A reminder why I carry...

[Seismic Sam]

I think I'm with HammAR on this one. While it's fine to mentally prepare yourself for what-if scenarios involving one person in a sparsley populated area, in a case of a maniac with a gun in a crowd shooting people, your chances of getting it right and not shooting the wrong person either on purpose or because you blew your shot are infintesimally small, and it's pointless to argue about it. The only things you can safely and reliably do is get you back up against something solid, have your hand on your gun, and stay ready in case you see an actual threat coming at you PERSONALLY.

[RobD]

So Rob, can I ask how you responded?

No Problem Eric....

I was quite teary... Just the thought of someone taking my daughter away from me makes me quite emotional. I just squeezed her tight and said, "I don't know Sweetie".

I did not have any information beyond she was killed, so I could not begin to hypothesize. Luckily she is still content with they IDK answers. She went on to ask "what about when you're on your trips?" (business travel) I said Mommy can protect you too... (She knows we both carry). She smiled... Then she asked, do I get a gun when I grow up? I chuckled, and said "Of Course"

RE: the hypotheticals... I don't answer online scenarios, but I have said before, and will say again, I will do anything and everything I can to protect/save my wife or children. I'm with Cobb.

[peckerhead]

Thanks, Rob, for starting this thread. I must admit that when I read the title, I half expected some nonsense about how the bad guy would have been blasted had one of us been there, etc.

When I first began carrying, I experienced the same swelling of the gonads that we all probably did. Shooting a few IDPA matches had a very humbling effect on me, though, because I was able to see just how badly one's skills deteriorate under stress. Those of us who carry are at less of a disadvantage than those who choose not to, when something like the tragedy in Arizona happens, but we're still at a great disadvantage due to having to act in a purely reactive manner.

I would have done the same thing that most of us would have, and that's get my family to safety. I don't think any of us could have done a thing to stop what happened, and I think anyone of the notion that they could have successfully intervened in the Arizona situation on the congresswoman's behalf is pretty much delusional. It sounded like the shooter was tackled after he ran off, which means he was probably out of ammo or was at least done shooting.

Personally, I just pray to god that I'm quick enough, smart enough, and resolute enough to do what needs to be done to protect my family, should we find ourselves involved in something like this. It's the best any of us can hope for.

[diskdoctr]

I have to agree with RobD. I would do anything/everything to protect my wife and family. Regardless of the consequences

[bensdad]

Burke (or Bondarchuk, whoever. You know what I mean).

[SAM]

I don't mean to thread drift here, but for those of you that have never met and don't know Rob and Kirsty's little girl-----------you are definately missing out. She is the brightest and most compassionate little four yr. old I have ever met. I can picture her asking that question in all of her innocent sincerity. When it comes to defending someone else---------------------I reserve that for my loved ones. The number of my loved ones just increased by one.

[Ramoel]

I've been in Tucson since before Christmas and have been following this pretty close. Still pretty much non-stop talk on local TV. They keep talking to people who were there. They all say it happened so fast that it was hard to react, some ran and some fell to the ground and played dead. After the perp emptied his weapon and was attempting to reload, several guys tackled him and held him down.

Early on there were reports of someone returning fire but that story seems to be gone. I didn't hear anything about that today at all. The "crowd" was only around 20 people and the gunman hit most of them since he ended up hitting 19. He was right in the center of the gathering and after a few head shots close up he just fired into the group until his gun went dry.

The whole town is in mourning with prayer vigils being held in many places. They expect no more deaths, everyone in the hospital except the Congresswoman is off the critical list.

[White Horseradish]

Here is an eyewitness account: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestof ... cnn?hpt=T1

Looks like they tackled him when he stopped to change mags. This is one of the people who was holding him down. He says he had a gun, but did not draw because it "wasn't necessary".

This here is the scenario very close to the one that formed my views on gun ownership - the LIRR shooting. Colin Ferguson reloaded several times on that train. I thought that a reload wold have been the right time to stop him. That, apparently, works.

[1911fan]

I had a discussion with a very liberal whack job today who was blaming Glock for making which capacity mags. I said if he had not had a gun but used a car to drive thru the crowd or just thrown Molotov cocktails into the crowd would she be as willing to blame the device as she was now. When they use a cell phone to detonate an IED, did she blame motorola or nokia? It didn't sink in right away but it may have gotten her thinking.

I heard one newscaster today who more or less said focusing on the implement of the assailant was foolish when it was the action of the person and his motivation would be far more relevant. I was pretty shocked to hear that on a MSM broadcast.

[Pezhead]

SAM, I agree with you.
It's hard to say what any of us would have done. I figure it happened pretty fast. I'm not sure how fast I could process everything. The female that held the guy down by the ankles and helped witht the first aid said she took the guys magazie(correct).
Rob, I know your family and how that question could be difficult to answer, you did very good.
I will do what ever I can to to protect my loved ones.