Which is better? Protect yourself/family or remove criminal from face of earth?

[NavyLCDR]

In yet another open carry vs. concealed carry discussion on another forum, a die hard concealed carry only person makes the following statements, with my replies:

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but I chose to conceal carry for if that day a criminal decides to attempt to make my family or myself a victim, if given the oppurtunity, they will be in the body bag.

There you have it folks, the latent desire of this concealed carrier to be executioner. I don't carry my firearm to remove criminals from the face of the earth with. I carry my firearm to protect myself and my family from criminals. If the criminal chooses not to attack me because he sees my gun, I have accomplished my goal AND I have spared my family the trauma and cost of the attack, the shooting, and the court proceedings.

It is not to just push the criminal to murder, rape, rob etc a less prepared law abiding 19 year old girl that knows nothing about firearms.

I refuse to take responsibility for the criminal actions that a criminal takes on another person. They are responsible for those acts, not me.
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So, here's my questions:

Do you feel, as gun carriers, is it better that we simply prevent a criminal from attacking us and our family, and protect ourselves and our families from criminal actions; or is it better for us to execute the criminal?

Do you feel that, as gun carriers, some of the responsibility of the criminal's future actions falls upon us if we are presented with the opportunity to kill the criminal and we choose not to?

I believe my responses to the person above will indicate where I feel on this issues.

There was a poster on here (usacarry) a while in tha past that admitted his reason for conealed carry vs. open carry was the he hoped to have the opportunity to execute a criminal. I'll try to find that and post it as well.

NOTE: I believe the desire to execute criminals only exists in a very, very small minority of people who carry guns.... so please, don't think I am trying to make a blanket statement applicable to most concealed carriers.

[VanCamp53]

By taking out the Bad Guy you do protect yourself and your family.

[drewthegunut]

i carry to protect my family and myself. if someone attacks my family and dies for doing so i would not shed one tear. but we shoot to stop. but when you shoot someone there is the chance they will die.

[TKA]

Well, I do not speak for everyone on this forum, but it is my desire to protect my family. I agree, a legal shoot is very traumatic to young family members and is something they do not soon forget.Let alone a home invaision. But if it had to be done. So be it. We do not ask for them to slip into our home while we are sleeping, their decision, and the wrong one at that. So.... with that said. I carry open when I carry. I hope that day never comes, but if it did... Then I hope they know god, because they will see him shortly.

[Rhino]

It's less a question of better than a question of legal. Self defense and defense of others is legal. Execution isn't.

[mississippi21]

Im willing to shoot to protect not shoot just to be rid of one less criminal.

[SGB]

I have no problem with killing what ever needs killed, however the assumption that the mere sight of an openly carried firearm is in and of itself a deterrence is as false as is the assumption that a concealed firearm gives one a "tactical" advantage.

While I firmly believe that an individual who practices SA and displays an openly professional appearance while openly armed does provide deterrence I also believe an individual who is openly armed and situationally unaware increases their chances of becoming a victim.

[Tony Quilici]

I carry to protect myself, my family, my property, my friends and neighbors, the property of my friends and neighbors and those that look to need help. As far as to just execute criminals, that makes one criminal themself. I am on the line that too shoot until the criminal is incapacitated and no fight is left in them and if they are still breathing and have a pulse, then I will call 911 and start performing lifesaving measures on the criminal. Should criminal transpire during those measure, I won't shed a tear. If criminal makes it until emergency personnel arrive and take over and criminal transpires under their care, I wont' shed a tear. If criminal makes it to the hospital and transpires under the care there, I won't shed a tear. If criminal becomes well enough to stand trial and somehow is allowed to go free, then I will shed tears.

[brcombs]

Remember the pharmacist in Oklahoma that shot the BG (which stopped the threat), got another pistol and executed him. He now is convicted of murder!!

[localgirl]

Guess what? With very few exceptions, none of us are cops or lawyers. We don't get to decide who is a "criminal." And that "criminal" may be an average, honest person like you who was just having a really bad day. Do you know this guy's history? Do you know all his priors? What, exactly, makes you qualified to call someone a criminal? How many people here have NEVER committed a crime? That BS Dirty Harry mentality needs to be kept off the forums and off the streets.

HOWEVER, when you have been put in a situation where your life is in danger, the individual who did that, whether he is a "criminal" or not, has made a choice. His choice put him at the other end of your gun. You don't really get to say whether he was a criminal, or a choirboy. You do get to say that your life was in danger, and you took the necessary steps to save it.

I'm sure that lumping everyone together into the "criminal" category makes taking a life easier. I'm sure that imagining them all as puppy-raping grandma-kicking welfare-milking fiends makes some people feel like they're taking out the trash. But the reality is, there are very few of us who are innocent. There are also very few of us who are absolute sociopaths who "need" to be taken out of society.

It's all about choice. The choices the criminal, or the bad guy, or whoever, made to get to where he is standing in front of you with a gun. And at that point, you have a series of choices to make. Just remember, the choice you are about to make may very well earn you the label of "criminal" as well.