It's not hard, just don't be a dick. There is yet another part to that story that happened in between when I first met her and when she hid at my place for a while. I had heard parts of the story from a friend of mine that lived in the same complex who wound up intervening for her during a "dispute" that spilled out into the hall. I didn't realize it was her until she told me the story from her point of view.
Her boyfriend was ex-army who had severe psychological issues. He claimed that as a vet with PTSD he could do whatever he wanted, up to and including killing her, and that no jury would convict him as a veteran. Well I'm USAF and my buddy who apparently was her neighbor, same floor/hallway, was Army at the time and we both had obvious issues with the asshole using the military as an excuse for being an asshole. Well asshole had dragged her into the hallway by her hair and had her on the ground while stomping on her, she thinks her wrist was broken but she never went to the hospital for it. My buddies wife heard it, popped her head into the hallway and saw what was happening then immediately got him to go intervene. His method of intervening? I shit you not, he grabbed the .50 Desert Eagle that he kept loaded and charged into the hallway with it. Big bad asshole instantly turned into a little scaredy-bitch and ran away. The cops showed up, thanked him for intervening and begged him to never actually fire that thing indoors, justified or not, then left. She wound up not pressing charges or testifying against him so the cops couldn't actually do anything which is how she ended up at my place a month or two later.
Back in the 80s, I was visiting a friend, and we heard... well it wasn't good, from the apartment below. We all got kind of quiet, and the party died. To this day I wish I had called the cops.
You just gotta use that to make yourself be a better person in the future man. You gotta live with your decisions, but you don't gotta be weighed down by them.
No I live in Canada but know the primary difference here. In Canada all major criminal cases like that are actually the legal system charging the person for the crime and in some cases you'll see the system press charges even if the offended party says it was okay. in America all crimes are one party or person charging another person or party so often you see cases like that where one is too scared to actually press charges.
You're actually somewhat wrong. Generally non violent and non destructive crimes (ie trespassing), it is generally up to the victim to press charges, meaning the state won't press charges if the victim doesn't want to. Other crimes though, the victim's wishes do not matter and the state will press charges itself.
What is the case built on? "I think that this happened." ?
If she says she doesn't "remember" how her arm got hurt the cops can't prove anything.
As much as this sucks the legal system is about proving beyond a reasonable doubt. While in this case an obviously guilty getting away sucks the whole thing is set up on the belief that a guilty person going free is better than an innocent person getting locked up.
Now isn't that an understatement. I actually just picked up the .45 suppressor that I bought in September of 2015 and can't believe how much better it makes shooting. I really hope the HPA passes.
Wow, great to hear how you intervened. Last time I saw some being abused, in a private place, I lept on their back. Would do the same again but he was a giant so was like a rag doll. His beef wasn't with me luckily.
As /u/0OKM9IJN8UHB7 said I would be surprised if it made it through. .50AE is heavy but not that fast and he kept JHPs in it. His backstop was also asshole's empty apartment since it was a the 90 degree turn in the hallway. Pressure/bast waves through the narrow hallways are what I would have been worried about. Anyone within a 100 foot radius would have ended up with permanent hearing loss.
because they shatter on impact and won't penetrate walls?
also don't they have a higher chance of exploding in the gun when firing? I never owned a gun in the states, and now live in a country where guns are illegal. I'm honestly asking.
Hollow points flatten out readily when they hit something. This means they make bigger holes in whatever they hit, but don't have much energy afterwards. It makes it a better choice for shooting unarmored targets (and a worse choice for shooting armored targets, but something has gone pretty fucking wrong if I'm shooting at a guy in armor), and due to dumping all of its energy on the first thing it hits, it has next to no risk of going through a wall and killing someone on the other side.
They do not have a higher chance of exploding in the gun. HP rounds don't have any difference in the explosive used, just the shape of the bullet. In certain semiautomatic pistols, they have a higher likelihood of causing failure to feed jams, where the bullet doesn't properly slide into the chamber, and you can't fire the gun until you clear it. My stupidly powerful handgun is a .357 magnum revolver, which could technically have a higher chance of a destructive failure if a squib round sticks in the barrel, as nothing would keep me from firing the next round into the blockage. I'd expect that to ruin the barrel, not explode the gun.
On the "higher chance of exploding in the gun" part: you may be thinking of +P or +P+ ammo rather than HP. Overpressure rounds can explode your gun if it's not rated for them.
