Reader Isaak writes:
As some of you might know Sunday night’s episode of The Walking Dead was the season three finale. SPOILER ALERT In the episode, an opposing force is attacking the main group’s shelter. The young boy, Carl Grimes, is off in the woods, helping guard the few weaker members of their party. As the attacking force retreats from some well laid traps, a single young man with a shotgun does not escape as quickly. He runs off into the forest. Carl comes out from behind a rock and catches the young man running, and immediately tells him to drop his firearm . . .
The young man does not immediately respond. Instead of dropping the weapon, he tries to hand it to Carl. After a tense moment, Carl shoots and kills the young man.
On The Talking Dead (the after-show), a poll asked “Did Carl go too far when he killed the boy?” As of 10:52 EST on April 1, 48 percent of respondents ticked “Yes, the boy was surrendering.” Fifty-one percent chose “No, it’s smart not to trust anybody.”
Ignoring all the drama and junk that goes on with fictional television shows, I believe that it brings up an important self-defense tip. If you tell an attacker or intruder to “drop their weapon” do NOT, under any circumstances, accept any offer for them to hand it to you, let them approach you or let them form any sort of physical contact of any kind.
If I was in a similar situation in my home and I told someone to “STOP!” and/or “DROP IT!”, and they moved forward, I might repeat the command before shooting or I might not. Either way, given the speed at which an aggressor can launch an attack, one step forward is one step too many.