I’m sure you’ve seen the video below by now. Political activists/bullies, encroaching on people’s space to make their point, and, more importantly here, trying to intimidate the people into giving up their freedom to give the rioters their way.
The first thing I want to say about this is it is a difficult situation. Especially the more middle class you are, or the more formal the setting you are in.
The first difficulty is overcoming your upbringing and being able to shift gears out of the dining mindset into the confrontation/defense mindset. As I wrote about earlier, mindset is your friend here. You are just there to do the job at hand.
Doing The Job, However, Requires A Few Things To Find The Proper Response
You really need to be able to read the crowd, both the other diners and the thugs demanding your obeisance to their worldview. Can you count on help from others in the diner crowd? Maybe, but “hope” is not a plan, and you cannot count on it. The most important read you can do is on the thugs/activists.
You need to assess, rapidly, their dedication to their cause. Look for obvious clues to how violent they might be:
- Are there any weapons visible?
- Are they patterned in a way that provides you a more clear route to exfiltrate?
You need to be able to do this unobtrusively, quickly, and be able to process the information to make a plan of action.
Related: Are you a Community Member or a Lone Wolf Survivalist?
There Are A Few Basic Courses Of Action You Can Take
The first is to sit there and take it. This may sound glib, but it is not. If your threat assessment determined that they are just going to yell and scream, you can just wait it out.
Obviously, threat assessment must be ongoing, because it can change at the drop of a hat.
Always be looking for routes of escape, and don’t limit yourself to the obvious ones. If it gets bad enough, people make wonderful objects to break windows or drywall to make an emergency exit with.
Sitting there and taking it was the course of action the lady in the video chose, and in this case, it worked.
The next thing you can do is to get up and make your way inside the establishment and use that changed environment to get to the exit and leave. Unfortunately, you need to stay aware of the crowd you are escaping from. A mob is very susceptible to prey drive.
As my friend Rory Miller says, they can and will escalate to violence for several reasons, including to prove they belong to the group, and you are an outsider.
Using your cell phone to call the police is an option but seems to be a low return option at this point. Due to the civil unrest/riots everywhere, they may not have resources available to help you.
What If None Of These Options Work? Move To “Desperate Options”
The next options are for when your threat assessment determines that it has the potential for violence, or it is now, actively, becoming violent. Beware, these options are hard and dark.
Aggressive Escape is the first “desperate option” we will cover. Using this option, violence comes first but is not the main point of the exercise.
Basically, what you are doing is picking one of the opposing crowd, and attacking them violently to make a hole you can get through. If you hurt one of the crowd, you need to make your escape as fast as you can, as the thugs will try to get payback on you for the damage and pain you have caused.
If possible, use a weapon. If you do not have one on you, a restaurant is chock-full of useful tools. A water glass driven into an eye socket or the bridge of the nose. A dinner plate, edge first to the throat, or salt/pepper shakers to the temples, candles into the eyeballs.
I’m sure you get the picture.
The Crowd Has Turned Into A Violent Mob. What Now?
Next, we get to the most serious scenario. Your threat assessment has determined violence is imminent or the crowd is becoming a violent mob. This is the time to become very matter of fact and know what job you need to do.
In my classes, I simply call these things ‘maiming’, and it is only for very serious situations. This is where you begin taking people apart. We have all heard the jokes about throat punching…
This is what it is for. Steak knives, gouging eyes, ripping noses, fish hooking, vile things made to make your attackers back up so you can keep making your way to escape.
There is no way to make this nice, and I want to reiterate, this is for the worst-case scenario, and it can be nasty. This is where you only do things if your life is truly in danger, and you are doing this to escape and get your people to safety.
I’d Like To Close This By Addressing Things And Questions That Have Come Up In Classes Or Emails
What about stun guns?
I think they are worthless. My friends and I would play tag with them when we were younger. The only thing they are good for, in my opinion, is to make a quick hole to get through in a crowd. They are not a good choice.
What about pepper spray?
Pepper spray should be thought of as an eye jab in a can, a quick distraction to either escape or launch a stronger attack with a better weapon. It is a bonus that you can beat people with the can when it is empty. If you are going to use it to make an escape opening, please use 15% or better, and spray it either directly in to the face of one person, and make sure they get all of it, or, spray in a wide ‘S’ pattern too get more people.
Bear spray or pepper grenades are awesome, but I don’t think even I would be carrying those to a nice dinner downtown.
Is a gun the ultimate solution?
Well, maybe. It depends. That would be a giant can of worms to discuss here. Suffice to say that during a mob encounter, there are some things you need to think about and practice. Be prepared for serious legal ramifications in our current climate.
Related: How to Avoid Being Targeted by Looters During a Period of Civil Unrest
Mob Violence Is Becoming More Of A Normal Feature Of Modern Life In The US.
As always, awareness is your best friend and primary warning system.
This article was written by Terry Trahan and first appeared on The Organic Prepper.
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Seems to me, the A number one way to avoid this situation is to practice situational awareness and avoidance. If you see anything that looks like a protest, or see a crowd forming, get out.
Of course, if you’re “grey”, you can pull on a mask, skirt the crowd, chanting along with them until you have reached an exit, then skedaddle.
Excellent Article for these Strange Times that we are in.
We should always carry some sort of weapon. A tactical pen, a rat tailed comb. or brush, a multitool, or knife. Even a 6 inch piece of 3/4″ wooden dowel can be concealed in a pocket or purse and used as an effective weapon. Like you said, butter knives, forks, spoons, plates, and glasses, are quite handy too. MOST Folks are not thinking like this though. They are situationally speaking, sitting in the dark.
