What if... #2

[hiker]

Wow Chief, you give hard tests! But +1 what Harley said above - rule #1 = NEVER pull in so close at a light that you are boxed & can't pull out of the line.

If I'd actually remembered that rule, I'd crank the wheel & hit the gas. If I'd forgotten my own rule & was boxed (& alone in car) I'd pull the key & be out the door (move, run, cover, etc.) If I'd gotten boxed in and had the family in the car - ok, now I'm screwed. . .guess that's why I gotta stop forgetting rule#1!

[Mark]

The way you described it, the vehicle is not in a position to move. You probably have a seat belt on so you are not going to be able to exit the vehichle in a lightning fast fashion. Bad guy has gun at the ready. Sounds like about a bad a situation as you can be in. The only thing you even slightly going in your favor is the bad guy was a .25, which probably isn't going to kill you. No, I would not want to be shot with one. I'm not going to let Mr. Bad Guy in, so I'd say my response will be to get out and start fighting.

[LSC]

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[TunnelRat]

If perp see's your firearm due to plain sight rules, if he has any, and I do any, brains, he'd boog imediately upon seeing an armed victim.

Which is why I've never been bothered with that aspect of plain sight in a vehicle. It bothers me that I have to handle my firearm unnecessarily, and it bothers me that I have to select my holsters in order that my gun may be seen rather than concealed.

However, I've never been concerned that someone would see my firearm. I figure that it might forestall road rage and would likely put off a criminal attack. Most predators are not complete dummies -- it is way easier for them to intimidate an unarmed victim...

[Mark]

I had a guy approach me while I was sitting pinned in a fast food drive thru. He tapped on the passenger side window, then saw my pistol, then walked away. Never did find out what he wanted.

[Scruit]

Had a guy run up to my window a couple weeks ago but he had no weapons and approached form the side where he couldn't see my pistol. He got sight of the OC can I was shaking and ran away. Little did he know that if I had seen a weapon then I would have drawn on him.



In this scenario, I drive a 4d sedan so the hedges won't let me through.

- If I am alone then I get out of the car, leave it runnign and say; "All yours, man." If he takes it he takes it - I've been looking for an excuse to buy a G35x. If he still threatens me then the gunbattle is on.

- If I have my kid/wife with me I get out of the car making like I'm gonna give up, but use the car to hide the fact that I'm drawing. Then run to the front of the car to draw his fire away from the car and shoot from the cover of the engine.



Has anyone seen those clips of actual shootings where the untrained guys always seem to reach OVER an obstacle and shoot without using the sights? No wonder they usually don't hit anything. I'm talking about shootings in a convenience store where two opponents are on opposite sides of the counter... They will reach their arm up and over the counter and shoot down, whilst instinctively turning their head and upper bady away from teh danger. Result is they have zero ability to aim, and will often unload an entire clip and not hit anyone. If one of them would just be smart enough to shoot THROUGH the counter (if they can see to aim) then they're 10x more likely to hit.

If I was to stand on the driver's side of the vehicle and fire through both side windows to hit the assailant on the other side... Sure, the first bullet may be deflectted etc, but bullets 2-8 are going to find their mark. Hopefully he's stupid enough to try and reach over the roof and shoot down.

[Harlie]

Too remove seat belt, it is best slide left hand under belt at chest level, reach through to unbuckle. This prevents trapping yourself in belt during exit. Takes practice, but try it and it may save you. Also won't as obvious to perp that you are doing any thing. At this time you could be playing dumb about what he wants and have right hand pointing at him with open palm. Maybe by time he is aware, you may be able to exit, hopefully unscathed, to confront him from a protected position outside the confines of auto. Family sure does place a new face on things, but he should be concerned more about you than your spouse at initial contact.
Approach from drivers side puts a really bad face on options. Releasing belt with left may allow access to firearm for right handed drivers and allow you to fire though window, open or closed. If perp has firearm, knife, club, force option is open in my mind. Assuming drive away not available in any event.

[dan_sayers]

I always leave a gap between the car in front of me and my vehicle. I'm hitting the gas and cutting the wheel hard right.My Avalanche and me are going through the hedges to safety.

Same. And in the past, if I had to rear end somebody to wedge my way out of such a situation, I would.

But now I carry. I too while playing what if have come to scenarios that involve me having to shoot through my own glass. Glass versus life? Are you kidding? Not at all. But I think it's GOOD to think like that. Obviously if I'm breaking my own glass, I DID feel my life was threatened.

