Man and Dog injured in random paintball shooting

[SS_N_NE]

http://wgntv.com/2016/02/11/chicago-man-and-dog-injured-after-random-paintball-shooting/

A Chicago man and his dog are sustaining injuries on Thursday after they were shot by paintballs.



Check out the story: For discussion....would you have returned fire with a real firearm?

[depserv]

The man got hit in the face not far from his eyes.  I don't know how much damage a paintball would do to an eye but I'm guessing it could be substantial, maybe even leaving him blind in that eye.  So this was a serious assault.

There is a good question raised here over at what point lethal force is justifiable.  It is a criminal assault, and it probably could lead to severe injury.  But I still wouldn't want to venture a guess, and I don't know how I'd respond to a similar assault.  Turn away and run away probably, if I could.  At least I wear eye protection.   

[SS_N_NE]

I hear the story on the radio. A car drives up, lowers the window and a popping sound starts with felt impacts. Hate the idea of shooting someone for being stupid. I imagine it would be sticky since the assault wasn't really with a lethal weapon.

[mott555]

I used to play paintball some. They can leave really nasty bruises that take a while to heal. I've never seen or known of an eye shot but it would not surprise me if it resulted in permanent blindness.

[JAK]

It seems the focus has shifted from "what would you do" to "is a attack with a paintball gun justification for lethal force"

The scenario as I see it is you are walking in a city that has known gang violence, a car pulls up and the window rolls down, you may or may not see someone point something that looks like a gun at you, and then you hear noise of the gun firing and you feel impact/pain.

I think most would return fire based on this scenario

If the scenario was you see someone point what is obviously a paint ball gun at you and shoot you with it, then I think most would just get out of the area.

When looking at if a response is justified or not, the scenario you are reacting to is going to play a huge part in determining if the response was justified.  Think about the various news stories about individuals being killed by cops when all they had was a airsoft gun.  I also believe justified or not, if you shoot someone that was shooting a paintball gun at you there will be significant legal consequences and you will be crucified in the new media.


John K

[SS_N_NE]

if you shoot someone that was shooting a paintball gun at you there will be significant legal consequences and you will be crucified in the new media.

Yes, I was turning this into a what would you do scenario. Following the lines of most self defense training, the situation and a weapon being fired at you should result in returned fire. Most cities consider anything that fires a projectile as a weapon. Returning fire on a weapon being fired at you seems reasonable. Yet, it would really feel bad to shoot someone for being stupid and suffering legal issues for what is really a justified reaction. Being able to determine at the moment that you are being shot with a paintball gun seems a life or death decision that a victim is being unreasonable forced to make. NOBODY should be shooting/harming you unless there is provocation (as in you threatened their life in some manner).