Back Country Bandit - A question of Ethics

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BillCA

New member
I've titled this Back Country Bandit - A Question of Ethics although morality will play a big part too, I'm sure.

You are travelling in the back country, a good 10 to 20 miles from any sort of "civilization" and about 3 or 4 rugged miles from your camp. You're afoot, on your ATV, on horseback, it doesn't matter, other than you are not inside a car or truck type vehicle.

As you reach an area with some brush nearby, a fellow pops up with a firearm pointed at you, catching you by surprise from about 15 yards. He demands your wallet and seems determined. When you toss your wallet, he looks for its landing spot and you are able to draw and fire, wounding the man in the abdomen. He drops his gun as he falls. You carefully collect your wallet and see that his gun was damaged enough to be inoperable. He is still alive and alert, in some pain, but not bleeding profusely that you can see. Now the question.

What do you do next?

I could make this a poll, but I'd like to hear people's thoughts without planting any ideas in their heads.
 
D

Dust Monkey

New member
When you toss your wallet, he looks for its landing spot and you are able to draw and fire, wounding the man in the abdomen. He drops his gun as he falls. You carefully collect your wallet and see that his gun was damaged enough to be inoperable. He is still alive and alert, in some pain, but not bleeding profusely that you can see. Now the question.

What do you do next?
Click to expand...

Same thing that The Duke did, in the Shootist, leave him there cause he would have done the same to me.
 
2

209

New member
Not that I've ever thought about something like this- so, just off the top of my head:

The first thing to do would be to find your ejected brass. The federally mandated firearms microstamping will lead the investigators right to you. Wait, that foolish concept hasn’t been enacted yet...... nevermind. :eek:

What you should want to do is this:

Foil the CSI folks- we’ve all seen the TV show and we know they’ll crack the case..... in about an hour! :rolleyes:

1. If you used a semi-auto, find the brass.

2. Pull out your trusty K-bar and dig out the slug in the guy’s gut.

3. Pull the zip-loc baggie out of your pocket and take the slug you dug out of the backstop area at some range you went to and insert that into the wound cavity. Preferably, it’ll be a different caliber than what your gun is chambered for.

4. Drop the expended brass that you got at the range where you retrieved the slug on the ground. Preferably, the slug you shoved in the guy’s kidney and the brass you’ve dropped are the same caliber.

4. Pull out the other zip-loc baggie when you stashed the cigarette butts you picked out of the ashtray at some bar you went to and drop them on the ground. Preferably, you caged some that had lipstick rings on them.

5. Take the last zip-loc baggie out of your pocket. That’s the one you put the hairs you pulled out of some hair brush you found in. Strew them around the scene.

6. If you’re on foot, get rid of your boots. If you are riding a horse, once you get well away from the scene, remove the shoes on the beast if it’s shod. If it isn’t, give the hooves a good trim and use your rasp to file some nicks into them. If you’re an ATV, once away from the area, rotate the tires and put some nicks, gouges and slices in them.

7. THEN, do as Dust Monkey says! :D

Disclaimer: The above post is posted as humor. Please, no federal agents or other law enforcement officials need to locate me and interogate me concerning any wrong-doings.
 
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jdm357

New member
I don't think I could leave him there. He would do that to me, I would guess, if he was truly going to shoot me, but damn. I don't know. I guess it would have to happen for me to know for sure.

I guess it depends on what kind of a mood I'm in. I know that's bad, that I would base it on that, but since the threat is gone (I would assume, since he's on the ground, and his firearm is inoperable), I would have more time to assess the situation (while keeping my firearm pointed in his general direction) and wouldn't have to have a pre-assumed plan of action; as opposed to a split second self-defense situation.

I would hope I'd have cell phone service. I guess I probably wouldn't that far out, but I don't know how all of that works.

I'm not sure if I'd haul him back; again depends on the situation, but I'd probably tell someone (paramedics, LEO, etc) once I got back without him.

I don't know how moral I'd be if this actually happened; and I see both sides. I just think it might haunt me even more if I left him there. Sure, he threatened my life, and deserved to be shot.. very intriguing question.
 
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TwoXForr

New member
I would probably help him out after I made sure he was safe to approach, even if I had to wait for him to pass out from pain and blood loss, then I would take his knife and what ever. Not that he would help me out, but I am better than him.

Unless he was a true nutter he probably has a vehicle or hidey hole close by, take him there and firgure out what to do afterwards. (unless I am in cell phone range, then call the Rangers or whatever is appropiate)
 
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Eghad

New member
I believe the proper thing to do would be to render aid to the man and get him some medical attention.
 
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Johannes_Paulsen

New member
Get out of there -- fast. He may have a friend or two hiding in the bushes.

