imported post
1) Are you going to protect just yourself from a deadly threat, or are you going to step in and protect others.
I am going to primarily protect myself and my family members. Short of a mass murder situation, everyone else is on their own.
2) What in your mind rises to the level of a deadly threat?
If the situation has the possibility of serious injury or death.
3) Have you considered that when you are carrying a gun only, that the only means you have to react to any threat is deadly force, meaning you have no pepper spray, no baton, no TASER; if you decide to engage, its all or nothing.
I am not restricted to rules governing LEO's. If a bad guy assaults me with a deadly weapon or trys to rob me, you will possibly be shot with my .45. I am not going to risk a less than lethal force tool that may or may not be effective.
4) Are you going to attempt to perform an arrest of any sort if you see a crime occurring, but no lives are in danger?
Without the threat of someone getting injured, I would not get involved. Matter of fact, I would retreat from the situation to try to keep as much distance from the bad guy as possible. IF the threat pass without the necessity of using force on my part, I will be a good witness for the police to capture the suspect.If the threat would rise to the level of the necessity of deadly force, no arrest is going to be needed. If force is necessary, the only thing the police are going to have to do is call an ambulance or coroner.
5) Having decided that you are going to perform a citizen’s arrest, have you considered that you probably do not have any means to restrain this person (handcuffs, flex cuffs, ect.)?
Read #4, I don't want to play police officer.
6) Have you considered the fact that if you are carrying a gun and you get into a physical altercation that does not rise to the level of deadly force (some sort of stupid argument about a parking space or something), that you have brought a gun into that situation? Do you practice weapon retention; is your holster adequate, does it have at least one, hopefully two levels of retention that you have practiced with?
Yes, I have a retention holster. If you let the bad guy get that close, you have already made many mistakes.
7) Do you conduct yourself in a way (polite, avoiding confrontation) that reduces the possibility that you will become involved in such a situation?
When carrying a weapon, confrontation should always be avoided.A safe "exit strategy"should be the primary means to leave, ie..retreat if possible to avoid a escalated situation.
8) Do you dress well? If you do have to hold someone at gun point, first impressions are important. We all make judgments based on appearance and the arriving officers are more likely going react better to a well dressed individual that someone dressed like a slob or in “gang chic’ even if it is the latest trend in hip clothing.
You should dress as professionally as possible. This keeps the LEO's from making you eat asphalt. If you dress like a gang banger in a wife beater t-shirt, baggy clothes, dark sunglasses, you are going to get a different response from business owners and LEO's. This is just a fact of life.
9) What are you going to do if your spouse / kids are with you? Are you going to react differently? Do they know what to do if you do have to react? Do you have a “duck and cover” safe word pre arranged? Do they know to get on the phone if it is safe and tell the police exactly what is happening and know to DESCRIBE YOU IN DETAIL?
If the wife ad kids are with me and confronted by a robber, I would submit to the robbery rather than risk a shootout. That is why I don't carry with them around.
10) What is your plan when the police do arrive?
Keep my hands in plain sight away from my waist and move very slowly without argument.
11) Most important, are you REALLY, REALLY, REALLY willing to shot someone. Be honest with yourself because no one else knows but you, and you may not even REALLY know until the time comes.
If necessary YES, without any hesitation, once the decision is made. I rather be tried by 12 jurors than carried by 6 of my friends in a casket.
