We don’t recommend firing warning shots in personal defense situations. As our own John Boch recently noted, they’re a bad way to go for a variey of very good reasons. Depending on your location and the firearm-friendliness (or not) or your local prosecutor, you could be charged with a crime. Most consider warning shots use of deadly force and felonious assault.
Fortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case in an incident this week in Bloomfield, Connecticut.
Michael Ferrigon, 43, who has a history with the Bloomfield police department involving mental health issues and drug abuse,was reported to be involved in a disturbance Thursday midday. The investigation revealed that the individuals involved were longtime neighbors.
According to the police, this incident stemmed around Ferrigon approaching a 30-year-old female neighbor who was sitting in in her car. Ferrigon proceeded to open the unlocked car door and sat in the front passenger’s seat. Once inside he proceeded to tell the female that he “loved her, wanted to have her (sexually), and wanted to marry her”.
The woman honked the car’s horn and eventually got out of the car, attracting members of her family.
Ferrigon followed and was confronted by the female’s father and a fight ensued. Police say that during the scuffle, Ferrigon stated that he wanted to rape the female. As Ferrigon and the father of the victim wrestled, the father shouted to his wife to get his gun.
Reports say the father was then handed a .44 caliber revolver and he fired two shots into the air. Ferrigon then stopped his aggressions and returned to his own yard.
Ferrigon was arrested and the local state’s attorney declined to charge the father for discharging the weapon. So all’s well that ends well.
However, think twice before launching a warning shot into the air or ground. You could very well find that you’re the one who ends up in handcuffs.