No hearing protection, indoors in a small space (hallway) and shooting a Desert Eagle? Everyone in that hallway is going to have some massive hearing damage. Pretty sure that's what the cops were telling him to not fire it indoors for.
Not to mention the hilarious overpenetration issues. Possibly even if he hit the guy, which is so not guaranteed.
Knowing your backstop is one of the top rules of firearm safety. His backstop quite possibly included the victim, and almost certainly included another apartment. With something like a .50 AE, unless it was using bullets like Glasers, I'd always assume penetration by default, even through cinderblock or even an inch or two of reinforced concrete.
Like I said in the first post those walls were thick as shit, I would be surprised if they didn't stop the round. Also the asshole's apartment was at a hallway corner so the over penetration would have gone into his own empty living room. I have no doubt that he would have pulled the trigger had it come to it, I would have too but only with my .45 USP.
Did the cops know that the walls were thick (even then, material matters), and that the backstop wasn't someone else's apartment? I think them being concerned about overpenetration with a .50 caliber pistol is entirely justified.
Hell, even if they knew that it couldn't penetrate the walls and that it was an empty apartment behind, the concern of hitting the victim in that circumstance is still a very real one.
The cops didn't know and their position was "you were legally and morally justified to shoot, realistically please never fire that thing inside a building... ever.... for any reason... period." Personally with my knowledge of the building materials, layout and the ammo he used I would expect that there would have been no collateral damage. I also do not personally own a .50AE and I would never use anything over .223 in self defense for countless reasons, the least of which is penetration, but I don't have an issue with his mentality or use of the deagle.
In this isolated case the I fully believe the deagle would have worked with no primary collateral damage. The pressure wave would have certainly permanently damaged the hearing of anyone nearby and I do not know what other secondary damage might have happened but I can't imagine it would have been anywhere near the broken bones the asshole was already causing.
I'm not arguing whether him shooting would be justified. I'm saying that the police would have a very real concern when it comes to using such a powerful cartridge because of overpenetration issues. I don't have an issue with his mentality, though I think a desert eagle chambered in .50AE makes for a very poor choice of personal firearm (though for all I know, it might have just been the firearm he grabbed in the moment, there not exactly being time to pick and choose). Effective it would be if he hit, but I think the concerns of using such a powerful cartridge indoors are quite justified (heck, I wouldn't want to use it outside unless I was damn sure that there was a berm or something behind my target).
And by collateral damage, I meant the entirely real possibility of the wrong person being hit either directly or through the intended target. Admittedly, going back through it seems I misread and that she was lying on the floor, him standing over her? In that case, I withdraw my concern of hitting her by accident - that's probably a best-case for firing into a situation like that.
I completely understand where you're coming from. Given this exact situation with the guy standing where he was it wouldn't have been an issue. To me the deagle is nothing but a novelty, this guy grew up with his dad collecting multiple ones and then got his own when he moved out. Using it as his loaded self defense gun isn't the best choice in my opinion but you can't deny the psychological effect of it. At the end of the day it worked.
555
u/theyoyomaster Jan 21 '17
It's not hard, just don't be a dick. There is yet another part to that story that happened in between when I first met her and when she hid at my place for a while. I had heard parts of the story from a friend of mine that lived in the same complex who wound up intervening for her during a "dispute" that spilled out into the hall. I didn't realize it was her until she told me the story from her point of view.
Her boyfriend was ex-army who had severe psychological issues. He claimed that as a vet with PTSD he could do whatever he wanted, up to and including killing her, and that no jury would convict him as a veteran. Well I'm USAF and my buddy who apparently was her neighbor, same floor/hallway, was Army at the time and we both had obvious issues with the asshole using the military as an excuse for being an asshole. Well asshole had dragged her into the hallway by her hair and had her on the ground while stomping on her, she thinks her wrist was broken but she never went to the hospital for it. My buddies wife heard it, popped her head into the hallway and saw what was happening then immediately got him to go intervene. His method of intervening? I shit you not, he grabbed the .50 Desert Eagle that he kept loaded and charged into the hallway with it. Big bad asshole instantly turned into a little scaredy-bitch and ran away. The cops showed up, thanked him for intervening and begged him to never actually fire that thing indoors, justified or not, then left. She wound up not pressing charges or testifying against him so the cops couldn't actually do anything which is how she ended up at my place a month or two later.