imported post
Well, I gotta chime in here.
It sounds like the restaurant owner wasn't an educated carrier.
He probably was in shock when the event went down.
Firstly, some people are so shocked that they have to shoot someone they just pull the trigger until the gun is empty, no matter if the BG falls down or not. Cops routinely shoot waaaaay too many bullets.
Its kind of like, you've been working on a report, but the file is corrupted and won't open, you will try 55 more times before you call geek squad.
There have been many cases when cops have continued shooting after someone begins to comply/change their actions. Even with A LOT of training, your mind still goes to a special mode of thought when you go into mortal combat. certain functions of the brain go hyperactive, some become delayed, even worse, some portions of the brain nearly SHUT DOWN at this point. Once you've gone into this 'zone', it simply isn't possible to be instantly aware of certain changes in your environment.
Yet one more reason Jeff Cooper's dislike for hi-cap 9mm's proves to be valid.
Training with 1911's or 357mags will cause you to get in the habit of measured shooting, and assessing after each shot.
The reptilian part of your brain, that takes over so much of your actions at a time like this, does not care about the legal system, exactly what level of threat someone has become, if you won't have to worry because this rapist / killer / etc will be behind bars and unable to harm me. It think in absolutes. The only way your family will be safe is if threat is ELIMINATED. Wounded animals can still be dangerous, people can come back for revenge, the only think your reptilian brain wants at this point is the BG to be so far past anything remotely threatening as to be hamburger. Anyone have arachnophobia? any other phobia? Someone with Arachnophobia who hits a spider with a rolled up magazine will hit it three more times, still be terrified, and hit it another two times just because it twitched, regardless of the impossibility of it still being alive / able to move. You understand the response I'm talking about. That is the reptilian brain being triggered. Thats how it works. So, there is a short time, (seconds) after a life threatening event is stopped (Running Bear falling to floor) where, yes, just because Running Bear twitched in agony, the reptilian brain may still have enough control to make you smack that spider one more time, just to make absolutely positivily sure its ultra-no-way-its-coming back dead.
I was forced to shoot someone once, and when they fell on the ground, I heard a sucking chest wound. A sucking chest wound is obviously NOT a threatening gesture or action, yet the fact that their was audible evidence of life, even though he wasn't moving, It went through my head. Not the vendictive "I'll show you MFer." It wasn't revenge, or desire, or WANT of any kind, it was the HAVE to feeling like when the spider twitches, I thought I HAVE TO shoot him again. Not want, but have to. My full awareness became alarmed and I realized it was an irrational thought, and controlled it, and I regained more cognizant functions. I had been in a hightened state of preparedness before this event occurred, so when everything went down I was not scared, but had a gameplan and acted on it. Looking back, I can see how, if someone was truly terrified, they may NOT be able to conciously object to their reptilian instincts.
So even if you do shoot someone, they fall down, and you shoot them a few more times, I'm not going to condemn you for it. It could still part of the same response to the initial threat, NOT two different events. There would have to be irrefutable evidence that you continued out of malice or revenge. Not even witnesses or videotapes could give you this though. The only way would be a confession.
I hope Yang has good enough lawyers who can hire a psychologist to explain this to a Jury. I just wonder if the Jury has the capacity to understand it.
