Originally Posted by
Loose Chain
It is a .357 Magnum, not a .327. I do have exactly that in a five shot hammerless Ruger. Ever seen Quigly Down Under? I don't need to practice and I have several to choose from. My quandary is one of the morality of shooting a dog and the wondering afterward if I really needed to or considering that maybe I am the problem somehow and all of that and the potential post dog conflict with the owner becoming dangerous. I don't know, as I said, I am at a loss on this as to the best approach and consider a gun to be something on the margin of what I would have ever considered doing as a general practice. I have spoken with the sheriff, he knows me casually and knows I have a carry permit, he told me to shoot the dog or any dog if indeed I felt in danger, it was my call.
I'm not a dog lover. I always hope I never have to harm someone else's animal but if it's me or the dog then the dog gets it. In the UK we're not allowed to carry guns at all but anything you can find at the scene is fair game. Here we have the Dangerous Dogs Act which gives all sorts of legal definitions as to what "dangerously out of control" means - while I don't think it gives people an explicit right to terminate a dog right there and then it does provide a concrete legal framework to deal with them later.
If you just shot someone's dog for trying to bite you and the owner saw the gun the chances are they would get very PO-ed at you but given they would immediately know you had a gun and were willing to use it for your own protection it's hard to see just what they would do. For them to draw their own weapon would merely invite a firefight and the distinct possibility they would be next in your sights.
I really do not want to escalate with the possible moral and other issues and guilt and all of that but at the same time, when is enough become enough? Could my previous encounters now cause me to over react and use deadly force when it is not needed because I am now, I hate to say it, afraid of large dogs?
IMO that doesn't matter. If a dog causes you to feel fearful for your personal safety (being reasonable here, like assuming it's running free rather than barking from behind a fence) then the owner has failed to keep it under control.
If you're going to even consider shooting at a dog then I'd make sure you've got some kind of camera so you've got a recording of the events leading up to you squeezing the trigger. At least that way if the owner does want to pursue things you can show video of yourself using the bike as a shield, the dog running at you snarling, whatever it was. If nothing else it will provide proof that you didn't just cycle up, shoot someone's dog at random and cycle off - chances are some wacko will claim you did that and they "have no idea why you shot their harmless pet that only wantd to play"