Man stabs and beheads a passenger on a Greyhound bus in Manitoba

[c_rex]

I'ma take a different approach:
Harm avoidance is more important in self-defense than going after the attacker.  The victim was gone by the time anyone knew what was happening. Getting people to safety is priority number one.  Keeping them safe would be where more direct measures would be necessary. 

You can argue that putting a bullet in the head of the attacker would have stopped the guy cold but you'd be missing the point of the story regarding the psychological damage that the other victims on the bus incurred.  The image of a blood covered man weilding a knife, the sounds of screaming and the feeling of fleeing terror would not have been assuaged by the loud report of an unchambered round and the sight of the results.  The potential for collateral damage in the confines of a bus aisleway is very high as well, especially when folks are in panic mode and adrenaline/primal instinct takes over.  One could just as easily have been mistaken as attacker rather than 'good Samaritan'.

It is difficult to imagine what any of us would do until actually put into an extremely hostile situation.  People train for this stuff and still don't know until they're in it deep.  Hopefully none of us will ever have to find out.

[NeufUnSix]

Damn right I remember Dawson. I LIVED TWO BLOCKS AWAY FROM THE COLLEGE. I was walking to class at McGill when the SOB started shooting.

I still have no problems with guns, unlike most city folk. I unfortunately have to deal with the stigma of being a gun owner and enthusiast when I'm surrounded by knee-jerk liberals who think that responsible gun ownership is the same as owning illegal street weapons.