For all we know he saw them come under the door and it took 7 seconds for him to pull from his ultra conceal “super tuck” holster.
I agree, My pistol is my last resort while driving, but driving is my main concern.
It would seem that the transitional area’s ( Stop Lights, a garage, toll booth, even a security check point) all leave you vulnerable to not having the option to move your vehicle.
I would recommend a second holster within the vehicle that allows you to draw and fire on such occasions. Perhaps even a second higher capacity Magazine would be prudent. In high threat area’s it might be even better if a is a SBR or SBS was available to the passenger.
Much of this depends upon your options to secure the weapon while driving in bad conditions. Any weapon that has hit the floor and is not available to put in to action is useless.
In most situations a bit of imagination, some velcro, hot glue and practice would be very good investment.
If the first guy through the door was intent on killing the driver he would have started firing as soon as he came up from under the garage door firing through the back window of the vehicle. I don’t think he would have walked up to the vehicle and opened up the door first. During that 7 second period the driver could have been unbuckling his seat belt and preparing his wife for what was going to happen. As soon as the BG opened up the door the driver came out firing. As what was said earlier the best way to defeat an ambush is to attack it. He did just that. He may have been able to act faster but who knows. His SA was acute enough for him to realize what was going to go down and react properly.
I think it is fairly unreasonable to expect people to be so switched on all the time that they live up to expectations some have in this thread. The guy wasn’t on a VIP protection team, or a security detail in a foreign country, he was parking his ****ing car in his garage. I would offer an extreme eye roll to anyone who claims to be on high alert 24/7.
I decided to look at the vid again.
Some notable points:
0:10 - first perp visible by garage door
0:12 - the passenger door starts to open. At that time, 2 perps are visible trying to hold the garage door up.
0:13 - first perp enters and approaches driver’s side
0:14 - you see movement in the car, the driver is taking some sort of action (my guess is that they were alerted to something at this time, and he draws his gun). First perp has still not reached car
0:16 - First perp opens door, and get’s the bad news. Third perp is moving quickly towards passenger side. First perp gets one round off
0:21 - fight is over, and perps have fled the scene. He continues to stay in the fight after they have fled
So, I think he reacted pretty quickly and determined, based on the video.
It is hard to tell how easy it was for them to see, as the footage says nothing about lighting conditions for the occupants in the vehicle.
A cop buddy of mine doesn’t wear his seatbelt for about 100 yards before his destination, on a call, coming home, etc. and does the same thing when leaving. This is on and off duty. Not a bad habit to get into, especially in parking lots.
We can analize this to death, but this guy did the right thing at the right time. No hesitation and he brought the fight to the suspects with a violent counter attack. It worked out well for him and it definately reinforces the fact that handguns rarely stop the threat immediately. I hope he and his wifes hearing recovers quickly. I’m sure she was ready to move as soon as they got back in the house. I know my wife would. David
Not to mention, you can’t keep that up forever. I lived in a very high crime area when I was younger. I was always “up” I was always “expecting things.” Even if you actually do it, it wears you out and you become less effective.
If somebody is intent upon pulling a “ninja” you will have little or no warning. If the three guys were intent upon taking the driver out they would have done it from positions of concealment as he was entering the garage. He’d have never seen it coming and there would be little he could do about it.
If I wanted to kill somebody as they entered their garage I can think of about two dozen simple ways to do that without any real effort. The only way to really prevent that from happening is to have on sight security and a controlled perimeter.
Most people I know, including those who are in law enforcement or current / former military probably wouldn’t have done as well as this guy. When you pull in your own garage you are typically thinking about bills that need to be paid, reports that are due and things like that.
If you are lucky enough to actually see guys come under your garage door (not something you typically watch for unless you are in a very high crime area or saw them loitering on or near your property) most people spend at least 7 seconds thinking “what the hell are these guys who think they can just walk into my garage?” People take a lot of time to switch gears to “I think I’m going to be attacked” and not everyone is experienced enough to immediately look for weapons, most people look at faces in an effort to identify individuals and figure out who they are and why they are here.
