Armed Self-Defense: How to Survive a Riot
The first thing to know about riots is that there is no such thing as a winner; there is only survival.
The news today may be particularly ripe with stories about nationwide rioting in response to the death of George Floyd, but the fact is that rioting and uncivil unrest have always been with us, and always will be. That’s because the factors that go into creating a riot are more or less hard-wired into human psychology, and as much as the world has and will change, human beings never do. If you’re an armed citizen, especially one who carries concealed daily, you’ve probably wondered how you would handle it if you found yourself surrounded by far, far more angry people than the round count in your CCW gun’s magazine. Here are three things you need to know to survive a riot.
1. Not all Crowds Become Riots, but All Riots Start as Crowd
The first concept you need to internalize is that of Crowd. Why the weird capitalization? Well, that’s because although a crowd is made up of hundreds of individual people, each of whom is a unique and special snowflake with their own hopes and dreams, you can think of their collective presence as being a single organism named Crowd. The way you determine the intelligence of any given Crowd is that you take the IQ of its dumbest member, and then divide that by the number of people in Crowd. The more people, the dumber Crowd is.
The second concept you need to internalize is that Crowd doesn’t need a rage-inducing scandal or an economic depression to turn to Riot. Sure, most of the time there’s an identifiable reason why Crowd went sour, but there doesn’t have to be. Rumors spread from one end of Crowd to another like a game of Telephone, and no matter how silly or dumb they seem in retrospect, Crowd will take them as gospel in the moment. It can be as simple and innocuous as “They ran out of free hot dogs.” Or as paradoxically joyous as “Our team won.”
So the best advice to survive a riot, therefore, is to avoid becoming part of Crowd. Obviously (COVID-19 social-distancing mandates aside), it’s simply not feasible for most of us to never gather where there are lots of other people. So what can you do to mitigate your risk?
2. Crowd is a Flash Flood
Crowd may be made of hundreds of people, but you should think of the way it moves the way you would think of a rain-swollen river that has finally burst its banks–a fluid, but a powerful, rushing one far stronger than any individual can stand against. Even peaceful crowds can become extremely dangerous if that fluid dynamics starts working against you; Crowd is more than happy to trample some of its components to death. Make a large enough crowd, artificially restrict its movement at one point, and watch 2,400 people be crushed to death in 10 minutes.
In fact, trampling should be your top concern. What you want to look out for is a crowd that is moving into an artificially enclosed area with a pinch-point. This is the time to start treating Crowd the way you would a riptide at the beach; don’t try to move with it (into the enclosed area). Don’t try to swim against it (back through the crowd). Work your way horizontally or diagonally to the outer edges of Crowd, and then get the hell out of there like your heels were on fire and your ass was catchin’.
3. What About Your Defensive Firearm?
By now you’ve noticed that our advice for surviving a riot is “Don’t Be in a Riot,” and that we haven’t talked about your concealed-carry gun yet. That’s because although drawing that gun is always your last resort, to be used in only the gravest of extremes, the situation in a riot is far more dire than a home invasion. You’re dealing with dozens, if not hundreds of people, and (as we’ve already established) they’re now subsumed into the monolithic Crowd. In addition to that extremely serious tactical disadvantage, there’s also the thorny question of what’s going to happen to you legally when Riot turns back to Crowd, which turns back to Individual People, which turns to We Need to Take Your Statement, Sir.
The crucial thing to remember is that the rules about justifiable homicide apply in a riot the same way they do anywhere else. You must be a reluctant participant; you must be in immediate danger of loss of life of grave injury; and the majority of reasonable people must agree with your assessment of both of the above.
If you must draw your firearm to save your life, what you should be trying to do with it is to create distance between yourself and your attacker(s). You’re not trying to fight them–because no matter what happens, you both lose–you’re trying to escape. Make sure you keep your firearm as tight to your body as you can without muzzling yourself, because weapon retention is going to be critical to your survival. Do not shoot to warn; do not shoot to wound; do not shoot to kill. Shoot to stop the attack. Then get the hell out of there like your heels were on fire and your ass was catchin’. Once you’ve reached relative safety, contact 911 to report what happened.