A BIC lighter in each pocket keeps a tight fist.
If you are having to sit there and take it, you have waited too late to take decisive preventative action. People dressed in Black Bloc assembling in the parking lot is the first sign of trouble. They are not there to enjoy the cuisine. Restaurants are required by law to have more than one exit. Use the one they are not pouring through. Don’t worry about the check. Come back and pay later. If necessary, go through the kitchen on the way out. Don’t wait to see why they are there. Situational awareness is better than a knife or fork or gun.
RR – These days, you gotta take a real good peek outside before you walk out that back door!
Excellent advice.
When you say to use Bear spray, you better think twice about using it on a person,since it states on the can that it is for Bears and not humans, plus it is illegal in just about every state to use it against anyone or anything but a bear.
That’s why they invented the backhoe.
Charles E are you going to think twice about using Bear spray when there is an angry mob ready to lynch you ?? Because I can promise you while they’re beating you down with a Billy club, and curb stomping your head into oblivion and maybe they’re beating your family down right in front of your eyes as well, I can tell you right now, being a law abiding citizen is the last thing on their mind. You might as well rotate the can 180 degrees and spay your own eyes!
If your where this stuff could happen, use a cane &/or carry apointed umbrella. one can poke their way through a crowd and or make the more protective process eaiser.
It is my opinion that if you are forced to use lethal weapons, ie., knife or firearm, shoot or slash the most vocal or aggressive one in the face. The sight of blood often times has a stunning effect on people. Getting splattered in the face with brain material or blood enhances that stunning effect. Take advantage of that short interval to exit the scene. If you must move someone, again attack the face. Continue until you are free. The point of aim should be the the eyes for both knife and firearm. The result sought is a bloody face preferably with blood pumping due to a severed artery. The bloodier the better.
Certainly surrounded by a mob like that you should be in fear for your life.
LCC – Do you teach self defense? If you do, when is the next class? ????
I always buy my alcoholic beverages in a glass. A shot of alcoholic beverage in the eyes is disorienting. A bottle or a can doesn’t dispense the beverage as well as a glass. Depending upon what your poison is temporary blinding can leave one free to wreak mayhem on the lucky recipient of the free drink.
Typically in a crowd situation when the loudmouth gets taken out the sheep start to reconsider. It will take them a while to regroup their thoughts some of which will be to decide on another victim. In the meantime, wreak as much mayhem as you can as you head to an exit. Cuts to the head bleed far more than a cut to the chest. Nothing looks more gruesome than blood running down all sides of the face and head. Plus blood in the eyes really limits vision. Just ask any boxer.
A wine bottle makes a formidable club, especially expensive wines which come in thicker bottles. Cheaper wines come in thinner bottles which when broken over the head of the loudmouth then make a dandy slashing device.
If you can grab some long hair, bite off an ear. Spit the ear in some other lucky recipient’s face. Draw up a hocker and spit it in someone else’s face.
The object is to look like a deranged Berserker. All the while moving toward your objective which is out of the area, hopefully through a building where you can throw chairs, trash containers and push tables in the path of anyone who follows you.
OMG! WHAT has happen to my country. ? I weep for what’s left of America but I not weeping hard enough that I won’t fight back !
We have been sold out by both political parties on many issues, it appears the time has come when we must protect ourselves against rampaging lawbreakers.
Saddle up ! We are going to be needed quite soon..
God Bless you and God Bless America.
You are exactly right about both political parties.
Exactly. Take out the “leader” first.
The leader in the video looks like a marshmallow, in fact it looks like a crowd of angry marshmallows.
Hoss, you say don’t use bear spray? What a joke, I was use anything to protect me and mine? I agree the best thing to do, is not put yourself in a bad situation! But if you get in one, use all and every possible means to get yourself out of it? Many ways to skin a cat? You try and do harm to me and mine, I will show no mercy at all!!!! That’s the problem with people taking this liberal mindset? Stand up to it at all cost!!? Give no quarter? Your life, your family’s life, depend of it!!!!
If and when it all comes down to this, my rule of thumb is – don’t hesitate!
Terry, you are absolutely right about “shifting” your mindset. (GO IS FASTER THAN BANG) If you already know how you are going to respond to a life threatening situation, you will never again, assume the position of a Victim. Knowledge is Power, Weapons are Tools.
Just start yelling no justice no peace, while you slow down and let the mob pass you by, then run like hell.
Don’t put yourself in a situation where an angry mob is an issue.
True that. Situational awareness is paramount. Condition Yellow all the time. Be aware. Get your head out of your phone. Concentrate on traffic rather than concentrating on the words to the latest noise coming from the radio. Do not use drive time to concentrate on your morning tasks. Wait until you get to work, if you still have a job, before you start to lay out the day’s work. If you don’t make it because you got caught in a mob it won’t matter how well organized you had your morning.
Do you walk around listening to music or some motivational speech on your device? You are out of the loop if you do. That is the equivalent of driving with your eyes closed. That kind of disengagement will make you the victim of the lone wolf predator. They look for someone who is zoned out.
While I have great sympathy for the two LASO officers who were shot in Los Angeles this weekend, they were zoned out. They were on patrol in enemy territory and not paying attention. The area they were in is notorious for its high crime rate. They should have been in condition Yellow and instead were in condition White.
Head on a swivel, assess every person, event and situation, do scenarios in your head. Be aware of cars driving next to you. Leave enough spare between cars when driving. Lock car doors. At stop signs or lights always leave enough space between you and the car in front of you to pull out and escape.
