SELF-DEFENCE

If a man is found in the house at night, he can be generally captured by getting the drop on him, that is to say, getting an aim on him before he aims at you, and make him hold up his hands.

But there are cases when, in order to save another or yourself, to attempt this is merely to get killed.

If a man is rushing on you it is no use calling “hands up.” Shoot instead of talking.

This especially applies to a man rushing on with a knife. He most probably will throw it into you if you are not quick.

With an automatic pistol there is little in a room to hide behind which gives protection and it only gives the opponent courage and time to take a deliberate shot through the obstacle, if you try to shelter yourself. If he tries to take shelter behind something impenetrable, if you fire into what he is sheltered behind it often brings him out and enables you to get a shot at him.

If he is behind a small tree the big bullet of a .45 Army Automatic would probably go through and hit him and, even if it did not go through, it would frighten him so that he would show himself and give you the opportunity to shoot him.

A big-game shooter knows of many dodges to induce a dangerous animal who has hidden, to show himself, or charge.

Calling to an imaginary person behind the attacker as “Look out Tom, he’s coming your way, shoot,” will perhaps make a man, expecting an attack from his rear, expose himself to you in front. Throwing something towards him may make him move. The great thing is to keep him moving and prevent his shooting back.

If attacked by several men at the same time, take a fresh one for every shot, hit or miss, and then you can begin to take only those not already hit.

This is the only way to keep the lot off and prevent being attacked by the rest while you are fighting one.

Get your back against a wall or something if possible so that they can only get at you from in front.

Taking a fresh one for each shot is my experience in big-game shooting when you come on a lot which are all shootable.

If you pick out one and he does not drop to your shot and you pump several more shots into him till he does drop, you may find afterwards that you have wasted shots on an already dying animal, and let others within range escape.

As an instance of doing everything wrong and being praised for it, the following quotation from a daily paper is hard to beat.

The writer of the article evidently approves greatly of a woman firing at random into the darkness when she hears a suspicious noise.

Even if the noise was made by burglars outside, she was just in the best position in the lighted window, to get killed. An innocent man might plead he was shooting her in self-defence.

A pleasant neighbourhood to live in when a woman shoots at random into the night when she hears a noise!

Below is the article in question omitting names. The passers-by as well as the lady must have had an “exciting experience.”

And no wonder!