Concealed Carry Skill Set Part Part II: Civil Unrest

In our last article, found HERE, we looked at concealed carry as a problem set. Specifically we looked at the problem of street crime and came up with what I think are some baseline skills that will see you through most confrontations that could involve lethal force. Those skills were:

• Fundamentals of marksmanship and pistol presentation.

• Less-than-lethal engagement and escalation of force.

• Combatives, weapons retention, and the dealing with weapons threats at extremely close quarters.

• Target discrimination

• Getting off the X while engaging.

• Fighting around vehicles.

• Utilization of flashlights.

• Emergency medical.

As we lead up to our inaugural Advanced Concealed Carry Course here at the range I’d like to continue our multi-part series and discuss some thoughts on civil unrest.

Civil Unrest

   Mob violence gets very dangerous very fast.  There are many real-world examples of regular families, couples, or individuals being attacked because they were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, were wearing something the mob disliked, were perceived as easy targets, or even fit the wrong racial profile.   Another major problem is innocent people driving into what amounts to an illegal checkpoint being conducted by a mob or a violent protest group. This is exceedingly dangerous and has already resulted in a least one use of lethal force.  More on that later.

Over the last 10 years I have observed a few things that I think are patterns in American mob violence.  Mileage may vary, but these are my thoughts on the subject.

·         It seems the mob usually perceives their victims as weak in some way.  The elderly, lone females, families with small children, or grossly outnumbered military aged males seem to be disproportionately targeted when it comes to real violence.  Posturing and foul language is applied across the board, but real violence is directed at those who are perceived as being less able to fight back.  My conclusion:  if you are traveling with elderly relatives or small children, or find yourself alone and greatly outnumbered, you will have to fight with overwhelming, probably lethal, violence.  This is one of the scarier situations a mother, father, or elderly person could find themselves in, and probably calls for the immediate use of lethal force. 

·         There are documented situations where members of the mob give commands as if they have some kind of authority.  There’s even video where a man working personal security for a journalist allows himself to be disarmed because someone in the mob “commands” him to allow himself to be frisked.  There are other instances where people have been ordered from their vehicles, ordered to display documents, etc.  Strangely (in my view), people actually comply with this nonsense.

·         There also appears to be a perception on the part of the mob that victims will be reluctant to resort to decisive violence for legal reasons.  This seems to result in a game of “chicken” where instigators engage in extremely obnoxious behavior that they perceive as being just below the legal threshold for retaliatory  violence.  There have also been instances of more obviously obnoxious rioters being used as cover so that individuals with actual violent intent can close with the victim.

·         The first one to apply decisive violence, as opposed to threatening, posturing, foul language, etc. walks away.  I believe most rioters, like other criminals, are less interested in victimizing those who will decisively hurt or kill them.  They certainly don’t want to be the next contestant after a compatriot gets knocked out or shot dead by a competent fighter.

In terms of hard skills I think the same skill base listed in the first section is appropriate, with a couple additions

·         Willingness and restraint.  These should be components to the mindset of anyone who chooses to arm themselves, but in mob violence situations they come to the fore. Innocent people caught in these circumstances must act with great restraint, immediately followed by explosive and decisive violence if needed.  This requires emotional restraint and physical courage.  One must go from a neutral demeanor to committed, decisive, violence instantaneously.  Finally, it implies a firm line in one’s mind and conscience of exactly where words stop and decisive violence begins.   There is a moral component to this.  There is also a legal one, and all these factors must be balanced in a split-second decision.

·         Decisive violence.  If you go down the Youtube  rabbit hole of fights that happen in a mob setting there’s a lot of stuff that looks more like kids on a playground than skilled fighters administering decisive violence.  Cussing, shoving, and throwing random haymakers with no follow-up is not self defense, it’s provocation and posturing—playground behavior.  I personally believe that if violence is used it should be sudden, decisive, and probably very destructive.

·         Fighting against multiple opponents.  There is a lot that could be said here but engaging multiple targets and visually processing/target-discriminating multiple people is important. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzE9n4E398s

BJJ vs. Protesters. Notice the very low level of actual violence here i.e. this is about viral video, not about seriously injuring or killing someone. While the content creator in the video is chalking it up as a win, the reality is that if someone in the crowd had lethal intent, or even intent to do him serious harm, he would probably be dead or disabled right now.

·         Grappling.  In the video above a content creator becomes fed-up after being slapped by a protester and takes the antagonist to the ground.  The grappler is skilled and he quickly maneuvers his opponent into a very compromised position then essentially holds him hostage until the crowd lets him stand up and disengage.  This episode is entertaining, but also cautionary.  Someone with truly violent intent could have just walked up and slit the grappler’s throat, struck him with a bat, brass knuckles, or a blackjack, or simply shot him in the head at point blank range.  Fortunately for our grappler friend, no one in the crowd wanted to go beyond throwing hands that day.  Personally, that’s not something I would be willing to bet my life on.  If knocked to the ground or taken down in a mob setting the ability to gain a superior position and then regain mobility would be key, but I think that intentionally taking someone to the ground is betting your life on whether or not someone really wants to kills you today.

