Quote:
Originally Posted by Pineedles
I'm not sure about the 50% chance thing
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Bullets can ricochet in some amazing ways, especially off of frozen ground. They may also fragment, with the fragments each ricocheting in their own direction.
Additionally, most people have relatively poor trigger control even in controlled situations in calm environments (eg: at a gun range). By this is mean anticipating the shot and trying to pre-compensate for recoil, which will send the bullet not in the intended direction. There are THOUSANDS of documented cases of trained police officers accidentally discharging their weapons in high stress environments, causing unintended injuries to themselves or others.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of the 2nd amendment, try to stay up to speed on various local self-defense and property defense laws, have sent thousands of rounds down the shooting range in various practice scenarios and so forth. My concern in cases like this is that these are EXACTLY the kinds of actions that go awry and lead pansy-assed politicians to pass MORE laws protecting us from ourselves and ultimately inhibiting us from protecting ourselves.
If you want to "shoot" something in a scenario like this, get your camera phone and snap a couple of pics. Sure, do your best to detain the person, but a few cellphone pics will be better than trying to play vigilante if you don't understand the basics around legal and proper use of lethal force and displays of weapons.