'Expert' Advice on Gun
Defense May Get People Killed
When confronted with an immediate threat, are legal repercussions and costs
what should be occupying your mind at the moment? iStock-697763642
By David Codrea. July 24, 2024
Article Source
"If you go to guns you failed," Steve Tarani writes in American Handgunner. That "means that you failed multiple opportunities to take preventive measures in ensuring your personal security and that of those who you are responsible to protect."
The guy has an impressive CV. He's a subject matter expert, an educator, and an author "specializing in awareness-based training" with decades of experience in both public (CIA, DOE, National Security Institute) and private (Gunsite Academy, Sig Arms Academy) sectors. So, at the risk of ignorantly challenging the professor in a class I have no business even attending without passing some advanced prerequisites, I'm going to call BS on the example he uses to illustrate his point.
I won't argue with the reality that going to the guns should be a last resort and that situational awareness can prevent encounters from occurring in the first place. Those are self-evident truths that go hand-in-hand with avoiding sketchy people, areas, and situations when we can.
But sometimes, the best-laid plans don't work out, and we find ourselves in a fight-or-flight situation—or, as Tarani recounts, fight or surrender.
He tells the story of one of his students who was mugged, admitting, "it was a situation that warranted firearm response and it would have been a justifiable shoot." Instead, the student didn't act and instead mulled over the legal and financial ramifications of doing so:
"He therefore reluctantly kept his readily accessible weapon in his holster and handed over his wallet. Luckily, his phone wasn't on his person at that time and he later cancelled any cards after the perp vacated the area getting away with about $100 for his troubles. Looking back on the situation he said it was the best decision of his life."
How fortunate for him that he still has a life he's able to look back on. Because it wasn't the wallet the perp was threatening, it was the robbery victim's life. And while that priceless life was being threatened, he was worrying about liability and calculating attorney fees…?
As we've seen before, just giving predators what they want is no guarantee that a violent, sociopathic moron twisted enough to threaten strangers over chump change can be counted on to respond rationally. Consider these headlines:
- GRAPHIC WARNING Hotel Manager Fully Complies With Armed Robber, But He Murders Her Anyway
- Roxbury store clerk shot during robbery dies after nearly two months on life support
- Mesa QT clerk killed over cigarettes
Consider the "Wendy's Massacre," where the robbers "took the seven employees into the restaurant's freezer, bound and gagged them at gunpoint, put plastic bags over their heads, and then shot each of them in the head."
Just give them what they want? What if, after you bare your throat and cede all decision-making to remorseless reptiles, you find out what they want is you? It's a little late to act at that point.
Sorry, Mr. Tarani, I'm not trying to start a public fight with you, I'm just saying too many real-life reports don't have such happy endings, and when confronted with an immediate existential threat, internal second guessing and hesitation only work to an attacker's advantage.
Face it. Your guy got lucky.
Most defensive gun uses end without a shot being fired– that's the choice he could have made once he had determined that he'd stopped the threat. Instead, he left all choices to his attacker.
Admitting there's no one size fits all approach, and each situation is different, I hope if ever confronted with such physical intimidation I have the presence of mind to respond less like your student and more like Sonia Sotomayor's security guys. As for the legal liabilities, the $150,000 in attorney fees, and other considerations you cite, at least I may be around to pay them — true, I may not, but I can count on my judgment and experience to guide my choices and actions more than on the "mercy" of some desperate and evil piece of human excrement who forces them on me with the threat of death.
Like the saying goes, I'd rather be judged by 12 than carried by six. And like the poem advocates, "Do not go gentle into that good night."
About David Codrea:
David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at "The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance," is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.
