Would you kill another human if they were trying to kill you?

Question

A man has backed you down a long dark alley, you cannot escape. He is your wife's(women, imagine a women that is your husbans' ex) ex. He(or she for women) wants to kill you, no matter what. He has a knife in his hand. You have a 9mm in your pocket. What do you do? Would you shoot this person, yes or no. Nothing else. No answers that you would scale a 15 foot wall while this person is only ten feet away.

Answer 1

The answer for most of us and certainly myself is "I don't know."
After the Battle at Gettysburg during the American Civil War, thousands of rifles were picked up off the battlefield that had not been fired, some were even loaded many times, but never fired.
Some people, even if they wanted to, can not kill other people. So, I hope I never find out, because sometimes you should be able to kill to save yourself or your family.
But, the evidence is compelling, most people can not kill under any circumstances.

Answer 2

Simple, make sure the chamber is loaded, release the safety, take aim for the central mass and empty the clip into the target. No hesitation... doesn't matter if it is wearing body armor, 15 9mm shell impacting will not only drop it but also shatter most of the rib cage.

The age old quote: Never bring a knife to a gun fight.

Answer 3

Actually, I carry a .40 caliber, but yes I would shoot to kill. The minimum "safe" distance for a person with a knife is about 20 feet. By the way, I DO have a carry permit for my firearm.

Answer 4

I would kill him. But if the person is ten feet away, I'd try to see if he'd be scared off just by seeing the gun. If he took another step towards me, I'd put a bullet in his brain. I am not trying to get killed over no woman. And if it was very dark, you'd have a better chance of escaping without being noticed.

Answer 5

I'm shooting to kill not to maim and if that doesn't work - I'll beat them in the head with the the gun butt then drop kick them.

When they fall out unconscious I will strangle them just to be sure they're dead. Then after they are dead I will use my superhuman strength (at that point I'll be riled up real good) to lift them over my head, spin around a couple of times and slam them into the walls of the alley.

Then when they come back down, I'll kick him in the groin and ribs then I'll go home and call the police to lock them up.

Answer 6

I would say yes now but I would rather shoot to disarm not kill. Also you can never know how you will truly react until you are faced with the circumstance. I would hope that I would never have to make that decision, but how the world is going, it might be inevitable that you will have to do something like that at least once in your life before you die.

Answer 7

The human response would be fight or flight; a basic instinctual reaction. I would shoot the other person, because if it's my life or theirs, I can justify the action. I believe that modern society in the last generation has decided that it's more ethical and moral to not fight. We're a generation of instant reactionary thought, without a true understanding of nature, and we're basically always trying to find a way out where we wouldn't "appear" as thoughtless to react in fight or flight. God save us all.

Answer 8

Depends... A lot of people use weapons as threats but never really physically use them. If this person were to attack me with it I would rather shout him in the arm with the knife than to shoot to kill... I couldn't live with something like that

Answer 9

Of course I would defend myself...a 9mm could do major damage if it hits a person anywhere on the body, with out killing a person. But if necessary I would.

Answer 10

Sure. And then send a thank you letter to the US army for teaching me how. But, you don't always need a gun to kill someone. Try kicking in the door on my old mobile retirement home in the middle of the night if you don't believe me, and I don't have a gun in the house.