Unfortunately that’s not always the case, even in a state with no permits needed for open or concealed carry.
Last year in my town we had a guy beaten into a coma and then death by a group of 12+ people. Nobody deserves to be beaten to death, but it’s also worth pointing out that the victim was involved in escalating a situation that he could have easily walked away from.
On a number of occasions I’ve had guys egg me on when I’m cutting someone off or denying entry and the shit-talking starts up. “Why did you let that guy talk to you like that? I would have whooped his ass.”
Well I wouldn’t have, and didn’t. Let the asshole run his mouth. I’ve got better things to do than fight everyone who has ever insulted me.
That deadly fight began with the same kind of shit-talking. The guy who got beaten to death couldn’t let it go and find something better to do. He had to go show those guys, but never stopped to think about what could go wrong, like a brick to his head.
Oh yes, I’m not claiming that the existence of concealed carry eliminates mob violence. I was talking more about specific cases where criminal groups are used for political muscle. In a lot of cases the powers that be know it would look bad to have the police busting skulls, and the often the police (even in tryannical regimes) may not be willing to commit acts of violence unprovoked.
Wanted to throw this up here, since it kind of surprised me. (change of topic)
Bought my wife her first pistol back in 2004, Springfield 1911 double stack (her choice, and no I didn’t argue - she’s not a small girl at 5’11"), which she then broke in when she went through Blackwater’s 3-day pistol course (again, her request - she had no background with pistols, so she wanted an actual training course rather than a box of ammo at the local range and ‘you’re good’). Since then we have attempted to maintain some level of proficiency with range days (though not as many as we would have liked). She has been carrying a Bersa Thunder Combat .380 for the last few years, but has been talking about getting another 1911 to replace it as her carry gun - she doesn’t care for the weight/balance/feel of the Glocks, though I tried to convince her (I’m a 1911 fan too, but I like having more than 8 rounds on tap).
Getting ready to send her to a Handgun Combatives course, their Essentials 1-day, so I figured this was the perfect time to get her into a carry 1911. She picked up a Springfield 1911 GI Micro-Compact used from one of our local shops. The GI sights suck, so she ended up at a gunsmith’s to inquire about replacing them with a good pair of combat/tritium sights.
(this is where I get to the point…sorry) As she was talking to the guys at the gunsmith’s, they were impressed that she intended to carry a steel frame pistol in .45. They were then surprised to find out she wanted the sights done prior to attending a pistol course next month - not that she was taking that particular gun, but the fact that she was going to a shooting course. First question was, ‘what do you do for a living?’ She’s a housewife due to her chronic migraines, but is active with our local VFD as a state-certified firefighter, EMR, and rope rescue technician (as am I when I am home - minus the firefighter part). They apparently were puzzled as to why a woman who was not LEO or whatever would go to a shooting course - seems to me like as a gun dealer or smith that you would be trying to RECRUIT women to go to classes like that, since you would potentially be increasing your market.
Point being, how many guys won’t think twice about going to a shooting (or other training) course when they have the time and funds, but it never dawns on them to send their wife (or adult kids for that matter)? As has been repeated here several times, you are your own security detail. And anyone with you is either part of that detail, or they are extra baggage you have to move with you. Makes more sense to me to get them whatever they need to improve.
Yes, you are absolutely correct, get the fuck away as fast as you can, especially in foreign country, which is smartest thing to do. A couple years ago, I was working a detail in Paris and we got caught in a protest, while we were trying to exfil, some assholes started throwing rocks, bottles, and trash at the vehicle. When they tried to block the vehicle, we “gently pushed them’ and left the area. Leaving was the smartest option and if forced out of the vehicle, we would have did our best to run away from the scene. Killing someone on French soil is not an option unless you are about to die. Always try to get out, leave the fighting to the local law enforcement. That is the professional thing to do.
Yes, this a rant:
Some personal thoughts:
There is an extreme difference between professional action and personal thoughts. I have seen mob or pack attacks twice in my life, both times in foreign countries, where the right of self-defense is not recognized. I had to either leave or accept prison time, I left. I despise mobs and packs, to me they need killing. What’s the best way to save a new born fawn from a pack of coyotes? You kill them. What’s the best way to save a women from being gang raped or a man from being beaten to death? You kill them.
I watched your video several times, analyzed what was happening, and based on my decade of Kali training, I firmly believe, I could have taken one of those batons away and killed the person using it, one powerful blow from the end of that stick to the trachea, would have left him choking to death on his own blood. Packs are cowards, kill one or two, the rest will usually run, but, that’s not the way the world works, better to be killed by a mob than defend yourself and break some precious law designed to put you in a foreign prison. Don’t follow this line of thought, just do the professional thing and get out the best you can.
Over the past 5 years, every gun magazine on the market has ran an article about how women are the fastest growing group of American shooters. S&W, Ruger, Taurus, Beretta, Glock, even Kimber have all targeted women by offering models specifically for them. Every shooting competetion now has women professional shooters, including Cowboy Action Shooting and Long Range Shooting. Whomever is running that shop has been living under a rock and probably losing a lot of local business.
