General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Already, another Trayvon Martin incident has just happened [View all]Igel
(35,307 posts)The only reason to shoot is in self-defense. If you shoot in self-defense you must be in fear of your life.
That means you shoot to kill. Warning shots won't definitely stop the threat. A shot to the leg will probably allow the killer, if he has a knife or gun, to continue to threaten you. So you shoot to kill.
If you want to shoot to kill you aim at what's large. That's the torso. Head shots are harder and dispreferred. But in this case, if the kid was largely behind a car, then you only really have head and shoulders to aim at, and the head's the bigger target.
The woman who got 20 years had a lot more problems than just firing a warning shot. Violating a restraining order, leaving the guy's house to get a gun and then return with it, firing in the general direction of her kids. Yes, the shot it hit the ceiling; but it ricocheted to hit the ceiling and nobody would be making this a big point in the woman's defense if it had ricocheted to kill one of her own kids. A legal case is all details, and if you get them wrong it's easy to mischaracterize it. The same's true for a lot of things. A forest is made up of trees.