Home invasion/hostage... What would you do..?

[TTravis]

We have never trained for this in my family. That said, my family members know me well enough that they better get out of the way because I'm not backing down. I am sure my wife would be in a total panic but would expect me to take the guy out. My kids all know where guns are and soon the guy would be looking at more than one defender.

 

[ghuns]

Just a WAG, but most criminals that anyone is likely to encounter have no interest in taking a hostage and looking down the barrel of a gun while carrying on any conversation with you. That being said, if I were to encounter such an individual, I am not giving up my gun. Merely being in that situation would be enough evidence for me that the BG is stone cold psychopath who will do unspeakable things to me and my family the minute I give up my gun. Aim carefully, squeze, and hope for the best.

Or you could always go all Keyser Söze

 

[Mark 1911]

Would not surrender my weapon. Would be looking for a shot that would not endanger my wife / family.

After reading this thread, plan to talk about this with the wife.

 

[ghostdncr]

Practicing various recovery shots with your primary HD weapons makes this sort of thing nowhere near the drama it's presented to be on TV. If I had never practiced the shot or was using a totally unfamiliar weapon, I can't imagine pulling the trigger on a live recovery shot with an untrained family member in front of the muzzle. Armed with the SA Range Officer or MP5 and one of my girls who know what's about to happen, it's a whole different story.

 

[whispers76]

Your heart rate will jump to 200 bpm, you will get tunnel vision, and your adrenaline will feel like snorting cocaine. You have a one foot dia target partially concealed by your most precious loved ones head. If you are confident in the shot...take it. Just do so knowing that the decisions you make were the best under the worst circumstances and that if you miss and hit your loved one you are able to live with the decisions you made. I question ANYONE that KNOWS 100% what they would do. Bravado is deadly. I am a seasoned firearms instructor and an expert shot with a pretty good stress coping ability and I have NO IDEA how I would react. I can only hope that my training and experience will lead me to the correct decision NO MATTER WHAT IT IS. I would be full of BS if I said otherwise. I call BS on some of these posts.

Thank you. No one knows 100% for sure how they would react unless they are in the situation. That doesn't mean there's a problem with contemplating the options, but you will never have a definite answer till it happens.

 

[TTravis]

I'm just glad nobody would suggest saying "Go ahead, shoot the B" being valentines day and all.

 

[68_F100]

Shoot the hostage?

 

[88GT]

We have never trained for this in my family. That said, my family members know me well enough that they better get out of the way because I'm not backing down. I am sure my wife would be in a total panic but would expect me to take the guy out. My kids all know where guns are and soon the guy would be looking at more than one defender.

We've never trained, but Mr88GT knows I'm dropping (we should probably have a signal) and becoming dead weight. Right now the boys are small enough that there will always be a portion of the BG available for easy access.

 

[jkwparrott]

I saw some paper targets recently, maybe in the Sportsman's Guide catalog, that had a BG behind a hostage on the target. I've never thought much about it, but my wife knows that I would never put down my gun and she would be sure to want me to take the BG down.
I know when we watch a movie with this scenario she always says that the GG should never drop the gun, but take the shot instead. A good clean head shot at less than 20 feet? I know I can do that with no trouble.

 

[Aaron1776]

I think people take what they see in the movies and video games too much into effect when they think of things like this. People dont just instantly die when you shoot them. Even if it is in the head. If the assailant has a gun to your loved ones head and you manage to successfully fire a round through the head of the invader it is still very likely that his reflex alone will allow his finger to pull that trigger before he cuts out. With that being said, I don't think its as easy as they make it seem on tv to talk people down from situations like this. This is probably going to end very badly. Yes I agree with the fact that you should not surrender under any circumstances, but more importantly you need to be able to train yourself
to assess situations like this with rationality while being overcome with extreme adrenaline and emotion. The bad part of that is that is easier said than done, and the average person has no way of being able to prepare for that situation.

