Every time we pull a gun on someone, a binary decision, ‘Shoot or Don’t Shoot,’ immediately ensues and continues until the gun is put away. That decision is not necessarily either conscious nor intentional. Because of that, we need to be very mindful of when we choose to place ourselves into that position. Two recent incidents, one involving a personal friend and one involving a gun celebrity, have reinforced that to me. In fact, we probably should change the common usage to Don’t Shoot/Shoot instead of vice versa.
Someone took me to task for criticizing Jan Morgan’s recent interaction with a car burglar. My comment was critical of her issuing commands to the burglar as if she was a POlice. Our objective(s) (METT-TC) as Private Citizens are very different than those who are duty bound to enforce the law vis-à-vis protecting ourselves and our loved ones. We ignore those distinctions at our peril. It’s a downside of taking our personal doctrine directly from the POlice.
The possibility of a Serious Mistake and subsequent Negative Outcome will always be present. That’s why developing our personal doctrine ahead of time, based on our needs and considerations, not someone else’s, is important.
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tacticalprofessor 
I get the difference but awhile back an instructor advised, If you say “po-lease don’t move”, it sounds like “police” but you didn’t say it.
I wonder how many actually know the law of their state respecting a threatening display or gun pointing a vehicle burglar or thief. Or the law of the state where they are on vacation carrying under reciprocity? (For Florida, for example, the analysis isn’t short or easy).
Is it deadly force? Non-deadly force? Threat of deadly force? Lawful “citizen’s” arrest? False imprisonment? Kidnapping? Assault? Is it justified? And what if the gun-point fails and the malefactor continues with the bad behavior? May I shoot her? Should I?
Cops gunpoint all the time where shooting for non-compliance wouldn’t be justified. Don’t imitate them.
“And what if the gun-point fails and the malefactor continues with the bad behavior? May I shoot her? Should I?”
That was the point in my original criticism. She ordered him to ‘get on the ground.’ What if he just stands there? Shoot or continue shouting commands in the goofy loop that cops often display?
“Get thee gone” would have been much better, IMO. Criminals are almost always happy to exit, given the opportunity. Set yourself up for success, not failure.
I think people really put themselves in a bad way. They count on people not calling their bluff. They overestimate themselves and underestimate the other feller. As you say non sworn LEO don’t go around barking ” on the ground” . That reeks of someone with no training and a very high opinion of themselves.
Another bad thing is people follow whatever gun ” celebrities ” says and does. Especially if they are charismatic and have a big social media presence.
I don’t know about the incident you mentioned about the car thief . But your mistake was going against a gun “ celebrity “ . Cool and flashy gun celebrities are all the rage.
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