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So here is the scenario...

You go to bed early you hear your wife or loved one scream from downstairs, so you grab whatever your nightstand weapon is (for me its a s&w model 29 .44 mag) and head downstairs to check it out.

Downstairs you find a BG behind your wife with a gun to her head, the BG is almost entirely concealed behind her except for a little bit of his head and is about 10 ft away. The BG tells you to drop your gun, but you know if you do your family is in trouble. SO, do you take the shot and risk killing your wife? or drop the gun and see what happens?

Me personally? Im a pretty good shot, and that .44 is scary accurate...but at the risk of my wifes life i dont know if i could calm my nerves enough to shoot the broadside of a barn, especially right after waking up. so im not quite sure what i would do.

Srry for the silly post, i guess im just a little bored.

Those are not the only two options.

that is true, but its totally hypothetically and im just trying to see how many people trust there shooting abilities in a situation like that.

AFJailor wrote:that is true, but its totally hypothetically and im just trying to see how many people trust there shooting abilities in a situation like that.

Impossible to say. When thinking about your scenario, I might imagine that there is enough of the BG exopsed for me to shoot, but someone else might only imagine a sliver of BG skin visible.

Shoot him in the foot or leg if he has one exposed. He may forget about your wife and start hopping around ot move to where you can get a shot. But to me that would be a last ditch effort. But I don't know cause I haven't had any advanced training. I think if you gave up your gun your both dead. Or shoot your wife in the leg and when she falls shoot the BG.

Hope my wife is not in too much shock to stomp the BG foot and elbow then duck out of the way so that I can take my shot(s).

I would have more than my life and my wife’s life to worry about. I have a son that is 3 and I will not let some BG be responsible for taking the lives of both of his parents. I feel confident enough that I can hit what I’m shooting at. I would take the shot.

If she doesn't take the initiative or have a chance to smack him and get out of the way to give me a clear shot I would back out of the room, notify police to get them in-route (advise them that I am armed of course) and look for another way into the room.

Not giving up my weapon. He's just as likely to shoot us both if that happens. That's never a good option, I dont care what happens in the movies. The BG has already established a prime motive for me not to take him at his word.

If I can't re-negotiate the room and get a clear shot from another entrance then I will try and negotiate with the guy to see what he wants (from cover).

Good situation to have a flash bang on hand too. Maybe I should get one for the nightstand.

To get a better shot at the BG, Keanu Reeves shot the hostage.

I would try to get the BG’s attention and get his gun pointed at me. I would think that lowering my weapon slightly might give him enough security to point his at me. Then I would use the codeword that my wife and I have rehearsed for her to immediately vacate the area by any means necessary, then I would either get to cover or return immediate fire to allow the wife to get away.

If I could not get him to remove the weapon from my wife’s head, I would back out of the room and call police. Then look for other avenues to gain a big enough advantage to reasonably disarm the BG and insure my wife’s safety.

To me, dropping my gun will mean we would all be dead except the bad guy.

propellerhead wrote:To me, dropping my gun will mean we would all be dead except the bad guy.

That's what I was thinking.

Hopefully my wife will have enough wits about her to slump down as if fainting - at that point the BG should be exposed enough for me to take the shot. Or I might talk to the bad guy while I close the distance to 5 feet or less and in the middle of a sentence, without any other warning - I'd shoot.

And pray I didn't miss. Or that the BG doesn't shoot.

Sometimes all your choices are bad - so you have to pick the "least bad" option.

This is one of my nightmares...

Surrendering my weapon to an armed intruder in my home is not an option.

Beyond 7 yards my shooting accuracy is below average for my IDPA club but I know that at 3 yards I can do 10 pushups, 10 jumping jacks then turn, draw and put all 9 rounds from my Kimber in a 2 inch circle. The average human eye is about 2 1/2 inches across. I practice this drill firing 1 round only at least once a week starting at 3 yards then 5 then 7 varying the hostage to bad guy spatial relationship.

If bad guy has a weapon in 1 hand that means he only has 1 hand to control my wife and all she has to do is go limp and he now has to support all her weight with 1 hand. Even if the BG has his arm around her throat this will draw her head down. We have discussed this and have a visual and verbal signal for her to do so.

I pray fervantly to never face this situation and therefore train hard to know just what I and my weapon are capable of just in case.

Jeremae wrote:This is one of my nightmares...

Surrendering my weapon to an armed intruder in my home is not an option.


If bad guy has a weapon in 1 hand that means he only has 1 hand to control my wife and all she has to do is go limp and he now has to support all her weight with 1 hand. Even if the BG has his arm around her throat this will draw her head down. We have discussed this and have a visual and verbal signal for her to do so.

I too hope to never be in this position, but if should ever become a reality there's no way I'm giving up my weapon only to have it used on me or my family.

It depends on whether her life insurance is paid up or not...yes, of course I'm joking

Am I comfortable enough with my accuracy to take a shot if I have to? Yes I am, but the way the scenario is written I may not need to take the shot immediately.

As another person stated, there’s nothing stopping him from just shooting me as soon as I came into his sight, so he’s already shown some level of restraint about killing me.

He’s using her as a shield because he has something on his mind and she’s a bargaining chip. As long as she has intrinsic value to him alive, the odds are she will stay alive. Me being aggressive with my weapon, actions, or commands could tilt the situation in the wrong direction.

I’m not giving up the weapon, but that doesn’t mean I have to keep it pointed at his head. I’ll either take the shot within the first seconds of contact, or I’ll drop to a less aggressive stance and try to calm things down. The weapon aimed at his head isn’t going to help calm things down.

All the cards are in his hands, I have extremely limited control over the situation since my main objective is to get her free and unharmed.

In most houses there’s very little “cover� that will stop a bullet, so I think my best option is to convince the guy to talk and see if I can deescalate the situation. After all, if I incite him to shoot me, then where does that leave my wife?

“Hey dude, I called 911 before I came down the stairs…the cops are on the way but if you head out the door right now I don’t think they will get here in time to catch you, and I’m not going to get in your way…all I want is my wife back, you are completely free to go…no bull man, I mean it, you can leave�.

Maybe he would go for it…maybe not. As far as I’m concerned he can take anything he wants on his way out except my wife…she’s not leaving my sight with him as long as I’m capable of intervening. That means no getting in a car, disappearing around a corner, or anything of that nature.

In my opinion, this is one of those situations where you have no real control. Even if you do have a shot, what if you don’t pull of the perfect CNS hit? You end up spending the rest of your life knowing you precipitated your wife’s violent death, and the fact that you killed the BG would be little consolation.

Keep him talking and thinking he has a way out. If he’s moving, let him keep moving. Don’t block him in or put him in a position where he feels he has no options…that’s when he’s going to shoot you, your wife, or both.

Keep the distance close enough you’re confident in your ability, but not so close he feels he has to take action.

If he’s moving to get out of the house, sooner or later he’s going to look down, look behind, or in some other way take his eyes off you. If you don’t think you can talk him into letting your wife go then that’s the time to take your shot…while his attention is elsewhere.

My wife knows to become dead weight when my pistol/rifle comes up. Hopefully it works…but it’s a bad situation by any measure…and one that fraught with danger for her.