Jake: I frequently read the advice to leave space to allow escape. Since first reading that years ago I have paid more attention to position at traffic lights. Observing traffic at stoplights in my suburban town, I occasionally see someone who has left a car length behind the car in front. That’s fine if there are no lanes of traffic on either side. It doesn’t do much good to leave a car length between you and the car in front if the guy behind you is a foot and a half from your bumper and the lanes on either side of you are full of cars. Even if you are in the lane adjacent to the sidewalk, typically a significant number of sidewalks at intersections are only four feet wide in order to allow more room for motor vehicle lanes. Even if you are able to ram your car or truck up onto the sidewalk there is no place to move either forward or backward.
Most urban intersections now have left turn only lanes in order to expedite left turning traffic, so placing your vehicle in the far left hand lane only works if you are indeed turning left.
So, to be more accurate, I think the advice about leaving space behind the vehicle in front of you is conditional. Where it can be helpful, leave room to evade. Where there is no escape possible, it doesn’t matter where you stop your vehicle. It is false hope to depend upon others reacting in a thoughtful manner. In heavy traffic keep your doors locked and use the a/c for cooling. Turn off the radio and put your phone away. Maintain condition Yellow. I think fully half the drivers on the road are checking their phones while sitting at traffic lights.
If you are looking at your messages while at a light you can’t see the mob forming in the intersection blocking traffic. If you see the mob forming, you can abandon your car and retreat on foot if you can’t move because you are hemmed in.
Well than I suggest you don’t leave any space. As for me I take every possible advantage. Leaving space to turn out may not always work but it can work. Do what you feel comfortable with.
Staying home seems to be the best option these days
Thanks for writing this. We don’t live where this would ever happen. That’s why we left the city years ago. People do what works for them. When this stuff happens people make choices to stay or leave the area they live in.
While you may feel safe living in the country, remember the story of the folks in Kansas who were as far in the country as one can get and yet were still horrifically massacred by a pair of psychopaths. Or the doctor living in semi rural suburban Connecticut whose wife, and two teenage daughters were horrifically tortured and raped before being burned alive.
While incidents like the two I mentioned are rare in a rural setting, the mere fact that you are basically on your own maybe miles from your nearest neighbor make you a great target for psychopaths intent on evil.
Please don’t fall into the mindset that, “Well, we live ten miles from the nearest small town and there hasn’t been a felony committed in the county for 25 years. so we are safe.”
It only takes one psychopath to turn your life into a living hell before you die. Keep your guard up. Stay in condition yellow. Carry a sidearm with you at all times. Just because you are paranoid doesn’t mean there isn’t a psychopath coming down the road to your farm in his beat up truck which will conveniently die just as it reaches the gate to your property so he has an excuse to approach you in a disarming manner.
Lock your doors at night. Make sure your ground floor windows are closed and secured and that there isn’t a convenient method of reaching the second story laying in the grass by the barn. Install window alarms so that if a window is opened the noise hopefully will awaken you or if during the day, alert you to intruders.
That incident in CT radically changed the way I go about my day to this very day, and is the reason I still maintain my 1995 wheels.
Yes, that was truly a husband’s and father’s worst nightmare. Burning at the stake after being drawn is too good a punishment for those killers. CC, you do know what the old English punishment of being drawn is, don’t you?
One’s belly is cut open, a not too pleasant experience in itself, and one intestines are slowly drawn out of the incision. It is what the medical profession calls somewhat uncomfortable. Other reports call it excruciatingly painful.
Here in the burbs, somehow lots of folks still haven’t gotten the message! They can very easily get picked off! Keys left in cars, cars left unlocked, gates unlocked, doors unlocked, first floor windows left open, easily picked door locks! My cousin who lives upstate laughed at me when I told him that I lock the backdoor when I take the trash out front! Somehow I think I’ll have the last laugh. Not funny at all!
All good points – I carry a full size S&W MP with 17 + 1 – I’m going to go to mag holders
After a firefight nobody ever said, “Next time I’m not bringing so much darned ammunition.”
Just about a year ago a law enforcement officer engaged in a firefight with a dedicated bad guy. The cop shot the bad guy 17 times. that’s 17 hits on the bad guy with 185 grain hollow pointed .45 automatic Colt pistol bullets. I don’t remember if they were +P, but they could have been. That’s a common +P load.
The bad guy continued to fight. He might have been dead but hadn’t realized it. Fortunately for the cop the bad guy’s aim was disrupted by the constant impact of .185 grain hollow point bullets. The gunfight finally stopped when the cop managed to get a hit in the bad guy’s brain bucket and when the brain such as it was shut down so did the bad guy.
That was two reloads under fire. Afterwards the cop is reported to have said he is switching to a 9 mm with 20 round capacity and carrying more magazines while on duty.
Notice that he was planning on higher capacity magazines and carrying more of the same, not cutting back on his ammo carry.
This cop needed more time on the firming range.45 was made to kill deranged nuts.I will not on a 9 because of it’s lacking of hitting power. If you doubt what I written read history on 1911 45 …then check out 9 mm. History
My evil twin wanted to post a sarcastic comment to NC, but my better half prevailed.
Any serious shootist will point out that punching holes is paper never prepares one to score X-rings hits when under fire. The best that one can do to prepare for that extreme situation is to practice in a shoot house but that is expensive and unless a shoot house range is near by, requires time to travel to and from the shoot house.
That said, even several trips to a shoot house doesn’t prepare one for returning fire while being shot at. Anyone who has seen the elephant, should they be willing to discuss the topic will tell you that there is no other experience in the world can prepare one for that circumstance.
