"thunder" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 09 Dec 2005 18:17:33 +0000, Bill McKee wrote:


He very much could have had a bomb. Just not able to fire it off. Same
as the guy trying to light the fuse on the shoe bomb. Nuts or not, if
you
make a statement that you have a bomb, while on an airplane or public
area
with lots of people, I would not fault anybody from shooting the guy in
the head, and killing him very quickly. That includes those with
Concealed Carry permits. Just make sure there are witnesses to the bomb
statement.

Those same witnesses would be testifying against you in court. Air
Marshals operate to different guidelines, and from the little we know of
the circumstances, this shooting was probably justified. However, under
the guidelines of most jurisdictions, this man's behavior doesn't fit a
policeman's guidelines for deadly force, but the guidelines are in debate
as we speak. However, as a civilian, you had better pray for a
sympathetic jury, because you would be facing one.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...080301867.html


You're correct about different guidelines. The simplest would be that you
might be handled differently if you said you had a bomb, but were standing
in the middle of a street which could be cleared of potential victims, or
alternately, on an airplane ramp not far from passengers stuck behind you in
the jet and a wing loaded with jet fuel.