Would you have felt capable?? POLL ADDED!!!

[sovietak474u]

Theaters have multiple exits by fire code. My job is to keep my wife safe not engage the nutcase. I hope I would get her to the exit as quickly as we can low crawl.

This. I'm more worried about my significant other. We always sit in the back by the door anyway. I would have grabbed my women threw her over my shoulder and bolted. I'm not about to stay and try and engage a nutcase with an ar-15. That's not my job. My job is to keep my family safe. If I could get a shot off.... I would. In this situation it's highly doubtful . That being the case.... I'm out the door.

 

[Junior_357]

I agree...better to flee and live to fight another day. But if I can't flee...I hope I can take the psychotic idiot out and walk out of the theater under my own power.

 

[attison]

Well scumbag had the three main elements: Speed, Surprise & and violence of action. He had all the cards in the deck stacked. It's hard to say what I would've done, been shot at before and slung lead back. This situation is something I hope I never have to go through, but like many have stated its really hard to say what I would have done. I know IF I could have made a shot I would have taken it. But if I had a chance to save a life of someone else that is probably what I would've done. It's a Efd up situation all the factors involved and the crowds of screaming running people, reality kicks in and I don't think there would be a "clean" shot to be taken. I know I wouldnt have a second thought if I had a clean shot though.

 

[Hookah]

It's obviously impossible to know with certainty what any of us would do. Given the fog and the element of surprise, he had the advantage and I don't think many of us have ever experienced this kind of chaos.

 

[patracy]

Only god and a man himself can know what one would do in the heat of the moment.

Anything else is pure speculation or bolstering of one's ego.

 

[Junior_357]

Only god and a man himself can know what one would do in the heat of the moment.

And hopefully I personally won't ever find out what I would do in that situation. God can keep that answer to himself as far as I am concerned.

 

[RELOADER]

No one knows what they would have done really. You had a 50/50 chance of engaging a coward or a armed maniac prepared to die as the 1990,s North Hollywood robbers in which case you would have died. I think my actions would have been dictated by my seat location in the theatre. Close to the door and I'm thinking save your family run. If I'm center or closer to the front my mind tells me I have no choice but to engage the threat while moving away from my loved ones. But then I think that any officer who entered that building would have shot first and ask for CCW cards later and who wouldn't when faced with the information they had? A bad situation that I hope I never have to see again must less be in.

 

[protective measures]

For anyone who has doubt whether they would have recognized the threat & would have been able to take a shot had the opportunity been there, I would say that you may want to train more or improve the way you train.

Anyone who carries a firearm for self-defense in today's world may be put in a situation where you will need to use your firearm to save you or your loved ones lives.
The more you train, the better the odds that you will react properly & survive if you are training hard & often.

 

[napp]

How many people think they are going to make an accurate shot in a dark theater, after a flash-bang, and through tear gas?

How many innocent people would get hit by return fire? The suspect had the advantages of surprise, superior fire power, and proper equipment to deal with the environment.

Yep. I'm going to leave it at that!

Well, I'm glad that someone read the question and understands how difficult it would have been to pull off a shot with a handgun under the circumstances.

I'm guessing that some here have never tried shooting in semi-darkness. I'm also fairly certain that few have been exposed to tear gas; and fewer still have been on the wrong end of a rifle being fired in anger. All those factors coupled with a room full of innocent people scrambling in different directions would tend to make me seriously doubt my "capability" to take the shot.

I'm not necessarily saying that the guy didn't need shooting; but I am saying that it wouldn't be a walk in the park as some of the replies seem to suggest. Remember, the question in the OP was, "Would you feel capable?"

 

[protective measures]

Shooting w/ severely impaired vision/ breathing is extremely difficult & in many cases unwise.

Much less when someone is firing a high powered rifle in your exact or general direction.
While I know of no one who would have not been seeking cover or trying to move out of the danger zone I have trained w/ many warriors who would have instinctively drawn their light & gun & would have been ready to take the shot If they were not dead, severely wounded, or so visually impaired to make taking a shot unsafe or impossible. Of course their immediate second reaction would be to run like h**l away or to cover if available which there wouldnt have been against that firepower in any theater that I've ever been in.

Under those circumstances no one knows for certain what they would have done other than follow their training.
Tough situation.... has anyone reported whether he kept the gas mask on the whole time?