This is why I carry a gun (attempted mugging)

[SteelShooter]

waited too long and made a bad decision . The scumbag made a threat,
turn around and go backwards, if he keeps coming Draw, and see what happens. I would wait until he draws his knife, and then shoot.

JimB

So the next question is, after you draw and he runs away, do you call 911 and report it? I was told in safety class you should report it. Two concerns, one is if you don't report it the BG will say you assaulted him. Two, if you do report it, do they come and confiscate your gun until they finish their investigation?

 

[WILDCATT]

alert

I lived in roxbury and near dover st for 10 yrs.it was a different time.I was never confronted or robbed.I knew a number of bad guys and live block from where the Brinks boys divided the money.I did know Specs Okeefs wife by an introduction she lived in Stoughton.
The poster was about a reporter who normally cruised that section of town for stories.[nobody noted that].roxbury was pretty crime free in those days the Mafia did not allow crime in their home territory.things have changed for the worse,most of the BG I knew just wanted to rob and get away they did not want to shoot.now the scumbags shoot then rob.those also were the days we had a beat cop,and he knew every one.I did carry in those days,and getting a pistol was easy.I used to get lugers and P38 for $20.and of course could go in store and buy rifle or shotgun no questions asked.
any one remember BOSTON MUSIC.they had Johnson rifles $50.and Iver Johnson had a 3 story building off Scully sq,on Washington st.
If you want to survive now you must be alert at all times and prepared to kill
no shoot to wound bull.if your not you will lose.

 

[GSG]

If you were young and spry you should have kept on running. People can't aim worth $@!# when running and he only had -at most- 6 shots to figure this out.

I agree with your post, but the SOB with the snubbie could get lucky, or he could be a really good shot. I'd rather not have lead flying around me. But I'm willing to bet if you ran he wouldn't shoot anyway, he'd probably just wait at your car for you to come back.

+1

No handwringing here about what the police/press/neighbors/DA/my mom will think if I pull a pistol on some douchebag who is verbally threatening me with deadly force and has his hands hidden away.

You say you're gonna shoot me, be damn well and ready to do it. Because I am.

+1 to you. If the thug's writing checks with his mouth that his a** can't cash, that's his problem.

So the next question is, after you draw and he runs away, do you call 911 and report it? I was told in safety class you should report it. Two concerns, one is if you don't report it the BG will say you assaulted him. Two, if you do report it, do they come and confiscate your gun until they finish their investigation?

I think it honestly depends on the situation. Police reports are all public record, so if you report it and the thug wants to follow up with you, they can request the report and find out all your particulars, like your home address, and then show up a few weeks later in the middle of the night with 6 friends and their guns.

Lonsberry did report it to the cops (according to what he wrote), but if it happened like that to me and the dummy ran off, I might just go on my merry way.

 

[dreamer]

If you were young and spry you should have kept on running. People can't aim worth $@!# when running and he only had -at most- 6 shots to figure this out.

My mom told me this when I was little. Old enough that the news or topic of bad guys and abduction had come up in some other way, but I was maybe 5 or 6. She told me to run and scream and do anything I could to get away. That it didn't matter if they told me they were going to shoot me, or if they started to shoot. And that if they got me it would probably be worse than being shot.

Pretty shocking for a mom to say, but with all the times she's had a knife or gun pulled on her and made her way out I now know she's paranoid for a reason. A bit strange that it took her so long to accept that I now have guns and carry, but she's come around.

Fortunately I learned how to act defensively without calling attention to it. You can make the turn and step look incredibly gracious with some practice. The "who the ... are you and what do you want" can stay safely below the "after you sir, you seem to be in a rush" manner. I never walk the same pace as others on the sidewalk, and will always step aside to have anyone gaining on me pass. They're usually just harried commuters, but you never know.

 

[Jose]

If your handgun comes out of the holster, BE FIRST ON THE PHONE TO THE POLICE.

Massad Ayoob is very insistent on this point and I agree with him. The first one to lodge a complaint is labeled the "victim" in the initial investigation. Everyone else after that is a suspect.

Think through really hard about your triggers to use deadly force, considering the legalities of the use of deadly force in your state. Visualize them constantly, particularly playing the "if, then" game while out and about. Decide ahead of time about which situations will allow you to retreat and which ones will not and will require immediate escalation to escape severe injury or death.

Then when the trigger is tripped, act ruthlessly until the threat has been stopped.

 

[M1911]

Any thoughts on this?

Glad he had a gun. Unfortunately, he passed the interview, when he wanted to fail it. He should have been more forceful with the guy and shouldn't have turned his back.

Also, there is a reason why I stay out of the bad parts of town.

 

[jhblaze1]

waited too long and made a bad decision . The scumbag made a threat,
turn around and go backwards, if he keeps coming Draw, and see what happens. I would wait until he draws his knife, and then shoot.

JimB

another hypothetical:

Suppose you turn, walk backwards, and draw. You plan to wait until he makes a furtive movement or draws his own weapon berfore you fire. But, he never draws. He calls your bluff and keeps advancing on you, unarmed because he's either really stupid and not afraid of gun being pointed at him or B he thinks you're a bitch and won't shoot him.

Can you, in this circumstance, shoot?

I would think one could still justify self defense because if he continues his advance and makes an attempt to grab your gun, he could disarm you and use it against you, in which case I would be in fear of death or great bodily injury.

On the other hand, I could see the DA pressing charges on you for shooting an unarmed person.


Kind of a tough one...

 

[cekim]

Kind of a tough one...

Indeed...

Regardless of what I think, you'd be hard pressed to win a jury over on that one without a very expensive legal team arguing that you had to assume he was armed to be crazy enough to walk toward you.

Most juries are going to respond like some people around here have and assume you have a duty to be harmed to prove he was really, really dangerous...

I am sure MA law would argue you had a duty to attempt to retreat and would be looking for some sort of reasonable assertion on your part that he was armed if he never touched you...

On the bright side, few people are quite that crazy and/or confident, particularly muggers...

 

[drgrant]

If your handgun comes out of the holster, BE FIRST ON THE PHONE TO THE POLICE.

+1...

I'll take this a step further and suggest that if the BG sees your gun, even if it hasn't cleared the holster yet, you should always call the PD first- because you know the BG will probably go "waaah some guy threatened me with a gun" even if you didn't have to point it at the BG to get compliance. This happened to a guy on sigforum a few years ago in philadumpia; some bum pulled a knife on him, he went to draw, the bum backed away, but then later called the cops and gave him the victim's plate number and basically concocted a story of "this guy threatened me with a gun", etc.

-Mike

 

[cekim]

you should always call the PD first- because you know the BG will probably go "waaah some guy threatened me with a gun"

You could dial with one of these
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xd1SRtkhh-U

You know we joke, but pretty soon some idiot will want to put black boxes in guns that record everything... [sad2]

 

[CmdrFenix]

Why do I carry? It was around 8p one night. I was sitting on the porch with my then GF when I heard a noise from the woods that sounds like a woman being assaulted. I called 911 and waited... for almost 30 minutes for them to show up. Never again would someone ever threaten my family... ever. You break into my home... you threaten my family... I have some Federal Hydra-Shock JHP for ya.

 

[RHJJ]

Carry a gun carry pepper spray.