·         Weapons retention.  This could be a serious problem in a mob situation, since as soon as it is revealed that you have a gun there’s a good chance someone will try to disarm you.  Also, one could easily find oneself in a grounded situation involving lethal force.  We saw this in the Kyle Rittenhouse incident as well as at least one other incident that I have seen video of.  In the latter the mob is attempting to desecrate an American flag.  A bystander attempts to defend the flag and is subsequently ground-and-pounded by several rioters.  While they are beating him one rioter produces a knife.  The man being beaten on the ground promptly produces a concealed handgun and shoots the knife man dead, after which the other rioters decide they no longer want to participate. 

Illegal Checkpoints

 Dealing with illegal checkpoints set up by rioters during civil unrest is almost it’s own topic, and it’s quite a dangerous situation.  First, it’s possible that what you drive into is not even an organized checkpoint.  It could just be a bunch of random violence, looting, burning, or a bunch of rioters just blocking traffic for the sake of inflicting inconvenience.  

     In my opinion the illegal checkpoint activity we’ve seen in the US thus far is uniquely problematic from the standpoint of regular citizens who are simply trying to go about our daily business.  Usually illegal checkpoints are a feature of failed states or developing nations lacking central governance, where various criminal groups, terrorist organizations, or factional militias are filling the void.  In that environment the guys manning the checkpoint are probably pretty unsavory, but they definitely have a boss, and they are there for a reason.  That reason usually involves collecting taxes and controlling territory, or potentially just a little entrepreneurial armed robbery. While things certainly can and do get out of hand, usually if you know what the rules are you can play the game. 

     Contrast this to an objective view of the United States.  Here we have mobs of low-level criminals, the emotionally less stable and psychologically less competent setting up roadblocks to screen for perceived enemies of the cause.  Some of them might not really be sure what the cause is (Gays for Palestine??!).  Others may be just looking to do violence for the sake of violence.  The man shot at an illegal checkpoint in Texas after he pointed an AK47 at what he thought was an unarmed civilian was interviewed just before the shooting.  In the interview he stated that he thought it would be fine to have an AK47 at an illegal checkpoint because in his words the opposition was “a bunch of p*ssies.”  Keep in mind that this guy was operating in Texas right next to one of the largest military bases in the United States.  This individual was simply not mentally connected to the reality of his situation.  Another perfect example are the several people who have been shot after attempting to run over ICE officers with their vehicles.  Attempting to hit a police officer with a vehicle constitutes a lethal force incident anywhere in the US, probably anywhere in the world, yet there is shock and outrage when these individuals are shot by law enforcement officers.  Complete disconnect from reality.  

Getting back to the point, your not driving into a checkpoint manned by Taliban who have a boss and fully expect to be executed if they do not obey him.  You are being stopped by people who think that they can ram a sworn federal agent with their car, or point an AK47 at random people in Texas, and then just go on about their daily life!  Let that sink in for a minute.

I’m sure many people have many thoughts on this, but the following are a few of mine.

·         Your vehicle may be the most appropriate weapon, and getting off the X is probably the best call.  Just remember that as mentioned above, ramming someone with a vehicle is generally considered lethal force, unless specifically protected in your context (i.e. current Florida law).

·         If for some reason you cannot get off the X in the vehicle, this might be the time for an actual vehicle bail out drill.  You could also find yourself engaged in a gunfight from inside the car.  Either way drawing while seated, firing, then driving, may be the event of the day.  What will you do with the pistol once you have fired and now you have to drive?  Can you get to your pistol with your seatbelt on?  What if someone is trying to physically drag you out of the car?  What if they are trying to drag a family member out of the car?  Is there possibility the vehicle could be disabled?  If so, then what?

A competitor running a vehicle bailout stage in our quarterly combat match here at 37 PSR. When was the last time you practiced drawing from your vehicle?

·         Personally, I would not consider compliance much of an option.  Getting out of my vehicle, displaying documentation, or whatever, really does nothing other than encourage these people in exerting erroneous “authority” while putting myself in a more dangerous position.  In particular I would probably use lethal force before I allowed them to disarm me.

Mob violence, in general, is one of the more dangerous situations that may be encountered by the civilian who chooses to exercise their right to bear arms.  On the other hand, situations like this are precisely the reason why the constitution guarantees this right.  Consider that most authoritarian regimes, when they take power, use some type of organized thuggery to keep the normal citizenry in line when they take control.  We’ve seen it in the Weimar Republic when the Nazis took over, China when the Communists took over, Venezuela when Chavez took control, and the recent forced pacification of Hong Kong under the Chinese Communist Party.  The emergence of organized leftist violence over the last ten years is, in my estimation no different.  So in the tradition of the great Americans who came before us, be armed, be trained, and resist tyranny accordingly.