The Incredibles teaches us that monologuing — ranting at your vanquished enemy before administering the coup de grace — is a bad idea. The sign above makes the same point. Instead of plugging his assailant(s), the Austin tavern keeper fired a warning shot and issued a verbal challenge. All very Hollywood and perhaps apocryphal, but really stupid . . .
Always remember: speed, surprise and violence of action is the best strategy to win a gunfight or, for that matter, any sort of fight. If you’re going to attack, go all in with as much violence as humanly possible.
You can’t learn or practice that strategy — what’s often called the “combat mindset” — at a square range. Loading your gun and shooting at a target ain’t it.
I can’t recommend force-on-force training highly (or often) enough. At the same time, I’m down with any firearms training course where the instructor or instructors do their level best to get your adrenalin flowing.
The Israeli self-defense system known as Krav Maga is based entirely on speed, surprise and violence of action. Even a single lesson (usually free) can give you valuable insight into what you need to survive a violent encounter, gun or no gun.
Meanwhile, for safety’s sake, realize that there comes a time when your words are meaningless. A danger to your survival, in fact. Delaying you from doing what needs to be done, giving your assailant precious time to gain the action advantage (action beats reaction).
Bottom line: no warning shots, ballistic or spoken.