Street robberies and you - The Basics

nickj said:

But after reading this I get the "shoot now, ask questions later" vibe. Does anyone else? Please don't get me wrong. I understand the author is someone who lives or has lived the situations numerous times, but I wonder if that has made him recognize behaviors over appearance? The only behavior I see reference to is "fanning out" among a group of BG's.

Someone please offer some more examples if I missed them. This would greatly benefit those new to concealed carry and those interested.

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You might want to read it a few more times because that’s not the message being conveyed.

I can't read the OP's mind, but I think the intent of the post was to simply put some things in proper context. If you look at his prefacing remarks you'll see that he's addressing a certain predisposition that many inexperienced people have about guns and how they are used.

The internet has become the new gun magazine, which is full of half-truths and a lot of total BS. Unlike magazines however, the dissemination of nonsense at the speed of light tends to make it believable to the uninitiated because it’s so prolific. It’s generally referred to as “parroting”. Somebody says something that sounds believable, and it gets repeated until it becomes the gospel truth. Unfortunately, what usually happens is that something with a factual basis is misinterpreted or not applied in the proper context.

I’ll just use one example: People who have never been in harms way, and have never successfully completed competent training in firearms and tactics will often not see a dangerous situation emerging until it’s too late. Most people’s idea of when to “present” their gun in any given circumstance is very often patently flawed. There’s nothing intuitive about it so in the absence of knowledge and experience, you get whatever gets parroted the most.

Along those lines we have an old saying, “If you wait to see the bad guys gun, you will see what comes out of it before you can do anything about it …..”

Compare that to what you may have seen on a internet forum about when to draw your gun.

nickj said:

I wonder if most people would even recognize someone who "doesn't belong" in the places they find themselves.

But after reading this I get the "shoot now, ask questions later" vibe. Does anyone else? Please don't get me wrong. I understand the author is someone who lives or has lived the situations numerous times, but I wonder if that has made him recognize behaviors over appearance? The only behavior I see reference to is "fanning out" among a group of BG's.

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First, I think the author is referring to behaviors that don't belong among the normal, everyday behaviors of people who are not out to do you harm. That didn't refer to recognizing people. How would you know who doesn't belong in a neighborhood, shopping center, street? I also think that most of us would know "suspect" behavior when we saw it. The point is to be alert to strangers who show an interest in you or are moving in such a way as to approach you uninvited, especially if there are more than one involved and they are "fanning out", however slightly.

Second, the author is very plainly NOT advocating "shoot now, ask questions later". He directly says, his opinion, that if a stranger who is fronting you or approaching you shows a deadly weapon, you should act to protect yourself before he gets a chance to use it on you.

If you have reason to fear for your life, or fear for serious bodily harm, and the person has the means to inflict that upon you, you are justified to shoot to protect yourself. DO NOT TAKE THIS AS MY ADVICE, OR THE ADVICE OF THE ELSIE PEA FORUM. This is only my personal interpretation of the statutes in force where I live and may vary greatly for others. You must know the law where you are and act accordingly.