Could you kill someone?

[psychokillerornotkiller]

I was at a social event where a we were talking about gun crime in America. One woman said she had lived in America and was talking to an American women who had a gun which she said was for self defence. The woman at the social do said she said to her, ' But could you really kill someone with it?' To which the American woman apparently went silent, and the British woman at the social do declared, ' It was like she have never really thought about that!'.

The clear implication of the British woman's argument was that, of course no right minded person could shoot anyone, so there is not point in having a gun.

But I thought, ' I could kill someone. If someone was coming to kill me, and they were fair minded enough to give me time to reach into my bag and retrieve my gun, I would shoot them. And if they were coming for my child I would definitely shoot them. |I might be traumatised afterwards, but I would shoot them.'

I'd always assumed everyone was like me. But the British woman obviously assumes everyone is like her.

So, in genuine curiosity as to find out whether I am an outlying psycho, I thought I would put it to the vote.

YABU - I could never kill anyone
YANBU - I could kill someone.

I have a fairly extensive list of people I could genuinely kill if I could get away with it.

Me too! Thought that was normal...?! 😬No idea if I could go through with it in reality but in some cases I'm pretty sure I would to be honest. As for killing someone coming at me or my family, dogs etc I hope I would but I think that's one of those things you can't predict until it happens.

I got hold of her dog by it's fur, dug my nails into it and twisted it in my hands to cause maximum pain and threw it as far as I could.

I've done similar when my small dog was attacked - picked up the aggressor by collar and tail and threw the bugger into the nearby park pond!

I've had training about this. Every year I had to learn, teach and refresh my knowledge and others about the rule of engagement (when it's legal to shoot/kill and when it's not).

I've also practiced with a rifle and a pistol. The targets are human shaped.

I would always find it difficult to kill someone.

Though I would if I had to and I'd met the requirements of the rules of engagement.

Killing just one person seems terribly inefficient. Now if you were to give me the cartoon big red button ...

BTW - although I think I could kill someone if the situation demanded it (would have to be extreme), I doubt I could use a gun. I'd be just as likely to shoot myself.

Tbh I have no idea. I can't even kill spiders normally but I know I'm capable of physical aggression when I feel threatened.

I think it's hard to know if squeamishness (morality?) or survival instinct would win out in an emergency.

I think I could, although I have no desire to generally. If it was life or death I'd have no problem, I don't think I'd even feel bad ror traumatized afterwards (unless they were very innocent). To be honest I think I could kill someone just our of being angry enough which scares me a bit. I suffered physical abuse growing up and have also affected from chronic pain, which has all now thankfully subsided, but these are things that are known to desensitize you to violence.

Yes, I could, and yes I would. Only extreme circumstances obviously, but if my children, or myself were in danger of being killed then I wouldnt hesitate for even one second to kill the person attacking us.

Its a bit silly to say you couldnt ever kill someone as if someone you love was being seriously threatened, your fight or flight response would kick in. I would have no guilt killing someone who tried to harm my children- dont threaten others lives if you dont want to receive those consequences. Its pretty easy to live your life without harming others- most of us manage it and if you do, then you have no right to complain if they fight back and you get harmed in the process.

The only reason I’m not a murderer is because it’s illegal and I don’t fancy being locked up. I am certain I have it in me to kill. Not randoms, I care about other humans generally, but some people who’ve done me harm…absolutely.

If I lived in America I’d have probably shot someone by now.

Probably not. However, if I came across the man who violently raped my daughter!!

If someone broke into my house I would absolutely kill them. Or attacked me anywhere. I would fight to kill or maim, not just to run away.

I’m so, so sorry @Mylifehasimploded

I am no fan of any of those people but I wouldn't trust the reporting of MSM to the extent of assassinating another country's legally elected head of state.

I am quite hot-tempered so I would probably kill in anger if I had a gun

Yes I could and would, if it was kill or be killed, for me, my child or any family member. Or if someone abused my child. I would hope I wouldn't feel guilty but I guess you never know how your mental state would react. I would never regret protecting my family though.

That is just awful, I am so very sorry.

Personally i wouldn't answer this question lest it ever be read out in court lol

Im pretty sure I could, and it wouldnt even have to be in necessarily in self defense.

Like most people I don't know, but probably if a loved one was in danger.

When DD was less than a year old I was home alone with her while DH was away with work. Woke in the middle of the night from a loud noise downstairs. My first thought was that we had an intruder and my instinct was to hide but I figured if there was someone in the house I probably couldn't hide DD without her making a noise. Listened for a while longer but didn't hear anything else.

So I grabbed a metal rod from the safety fence/gate we'd just fitted and headed downstairs, making as much noise as I could and turning on lights hoping if there was someone there they'd leave. The noise was actually a vacuum bag of bedding falling down in the airing cupboard.

I don't know what I'd have done if I'd continued to hear noises and ascertained that there was an intruder, but even my reaction to there "maybe but possibly not" being an intruder surprised me because I had myself pegged as more of a flight/hide person, my heart was racing the whole time as I was walking about with the rod. So my answer is definitely it's hard to know how you'll respond until you're in a situation!

Absolutely - come after my children or my family I will absolutely pull that trigger.

Yes, I would, in self-defence and in defence of my loved ones.

And what's more, I have 20 years of training to be able to do it with my bare hands 😉

God imagine if the Purge was a real life thing 😂😱

The conclusion drawn by the woman was false. Someone with a gun doesn't need to be able to kill someone. They just need to be able to shoot and injure them.
I think the honest answer is nobody knows if they could kill someone and the people who think they 'know' probably haven't been in life or death situations so actually don't know what they'd do. It's a weird kind of bravado.

I agree it’s not really the gotcha question the woman thought it was. I suspect the gun owner was silent more because they didn’t want to respond in that setting than because they’d never really thought about it before.

I wouldn’t hesitate to try but it’s harder than it looks. I’ve been attacked before and fought back as hard as I could, I wasn’t concerned about injuring him but I really didn’t do much damage. Fortunately he ran off. With a gun some of that discrepancy in power is gone, but unless you practice a lot, in realistic scenarios, you’d have to be a bit lucky to get a bullet in them. If you shoot and miss you might hit an innocent 3rd party (possibly someone you desperately want to protect) and if they got their hands on you while you were fumbling with it, you’ve just given them a weapon.

I agree. My first thought on reading the OP was "only for DC". I would definitely take a bullet for him, I'm sure I would fire one to save him too.