# Would you shoot child and kill your child in this situation? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 2, 2004, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-shoot-child-and-kill-your-child-in-this-situation/277759 "2004-12-02T20:57:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aeb1de/32.png) [@Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kel_Varnsen_Latex_Division)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2004, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-shoot-child-and-kill-your-child-in-this-situation/277759/1 "2004-12-02T20:57:38Z")
You are driving out in middle of the country. There is nobody else around. Your back left tire blows and you lose control of the car and it hits a tree. There is a lot of damage to the car. Your seven year-old child is trapped by the dashboard crushing your child. You can’t get your child out. The accident also caused a fire. There is no way to stop the fire. Your child is going to burn to death. Your child is also aware of the situation was not knocked out by the accident. You have a hand gun with you. Would you shoot your child as soon as to realized your child would burn to death? Would you shoot your child when your child starts to burn? Or would you watch your child burn to death? Would you hold someone who killed their child in this situation to be morally responsible for murder? ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2004, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-shoot-child-and-kill-your-child-in-this-situation/277759/2 "2004-12-02T20:59:51Z")
Hey, merry fucking christmas, dude! ---
**Author:** ![kezami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eb8c5e/32.png) [@kezami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kezami)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2004, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-shoot-child-and-kill-your-child-in-this-situation/277759/3 "2004-12-02T21:03:57Z")
I’d shoot myself so I wouldn’t have to witness his suffering. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2004, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-shoot-child-and-kill-your-child-in-this-situation/277759/4 "2004-12-02T21:07:44Z")
> [@Kel Varnsen - Latex Division](#): > > You are driving out in middle of the country. There is nobody else around. Your back left tire blows and you lose control of the car and it hits a tree. There is a lot of damage to the car. Your seven year-old child is trapped by the dashboard crushing your child. You can’t get your child out. The accident also caused a fire. There is no way to stop the fire. Your child is going to burn to death. Your child is also aware of the situation was not knocked out by the accident. You have a hand gun with you. Would you shoot your child as soon as to realized your child would burn to death? Would you shoot your child when your child starts to burn? Or would you watch your child burn to death? Would you hold someone who killed their child in this situation to be morally responsible for murder? I really can’t see what place this question has in great debates. It’s a grotesque dilemma that borders on emotional pornography. If you’re trying to make a metaphor for assisted suicide I would suggest you try again. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2004, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-shoot-child-and-kill-your-child-in-this-situation/277759/5 "2004-12-02T21:07:57Z")
Why do you have an unsecured gun near your child? Hmph, talk about irresponsible parenting! ---
**Author:** ![Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aeb1de/32.png) [@Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kel_Varnsen_Latex_Division)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2004, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-shoot-child-and-kill-your-child-in-this-situation/277759/6 "2004-12-02T21:08:03Z")
> [@](#): > > I’d shoot myself so I wouldn’t have to witness his suffering. The child still suffers. ---
**Author:** ![Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aeb1de/32.png) [@Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kel_Varnsen_Latex_Division)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2004, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-shoot-child-and-kill-your-child-in-this-situation/277759/7 "2004-12-02T21:12:04Z")
> [@](#): > > I really can’t see what place this question has in great debates. It’s a grotesque dilemma that borders on emotional pornography. If you’re trying to make a metaphor for assisted suicide I would suggest you try again. I didn’t think it would fit in IMHO so I put it in here. There is a debate as to whether you would kill your child. > [@](#): > > Why do you have an unsecured gun near your child? Hmph, talk about irresponsible parenting! How do you know it not secure? You have it in a shoulder holster. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2004, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-shoot-child-and-kill-your-child-in-this-situation/277759/8 "2004-12-02T21:12:19Z")
Not sure what you are getting at with this…i.e. if its a loaded question and you have an agenda. To put it simply, I’d do whatever it took to get my child out of the car…or die trying. I wouldn’t shoot my child to end his/her suffering except in some fairly fantastic and unrealistic circumstances…and I’d probably then turn the gun on myself because it would destroy me. That answer your question? -XT ---
**Author:** ![rfgdxm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c0e974/32.png) [@rfgdxm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rfgdxm)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2004, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-shoot-child-and-kill-your-child-in-this-situation/277759/9 "2004-12-02T21:14:33Z")
My answer to the original question is yes. Then again, I actually have shaken the hand of Jack Kevorkian, so you can figure out from that my ethical bias. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2004, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-shoot-child-and-kill-your-child-in-this-situation/277759/10 "2004-12-02T21:17:10Z")
Jeez. I think **Kalhoun** said it best at post #2. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2004, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-shoot-child-and-kill-your-child-in-this-situation/277759/11 "2004-12-02T21:18:45Z")
I’d shoot the asshole who put a child in the front see of the car. ---
