Introduction-

Rob- Welcome to episode 343 of Self-Defense Gun Stories. We’re glad you found us if you’re well trained.. and if you’re still learning about armed defense. I’m Rob Morse and we’re joined this week by firearms instructor David Cole. What has been keeping you so busy?

David- Hi, Rob.  I’ve been getting ready for match season with some dry fire and reloading. I’m also planning to attend a new instructor course soon.

How about you?

Rob- Just the usual, but I missed a chance to shoot at the range.

We didn’t get a new message this week. I do want to thank Roger for his continued help. We’re still looking for listeners who want to write or edit this podcast.

David- Please go to the iTunes store where you subscribe to podcasts and tell new gun owners why you listen.

Here in the US, we defend ourselves with a firearm thousands of times a day. We look at a few recent examples to see what we can learn. As alway, the links to our news sources are at the episode webpage.

Our first story took place last week in Chicago, Illinois.

Rob- First story- Are you armed in public?

You’re sixty years old. You are out before dawn to get some money from an ATM in your neighborhood. You turn to a noise behind you. A man throws his bike on the ground and walks toward you. He pulls a gun from his pocket and tells you to give it up.

You have your firearms owners ID card and your carry permit in your wallet. You have your firearm on your hip. You shoot at your attacker and he shoots at you. You’re wounded on your back and on your arm. You run to a local gas station and ask for help. They call 911 while you put pressure on your arm.

You give a statement to the police. They take your firearm from your pocket. EMS transports you to the hospital. You are listed in stable condition. Your attacker was declared dead. You are not charged with a crime.

David- I like that our defender recognized that Chicago is a dangerous place to live. I like that he got his permits and owned a firearm. Thank goodness he went armed this morning. He had his head up. He recognized a threat. He defended himself. He ran to safety and asked for help. He tried to treat his own wounds and then gave a statement to the police.

Rob- I had a question about going out before dawn. Was our defender on his way to work, or did he think that fewer people were on the street so he was safer?

David- We don’t know, but there are no safe times of day when you can go out unprotected. It has long been the conventional wisdom that crime occurs mostly at night, but that isn’t necessarily so. The bottom line is that none of us have a crystal ball to know in advance when we will need to be armed…so safest choice is to go armed at all times.

Rob- Is there anything else you’d like your students to do if they needed cash?

David-  Try to avoid open-air or stand alone ATMs. Indoor ATMs are usually available in convenience stores and markets. Also consider getting cash when you check out at the grocery store. An easy “life hack” is to just buy a pack of gum or other small item, and then use the self checkout to get your cash. That might be harder, as grocery stores have closed in big cities like Chicago, but it is a safer option if available. At any rate, try to find an indoor ATM if at all possible. If you must use an outdoor ATM, try to have a friend with you to watch your back while you conduct your transaction.

Rob- This bad guy expected a shooting and found into a gunfight. How should we get our gun out when the bad guy already has a gun in his hands?

David- That’s always going to be a high risk move, but if you feel you have no choice, consider ways to distract your attacker, and be prepared to move.

Dropping or throwing an item can serve as a distraction for a moment, giving you an opportunity to draw your defensive firearm. One self defense instructor I trained under years ago taught a strategy he called the “survival rap.” This is really little more than using speech to engage the attacker’s brain, hopefully creating enough lag to create an opportunity to fight back or to escape. (And escape is the best option if available)

But once you draw, move so that you’re not where the attacker expects you to be. Now the attacker has to track you with his eyes, and then with his firearm. That is hard to do. Another option would be a surreptitious draw, by positioning your body where the attacker cannot see you draw, though this type draw is usually done more slowly when you have more time. Carrying in a coat or jacket pocket can also provide an opportunity to have your hand on your gun without the attacker seeing it. As always, you should practice these sorts of draws and presentation first under the eyes of an instructor, and then stay sharp by continuing practice with a blue training gun, or an unloaded firearm following the rules of gun safety.

Rob- When do your students learn about those defensive moves?

David- This is more advanced training which occurs after the initial concealed carry class.

Rob- Is there more you want to cover on this story, or should we go on?

David- It’s a good start. Our second story happened in Reading, Pennsylvania.

What did our defender do correctly?

(Bullet points by Roger T.)

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  • The defender was very smart to get his FOID card, carry license and to carry a gun with him while walking the streets. It doesn’t matter whether he was in Chicago or Anytown USA. 
  
  
  
  

• All elderly people are targets because they can’t move as fast and they aren’t as stable on their feet as a younger robber. Anyone who looks and acts like “prey” is going to be “eaten”!

• This defender was alert. He reacted when he heard a noise and saw he was going to get robbed. He knew he was in an immediate, lethal and unavoidable situation.

• The defender drew his gun and fired multiple shots and he neutralized the bad guy even though he got shot himself.

• The defender not only stayed in the gunfight and won, he was determined enough to live that he walked a block to get help even though he was wounded. If he had just stopped where he was and sat down he may have bled out before help arrived.

• The defender gave a statement to the police. 

What would you tell your students to do (that the defender should have done)?

(Bullet points by Roger T.)

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  • Walking the empty streets in the dark of the early morning makes you a target. If you have to go out at that time to get cash or go to work, take your gun as well as a friend with you, take a flashlight, get your cash from a store not an ATM.
  
  
  
  

• Getting and using cash is very dangerous. Criminals see someone flashing a roll of cash and they pounce. Use debit cards or credit cards because they are safer and usually you can get your money back if there are fraudulent charges or they are lost. 

• The defender should have also had a cell phone with him. If he had a phone he could have stayed at the scene and called for help to come to him. 

• According to the news report, he left his gun at the scene. This left him defenseless while he was seeking help and some kid could have picked it up too. 

• The defender was very lucky that the robber on the bike didn’t bring another bad guy with him. Did he know how to engage multiple bad guys?

• Did the defender know how to draw his gun while he moved to avoid being shot? Did he know how to use distractions to give himself a few moments to draw his gun? Did he know how to shoot from a retention position since the robber was probably close enough to him in order to grab his gun?

• Did the defender carry his gun in a hip holster or in his pocket? Wearing a coat makes drawing your concealed gun harder and definitely slower to draw. Some good guys carry a small revolver in their coat pocket as well as a larger handgun under their coat. They walk with their hand on the gun in their pocket and they fire the small pocket gun while it’s still in the pocket. This gives them time to access their larger gun with greater capacity on their hip. 

Rob- Second Story- Are you armed at home?

You and your roommates are at home. It is six in the evening when you’re surprised to see a stranger enter your apartment. You don’t know him. Your roo