Otherwise, it's hard to say. From the passenger side, mine's in sight too. Though I wear a lot of black and most of it is black. In deep dusk, it would be easy to miss. And I know I could pull and put 3 through my passenger door's window faster than he'd understand that I'm NOT complying.

[CurtInOhio]

You’re on your way home from finishing Christmas shopping. Great. You’re done, and done early!

Unfortunately, this part made the scenario very unrealistic to me... never happen.

Actually, plain sight is an odd thing in that it doesn't say that you have to highlight the gun... so in winter, my black handgun doesn't show well against a very dark brown or black coat. I don't think the guy would see my handgun... I would likely open the door, and while he was getting in, fire. At some point in the movement. My car is a softtop, so nothing to stop a bullet if I tried to get out... Also, I don't trust that we'd be just 'going for a ride' or that he'd just drop me off somewhere.

[Brian D.]

All I can say for sure is, the BG and I ain't going for a ride together. If/When possible I'd bail out, use the cover of the car, and engage in (hopefully) a very short gunfight.

Can't speculate much beyond that, without filling in some imaginary details first..

[Harlie]

One cravat regarding left hand under seat belt release, it will smack your drivers window very hard, so when or if practicing, keep this in mind.

[Glock23]

I drive a small car (04 Sunfire) so jumping the curb is not an option for me. However I carry my Glock 23 on my right hip, and it can not be seen from the passenger side window due to the bucket seats, center console, and stick shift. My first thought would be to reach over to unlock the door with my left hand, while drawing the Glock with my right (another reason to carry a round in the pipe). I could technically have the weapon trained on him before he realized it. I would hope and pray that he takes the gun off of me for one second, and that should be his last second breathing. I would almost fire as soon as he made the move to sit down. My car would not be easiest to enter while training a pistol on someone. I feel I would have the advantage at that moment, and would try to exploit it.

[MJK]

I would always prefer to drive off, but based upon your scenario it doesn't sound like that would be possible. Besides I don't like the possibility of him opening fire while I try to drive off.

Presuming I had my wife and baby with me, I would unbuckle my seatbelt, open the drivers door, and while stepping out tell him to take the car. Hopefully, he would take the bait and start to come around to my side of the vehicle. Once he moved from the passenger side I would chamber a round and shoot as soon as I found a reasonable moment to do so.

Now if I didn't have my wife and baby with me I would be less likely to shoot and let him take the car if I felt like the situation would allow that.

I know my biggest obstacle is not carrying with a round in the chamber, but I need to get a better holster before I would feel comfortable doing that.

I can see that I do a few things right already though. One being keeping my doors locked. As part of my routine I always lock my doors as soon as I get in the car. I have also started keeping more space between me and other cars so I could try to escape as a result of reading this forum.

From my understanding of the law it is still illegal to fire a gun from a vehicle, even though we have CHLs? That is one of the reasons I would try to exit my vehicle.

[GWC]

If you fire in self defence it does not matter where you are. You can shoot right through the window. Get it as close to the window as possible, and offset it so you can still see after firing through the window.

[ballistic]

First, my black synthetic holster is strapped vertically to my right leg upper calf just below the knee and canted slightly rearward. The holster contains one of a variety of pistols, but the goblin won't see it at this time of night as all my pistols are black stainless and no caliber smaller than 9mm. And anyway, he won't be looking at my leg. I can readily grab it with my dominant right hand and fire it through the passenger window in about .5/sec. and it'll be aimed right at the gob. If he intends to take me he'll have to do better than have his .25 ACP pointed generally in my direction. At any rate, by the time the goblin sees that muzzle leering at him it'll be too late. This strategy is used without a front seat passenger, which is about 99% of the time I'm driving.

If there is a front seat passenger, who will in all probability be my wife, she'll have her seat belt on and so will I. I've already conditioned myself to allow space between my car and the vehicle in front of me. I also have my left foot on the brake and my right foot just resting on the accelerator. Before goblin finishes his ultimatum I'm off to the races, right foot floored and wheel fully cocked to the right. This strategy applies regardless of the condition of the road. The goblin won't figure out anything until I'm past him; he may at this point be under the vehicle. If he comes after me (a remote possibility at that point) I'll have belt unfastened and gun in hand. As far as that 8" curb the car's front end will just have to suffer. Better it than me. Anyway, goodbye goblin, one way or another.