As for the old .45 vs 9mm argument. In the days of solid ball ammo and before the .357 magnum, there was no question that the .45 acp and the .45 Colt were top dog as far as pistol rounds go. Today with modern ammunition and the many innovative projectiles that ammunition companies have developed, the real solution to ending a firefight is bullet placement.
I learned many years ago that the .45 acp service round was not the be all, end all as so many acclaimed. I recently posted to this list the tale of the Marine shot at a distance of less than three feet with a service .45 and service ammunition that glanced off the shootee’s breast bone, penetrated around his chest between his ribs and his skin and exited under his arm. The round had enough puissance to penetrate the wall of the guard shack, travel another 25 or so yards and penetrate both steel walls and inner plywood walls of a quonset hut and exit the other side of the quonset hut. The Marine only needed a bandaid on the entrance wound and the same on the exit wound.
That incident opened my eyes with regard to the vaunted .45 acp. A dead center shot should have ended that Marine’s life. It didn’t even faze him. He was able to walk to sick bay and wake the duty corpsman for treatment. He was just Joe Average Marine. He wasn’t any fire-breathing , weight-lifting, distance-running giant of a specimen.
The secret to one shot stops is bullet placement with a handgun that you are completely familiar with and comfortable shooting that allows you to reliably place shots to point of aim. The only pistol shot that will instantly stop a shooter is a shot to the brain which causes central nervous system collapse. A precisely aimed shot to the head while under fire from an aggressive opponent who may be high on any number of substances and have a full charge of adrenaline is, to put it mildly, damned difficult.
In the now infamous FBI shootout in Florida, one of the bad guys was fatally wounded in the first few seconds of the fire fight by a shot into his heart. He continued to fight while his life’s blood pumped out into his chest cavity. He was able to wound two FBI agents, one fatally, while he was still dying on his feet.
A charged up bad guy, who is experienced in confrontational situations, who is willing to face multiple armed law enforcement officers is not going to go down easily. Another example is the North Hollywood shootout where two perps deliberately set out to engage in a firefight with law enforcement. One was finally stopped with a head shot from a rifle. The other was unable to continue the fight because of blood loss and finally expired from his wounds.
What punching holes in paper does is familiarize oneself with the operation of the firearm so that in an extremely stressful situation one is able to continue to function and reload the firearm and be able to concentrate on the situation at hand and not have to switch concentration to perform some mechanical function with the firearm. The mechanics of the operation of your defensive weapon needs to be automatic. You need to be able to do that automatically without thinking about it while concentrating on your opponent.
The officer involved in the shooting I originally alluded to did everything correctly. He got 17 hits on the perp in the gunfight with the .45 and it didn’t put the perp down. The 185 grain hollow point moves out faster than the old service 230 grain round nose. It expands in human tissue to a greater diameter thus creating a bigger wound channel than the service round. The foot-pounds of energy expended on the target is greater with the 185 grain bullet traveling at a greater speed than the 230 grain round nose. Everything considered, the 185 grain hollow point, especially if it is the +P hollow point, is the superior defense round over the old military 230 grain round nose.
The reason the officer wanted to go to the 9 mm was because of the greater magazine capacity thus needing fewer magazine changes while engaging the perp. Even assuming that he had an 8 round magazine in his .45, that was two magazine changes during the fire fight. A 20 round magazine in 9 mm would have meant that he still had rounds in the magazine when he put the perp down.
The articles I have read about the incident don’t mention whether the officer missed hitting the perp with any shots, but I suspect with as much firing going on he probably did miss some. Fortunately, the hits he did make keep the perp off balance enough so that the perp wasn’t able to score any hits on the officer. There has never been to my knowledge any report of how many shots the perp got off in the exchange. It must have sounded like a squad fire fight to persons within earshot.
That’s why folks who take courses designed to train them for armed encounters are trained to keep shooting until the perp falls to the ground and make sure that he is absolutely out of the fight. The old saw is “Shoot until he thinks he is out of the fight, don’t stop when you think he is out of the fight.”
That’s why officers fire so many rounds. It may well be that the perp continued to act aggressively even after he was shot multiple times. Certainly that was the case in the situation originally described. I am sure if there were family members they decried the officer shooting him 17 times, with comments like “Why didn’t he shoot him in the hand? Why didn’t he shoot him in the leg?” It’s not television where the bad guy gets hit once and immediately drops dead or quits fighting.
Sorry for the long diatribe, but NC’s comments really show a lack of knowledge about firearms and shooting. He exhibits the common misconceptions about handguns and their efficacy.
When you can put fifty shots with your favorite handgun in the X ring at 25 yards under 5 minutes, then you are entitled to critique the officer’s gun handling and ammunition choice. Otherwise, your comment should be along the lines of, “Wow! One lucky officer. He certainly showed poise and skill in a terrifying situation.”
I’m a senior, unable to run, possibly even defend myself due to weakness, this stuff is scary, and I do think about how I would be able to get away…I am usually aware of what/who is around me, always look for escape routes around, I HATE crowds. so what would you advise a person like me do, if caught unawares? I have a CCW, but dont usually carry, been awhile since I’ve been able to practice, but would shoot if necessary. want to practice but nowhere to go since covid. so looking for other options….with things progressing the way they are, I am now sorry I sold my mtn home 2 yrs ago!
There is no reason why you can’t dry fire at home. Most professional shooters dry fire every day. In order to remain at the top of their form they must practice daily and they do so by dry firing. It is cheaper than live firing and you can easily spend 15 minutes dry firing each day where as you wouldn’t drive to the range for 15 minutes of firing.