**Author:** ![rfgdxm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c0e974/32.png) [@rfgdxm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rfgdxm)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2004, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-shoot-child-and-kill-your-child-in-this-situation/277759/12 "2004-12-02T21:20:40Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > To put it simply, I’d do whatever it took to get my child out of the car…or die trying. I wouldn’t shoot my child to end his/her suffering except in some fairly fantastic and unrealistic circumstances…and I’d probably then turn the gun on myself because it would destroy me. > -XT Why would you turn the gun on yourself because it would destroy you? I would consider it morally more disturbing not to kill someone I cared about who was hopelessly suffering and could not be saved (unless they were capable of saying they just preferred to suffer hopelessly and die without intervention.) ---
**Author:** ![Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aeb1de/32.png) [@Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kel_Varnsen_Latex_Division)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2004, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-shoot-child-and-kill-your-child-in-this-situation/277759/13 "2004-12-02T21:22:07Z")
> [@](#): > > I’d shoot the asshole who put a child in the front see of the car. Don’t fight the hypothetical. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2004, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-shoot-child-and-kill-your-child-in-this-situation/277759/14 "2004-12-02T21:32:59Z")
> [@Kel Varnsen - Latex Division](#): > > You are driving out in middle of the country. There is nobody else around. Your back left tire blows and you lose control of the car and it hits a tree. There is a lot of damage to the car. Your seven year-old child is trapped by the dashboard crushing your child. You can’t get your child out. The accident also caused a fire. There is no way to stop the fire. Your child is going to burn to death. I would continue to struggle to put out the fire and to get the child loose until the child died or I died. There is no way in the world that the outcome could be clear, beyond the tiniest shred of a doubt, so I would fight what might be the inevitable until there was nothing left to fight for. I can’t know what’s inevitable until it happens. ---
**Author:** ![Malodorous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47774/32.png) [@Malodorous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malodorous)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2004, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-shoot-child-and-kill-your-child-in-this-situation/277759/15 "2004-12-02T21:40:07Z")
Wow, second child killing themed OP for you in as many days. Must be the SAD setting in. Also I don’t understand what this means, but I think I’m going to make it my new motto 'cause it sounds really cool: > [@Kel](#): > > Don’t fight the hypothetical As for the OP, I think that if I were in some sort of vulcan like super rational state and it was increadably obvious that there was no way to get the kid out of the car, I’d shoot him. But the reality is that I would almost certainly not be rational enough to do anything but futily try to pull him out, even if to an outside observer it would be obvious that it was hopeless. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2004, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-shoot-child-and-kill-your-child-in-this-situation/277759/16 "2004-12-02T21:40:27Z")
> [@rfgdxm](#): > > Why would you turn the gun on yourself because it would destroy you? I would consider it morally more disturbing not to kill someone I cared about who was hopelessly suffering and could not be saved (unless they were capable of saying they just preferred to suffer hopelessly and die without intervention.) Because it doesn’t make it any easier emotionally on the person pulling the plug, morality be damned. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2004, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-shoot-child-and-kill-your-child-in-this-situation/277759/17 "2004-12-02T21:45:25Z")
No I would not shoot the child, I would just watch him burn. Now if the front right tire had blown, then I’d plug him right between the eyes, but with the back left tire you have to watch him die. ---
**Author:** ![rfgdxm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c0e974/32.png) [@rfgdxm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rfgdxm)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2004, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-shoot-child-and-kill-your-child-in-this-situation/277759/18 "2004-12-02T21:49:04Z")
> [@Malodorous](#): > > As for the OP, I think that if I were in some sort of vulcan like super rational state and it was increadably obvious that there was no way to get the kid out of the car, I’d shoot him. But the reality is that I would almost certainly not be rational enough to do anything but futily try to pull him out, even if to an outside observer it would be obvious that it was hopeless. You have a good point here. The hypothetical chosen in the OP wasn’t the best in that it presumes some mere human in such a crisis situation could logically conclude that it was totally hopeless in seconds. Pretty hard in mere seconds to deduce: “There is no way to stop the fire. Your child is going to burn to death.” is unquestionably the case. ---
**Author:** ![PaulFitzroy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/2acd7d/32.png) [@PaulFitzroy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulFitzroy)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2004, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-shoot-child-and-kill-your-child-in-this-situation/277759/19 "2004-12-02T21:54:03Z")
> [@](#): > > Would you shoot child and kill your child in this situation? Only if I wanted to go to jail for murder. If I was a cop and I came upon the scene you’ve described, I’d think it was the work of a stupid killer who shot his son and then tried to burn his body beyond recognition, making it look like he died in the car accident. ---
**Author:** ![wnorthr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecccb3/32.png) [@wnorthr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wnorthr)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2004, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-shoot-child-and-kill-your-child-in-this-situation/277759/20 "2004-12-02T21:57:05Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#): > > Hey, merry fucking christmas, dude! That was great. Now I have to clean the coke out of my keyboard. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-shoot-child-and-kill-your-child-in-this-situation/277759.md?page=2)