ijosef wrote:I'd probably shoot too, but of course you won't know until it happens to you (which, hopefully, is never ever ever).
Perhaps people are more inclined to shoot nowadays since perpetrators don't always let you be after they get what they want. Think of the college student murdered in uptown - he gave up the wallet (as did the people he was with) and the subhuman shot him in the head anyway. There was that Hispanic couple in north Minneapolis that just finished a shift at McDonalds and were walking home. They were mugged by two subhumans, gave up their possessions, then were shot and killed while they walked away. There's a scumbag subhuman serving a life sentence for shooting a 19-year-old girl who worked at a convenience store. He robbed the place, she willingly gave him everything in the register, and he shot her anyways.
Nice anecdotes. However, you need to factor in a bunch of other things before you can figure out what the most likely case is for surviving.
What are the odds that giving up your possessions results in you living?
What are the odds of drawing your weapon results in you living? (sub-scenarios: criminal already has you/victim at gunpoint vs no guns out)
I believe in most cases if they have you/your family at gunpoint, drawing and shooting will result in a drastically lower chance of survival for you and your family. On the other hand, if they don't already have you at gunpoint, shooting first may end up making it more likely that you/your family survive.
I'm not sure how many people can see their wife with a gun to her head can actually get to the point where they pull their weapon and shoot. Yeah, it sounds all macho and Clint Eastwoodesque, but there are consequences to your actions, such as you shooting your wife and the criminal shooting you. Which is probably the most likely scenario.