Dry firing will not harm modern weapons with the exception of .22s which are rim fire and dry firing can damage either the breach of the firearm or the firing pin. You must use snap caps to dry fire a .22 either rifle or pistol.
If you are concerned about possible damage to your firearm, use snap caps. You can either make them yourself or buy professionally made snap caps.
To make your own snap caps, I take previously fired cases, punch out the primer. You can use a punch or even a nail to punch out the expended primer. Fill the case with silicone sealant until it extrudes from the primer hole. After the silicone has hardened cut off the extruded seal at the base of the case until the seal is flush with the base. Eventually with enough use the silicone will start to break down, just smooth the base over with a little silicone seal to restore the material in the primer cup.
When my wife is not in the TV room I practice dry firing against the TV set. Most images flash on the screen for just a second or two. You get good practice shooting at moving targets by dry firing against the TV screen.
ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS make sure the firearm is only loaded with snap caps. It has a deleterious effect on TV reception when you fire a live round into it. It makes the neighbors nervous and brings local law enforcement to your door asking probing, embarrassing questions and even may wind up in you making new friends in the holding cell while you try to contact a criminal defense attorney and arrange bail. Plus the booking photo that they release to the news media is always taken from an unflattering angle so that you look more menacing than you really are.
KT – I feel your pain. I am a senior also 73.
I specialize in Home and Self Defense.
I feel your frustration in not being able to get out and practice shooting.
I am State & DHS Ceritified Instr, and Home & Self Defense and RSO.
And Competition Combat Shooter.
So Consider this Option:
Consider the “FBI” Rule of 3’s:
ie Most gun fights:
– Last 3 seconds
– Are within 3yds(10ft)
– 3 Shots are fired
SO – What is more important ? Practicing Range Accuracy at 30ft or Your Draw ?
AT 10ft – You can probably “Point Shoot” ie “No Sights” and hit inside an 8in circle.
“High Center Chest”.
I can tell you what is just-as if not more important than actual shooting in gun defense is how fast and solid you can get your gun out of the holster
and “On Target” – Aligned on Target.
But – Your “Draw” needs to be on “Auto-Pilot”. That takes Practice – A LOT. Maybe 1k reps.
In a “Real” encounter you would be surprised how hard it is for most people to actually just “get to” their gun and get it out on target. It “aint” like the Range.
In a Real Fight/Attack – You will probably be surprised, ambushed etc maybe at night etc. You will be about as scared as you have ever been.
So Your “Draw” needs to be on “Auto Pilot”(ie Just happen w/o thinking about it, you will NOT have time to “think” about what to do and how.
And “That” – Your Draw – you can practice sitting on your couch.
Put your holster on and your carry gun(Unloaded) in it –
now practice just your Draw stroke to presentation 1,000 times.
Or get a full size BB gun on Amazon – S&W M&P or Glock. And use your full size BB gun to practice.
They are full size and will fit a real holster for that type real gun.
If you carry concealed with a shirt over your gun – than practice that way – ie clear your “Cover” 1st then Draw.
Practice indexing sights btwn the 4 corners of a picture frame on the wall.
No kidding. “That” needs to be “Automatic”. And is possibly more important than your accuracy since 98% of gun fights take place inside of 10ft(FBI Stats).
AND you have “maybe” 2 seconds to get your gun out and on target.
“That” you need to practice – a Lot.
Do “Just That” and you will be ahead of 98% of all Conceal Carriers out there.
This may be an option for you:
I Train people here in my home with Full Size BB Guns that “Look” Exactly like the
real thing – see Amazon – Glock and S&W M&P BB Pistols. And they are exactly Full
Size – just like a Real Gun. They are lighter than the real gun but the feel and (all important) trigger-pull is like a real gun. Sights are standard 3Dot-Combat.
AND – Cheap but good Holsters can be found for these guns. And your real gun will also fit these holsters.
Grip and Trigger pull are (primarily) what determines how accurate you can shoot.
And the BB guns satisfy that criteria. Recoil “control” is the one thing you cannot practice with these guns since they don’t really “Recoil”. Otherwise they are a lot like the real thing.
If you have a spare room or garage etc you can set up IDPA targets and shoot and move, practice attack scenarios while shooting with no danger of putting holes in your walls and no noise.
I use them for training students, and it works well.
Shoot with this criteria: As fast as you can shoot but still maintain your group inside of say a 4in circle. Set up a barrier as a “wall corner” that you can use for “cover” and shoot from behind it exposing just enough of yourself to shoot the threat target
ie “Combat Tactics”.
Shoot while moving L, R, Fwd, Back, Weak hand, Strong Hand, with a light, etc.
Like it will really happen when it does.
Do this just a few times a month and you will be “Way” ahead of 98% of people who
go to a flat range and just punch holes in targets – No Draw, moving, Low Light, etc .etc.
Maybe take your mask off and start coughing? ?
Only when I travel into the city would I ever see anything like this (although antifa did say they are coming to the rural areas) I always carry my pistol with me when going into the city, you never know and as LCC said, aim for the face, make a bloody show.
i’m finding it veeeeeerrrryyyy interesting that with regard to the ###@@@&&&***! who ever is causing the fires, since it appears that the cause of the fires usually is diagnosed as unknown, they’re already attacking the rural & urban & suburban areas & they now have blood on their hands!!