You raise a good point. Which is why all hostage shots absolutely must be in the ocular cranial region. A bullet to the brainstem will end up with an instantly fatal shot causing him to fully relax and drop like a ragdoll 99.9% of the time. I don't say 100% because we live in a strange world where strange things happen.
Foreheads are a no go because he'll flop around like a fish out of water if you put a round in his cortex, and it's possible he will jerk the trigger while doing so. Also, handgun rounds (and even .223) have been known to litteral bounce off the forehead. Jaws are even worse so don't try mouth shots. Maxillas can stop rifle rounds, and I've personally seen pistol rds fail to even break the bone. Mandible shots are no good either as not enough damage will be done.
It has to be between the top of the mustache line and the bottom of the eye brow line. No Hollywood forehead shots.

 

[Aaron1776]

Practicing various recovery shots with your primary HD weapons makes this sort of thing nowhere near the drama it's presented to be on TV. If I had never practiced the shot or was using a totally unfamiliar weapon, I can't imagine pulling the trigger on a live recovery shot with an untrained family member in front of the muzzle. Armed with the SA Range Officer or MP5 and one of my girls who know what's about to happen, it's a whole different story.

+1

 

[rhino]

Yeah, I don't know what I'd do for sure in terms of taking the shot. The specific situation would play too big a role to predict. Given that, I know with as much certainty that someone can know that I would not surrender my weapon (unless I was using it as a diversion and had my second weapon already prepped for use).

I also believe (believe, not know) that I would take the shot as soon as possible. Ask an unrelated question, press trigger, back on the front sight, press trigger, then act based on the results.

I believe that I wouldn't freeze, but I don't know. From experience, when I've been in very stressful situations that could be deemed emergencies, I was the most calm person present (including when I got that laceration on my head a few years ago). Those can't be directly compared to this scenario described by this topic, but hopefully I'll be able to do the same.

 

[SkullDaddy.45]

I had a buddy who owned a shop on broadway in Glen Park. Young man came in and asked for all his money while pointing a 9mm at him. To make a long story short[some who live near Gary will remember this], he shot the young man just above right eyebrow with his .45, from about 20ft. No flopping, no reflex movements, just a dead young man with no back of his head and a pants full of sh*t. The way all scum should end thier lives.

 

[Jack Burton]

When ever I am watching a tv show and the cop lays down his weapon because a hostage taker tells him to do so I just turn it off at that point. If I am going to watch a fantasy show it at least must have dragons and wizards in it somewhere.

 

[cfl4rat]

After reading this thread, plan to talk about this with the wife.

i 2nd that. like i said in my 1st post, i've thought about it from time to time but if i dont talk it through/train with my family it's pretty much a useless thought..

 

[ghostdncr]

i 2nd that. like i said in my 1st post, i've thought about it from time to time but if i dont talk it through/train with my family it's pretty much a useless thought..

Apprehension/panic can almost always be traced to a common root cause of either some unknown (where DOES my pistol group at this range?) or unpreparedness (what if the wife/child moves into my LOF at the last instant?). If everyone is on the same page and has practiced the drills multiple times, it's far more likely to be a smooth outcome.

 

[TravisJ]

Just tell the criminal how it is. "I'm not going to give up my gun and put my whole family's lives in your hands. So you can either drop the weapon, and I will not kill you. Or you can continue threatening my family member and no matter what else happens, you will die." That's what I would say, and hope he valued his own life enough to drop the weapon. If not I would shoot as soon as a opportunity arose. That's what my plan is anyways, who knows how it would really go.

 

[PistolBob]

When the bad guy breaks in, my dog will eat him, creating an unimaginable amount of noise, thus alerting my loved ones to grab their firearms and take a defensive position. By the time the bad guy shoots my dog, he'll be bloody and scared and looking for the door. If he's high or stupid enough to enter the house further, he'll most likely be killed. I will buy a new dog the next day. Dogs are great. Dogs are burglar alarms, bullet catchers, bad guy deterring eating machines...get one.

 

[LockStocksAndBarrel]

Along those lines, I wouldn't have to worry about not hitting a hostage. The BG would be just inside his point of entry into my house. Dead.

 

[miguel]

Throw down the empty gun in your weak hand, then pull out the loaded one from your robe with your strong hand and shoot him when he bends to pick it up.