Street Robberies and You

[74novaman]

I would normally never redirect people here to another site, because this is the most knowledgeable, friendly website I frequent. That being said, there is an EXCELLENT post over on ar15.com from an LEO about street robberies/muggings. I highly recommend it.

Link:
http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_1_5/128548 ... asics.html

As a teaser, here is the last 2 paragraphs of the post (but the whole thing is very informative)

Last year we had a trial here regarding an armed robbery that occurred. Three or four guys took a young couple from a parking garage near a college out by some railroad tracks where they raped, shot, and beat them. Their lives will never be the same.

The lesser thugs all turned on the trigger man at trial. The trigger man's statement in the paper was after all that had happened he felt like he was a victim. Think about that. That is the mindset you are up against.

[C-dub]

That was good read. A few bad words so beware.

I know these are many things I have already considered and I hope that many people new to CHL have or will soon consider these things for themselves. I'm sure all of our LEO friends on the forum have and many of our other friends here have lived this.

[discoqueen]

Great read. Thanks for posting.

[Salty1]

Thanks for posting the link, many words of wisdom are contained in his write up, it is spot on.........................

[C247]

I would love to see this stickied to "New to CHL" section. I'm relatively new to CHL and it's always good to have insight into the general mindset necessary for protecting ourselves.

People mention that military folks have the mindset to quickly react etc but I notice that articles like this one help remind myself of that mentality I had while deployed. The civilian world feels different and I occasionally forget how messed up people in the States are.

[mrvmax]

Not bad but some info he suggests is wrong and may get you into trouble. Take the good and use it and forget the bad advice.

[Heartland Patriot]

Not bad but some info he suggests is wrong and may get you into trouble. Take the good and use it and forget the bad advice.

It would be useful if someone who is knowledgeable could point out "the good" and "the bad"...I thought the article was hard-hitting and to the point, though.

[C-dub]

Not bad but some info he suggests is wrong and may get you into trouble. Take the good and use it and forget the bad advice.

Such as?

[A-R]

Good stuff. In one part, he may be advocating drawing too early - but it's a grey area and I certainly understand his point of view.

[snatchel]

Decent read.....

[74novaman]

Good stuff. In one part, he may be advocating drawing too early - but it's a grey area and I certainly understand his point of view.

Yeah, I waffle on that myself. Guess I wont know for sure till it comes to it, but any scenario where I'm isolated enough the thug thinks he's safe attacking me, I probably don't have to worry about alarming anyone else with a preemptive draw. And if it's something that could turn him away, or give me that extra half second before he's on top of me, I'd say the risk/reward scale is tipped towards a draw.

Personally, ive been interviewed by both a panhandler looking for change and a thug looking for an opportunity. The scenarios feel different enough I don't think drawing if you feel it's gotten to that point of confrontation is necessarily wrong.

[powerboatr]

thanks
good read
my wife and I took a "class" a few years back with a Florida towns sheriff office, it layed out what they have to go through day to day and to become a trusted leo.

one of the "classes" was a shoot out/patrol with a real officer on your left as you walked a beat and checked out parking garages and other neat places, with bad guys and good guys all around, in a virtual reality type setting, your gun made noise, smoked and kicked like a real 10mm. the video was excellent. so was the gut hit when you got shot.
It showed you in very short order how fast a BG can be on you and your dead or injured.
it would be excellent if chl holders had an affordable way to do such training. It has made us more aware of our surroundings, without looking so much like we are scanning the crowd so to speak.

here with everyone expressing views and the like, i think makes us better all around at absorbing the info then digesting the good stuff to make us a safer person

the town had a new sherriff, and he was cleaning house after many years of wild wild west officers, yanking you out of your car through your open window during traffic stops, for no good reason REALLY.
he was trying to show the community things were A CHANGING.

[PeteCamp]

Please understand...I am not advocating this. It is just something I have heard in discussions with undercover officers. It is something to be considered if/when the situation warrants.

Even in broad daylight, most people will not see a handgun in the hand unless it is held above waist level. If kept close to the body, or behind a leg, very, very few people will notice it. In a deserted setting at night, when you are most likely to encounter the need to draw the weapon, there is hardly any chance at all. From my experience most witnesses have enough trouble distinguishing a revolver from a pistol and whether it is black, chrome, or even dayglow orange. I too have never heard a report of a would-be armed robber calling police to report that someone drew down on him.

Other than that issue, which is a particular concern to CHL'ers, I think the advice in the article pretty much sums up the issue. I don't see much wrong. He is dead on about the issue of mindset. That is the real key to surviving such an incident. It is amazing that such a thing appeared on ARfcom.

[fishman]

Great read, thanks for poosting it.

[bizarrenormality]

Personally, ive been interviewed by both a panhandler looking for change and a thug looking for an opportunity. The scenarios feel different enough I don't think drawing if you feel it's gotten to that point of confrontation is necessarily wrong.

I agree. I was talking with a friend of mine about the arf post and he was asking what if the suspicious guy is a plainclothes cop. Good question, but like you said, I think you can tell the difference between an honest cop, a panhandler, and a mugger by how they react to your visual cues and verbalization.