Armed Citizen With Gun Does Nothing

[Defender]

Has anyone seen this story? A man stabbed his girlfriend in Seattle by the Space Needle and an armed citizen arrived on the scene. The video shows him holding the pistol on the bloodied killer, the killer is advancing on the armed citizen, the armed citizen keeps backing up and does not fire his weapon. This keeps going on for a bit until a security guard runs over and sprays the man with some pepper spray and then the police finally arrive and taze him.

It seems to me that the armed citizen thought the guy would just drop his knife and surrender once he pulled his weapon on him, but he didn't. The armed citizen then did not shoot the knife wielding man but he just kept backing up, so I have to ask the question, once the man didn't surrender and he didn't shoot, what was the point of the guy even having the gun? For all that he did with it, he might as well have been holding a piece of metal. Comments?

[Story]

So that everyone can watch what actually happened.

https://nypost.com/video/armed-bysta...lleged-killer/

Check out the old couple starting at the 0.16 mark, walk right past completely and totally oblivious.

[Carson]

Just because a person is armed with a gun, doesn’t mean they are mentally or physically (or think they are legally) capable of using lethal force in a situation.

Your posted situation is a perfect example.

[Just1more]

I suppose none of us really know until that time comes. Real life vs internet talk are two vastly different situations.

[Defender]

I suppose none of us really know until that time comes. Real life vs internet talk are two vastly different situations.

But we can learn lessons from internet talk.

I really think that he thought that once he pulled the gun, the knifeman would surrender. When that didn't happen, the guy with the gun obviously was not prepared to actually fire the weapon, so he just kept retreating. At that point, the loaded firearm just became a useless piece of metal. The lesson of the story? Perhaps one shouldn't carry a firearm if you are not serious about using it when the time comes.

I have heard police officers say that a man with a knife can close on you really quickly which is why they are very wary of these type of situations. They usually end up shooting the knifeman before he gets too close.

[Emptymag]

I heard that if you have a gun and try to stop a bad guy, you will just end up shooting yourself, or someone else.

Maybe he heard the same thing?

[Gun]

Just because a person is armed with a gun, doesn’t mean they are mentally or physically (or think they are legally) capable of using lethal force in a situation.

Your posted situation is a perfect example.

This happened to a Sheriff's deputy in N. Ft. Myers during an active shooting situation. The deputy was found crouching next to his vehicle after the incident.

Also happened just recently in Broward County.

[Justin///M]

Just because a person is armed with a gun, doesn’t mean they are mentally or physically (or think they are legally) capable of using lethal force in a situation.

Your posted situation is a perfect example.

It reminds me of the thread I recently posted about all the bystanders at an accident scene, and someone pointed out that just because someone has training, doesn't mean they'll have the gumption to actually put it in use.

[unclejumbo]

I just watched it on Facebook. While the killer did walk toward the armed citizen, he kept his arms out and didn't run at him. I think he did fine given the circumstances. The question is was he ready to shoot if the knife wielder ran at him or tried to stab someone else. I recall the video with the cops not shooting soon enough and the knife wielder ending up with a hostage that died in the crossfire.

[GunLawyer001]

The prosecutors in Seattle are not like most of the prosecutors in Pennsylvania. And the media are perfectly capable of seeing a man with a knife but no gun, and writing a headline "unarmed man shot by gunman". Just like they call rioters with clubs and rocks "unarmed". Just like they spread the "hands up, don't shoot" myth.

Situational awareness includes understanding the legal environment.