Y’all might want to check out the latest q drops at operationq.pub — there are photos from the weekend of antifa training in syria. Some of the “firefighters” are actually antifa with gas cans. It’s getting serious and we are no longer facing “Pantifa…” Those people were the front line to numb us. Be aware and be prepared. They are also threatening to take out our crops and force a starvations scenario. We are at war. Get your tribe together and plan accordingly.
“The enemy of my enemy is my friend”.
I can sure make myself look extremely sick and poor without anything so you would not want to get near me. I could quarantine myself maybe.
Head on a swivel, assess every person, event and situation, do scenarios in your head. Be aware of cars driving next to you. Leave enough spare between cars when driving. Lock car doors. At stop signs or lights always leave enough space between you and the car in front of you to pull out and escape.
I imagine the victim in the video thought,’oh, look at the colorful crowd of protesters coming this way.’ If I see a protest or mob I go the other way, I’ve no desire to watch a car wreck or, worse, be in one. So if you are trapped by a mob, or even one violent individual, you have failed in any number of ways. Be aware, don’t let your pride and ego lead you into danger.
If you have never been hit or kicked or struck and hurt you have no business thinking physical resistance is going to work for you. The moment you are smacked in the face it’s over for you, most fights are one punch fights. If over run by the mob your best course of action is that recommended for surviving a grizzly bear attack, throw yourself to the ground, curl up into the fetal position, play dead.
Or you can grab a chair, a crutch, a coat rack or whatever and, holding it horizontally in front of you, bum rush the crowd with every bit of passion and anger you have and keep on running if you make a hole.
There’s a great scene in an old prison movie called ‘Riot”, the great Jim Brown is surrounded by a bloodthirsty mob, calmly strips his belt off and wraps it around one giant hand making an armored fist and says, come on boys. But we’re not Jim Brown.
Start shooting into a crowd that wants to hurt you and say goodbye to everything you own and several years of your freedom.
Yes Ivy Mike I understand that. Guess I’d rather try living and let the dead or dying worry about what I lost fighting for my life. I figure better to dye trying than dye not trying.
Some other things to keep in mind when going out anywhere, is to wear a pair of sensible shoes, preferably something you can run in. Women need to consider this more than men. Not all women can run in heels and heels could put you at a disadvantage on the street, same with ballet flats, wedges, chunky heels and the like. However one possible good thing about heels needs to be mentioned. Stilettos can make a great weapon, a strike to tender areas of the body or face work well, if you wear them out consider bringing some tennis shoes to change into in the restaurant. Being conscious that at anytime crime could happen make you smart and vigilant and less likely to be victimized.
Jacques, Wear steel toed steel shank boots and kept the stilettos in your gym bag for self defense.
Don’t you mean my European shoulder bag, lol
If you’re a younger person, a beating by a mob may be a tolerable trade off to using a gun – if you feel like rolling those dice. But for an older person that could vary well be a death sentence = bad odds. From what I have observed from the riots on TV, no matter how big the crowd is, the first couple of shots send the attackers running in all directions which could give you a chance to escape. If you’ve got plenty of ammo maybe warning shots would work. Or, if your first round in the chamber is a shot shell, put it in the face of the apparent leader. That will put him out of commission as fast as a real bullet and you won’t be charged with murder. It seems that dealing with the legal system after, would be better than your relatives dealing with the morgue. Just thinking –
No warning shots. Every criminal defense lawyer will tell you the only reason to draw a firearm is if you are in fear of imminent serious bodily harm or death. If that is the situation, then you need to fire your firearm in self defense which mean shooting the source of that danger until the danger no longer exists.
Two-Shot Joe Biden with his advice to fire off a couple of shot gun rounds in the air from his home’s back porch from his home defense double barrel shotgun is bad tactical advice and bad legal advice and has been the source of much derision form the shooting community of which I consider myself a part.
First tactical: he now has an awkward club with which to ward off the bad guys who were approaching on his property if they indeed have evil intent. Or else he has to fumble trying to reload his double barrel shotgun which presents them with a clear opportunity to overpower him.
Or, legally, if they were merely trespassing, he has violated safety rules by discharging a firearm in the air without knowing where the pellets are going to land. He could well injure a child playing in the child’s yard some distance from his home. That is against most local ordinances and of course, in the PDRK against the CA Penal Code too.
You need to be totally familiar with your state’s laws regarding self defense. In some states you MUST retreat and can use lethal force only when there is no escape from sure severe harm or death. Other states take the other extreme and say that you have no duty to retreat and are entitled to defend yourself where you stand using lethal force if reasonably in fear of great bodily harm or death.
Those states use the mythical reasonable man standard. Would the reasonable man in similar circumstances fear for his safety or life? That’s the jury question. Every time a question like that is presented to a jury the outcome is like betting on how the dice will fall.
Even BIGGER Trouble Coming :
This election is headed to “both sides” claiming a win!
Too many late and write-in ballots.
My guess, right or wrong, Trump will NOT leave office.
Let the Violence “Really” begin.
Things seem headed to another Civil War and “That” will probably do it.
Thought we already did that so Black Folks could be free to do as they want?
But still need to be civil when stopped by Police
and obey commands like the rest of us do.
Now they seem to have an “Automatic” “Attitude”.
This time:
Black v White
Lib vs Conservative
City-Libs vs Rural-Conservative
Blacks vs Police
Militant Antifa vs Whites
ie a “Mess”
If trapped in a mob I will act like a Mobster –
until I can escape.
Otherwise:
“I” stand with the Police and 1st Responders.
“Back the Blue” is “On” my car.
Since I am a long time(10yr +) Combat Competition shooter,I will not go down easy.
“Always” “Carry”.
