# Would you shoot out three people's knee caps to save a loved one's life? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 12, 2015, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-shoot-out-three-peoples-knee-caps-to-save-a-loved-ones-life/737400 "2015-11-12T19:41:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2015, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-shoot-out-three-peoples-knee-caps-to-save-a-loved-ones-life/737400/21 "2015-11-13T00:23:32Z")
Yep, if it’s my kid or grandkid, sorry about the knee guys, but I have to do it. I’ll work the rest of my life to help them in whatever why I can for the injury I inflicted. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2015, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-shoot-out-three-peoples-knee-caps-to-save-a-loved-ones-life/737400/22 "2015-11-13T00:31:00Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > In case you’re wondering, I got this from watching 24 (live another day) wherein Mr. Bauer shoots out three innocent people’s knee caps in an effort to save the President from being assassinated. > > So I pose the hypothetical to you: > > You can sit back and do nothing and let your loved one get assassinated. Or you can blow out three innocent people’s knee caps which will somehow magically save your loved one from being assassinated. > > The three innocent people will live but they will never walk again. I haven’t watched the _24_ episode in question - out of curiosity, how \*necessary \*was it for Bauer to shoot the kneecaps? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2015, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-shoot-out-three-peoples-knee-caps-to-save-a-loved-ones-life/737400/23 "2015-11-13T00:36:11Z")
I might. Didn’t see the show so I don’t know what the circumstances were. ---
**Author:** ![Memnon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Memnon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Memnon)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2015, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-shoot-out-three-peoples-knee-caps-to-save-a-loved-ones-life/737400/24 "2015-11-13T00:40:36Z")
I’d kneecap 'em, knowing that if they were in my position they’d probably do the same to me (as the current poll results attest). I’d probably feel pretty bad about it, but then again I could just run away. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2015, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-shoot-out-three-peoples-knee-caps-to-save-a-loved-ones-life/737400/25 "2015-11-13T00:57:05Z")
Hold on a minute – Jack Bauer and the President were lovers??? I must’ve missed that subplot. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2015, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-shoot-out-three-peoples-knee-caps-to-save-a-loved-ones-life/737400/26 "2015-11-13T00:59:00Z")
In a heartbeat. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2015, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-shoot-out-three-peoples-knee-caps-to-save-a-loved-ones-life/737400/27 "2015-11-13T01:55:32Z")
I would do something but I wouldn’t knee-cap three innocent people. Clip an ear on one maybe, try a shot through a shoulder. But three? And all knee-caps? Couldn’t do it. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2015, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-shoot-out-three-peoples-knee-caps-to-save-a-loved-ones-life/737400/28 "2015-11-13T01:59:55Z")
I will murder any other than my wife, stepdaughter, favorite niece, and baby sister if such is necessary to save my kids’ lives. Merely crippling somebody? Please. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2015, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-shoot-out-three-peoples-knee-caps-to-save-a-loved-ones-life/737400/29 "2015-11-13T02:24:17Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Define innocent. > > I’ve got a lot of patients who claim to be innocent, but I’m tempted to shoot out their kneecaps even if it won’t save a loved one’s life. It’s times like this I wish the board had a like button. 🙂 (For the sake of the uninitiated, **Qadgop** is a prison doctor.) ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2015, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-shoot-out-three-peoples-knee-caps-to-save-a-loved-ones-life/737400/30 "2015-11-13T02:35:18Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I will murder any other than my wife, stepdaughter, favorite niece, and baby sister if such is necessary to save my kids’ lives. > > Merely crippling somebody? Please. That should be “murder any ADULT other than” etc. ---
