There's gotta be some sort of penalty for killing an innocent unsponsored instead of a -1 guns tat.

How about you incur a longer hour shot timer? 3 hours, 4 hours? 

When someone shoots an innocent how are they to know that it's an innocent? Punishing them for shooting someone that is innocent beyond the -1 seems kind of harsh when the majority of the time it's during war and they are trying to stop pro shots.

How do you punish someone for doing something wrong when they don't know that they are doing something wrong?

this is not the best idea in its current form, because not all innocents are innocent. 

IF you did that you also need to add like a 3 day timer to those new accounts also getting guns

Jeden. If the Gangster is sponsored, he's not innocent. If the Gangster has shot, he's not innocent. 

"When someone shoots an innocent how are they to know that it's an innocent?"

How about not just checking locals and firing on a random, unsponsored Gangster without using other resources to determine their intentions? They're innocent until they partake in a war...say a pro shot. That witness statement tells you they are not innocent. 

This adds another wrinkle to consider. Do you risk one of your own allies extended shot timer shooting at someone who you not certain is against you? Do you continue to murder innocents anyway and incur the cost of the 3 hour shot timer?

Are 4th and R labeled innocent?

Oh come on someone surely has an answer! The shot is no gain. Yet it happens often.  As I remember family rules across the board clearly emphasize these innocents are not to be shot at. How come WS is not requested when it happens? Probably b/c CL's who take shit too personally made the shot. ;)

Well, even though I started the thread I obviously realize HQ rules kinda go out the window in times of war. I'm not gonna stop blasting to find out who killed some random Gangster, innocent or otherwise. 

That is fair enough. Yet my question still stands in times of war or not. 

I would be in favour of stricter punishments for shooting innocents however there are some obvious issues.

Firstly not all "innocent" people deserve to avoid a bullet. If someone charges around calling everyone a dickhead, being generally disrespectful to the leaders and so on, then it is entirely understandable when that person is shot. A stricter punishment would likely encourage more of this type of behaviour.

The second issue, and this is mainly when we see these types of shots occurring, is during times of war. It isn't just a case of "firing on a random", it is removing a potential threat before they can prolong the harm being caused to your family. Take Officer_Harrison yesterday, an account designed to look like a CA which floated around under innocence protection for multiple hours and then quickly joined Pollo and pro wacked him. That person was not "innocent", it was an intentional deception. That's fine and completely within the rules but leads to other "innocent" people being slain preemptively to prevent it being repeated.

Perhaps if our intention is truly to protect the innocent, particularly post-war where they are most vulnerable, we could have some sort of "going to the mattresses" scenario whereby the person could choose to active this just after sign up. It would disable wack, locals, the ability to throw jails and any other method that might help someone in times of war, but still allow the game to be played and people could not be shot whilst in this mode. They could renew for a further 24 hours up to X amount of times. This way those who are truly not participating could be kept safe, play the game and not be inadvertently mistaken for a potential proer.

Considering that once upon a time, you could be blasted the minute you ranked to gangster with absolutely no repercussions, I'd say that there are more than enough safeguards in place.  If you feel otherwise, you could always pull your head out of your ass and join a family.  Anyone who is oblivious to the concept that, in a mafia RPG, joining a family is the way to protect yourself should maybe find a game where less brainpower is needed.  "Hello Kitty Island Adventures", for example.

No need to get shitty Nobody. I fully understand what this game is as well as how to play it. This was a suggestion born out of the howls in main every time a gangster got dropped - amplified by the blue colors in the obits. But thanks for your contribution.