Case Study:
Warning Shots
By Brad Fisher
On October 19, at 9:20pm, a 35 year old Virginian
mother fired a single round into the air to scare away a group of boys, one of
which was attacking her daughter. Now,
it is early in this case and the facts are still coming out, and changing. However, this is a good case to dissect and
talk about warning shots.
According to Lakisha Gaither, the woman who fired
the shot, a group of boys surrounded Gaither and her daughter as they walked in
their parking lot outside their apartment.
A verbal altercation began stemming from an earlier incident. One of the boys then hit her daughter. It was at this point that Gaither stepped
away from the group and fired a single round into the air.
“I stopped and turned to
walk to the middle of the parking lot. I made sure no one was around me,” Gaither said. “I unholstered my gun, pointed it straight in the
air and fired just one shot to get him off my child. I just wanted this group of guys to disperse.
I didn’t know what they were going to
do. I wanted him to stop hitting my child.”
Lakisha Gaither was charged with reckless use of a
weapon. For this discussion, we are
going to assume that the facts are as stated above. Was Gaither justified in firing her
weapon? This is an important topic for
all responsible citizens who own firearms.
While laws vary from state to state, my focus will be on Iowa law. As I discuss this, think about your state laws
and apply them in this case.
First, let’s examine the setting. Again, each state is different and I will be
using Iowa law during this discussion.
Gaither was with her daughter in a parking lot when approached by the
group of boys. Neither Gaither nor her
daughter walked away from the group or made any attempt to defuse the
situation. Instead, they engaged in a
verbal dispute in the parking lot. By
engaging the group, they became equal parties to the altercation. As soon as altercation became physical,
Gaither and her daughter had a legal requirement to make an attempt at
escape. Think about this. Two guys are fighting and one starts to
loose. He pulls out a gun and shoots the
other. While the situation is different,
the concept is the same.
The
vary act of firing a weapon is also important.
A basic safety rule is to always point your weapon in a safe
direction. Pointing a weapon into the
air is not a safe direction. This also
coincides with knowing what your target is and what’s beyond. If you fire your weapon into the air, you are
not firing at a target. Also, you have
no idea what’s beyond, because you don’t know where that bullet is going to
go. Once you fire a round, you own that
round. You are responsible for what
happens when that bullet strikes an object.
Firing a weapon into the air is never ok.
Firing
a weapon may also be considered using force.
Iowa code states that using force is justified if it is a reasonable
amount of force, you are in fear of intimate severe injury or death, and no
reasonable means of escape is possible. A reasonable amount of force is defined as the
least amount of force necessary to neutralize the threat without escalating the
situation. For example, if someone grabs
your arm, you can push or strike that person to get them to release you. Grabbing your arm is not a lethal situation,
so you must use less than a lethal amount of force. Iowa, as many states, also require that you
must make a reasonable attempt at escape if possible.
Now, let’s apply those standards in
this case. First, it is important to
know that firing a weapon is using lethal force, whether you miss the person
all together or kill your target. Gaither fired
her weapon after one of the boys hit her daughter. A strike to the face is not lethal
force. Gaither also never claimed to be
in fear of her life or her daughter’s life.
Gaither also claimed that she walked away from the group before she
fired. If she could walk away, why
couldn’t her daughter?
In this case, there are strong arguments that
Gaither was not justified to use lethal force.
Both Gaither and her daughter engaged in a verbal altercation with the
group to start the incident. Gaither escalated
the situation from a nonlethal assault to a lethal response, which is not
considered reasonable under Iowa law.
Gaither failed to make a reasonable attempt to escape the situation
before she fired.
While
specifics will vary by state, it is also worth noting that both police
departments and the military ban the use of warning shots. As we just discussed, if a situation warrants
the use of discharging your weapon, you are using deadly force. If you have to fire your weapon to stop an
attacker, and you are in immediate fear for your life, use well placed shots to
neutralize the threat. Never rely on
trying to scare someone away. If the
situation does not warrant taking a person’s life, do not use your firearm.