obligation to carry - "nutnfancy"

[oldgraygeek]

One of the few things I've learned in life is that we never know what we might do until we've done it.
We all hope we never need to decide whether to draw our weapons in a crisis, but we can't rule it out; if we could, we wouldn't carry at all. We need to keep our options open.

For example, we might not be inclined to intervene in an robbery situation where we're not personally at much risk.
However, can we imagine passing up a clean shot at an armed robber... and then watching him shoot someone, knowing we could have prevented it?

We have a duty to be armed (because we can), to decide what to do (if anything) on the spot, and then to do it as well as we can.
Like it or not, if we find ourselves in the immediate vicinity of a violent crime, we may find a moral obligation to act. If so, we pray that we do it right, and then we pay our lawyers.

[Rabbit]

I know it sound cold but if someone is on one side of the mall shooting up the place and I'm on the other I'm not going to be chasing the sound of gun fire. If I'm armed my priority is my loved one i cant ensure their safety if I'm running after a gunman. In a smaller environment like a restaurant by the act of drawing my firearm or even shooting at the bad guy i am potentially drawing fire In my direction and in all likelihood the other people I'm seated with friends family... But you cant really know how you would react in any give situation. I my be more likely to act if its a crazed gunman at an orphanage for disable children than if i was at Wawa and some person with born to lose tattooed across his chest is holding up the register, but that's just me.

[Moosie]

I think it's great to really think about what we MIGHT do now, in the safety of our homes (or offices) etc.  There are a LOT of things we all think about and feel that we'd do or wouldn't do, etc.  But as OGG said, we don't know what we'll actually do until (hopefully never) we are in that situation. 

Good discussion guys!! 

Moosie

[czer]

To follow this a little more, is there anyone on the forum who has had the misfortune to have to draw, or even use their weapon? How did your intentions compare to how you actually reacted? 

[oldgraygeek]

To follow this a little more, is there anyone on the forum who has had the misfortune to have to draw, or even use their weapon? How did your intentions compare to how you actually reacted? 

I've come close: hand on the weapon, ready to fire.
My wife and I pulled up in a parking lot in Newark. She's afraid of dogs, and a woman was walking two huge unruly hounds past the front of our car. I said "Stay in the car," but it was too late: she opened the door and stepped out.
One of the dogs pulled free of its owner and charged, jumping up on her, barking and snapping. I came around the car, Safepacker open, hand on my Glock 29 & ready to draw and fire, yelling to the woman "Get your f***ing dog NOW! Get that motherf***er away from my wife!" She dropped the other dog's leash (more risk for us?) and managed to pull the dog away from my wife before it could bite her.
Now, I've already said "we don't know what we might do," but in this case I know what I was going to do: if & when that dog's teeth touched my wife, he was headed for Doggie Hell. I had a clean shot from the side, with nobody & nothing I cared about behind the dog. I came within five drops of dog spittle of drawing & killing that animal.

The best-case scenario resulted: nobody saw my gun, nobody got hurt... except that lady's feelings. Once she had the dog somewhat under her control, she started telling us we were overreacting, the dog wouldn't have hurt anyone, etc. Her words were cut off by the loud click of my Safepacker closing: she looked at it, apparently realizing what was in it, and then I looked her in the eyes and told her, "Lady, you'll never know how close you came... to not having a dog."

She turned white, and got the hell out of Dodge. So did we.

In hindsight, I was satisfied. I went from Condition Yellow (vaguely aware of ambient risk) to Condition Orange-Tinted-Red in less than a second... and managed to avoid firing the shot, and the police weren't called. My reflexes were good, I remained aware of my surroundings and the risk involved to people & things other than the attacker, and took command of the situation. I thank my trainers; they served me well.

[Knotacare]

I walk almost every morning at 0530 for 1/2 to 1 hr. Last fall I noticed a older pickup drive by me going slow and because it was dark I couldn't see into the vehicle very well . The pickup went a few 100 yards up the street & made a  u turn heading back in my direction & stopped with its lights pointing not at me but to the side slightly. I stopped walking and stood still for about 30 seconds. The pickup was about 150-200 feet from me now. So I made a logical move to me I pulled my glock 19-9 turned on the laser max pointed to the ground and waited . Almost instantly the pickup made a fast u turn took off. When you walk the same territory at the same time over a long period you become very familiarized with your surroundings, cars, people , etc. This pickup didn't fit in so I immediately became suspicious and feel I was about to become a victimized. I also do carry my weapon all the time when I'm out & don't even think about it anymore.
Alan

[czer]

Oldgreygeek, it's a common failing that dog owners think their dogs can do no wrong...and I have seen my normally super-friendly Golden Retriever act totally out of character and make a bee line to a "threatening" walker only to pull up at the last minute. But did I honestly know what my dog was going to do? Nope. And a Golden is a big dog, one good bite would be all it took....I would have done the same thing you did. Good thing the dog backed down. Have you had any kind of defensive training that prepared you somewhat?

[oldgraygeek]

Czer,
I had three days of combat pistol training in 2005... and, decades ago, I had a much tougher guy try to beat me to death (and fail, miserably).
Other than that, I'm an amateur.