**Author:** ![Reluctant\_A](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@Reluctant\_A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reluctant_A)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2015, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-shoot-out-three-peoples-knee-caps-to-save-a-loved-ones-life/737400/31 "2015-11-13T02:59:24Z")
This seems like a trick question to me. Why would anyone other than a hardcore pacifist say no? I am not a hardcore pacifist. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2015, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-shoot-out-three-peoples-knee-caps-to-save-a-loved-ones-life/737400/32 "2015-11-13T03:07:42Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > So you would effectively kill your loved one, to save other people’s knee caps? Glad I’m not your loved one. You’d cripple three innocent people? I’m also glad I’m not your loved one. That’s monstrous. I’d rather be a martyr to terrorism than participate in terrorism. Your mileage apparently differs. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2015, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-shoot-out-three-peoples-knee-caps-to-save-a-loved-ones-life/737400/33 "2015-11-13T03:11:17Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > I’d rather be a martyr to terrorism than participate in terrorism. Your mileage apparently differs. You wouldn’t be a martyr to terrorism, your loved one would be. Yours, not mine, because I’d shoot the bejesus out of any innocent bystander if it would save my wife. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2015, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-shoot-out-three-peoples-knee-caps-to-save-a-loved-ones-life/737400/34 "2015-11-13T03:22:19Z")
I will attempt to shoot the knee caps, but miss at least once while I am vomiting. So I cripple at least one person and still lose my love one. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2015, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-shoot-out-three-peoples-knee-caps-to-save-a-loved-ones-life/737400/35 "2015-11-13T04:11:11Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > You wouldn’t be a martyr to terrorism, your loved one would be. Yours, not mine, because I’d shoot the bejesus out of any innocent bystander if it would save my wife. I said “I would be,” because I was putting myself in that position, in order to advise my loved ones not to make this hellish Faustian bargain. I’d rather die than have to live at the expense of the permanent crippling of three people who have nothing to do with me. I can only see it as monstrous psychopathic terrorism that anyone would even consider that kind of thing. Would you kill four hundred people to save your wife? Nuke Tokyo? Kill every first-born child in Europe? Would your wife want you to do something that horrible? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2015, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-shoot-out-three-peoples-knee-caps-to-save-a-loved-ones-life/737400/36 "2015-11-13T04:13:14Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > I said “I would be,” because I was putting myself in that position, in order to advise my loved ones not to make this hellish Faustian bargain. I’d rather die than have to live at the expense of the permanent crippling of three people who have nothing to do with me. > > I can only see it as monstrous psychopathic terrorism that anyone would even consider that kind of thing. > > Would you kill four hundred people to save your wife? Nuke Tokyo? Kill every first-born child in Europe? I would definitely consider it. (Perhaps I’ve been in the Third World too long.) ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2015, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-shoot-out-three-peoples-knee-caps-to-save-a-loved-ones-life/737400/37 "2015-11-13T04:15:49Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > You wouldn’t be a martyr to terrorism, your loved one would be. Yours, not mine, because I’d shoot the bejesus out of any innocent bystander if it would save my wife. Is that what your wife would want? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2015, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-shoot-out-three-peoples-knee-caps-to-save-a-loved-ones-life/737400/38 "2015-11-13T04:17:33Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Would your wife want you to do something that horrible? > [@Grrr](#): > > Is that what your wife would want? I’d ask her afterward. In the meantime, I suggest you not stand near me during any situation that could lead to her being in peril. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2015, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-shoot-out-three-peoples-knee-caps-to-save-a-loved-ones-life/737400/39 "2015-11-13T05:44:26Z")
I think I don’t want to stand near you now… But that could just be because I’d have to travel several thousand miles to do that, and my travel arrangements aren’t up to date. BTW, I asked my sister, and she agrees with me. Don’t give in to terrorism. ---
**Author:** ![Not\_a\_Platypus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d26b3c/32.png) [@Not\_a\_Platypus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_a_Platypus)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2015, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-shoot-out-three-peoples-knee-caps-to-save-a-loved-ones-life/737400/40 "2015-11-13T05:52:49Z")
Sure, I value my husband’s life far more than a few kneecaps. The people will be maimed, and it wouldn’t be an easy decision, but I’d do it. If I the choice was between killing innocent people or letting him die, however, I’m not sure… I think I’d do almost anything for him, but I don’t know if it extends to murder. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-shoot-out-three-peoples-knee-caps-to-save-a-loved-ones-life/737400.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-shoot-out-three-peoples-knee-caps-to-save-a-loved-ones-life/737400.md?page=3)