Defense of a Third Person Incident

Two years ago today, an Atlanta mother shot her daughter’s ex-boyfriend when he showed up at their home, threatened them, and fired a pistol in the air.

https://www.goodguywithagun.online/p/good-guy-with-a-gun-120-atlanta-ga

Often, Defensive Gun Uses can be described as ‘Defense of a Third Person/Party,’ rather than Defense of Self, per se. That’s why I generally use the term ‘Personal Protection’ rather than ‘Self Defense.’

“A person is justified in threatening or using force against another when and to the extent that he or she reasonably believes that such threat or force is necessary to defend himself or herself or a third person [emphasis mine] against such other’s imminent use of unlawful force”

–Official Code of Georgia Annotated Section 16-3-21 https://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/title-16/chapter-3/article-2/section-16-3-21/

Defenders need to be aware of the fact that innocent parties may be downrange in addition to the assailant. Whether that was the case in this incident is unclear but it is a possibility. Defense of a third person by an armed citizen often does not involve the classic hostage rescue shot.

Nonetheless, when others are downrange, spraying and praying isn’t a good tactic. This was a counter-point article I wrote about the subject years ago.

https://americanhandgunner.com/discover/training-tips/hostage-targets-dangerous-practice-or-useful-skill/

Being a successful defender doesn’t mean you have to be a Delta Force sniper but you do need to know where your bullets are likely to go. Meghan Brown’s incident is a good example of having patience and making a good decision.

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One response

  1. Sharon Key's avatar

    Shooting the ‘Hostage’ in the leg turns them into a liability, and difficult to leave with. If you miss and hit the hostage taker in the leg, it becomes difficult for them to leave. Something to consider.

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