Anyone know about the 3 %’ers ?
X LEO’S AND MILITARY ?
Chapters ?
Opinions?
Different strategies ?
If your prediction comes to pass I won’t be surprised but I certainly hope not. I hope when it comes to actual armed conflict cooler, clearer-thinking heads will prevail and realize that we are just destroying ourselves.
I think we would see a lot more involvement from foreign countries if civil war happens than we saw in the last go-round. While Britain and France surreptitiously helped both sides, I think if there is another civil war we will see foreign troops actually landing in the U.S. to fight on one side or another.
I think if that happens we may see another world war because if the U.S. is involved in civil strife, China will immediately invade Taiwan. Russia will immediately invade some of the satellite countries that they used to control, especial Ukraine. We will have the criminal gangs in Mexico take advantage of the situation and try to re-annex territory that was ceded to the U.S. in the 19th century.
Canada will close her borders to the U.S. but find that fully closing that long border is very difficult much as we find it difficult.
The Mohammedans will certainly stir up trouble for both sides, so it might be a 3-way war. While they may not land an army, they certainly will step up infiltration through both our northern borders, thanks to lax immigration policies of our Canadian friends and mass infiltration through our southern border which already is difficult to defend thanks to misplaced sympathy in some circles for border crossers.
I fervently hope you are way wide of the mark, Defender.
I too “Truely Hope” I am wrong.
But like the Prepper Creed :
“I” – “Hope for best, prepare for the worst.”
We survived the Bush v Gore debacle which had the same election problems as we will likely face now.
Came down to Florida and Hand Counted ballots.
The Election official in Fla (A republican) finally decided Bush won – imagine that ?
It worked that time but we did not have BLM, Antifa, et al. to deal with.
This time could be real trouble. An actual a-symetric war of some kind.
You have a better grasp of the Big Picture and “Unintended Consequences” than me.
“I” – NOT being influential, rich, intelligent, powerful or connected, etal – concentrate on my condition and what “I” can do or not.
You make some very good points worth considering.
As for foreign intervention – I am thinking/hoping the US Mil would quash any of that.
We still have 10 ! Carrier Battle Groups. China – next – has 1-2. Russia – maybe 1.
And maybe more important, I think – we still have Polaris etc missle subs always out, on station, but not detectable. As a deterrent to any Nation Sponsored interference.
And a still Strong Ground and Air Force. For Now anyway.
And, apparently, an increasingly “Armed” Public – the “Silent Majority”?.
Since now Guns and Ammo are damn hard to find/buy.
Ammo is being rationed at stores – if they even have any. Most dont.
The Jihades – yeah they may try to take advantage – but have little to no support here like
in the mid-east. And there may be many groups of Militia who would gladly take them on.
I would not mind having a shot (or 2) at them myself.
The violent ones that is.
All “I” know how to do is keep stockpiling ammo and guns and supplies and keep shooting, “Tactically”, every week. Been doing all that for 10+ yr now.
300 + Tactical Matches. 3Gun, Multi-gun, IDPA, Combat Rifle, etc.
And fortifying my property. In my 70’s – cant/wont out-run them ?
And forming friendships with like-minded shooters I compete with.
Do “some” Firearms Instructing – State and DHS Certified Instr.
I can “now” “run” a pistol or AR in dark, in water, upside down – blind folded.
Calm and quiet but prepared & Dangerous if attacked.
ie They “can” get me but it may not be easy.
I am familiar with asymmetric battle.
I grew up Deep in Smokey Mtns 10 mi from paved roads.
Hunting for food, etc.
Been shot-at and had to return fire – ie “Been There”.
Asymetric/surprise gorilla attacks and fighting. Day and night.
I know what bullets coming by my head feels like. “I” get Mad more than scared.
But now live in standard suburb of mid size southern city but very near the country farms and woods.
ie my “x-fil” Strategy.
Any thoughts on the 3%’ers Militia – X LEO’s and X Mil ?
Hear talk of them possibly having a meeting near here soon – South East US.
Any thoughts on other strategies or techniques I should consider acquiring/dropping?
The “foreign intervention” could come in legally
(More or less) at the behest of a representative of the government. If Biden loses, and his minions refuse to acknowledge that, and his people set him up as “the legitimate president”, as I read it his “administration” could request UN assistance in the form of troops to seize control of the government.
I believe that is the main reason behind the scurrilous lies claiming Trump said POWS and war injured/dead vets were “stupid losers”, or whatever they made up. It’s a deliberate attempt to poison the support of the active military and veterans, in order to make a coup easier.
Miss Kitty, This is very plausible! They’ve been trying to but into our business before. Hmmmm? Who has the vote, and the forces that would be capable of supporting the UN on this initiative? Who has been buying up real estate here in the US? Who has been making sure the Swamp has full pockets? Hmmmmm?
Defender – You are what scares the absolute hell out of any foreign power thinking of invading the good old US of A! And I might add, that’s a job well done!
Good info and advice for these times. Where can I purchase snap caps for a .22 revolver?
For a .22 you can use spent shells as smap caps. After dropping the hammer several dozen times rotate each spent shell enough that the striker will impact another point on the shell.
Midwayusa.com has .22 snap caps. Amazon has the best selection of .22 snap caps. I like the plastic Pachmayer snap caps for dry firing. Amazon has a pack of 24 for $12.00. I like the metal snap caps for running a magazine to see if it works through ten rounds. Sometimes a magazine will only work with 5 or 6 rounds and not feed 10. You have to buy two packs to get ten because the metal ones come 6 to a pack.