Given all that that, this guy did fine. Could have probably done a few things better, but that is probably the one single constant in EVERY gun fight. A lot of people would not have done this as well. Real life rarely looks like the scene from Collateral.
The only thing I would even attempt to offer is the value of the Mozambique. It can be hard to come off of “center mass”, especially when you have two more bad guys only a few feet away. But given the guy who took three to the chest was still “good enough” to haul ass he could have just as easily returned effective fire. The only reason he didn’t (I’m assuming) is because he became a defender of his own life and was more concerned with escaping and survival than robbery or whatever the original motive was.
I’d rather take my chances getting a head shot on shooter one when he didn’t go down than transitioning to the next threat. But that is very much Monday Morning QB. No matter what you do right, that situation could have gone bad a couple different ways. Changing the scenario to going to the wife first would have dramatically altered possible response options.
That isn’t right. Couldn’t the man just shoot the pistol out of the perps hand? Shoot the kid in the foot?
That young man shouldn’t have to die because he needed the guys car. It isn’t his fault.
/snark off
My wife would be kicking my ass for lazering her when I returned to the car.
Yeah, I saw that too. Wasn’t gonna nit pick. He probably was just making sure she was ok. Thankfully no NDs occurred.
Yeah, I forgot the smiley.
It is pretty easy and perhaps a good idea if you are in the mix to buy a cheap but good holster and modify it with some hot glue and velcro and secure it within the vehicle in a manner in which it wont be dislodged upon impact and is readily available if everything goes wrong.
I have a couple of these in my daily driver, not because I think I’m going to get car jacked, but because most of humanity kinda sucks.
Appendix carry shines when it comes to driving.
Not as much as a second secured holster.
- Get a faster garage door.
- If the BGs had shot guns, this wouldn’t have gone down was well.
- I don’t think it was a hit on him, I think they went in there to intimidate and scare him and his wife. You don’t open the car door to kill him, you open it to stick a gun in his face and scare him. I’m not saying that they weren’t in danger, just that I don’t think this was a hit. Blow out the window and hose down the inside if you are looking to kill him.
- Did the BG get one shot off after being shot twice? I thought I see a flash and the round would have gone into the floor.
My wife laughs at me that when we are leaving somewhere, I open my door, stand on the running board and don’t enter the car until everyone is in the car with the doors closed.
[QUOTE=FromMyColdDeadHand;2127395]1. Get a faster garage door.
2. If the BGs had shot guns, this wouldn’t have gone down was well.
/QUOTE]
I would have to agree with the above.
My garage door will allow you in and however blink the light as you break the beam.
Had these guys been intent on murder, shot guns or firebombs would have been used.
SA is king.
No situation is handled perfectly. Any situation where the good guy & his wife walk away with ringing ears being the worst signs of a struggle for their life was the proper way of handling. The rest is fluff.
For those talking about transferring your concealment piece from your person to your car & then back… why? I can think of a dozen reasons why this is a bad idea right off the top of my head.
Had our hero made that his habit in this video he likely wouldn’t have even noticed the guy coming in the garage door. He would’ve been to busy doing his routine if transferring the gun back to his person.
What happens if a situation occurs that requires a rapid exit of your vehicle but you don’t grab your carry weapon due to lack of time or not thinking you need it prior to exiting. Now you need it and don’t have it. Now what?
What if you’re in an accident, rammed or become otherwise disoriented? If you’re not in physical contact w/your carry weapon you’d be amazed how easy it is to ‘lose’ your firearm even though you knew right where it was seconds before. On your body you know where it is, you can still feel it there & the bulk of your muscle memory has been focused on drawing it from that area. Before you even fully process what you’re seeing as a threat your hand/arm might already be reaching for it on your hip.
Personally my gun always stays on me. I know right where it is & I practice drawing from a vehicle. It’s not ideal but slightly slower draws are much better than not having it at all.
I agree. When shit hits the fan all you really have is whats on your person. The less you have to handle your firearm the better.