The ultimate dilemma .... maybe .....

[Sleuth]

A couple of comments here I could not let pass:

1. Shoot his gun - Lets think this one through. Your bullet hits his gun perfectly. When some SWAT marksmen tried this, they found that most of the time, the gun went off! Even if it does not, when your bullet hits his gun, where do all the parts of bullet and gun go? Some will go directly into your loved one's head and neck. So, don't shoot the gun.

2. Proven that a CNS shot stops all action - no, it stops controlled action. So IF you get a true CNS hit (skulls are hard to penetrate), you stop voluntary action. BUT, a spasm in his hand or arm puts a bullet into the hostage's head. Still a negative outcome. And, if your round bouces off his head (it happens even with rifle bullets), it could end up in the hostage's head. Another negative outcome.

Clearly, the talk - descalate - offer to let him go seems the best option.

 

[St. Gunner]

I carry my SAR1 around in the truck all the time, so i'd have it when I came home. I'd put the little red dot on the split in his upper lip and ask him to let my wife go. If he didn't comply, i'd put one of those 125gr rem sp through that spot.

I guess with the SAR and him packing a semi-auto I could put a round into the barrel and slide, but the fragments would cause a problem, some slides it would penetrate, some it would explode the bullet. I know on my 1" steel plate targets out here the target is 5'11" tall, a hit to center mass with a rifle will cut the grass on the ground around the target. You can actually call your shots by the lead circle on impact.

Another thought I have is if your wife is facing you, you will throw powder residue, I know at close range often you find powder holes in paper, you are likely to ruin her eyesight with that residue.

Another thought I have had was if I had the Shotgun, full choke and 000buck, could you simply sever the whole arm? I normally leave a SG in ever vehicle, plus the ones in the house(I live in rattlesnake country). I know that at 15' or less the shot is pretty much packed into a cone, my 870 I carry leaves a 3" ragged hole in paper and in hogs if the come that close. I'm going to have to try an experiment on the next big hog I kill, see if I can sever his leg with a shot of buckshot and how far I can do it.