RK is correct that you can use an empty case for dry firing as well as using snap caps. The only problem with using an empty case is that lots of times it doesn’t feed too well through a magazine. You have to insert it in the chamber manually. If you are using a .22 revolver, then empty cases work just fine. Just rotate them after X number of hits on the same spot. You should be able to tell that it is time to rotate them by visual inspection. Rotate them around so that the firing pin falls on a different spot on the rim.
The pepper in the shaker is a deadly weapon if thrown into a face. Most shakers are too small to do real damage. Salt in the eyes makes one back off, way off. If hot sauce is on the table break off the neck and throw contents into face of terrorists.
I’m wondering about the feasibility of filling a common water pistol with the vinegar from a jar of pickled hot peppers, or a Tabasco solution. Any thoughts?
That is a reasonable solution. If I am at home and want a mob deterrence, a quart spray bottle that will fire a stream, filled with household ammonia is a great deterrent. It is way more debilitating than pepper spray and you have a whole quart of ammunition. The real value of ammonia is that you don’t have to hit the face. Just sprayed on clothing anywhere will create fumes that will cause the recipient to be unable to breathe and be forced to remove the garment. I can’t imagine how it must feel to receive a face full of ammonia.
I use it to chase stray dogs. You should see them scat. I don’t even have to get close before they take off to wherever they came from. I am sure they can smell the ammonia from a lot further away than a human. I have a quart spray bottle filled with ammonia in my garage just for that purpose.
It isn’t much good to carry around while dining downtown or shopping. Unless your bottle is 100% leakproof you can’t carry it in the car because just a few drops of ammonia loose in the car will drive you from the car until the ammonia clears.
If you can find a water gun that doesn’t leak your suggestion would probably work where guns are verboten. Finding a water gun that doesn’t leak is the problem. I have never owned one that didn’t leak a little. If I found a water gun that didn’t leak, I would fill it with ammonia to take in places that were “gun-free” zones. A squirt of ammonia on a shirt front will make you have an urgent need to shed the shirt. A squirt of vinegar, not so much.
Your assignment, Agent 000, is to find a leak-free squirt gun and report your findings back to this list.
Even City Chick might be able to carry a squirt gun filled with ammonia in Neu Yawk City. I feel that particular defense mechanism has not even occurred to the brain dead folk at Tammany Hall.
The brain dead folks at Tammany Hall are out of towers! Should have been tarred and feathered years ago! It would be helpful if we rethink when new citizens are actually eligible to hold public office. As for the water works, I’d have to leave my little squirt gun at home! I suspect that the NYPD is a little trigger happy these days when they spot any thing that could be used as a weapon or looks like a weapon and who could blame them! Have a nice hot pink one too for special occasions!
I don’t recommend ammonia, it could burn someone’s lungs and could make you criminally liable. However skunk urine is a way better deterrent in my opinion. Most hunting stores carry this and it should be available online.
Excellent point, Jaques!
In our sue-happy culture, we have to stay aware of legal consequences to our actions, even in our own defense against an angry mob. The same would go for my idea of home made hot sauce spray.
Even with everyone’s good ideas, probably the best way to avoid a confrontation is to skulk around the perimeter and generally keep a low profile. Or just stay home…as LCC points out, if you are home minding your business and a mob shows up, you have a reason to have a spray bottle of ammonia, (cleaning) or vinegar, (killing weeds) handy, and you can always claim grabbing the wrong bottle in a panic as the mob was beating down your door.
Why, yes, the spray bottle of ammonia is for hard to clean spots. The garage is also the laundry room and the garage is the general catch-all. I use vinegar, salt and dish washing soap as weed killer and unfortunately, both bottles are identical.
To me that is a joke. I am defending my life and home containing my equally elder wife and can use a firearm to do that defending or spray someone with a solution that might possible cause some lasting physical problem.
I would suggest that a .357 magnum hollow point or for that matter, even a lowly .22 WILL cause lasting physical damage. The shootee might not die from the application of a 158 grain .357 magnum bullet applied to some portion of his body but he most certainly will have a lasting memento of the occasion.
If you really feel that you life is threatened then use of lethal force is justified. Apparently terrorists have rights in this country, who knew… I think lighter fluid and a flare gun would work wonders to deter a threat. Maybe it’s just me but with a 70% probability of survival from a gunshot wound I’d take that over getting burned alive.
Now that we’ve been declared an Anarchist Jurisdiction, things should get interesting around here.
You people are nuts. The right wing is WAY more dangerous then the left. How many people has the left killed in the past ten years? One, recently, but it was self defense, right? How many people has the right wing killed in the past ten years? HUNDREDS! So, you’re worried about the wrong thing. Or maybe not, if you ARE a right wing nut; you’re birds of a feather with the violent people who attack and kill people.
Having said that. I believe in the 2ndA, I have a firearm, and am looking for more, and practice and training, and stockpiling. But you never can know when you have enough. If someone attacks me for my stuff, I know I’m toast, unless I’m very lucky.
JB – Stop with the Fake News!
What is Fake News? What is your REASON for believing it’s Fake? How do you know, and Who told you?
Just since January the leftist backed Antifa and BLM have killed more innocent civilians and police than the “right wing” has in the last 10 years. Methinks thou art misinformed…or a leftist troll!
JB – Chelsea Clinton just said the same thing and that my friend is the definition of Fake News!
Most of the advice I read covers you alone, but what about a family with small children?
Dan, baseball bats. Keep 1 by each door and train your kids to use it as they get old enough. My brother has young kids and that is his defense strategy for his family.