Racking a Shotgun as a deterrent..

[CSACANNONEER]

I'm torn. I believe that, as a civilian, I should never pull/point/aim a weapon at someone to threaten them. I'm not going to show my ace in the hole. If I feel threatened to the point that I need to pull a weapon, it's to late, I'm going to use it. On the otherhand, the distinctive sound of a pump action (wether it be a 12g or an old .22 gallery gun) always got my old yellow lab excited to the point that he couldn't wait to run out the door!

[paradox]

If you are going to rack a shotgun in order to scare an intruder, you better have another armed member of your family hidden and sighted in on the intruder beforehand...

[DRM6000]

i won't rack the shotgun to scare off the would-be intruder. if he hears the sound and leaves, he'll know where to return to steal a firearm. worse yet, he might come back armed and with friends.

i'm under no obligation to warn or dissuade anybody intent on breaking in or harming me.

[M. Sage]

Maybe it's because I'm reading Starship Troopers, but.... Seems like it's more morally sound to skip the warnings and make sure that there's one less victimizer out there. Not as legally sound, perhaps, but it shows how screwed up society is that they don't kiss a person's feet for doing just that.

[rod]

There are several levels to the use of force, deadly force being the last. Here they are...

(1) Officer's Presence

(2) Verbal Direction

(3) Soft, empty hand control

(4) Hard, empty hand control

(5) Chemical Agents (Oleoresin capsicum)

(6) Impact Weapons

(7) Deadly Force

You have to look at each situation by itself and determine which level of force is the minimum necessary to stop the threat, and escalate as necessary. Deadly force should not be your first option except in a very few extreme situations. Not all of these levels of force may be pratical to someone untrained in the use of the different levels of force for example, hard empty hand control or you may not have an impact weapon available. So, not all of these levels of force are pratical in each situation. However, your presence is always available and will stop a lot of threats. Some tweeker breaking into your house at night doesn't want to deal with a homeowner and will most likely take off running. A simple STOP or WHAT THE FU*K ARE YOU DOING will cause most burglars to flee. That would be level 1 and 2 combined and is very effective. It will also give the drunk who is trying to go to bed in the wrong house a chance to realize he made a mistake and go away. It wouldn't look good if you shot your drunk neighbor just for him trying to go to sleep in what he thought was his own house. Once the percieved threat goes away, deadly force is no longer an option.

Racking a shotgun isn't one of the levels of force exactly, but it could fit in with level 2. That would sure let the bad guy know that he is in a dangerous situation and he might want to think again about what he's about to do.

Killing a person is your last option and should only be used when all other levels of force have failed. So, to sum up my point, I believe racking a shotgun to deter a threat is a good idea in most situations. It's a level of force that will stop a lot of threats and keep me from being charged with murder. If racking a shotgun and yelling STOP doesn't work, all I have to do is pull the trigger and I can tell the cops I tried everything I could to stop the guy before I killed him.

[ohsmily]

As told to me by my (non-CA) State Trooper Uncle: Pulling over a guy for erratic driving. After a long while driving behind the guy, the guy finally pulls over and rapidly gets out of the car and starts approaching the patrol car. My uncle points the 870 in on the guy and yells "STOP, PUT YOUR HANDS UP", the guy keeps coming, at which point he racks the 870 once, and that sound made the guy stop and put his hands up. Turns out the guy was DUI.

Cool, so your uncle was pointing an unchambered weapon at someone...very useful!

[MobCounty]

I have been to 4 stores looking at 'home defence' shotguns. Every single clerk has said, "Once they hear this *racks the gun* they are gonna' get out of there!".

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks the practice is unsound.

[Adog5]

Practically, I assume you have more than one Shotshell loaded, so in a home defense situation, if you feel you need a shotgun, then you should just rack it to load one shotshell in the chamber.

In the very specific cases, where you need to rack the shotgun, go ahead and rack it (and you can still point the shotgun while you pick up the other shotshell right?). But in that way you're not caught off guard without a shotshell loaded.