Report the event to the appropriate local authorities as soon as possible.
 
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WeedWacker

New member
If he's dying, leave hime and get to cell phone area and call police. If not dying, do the same but come back sooner and try to stop the bleeding. Of course have him take off his shirt and tie him up with braided strips of it.
 
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fisherman66

New member
I'd call 911 or take the ATV/horse to where I could catch a signal then call. I would render aid if possible before leaving, but I would not carry the robber and risk making it worse. Then I'd curse myself for not making a better shot.
 
R

Redworm

Moderator
Get out of there -- fast. He may have a friend or two hiding in the bushes.

Report the event to the appropriate local authorities as soon as possible.
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Yep, my first thought.

If there's one there might be more. High tail it out of there, report the incident.
 
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ZeSpectre

New member
Note location, get out, notify authorities.

Ethically and morally I don't think you owe much to someone who just threatened your life. It's a question of problem ownership and the bad guy created the situation he wound up in.
 
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gb_in_ga

New member
Me? First, I'd check out the AO to see if he was a lone operator. If he wasn't, I'd skeedaddle. His buddies can take care of him.

If he was a lone bandit, then I'd CAREFULLY slap a patch on him. Carefully, in that if I thought that he were still the least bit aggressive then I'd move on, he's on his own. In the process, I'd make sure that ALL weaponry were out of his reach. That includes my gun, my knives, any nearby rocks or big sticks. I'd search him for weapons as well. Then, knowing that I'd be more likely to harm him more by moving him than by just letting him stay there, I'd move on. My point is that I'm not going to jeopardize myself by putting myself in any needless danger. But, at the same time, I'm not going to refuse to render first aid if it is feasible to do so. I don't wish anyones' needless death, even a bandit's. My job is stopping the attack, retribution for the attack belongs with the legal authorities.

In any case, I'd mark the location on my pocket GPS (which I do have, and do carry with me out in the woods). Note that I might have to do this AFTER running sufficiently away in case retreat was called for. Then I'd head on to civilization where I could contact the authorities, once I got in cell phone range. With the GPS coordinates, the proper authorities and emergency medical responders can find him with ease -- he won't be going anywhere very quickly and if he tries he'll leave a blood trail.
 
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Al Norris

Moderator Emeritus
While this could have been a legal dilemma, the question, as posed, was for ethical/moral answers.

Hence it's off topic for L&P. Moving to General, since it is definitely gun related.
 
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Creature

Moderator
I would probably finish what he started.

Just kidding. I expect that if he survived my initial hail of bullets...and I was sure he was alone, I would try to render first aid after notifying the authorities before he expired. But if he had friends nearby, I would still notify the authorities...after I put some distance between us.
 
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S

Samurai

New member
Drop your flash grenades to signal the flying ninjas to swing in on their ropes and wail on guitars while you ride off into the sunset...

What?!? You mean you don't HAVE flash grenades?!? Well, then, yell really loud for the flying ninjas to swing in on their ropes and wail on guitars while you ride off into the sunset...

What?!? You mean you don't KNOW any flying ninjas?!? Well, then, how 'bout you just ride off into the sunset...

Oh! Don't tell me. It's morning!!! Ah, just forget it!
 
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03Shadowbob

New member
Well I believe that if you train right, you won't get off just one shot, more like 3 before assessing the situation to see if he is capable of harming me. However, I wouldn't stick around to see if I could help him, once he pulled a gun on me God is responsible for his health not me.
I'd like to think I'd get out of there and try to dial 911 while doing it if I had service. However if you leave the area and he is in any shape to move around, he could ditch the gun and then tell the authorities you shot him for no reason. Then you got a legal battle on your hands.
Only 2 ways around that and the easiest and most moral way is to practice more and make those shots do what you want them to do.
 
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ConfuseUs

New member
Well, leaving a guy gut shot in the middle of nowhere is not a nice thing to do, no matter what he would have done to you. This brings up this issue:

Begs the painfully nagging, obvious question: then, are you no better than him?
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Now, the right thing to do, morally and legally, is to help get him out and to a hospital for treatment. OTOH, I've read that getting plopped onto a travois and dragged for 10-20 miles with a serious wound is worse than death. So, the right thing to do is REALLY SADISTIC, but the wrong thing to do (finish the guy off) is actually MERCIFUL.

However, if the wound is not fatal (with treatment), then the element of justice comes into play. Assuming that you wind up in the clear legally, than whatever the justice system does to the bandit is insignificant to what you did to him while saving his life so that he could be brought to justice. Perhaps that would help him straighten out his life.

So, assuming that he was some lone bandit type, then it is probably best to tie his hands, plop him on a travois (if you can make one), and drag him out.
 
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