I think anyone who carries a firearm as a defensive tool has thought sometime about what they would do if this or that scenario took place. I think these “what if” scenarios are valuable mental exercises, provided we keep some things in mind.
“What If” Exercises—
First, it's important that when we run our “what if” scenarios, we have an accurate understanding of our level of skill in a specific area. A simple example would be knowing your draw to first shot time. Knowing this number gives you a rough idea of the time it would take to draw and get a shot on a threat, under ideal conditions.
- Quantifying Your Defensive Shooting Skills, And Setting Standards
- Pistol Skill: How Good is Good Enough?
Then you can accurately “what if” a scenario with your skills instead of what you think you could do. And no, you're not just going to rise to the occasion when the time comes. Don't get me wrong, I hope you do. It's just not a good idea to rest on possibly performing at a high level under stress if you've never done it before.
Secondly, we need to have an idea of what real violence looks like. I'm not talking about staying safe by looking at crime trends in your neighborhood and pattering your behavior accordingly. One example is to think no one could ever get the drop on you because you're “always aware of your surroundings”. Or as soon as the criminal sees you have a firearm, they will comply with your commands.
Situational Awareness—
Reality is that situation awareness is critically important, can buy time and may keep you from being involved in a deadly force incident, but it doesn't ensure that. Furthermore, as much as we think we “have our head on a swivel” if you spend enough time in public places, you'll be vulnerable at some time even if it's brief.
A well executed plan by a couple of criminals catches these two completely off guard.
Additionally, you may respond appropriately, but will your loved one? Each person involved adds another variable that you can't control. The point is, real life violence and self-defense is far more complicated than it appears on the surface.
Which brings me to this video.
Armed Robbery of 2 Pedestrians Caught on Video—
The video is brief, lasting only about 8 seconds. But in these 8 seconds a lot goes down. There are many things we can take from this short video, but here are just a couple things I think we would be wise to note.
First, while we train to defend our lives, criminals who've been around the block a few times know what they are doing, and they can become quite proficient in their profession. A smart criminal picks the right moment and minimizes their risk. They want the upper hand, which is usually the element of surprise. And since we typically must respond to a threat, the criminal can gain a position of advantage before we have time to react.
Now someone may say the victims had poor situational awareness. They never should have let anyone ride up on them like that. But in reality, if you're walking down a busy street, do you assess every single vehicle and person in your vicinity? Do you do it 90% of the time, 75%? Anything less than 100%, and that's unlikely, leaves the door cracked for a criminal with a plan.
Things Can Happen Fast—
We see how fast this goes down. The motorcycle is on them in seconds, and the rider in the back has a gun drawn and on them before they know what happened. At this point, even the fastest draw is a high-risk play. The couple goes with compliance, which in this case seemed like a good call. Sometimes compliance works. Other times, you may have to take the high-risk route because the criminal shows a high level of violence.
These criminals have the position of advantage.
Then we see the man take off and leave the girl to fend for herself. I don't want to get wrapped up too much on the chivalry or lack thereof. Or the post incident conversation between these two victims. I just want to mention again that we may have a plan or ability to escape. But if our loved one doesn't or can't, what's your Plan B?
The Role of Protector—
I think sometimes men nobly fill that protector role. But we can't always be there, and even if we are, there is strength in numbers when they've trained, have the means, a plan, and are on the same page. This is just one of the several reasons I love to see couples attending training together.
Adios amiga.
For example, last year we had several husband and wife, and father and daughter combinations attend the Annual Guardian Conference. We purposely designed this training conference to be family friendly, capture people of every skill-level and provide a diversity of training from live-fire to legal, to trauma medicine and so much more. If you've thought of attending a training course, consider going as a couple. And then consider checking out the line-up of instructors teaching at this Annual Guardian Conference.
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