Also, in most situations, I believe that an intruder will be deterred enough by the fact he's looking down a barrel that could make the little puppy in the upper left corner of this posting completely disappear in 1 second.

[aileron]

How many will stick around if you hypothetically broke into someones home and heard someone rack a shotgun.

I would be so scared I would be losing french fries out my hind side, and I haven't eaten french fries in years; Next I would high tail it out of there and be long gone. There is no escaping a shotguns wrath in close quarters.

Any bad guy that knows something about shotguns will probably figure, screw it. Best find an easier target.

I just know sometimes its going to work, of course the real stupid ones are going to think they can take you.

[dwtt]

I think the racking the slide of a pump shotgun has been promoted by the movies enough that many people think it's really a deterrent. If someone were to break into your house, it's likely he'll be armed. If you rack the slide, you've just told him he should prepare to shoot you and where you are.
In my house, the only sound a burglar who's a threat to me or my family will hear would be the bolt on my Remington 1100 chambering a shell and the bang. Forget all the stuff they put in movies.

[Fate]

There are several levels to the use of force, deadly force being the last. Here they are...

(1) Officer's Presence

(2) Verbal Direction

(3) Soft, empty hand control

(4) Hard, empty hand control

(5) Chemical Agents (Oleoresin capsicum)

(6) Impact Weapons

(7) Deadly Force

You have to look at each situation by itself and determine which level of force is the minimum necessary to stop the threat, and escalate as necessary. Deadly force should not be your first option except in a very few extreme situations. Not all of these levels of force may be pratical to someone untrained in the use of the different levels of force for example, hard empty hand control or you may not have an impact weapon available. So, not all of these levels of force are pratical in each situation. However, your presence is always available and will stop a lot of threats. Some tweeker breaking into your house at night doesn't want to deal with a homeowner and will most likely take off running. A simple STOP or WHAT THE FU*K ARE YOU DOING will cause most burglars to flee. That would be level 1 and 2 combined and is very effective. It will also give the drunk who is trying to go to bed in the wrong house a chance to realize he made a mistake and go away. It wouldn't look good if you shot your drunk neighbor just for him trying to go to sleep in what he thought was his own house. Once the percieved threat goes away, deadly force is no longer an option.

Racking a shotgun isn't one of the levels of force exactly, but it could fit in with level 2. That would sure let the bad guy know that he is in a dangerous situation and he might want to think again about what he's about to do.

Killing a person is your last option and should only be used when all other levels of force have failed. So, to sum up my point, I believe racking a shotgun to deter a threat is a good idea in most situations. It's a level of force that will stop a lot of threats and keep me from being charged with murder. If racking a shotgun and yelling STOP doesn't work, all I have to do is pull the trigger and I can tell the cops I tried everything I could to stop the guy before I killed him.

That's the advantage of being a homeowner defending themselves from an intruder vs. being a patrolman. I guess being "untrained" and "fearing for one's life and that of one's family", getting to step 7 is MUCH quicker.

Racking a shotgun as a means to get an intruder to flee is a good way to get shot.

And to the poster who claimed "there is no escape from a shotgun" is delusional. At close range a legal length shotgun's pattern is about the size of a baseball or smaller. You still can miss. Now an armed intruder knows exactly where you are, you might only have a general idea where he is. Who has the drop on whom now?

[1911su16b870]

Cool, so your uncle was pointing an unchambered weapon at someone...very useful!

No, he wasted one chambered round in order to save that guys life.

[T-Bear]

Racking a shotgun to let the intruder know you have one, they will flea and just break into another persons home.
That just does not sound right to me.

[virulosity]

You could always shoot the intruder with birdshot as a warning and then follow up with rifled deer slugs if neccessary.

-Dick Cheney

[Rugerman]

As the guy on top of me mentioned I would just shoot a warning shot. Not birdshot but a blank then after that I would load up with OO buck or something else.

I wouldn't care about some holes in my walls as opposed to losing my life.