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

[Kyzrsoze]

This is hardly the environment to play hero. I'm not saying do nothing either. If a shot presents itself, I take it but my primary mission is protecting my wife.

Certainly there are mall cop types among us, but you are primarily talking to group of people that chooses to to own guns and carry them for personal protection. When most of us think of what we may do in that situation thoughts of heroism aren't part of the process. Before I first posted I had just seen the movie the previous evening and it was only me and a friend - a Clayton County police officer. My thoughts were centered around that scenario. Certainly if I were out with my wife and/or my children my priorities would be different, but stopping the threat would still be one of the tasks/options in my mind. Getting out the door may not have been possible. Standing up and going after the guy might be what buys time for your wife to get out the door.

 

[rOmiLaYu]

This whole thread reminds me of a poll from awhile back....the question was asked "Why do you carry?" and the answers were something along the lines of "protect me" - "protect me and my loved ones/family" - "protect me, family/loved ones, and other innocent people"

It sparked a bunch of conversation about protecting the innocent vs. looking out for number one. It was, like all things ODT good, bad, and ugly...but at the end of the day the question anyone who carries a weapon must answer is "Who am I protecting?" and go from there. We're arguing apples and oranges. Everybody's jumping on captdave, but he's openly admitted that his priority is protecting his wife - and in that mindset, his choice of action is appropriate.

Others of you have said that your priority would be to stop the shooter...and in that case your choice of action, given a clear sight picture would have been to engage....and that would have been appropriate. Now, could you have made the shot? I don't know...only you know your level of proficiency an training.

The reality is that you had a very unstable situation deteriorating second by second and even the best of marksmen with supreme training would have been hard pressed to make any shot without substantially risking injury or death to an innocent victim. Already I hear some of you crying out, "But even if you hit someone, you stop him from killing another 5!" Valid point, but is it worth the risk to maim, kill, or injure an innocent to stop the threat? In the civilian world I'm not qualified to make that call.

All that being said, I wasn't there - my life wasn't on the line - I don't know what I would have done and I'm not willing to denigrate the courage and honor of those who were by saying what "should" have been done.

 

[ATLEMT]

Another problem I see with engaging the shooter is what happens when LE enters the theater. They won't know who the actual bad guy is and you may become their target resulting in you being hit and the shooter having a clear shot at LE while they are going after you.

Once again I'm not saying do nothing. But there are tons of variables. Who I am with, where I am in the theater, if I'm hit and the severity of the injury, if there is a person hit beside me ( do I try and engage the target or try and help the person bleeding out beside me), etc...... I respect those that say they will engage the target but I don't think less of those that worry about their loved ones.

 

[RiverBend]

Pretty sure that the gas mask wouldn't stop a flurry of 45's, critical defence loads at that, and yes, I could make head shots, had a match Saturday and had to make 5 at small 6x6 IPSC target heads, from 40, 30 20 & 10 yards.

 

[83rdrecon]

Pretty sure that the gas mask wouldn't stop a flurry of 45's, critical defence loads at that, and yes, I could make head shots, had a match Saturday and had to make 5 at small 6x6 IPSC target heads, from 40, 30 20 & 10 yards.

how many were done in complete darkness with a smoke grenade going off?

 

[07JKX]

how many were done in complete darkness with a smoke grenade going off?

and hundreds of people moving between you and the target, beside the target, behind the target, all while the target was moving to???


yeah... I can shoot still **** all day too

 

[captdave77]

Pretty sure that the gas mask wouldn't stop a flurry of 45's, critical defence loads at that, and yes, I could make head shots, had a match Saturday and had to make 5 at small 6x6 IPSC target heads, from 40, 30 20 & 10 yards.

Were those targets moving and throwing lead in your direction? How many people were running between you and the targets? How many people were pushing you while you took your shots? Were there flash-bangs used before you ran the course? How was the range lit? How much smoke was there? Did you have anyone you were trying to protect while making those "head shots"?

I have tremendous respect for competition and exhibition shooters, but yeah.... no.

 

[Spartan07]

I started this thread to foster some introspection. Job complete!

 

[Alphacpa]

There has been research into crowd behavior. I remember a woman being beaten to death with a crowd watching. No one tried to help and the whole crowd was just frozen. Then there have been cases where something similar happened but ONE person acted and the freeze broke and others jumped in to help. I can't remember what term they used but it is a valid phenomenon. It happened on Flight 93 on 911. Of the four planes hijacked that day, one on one was any action taken. SOMEONE tried. And that made a HUGE difference. Did they die any way? Yes. But they saved an unknown number of lives on the ground.

In this theater CC was not an option. But even so, had ONE person rushed the guy, maybe, MAYBE it would have triggered the FIGHT response in another. In Georgia, if one of us aramed citizens had been in the audience and had ACTED, perhaps that would have been the catalyst required to get others to TRY as well. If nothing else, it would have FORCED the murdering SOB to focus on the one shooting at him for a few seconds possibly distracting him from murdering one more innocent.



Well, he shot 50 innocent people, killing 12. How many LESS would get hit is the question I'd be asking.


Sometimes I just have to shake my head in amazement at the idea of carrying, but being completely unwilling to actually USE it if it can save lives. I'm not talking about playing hero or cop, just being a man.[/QUOTE

Absolutely. You must be prepared to take action, but had I been with a loved one I may have just covered them to the extent I could.

 

[Kyzrsoze]