aemeijers wrote:

I haven't been tough-talking, but I have shot in the general
direction of a person up to no good. I wasn't sure where they were,
but they didn't know that. It happened to achieve the desired
result very well.

Firing without having a target? Firing a warning shot without a known
safe backstop (like the ground or a hillside)? Okay, gotcha.

Hope you don't live around here, and that your neighbors are very far
away.

This is one of the first techniques a warrior learns.

It's official name is "covering fire" or "suppressive fire" and its purpose
is to force the adversary to remain under cover and not return (what's known
as) "lethal fire."

When faced with both a 100% armed assailant and an unquantifiable, but
vanishingly small, probability of collateral damage, the warrior has no
question and no hesitation.