I wish the best for your wife during her training.
Guns can be a hobby, but armed defense is a mindset. Before anyone steps up to the gun store counter, we’d all be better off if they did so after taking a comprehensive defensive firearm class that cultivates that mindset, challenges them to consider what it’s like to store and carry a firearm every day, makes them aware of how perishable the skill of handgun marksmanship is, and articulates the kind of commitment needed to maintain a level of proficiency that assures the safety of loved ones and bystanders in a violent encounter.
training is the primary consideration of defense; the firearm is the accessory.
I am going to add an additional question to the “Thought for the day”. I started the “Thought for the Day” because it is something I have done for years. If you spend a lot of time in third world countries, you do a lot “living in your head”. It’s a way to cope with the stress of the environment, whether its 118 degree heat, dust storms, or occasion rain which turns everything into a mud sea, the massive humidity of Central America, or simply the amount of pollution in a third world city ( Kabul in the winter). I always would have something to “think” about during the worst conditions, from every subject I could imagine.
Today I am going to base a new thought: the “Question of the day”. This was born from a post by 2JS, who stated his brother, who actually did not know many “manly things”. Survival is an all-encompassing word and has many, many meanings. No one can do everything, including me. I cannot fly a 737 or navigate a nuclear sub. But, based on my training and experience, I have a some practical skills from life . Now, my “Question of the Day” will have no answer provided. Like the “Thought of the Day”, it is to stimulate thinking, and, perhaps provide a mental wake up call. You are more than welcome to post your own questions, in fact the more the better. Read the question, answer yes or no (mentally) and then decide if you need the skill. Take it from there.
Question of the Day:
You have no I-Phone, SAT phone or GPS. Can you read and understand a road map? a city map? a topo map?
It’s a great disorientation tool. A flashlight’s beam in the eyes can confuse and disorient an attacker while giving a shooter the specific location of a human inside a room.
It divides attention. Flashlights are the ultimate tool of deception and manipulation. Especially since in low-light conditions, the world looks like a framed picture without details, contrast, or colors. You get to fill that picture, to manipulate it to fit your needs. It also causes a threat to fixate on the light, soaking up their attention and keeping it off your partners, who are ideally triangulating the threat.
It’s silent. The flashlight has no sound or signature, and will not compromise you during daylight.
It increases reaction time. Simply put, being able to see clearly increases your reaction time when determining threats versus hostages or obstacles.
Do you have a working flashlight? For your dwelling ? for your vehicle? for you EDC ? For your go bag? The recent power outage in NYC is good example, I would wager many people were not prepared. For vehicles, you better have two, since changing tires on modern vehicles has became an exercise in engineering.
And this is where the firearms industry, as well as a lot of us men who give a shit, have a huge opportunity to excel!
Not only are there a lot of legally armed men out there in DIRE need of training before they reach the level of “responsibly armed,” there’s a shit ton of ladies in the same boat. Plus, there are a gazillion ladies interested in training, probably even more of them than men because they’re more apt to admit that they need it.
Personally, I’d be no more surprised by my wife throwing a right hook at me than her launching some 00 buck at an intruder.
Anyway, there ARE a lotta ladies who do training, like your wife (great taste with the 1911!), and there’s a lotta dumbass guys at gun counters who don’t realize there’s a lotta women who can outshoot them, know more about firearms, and are plainly just cooler than them too.
Yeh, they shouldn’t have been surprised, shoulda had more courses to recommend,
Dummies. Too many cases where tits just distract while Miss Rock Hard Badass draws and outshoots Mr Neanderthal for morons at a gun counter to be surprised that women train.
Serious Question:
Where to apply pressure for jugular bleed? That’s a bad F’n spot - clearly a tourniquet around the neck isn’t working - what do we do here? Pressure below the thing, as in towards the heart, applied with a hand?
I think the answer is that without specialist medical care more or less on scene, this is a death sentence. I asked the question of a very experienced SF medic who taught me a lot of my combat medicine, and he said to do what you can, but be realistic in what you can achieve with limited medical training and a basic trauma med kit.
Because it’s a vein not an artery, you’ve probably got a little longer to deal with it than you would with a carotid artery bleed, but not too much. Pressure below wouldn’t work in my view, as obviously being a vein it is taking blood back to the heart, so with pressure below won’t help too much.
Pressure above creates all kinds of problems as blood pressure builds up in the brain. There’s also the issue that the brain can only survive about 5 minutes without oxygen, whereas limbs can survive well over an hour with a tourniquet on.
Unfortunately, some wounds you just aren’t surviving unless an expert is on scene with all the right kit to hand. That would be my thought on it.
As strange as it seems, I worked out with a former SF medic, now a Physician Assistant yesterday and asked his opinion on s_ afsoc question and he basically said the same thing, unless in a top flight emergency room, not much can be done, except you may get lucky applying pressure and slowing down the bleeding. He told me of one case involving a small piece of shrapnel, where they literally stuffed the wound with enough gauze to plug a drainpipe and the guy lasted about 20 minutes and died in surgery. As one who as seen a lot of combat, he said " “you never want to lose anyone, but, that ain’t life”.
