choice.

 

[icyclefar]

No, not really. I am just trying to find out whether you could take the shot if that was your only choice.

Perhaps you just answered your own question, as you stated it, my answer is YES!

 

[WayneWong]

See, this situation in my opinion calls for a baseball bat followed by repeated kicks to the balls. But that's just my opinion, I may be wrong.

 

[dbhn]

Depends on if I gun is up and trained on the target. If so, yes, I take the head shot everytime. I doubt many people on this forum can't hit someones head from 12' or less (typical size of a bedroom). If it happens to be holstered or at my side and I have raise it, aim, and fire before he slices my kid, then I don't have the skills for that. Hoping to acquire them though.

Re: TV, they almost never take the shot. Despite my screaming at the guy through the TV set.

 

[lemonlime571]

Shoot....... then shoot again.... and again........ I won't hesitate...... Not for a milisecond.

 

[Martlet]

I'm pretty confident that I could hit a nutsack with my P220 from 12'.

 

[Another_David]

No, not really. I am just trying to find out whether you could take the shot if that was your only choice.

I don't think it's a question of range skills. My adrenalin would be pumping so much that I think my aim would be awful. Maybe you guys are training differently than me but I'd rush in at point-blank range rather than try to take aim at distance with risk of injuring a hostage.

for what it's worth, I certainly watch too much tv myself

Edit: also, my house isn't that big so point-blank range is just a leap away!

 

[Jose]

Since screams from my girl in the middle of the night put me in full fight mode, I will be armed when I enter the room.

At that point, yes, I do have the skill to put one right between his eyes. Easy.

 

[tele_mark]

I don't have to worry about kids here. But, after an incident about a year and a half ago when I fell asleep on my couch with my P99 on my stomach, and a commercial on TV perfectly duplicated the sound of my intrusion alarm at 2 AM in the morning, I have no doubts in my instinctive ability to react without having to stop to think things through. I even woke with the pistol in the ready position, and the first though in my head was "you've got a live one in the chamber, be careful".


PS -- there's no holes in the walls here.

 

[Admin]

I'm pretty confident that I could hit a nutsack with my P220 from 12'.

+1 If I'm at the doorway and you have my son hostage in the back of the room your brain won't even register the orange fire out of my barrel...

 

[clinotus]

I could make the shot, and I'm pretty sure that he would want me to make the shot because my bare hands would wind up being much more the worse.

 

[JRyan]

at the distance from my bedroom to the kids, I could take the shot.

 

[dreppucci007]

At that point, if I were to be in the doorway and see the badguy there, there wouldn't be a question of if I could hit him between the eyes or not...It would be done in a nanosecond, and I would have no regrets. There's no better way IMO. ONE side of the story.

 

[jkelly]

You jump out of bed, grab your gun and rush into your child's bedroom.---Big Red

Taking a distance shot in such a hostage situation isn't really an option.---Another David

David,
Man, you must live in a HUGE house.

Respectfully,

jkelly

 

[sksguns]

yes

 

[Weerd Beard]

I'm pretty confident that I could hit a nutsack with my P220 from 12'.

+2 but it'll be a 1911 not a 220, but we're splitting hairs

 

[The Village Idiot]

I would do whatever it takes to protect my family even if it means THROWING my pistol at the SOB!

 

[sksguns]

I would do whatever it takes to protect my family even if it means THROWING my pistol at the SOB!

never give up your firearm.

 

[Migmojo]

You rule!

Excellant advice for any family member!

 

[Deer_KiLLer]

Dang it, I just had all the floors done in my house. what would i tell the floor guys, they missed a spot.

 

[sksguns]

It would be easier if you had an early warning system such as a dog or an alarm system that would initially deter a "would be" invader. Even if the power and phone lines are cut an alarm system still sounds alerting you to the fact that an intruder is atempting to or has already gotten in your home.

Having said that, you should have ample time to collect your firearm and assess the situation before any would be intruder turns your child into a human shield.

It's not that I can't make the precision shot as much as it's the fact that I have a loaded firearm pointed in my child's direction. I'd prefer not to have to prove my marksmanship skills at the potential expense of my child's life.

So dogs, alarm systems and motion lighting on the exterior of your house all play crucial roles in your early warning system to prevent any of us form ever having to aim in the direction of a loved one.

If I had to do it I would and I know I could but I'd rather tkae precautions so it's less likely that I would find myslef having to make that decision and ultimately that life altering shot.

You know what they say...."an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure"

 

[Adam_MA]

If you're a gun owner, and you don't practice this type of precision shooting while under stress, you have no right entering the room with your gun in the first place.

Seriously, this is something everyone who owns a gun for protection should be practicing on a regular basis. Like Jim said, you should have a plan with your children, letting them know exactly what is expected from them.

 

[Windwalker]

No kids here, but based on a previous "bump-in-the-night" experience, I'd be ready... and able.

 

[sksguns]

If you're a gun owner, and you don't practice this type of precision shooting while under stress, you have no right entering the room with your gun in the first place.

Seriously, this is something everyone who owns a gun for protection should be practicing on a regular basis. Like Jim said, you should have a plan with your children, letting them know exactly what is expected from them.

So bring your children to the range and make them hold targets while you practice?

What kind of practice prepares anyone, cop, marine, cia, fbi or whomever for taking a shot at a perp while they are holding a knife or gun to your child?

 

[N.E. CHARTERS]

Try some Plates

You actually think that you can make a head shot in the dark on a bad guy with a hostage with the adrenilin pumping? The stakes are really high if you miss.

In the Navy I was trained in Hostage "Negotiations" on Nuclear Weapons security. We had really shitty .45 ACPs that we only practiced with once or twice a year.

The standing order was to allways use deadly force and to shoot the hostage in a none vital area to deny the bad guy their advantage by dropping the hostage out of the way and really messing with the bad guys mind before the next shot hit them. Dont stop shooting until you have neutrlized all targets or ran out of bullets. It would slow the reaction time as they think they are safe behind a hostage and usually would have their weapon directed on the hostage and not on you.

For a little lower stakes training Try a falling Steel Plate timed shoot with a 100 bill on the finish line (use whatever currency makes you cry, I use a One Dollar bill). The 6 in plate is not moving and does not shoot back but it is still hard to hit six of them rapid fire before your opponant takes down theirs.

It would be cool to make a Plate target that has Mutiple Dueling Plates behind hostage targets that also randomly move.

Any Tin Knockers out there?

This shooting gallery could be used day or night at the range. At Flashing lights in the dark like at the PD training ranges and it would be great practice

Real life: Let my puppy dog bark and take a bite or two, then while the bad guy is distracted just bop them with whatever is handy. Basball Bat, Golf Club, Trailer Axel, rolling pin etc.... then hang them someplace handy until the sherriff collects them

 

[Len-2A Training]

So bring your children to the range and make them hold targets while you practice?

What kind of practice prepares anyone, cop, marine, cia, fbi or whomever for taking a shot at a perp while they are holding a knife or gun to your child?

No, but there are targets that will let you practice this.

Those of us who took defensive handgun classes did this drill with dummies on pulleys (so they were moving) making it more realistic.

For static ranges, use the IDPA targets that are colored differently on each side. Place two targets overlapping out there with each a different color and try to hit the BG while leaving the hostage unscathed.