Stay safe, Guns & Gadgets Daily readers, and remember that this too shall pass.
Flee if you are able. If not and you are forced to fight, pick the leaders and make them advance through a wall of deadly fire. There is no other possible alternative except dying.
I’ve always believed that situational awareness should NEVER be turned off. If you aren’t in a controllable space when the awareness alarm goes off, extract yourself pronto into a place you can control. Usually, there are telltale signs very early on something isn’t quite right, listen to the little voice in your head, it always served me well in keeping family and myself safe.
Suspected of passing a counterfeit $20. Even if he did resist arrest how do you justify continuing to kneel on the mans neck after he is in cuffs and face down on the ground? All you trolls out there tell how he should lose his life over $20 bucks. Without the video everyone would have just taken the officers excuse that he was resisting as justification but instead we see an officer showing because of his position he can treat a suspect as he pleases with total disregard for the persons rights, dignity and safety.
Haven’t heard or seen ANY “trolls” saying Mr Floyd “should have lost his life”, period. Not since day one! Nor has anyone said those police were “justified”. As to charges, charges can change as the day in court comes to pass.
Sorry but I will reserve the right to judge once I have seen the whole video, there seems to be a gap that would clear this up once and for all. As far as his kneeling on the neck that LE is about 40lbs lighter than floyd so he his doing the best thing to keep him down by himself. Which begs explanation about what the other LE was dealing with at the time.
What has happened to innocent till proven guilty ?
Practically extinct animal, and PETA doesn’t care.
You are shooting in order to stop the lethal threat pronto. Your goal in a defensive shooting is to stop your attacker(s) actions against you. Actions that a reasonable person believes would cause death or serious bodily harm. Whether or not the suspect dies is up to the ER docs.
My best advice for self defense with a side arm against a mob is to count your rounds so you can save the last one for yourself, you’re not going to get out alive.
And your a moron…
Fortunately, quite often Crowd ALSO has the mentality akin to “rats on a sinking ship,” and and will likely turn and run wildly away from the bullet-launching-bangy/boomy things (while trampling a significant number of their members).
Well the one thing you don’t do is use a bow and arrow (or single shot anything) to threaten the angry mob. Just ask the idiot in Salt Lake city. I would say that blending in with the crowd and working yourself away from it would be the best choice.
It’s amazing in this day where many of the younger people or those in certain occupations are consumed with all these things they consider high tech and modern, that they resort to this foolish behavior.
They think they’re progressive and modern, yet now we have people who instead of creating petitions or awareness through social media which they worship, they resort to wearing a mask like a bunch of desperadoes and carrying sticks or bats like they were going to lynch Frankenstein’s monster. And aside from the chaos, damage and harm they cause, it’s laughable to see them dressed in their tactically capable hoodies and wearing a plastic Halloween mask and wearing their hip sneakers or boots if they want to appear more militant.
They are not intelligent enough to realize that the damages and strife they cause is to other citizens. They think they’re putting it to the man, except “the man” be they male or female, is holding up safe and sound both physically and financially at home or some safe secluded or guarded location while they risk their lives and potential arrest for arson, vandalism or assault when they destroy private property or burn a police car.
They’re savage morons and any politician who tries to prevent anyone from buying a gun should be the first one to spend time where the riot is going on and then talk to the rest of us about how safe they felt. They’re stupid and unpredictable and should not nor can not be reasoned with. They need to be shot like wild animals to stop them or beaten up by those who are capable of doing so and being safe while defending themselves. But think of older, feeble people like the woman in her wheel chair. Low life cowardly scum bags attacked her and probably laughed about it later. Those kind of people don’t deserve a trial, but swift correction on the spot. Otherwise, they get away with it and go home and wait to do it again.
Human nature does not change.
Not taking sides, but does anyone know why George Floyd was in handcuffs?
Because he was under arrest.
He was passing counterfeit currency. Supposedly?
The cops were responding to a call for “forgery in progress”, a real high-violence crime, to be sure.
Shooting to “Stop The Threat” is an acceptable defence to most such situations. Even “Castle Doctrine” states expect you to stop shooting once you are no longer in danger. You need to know the lawfull limits in your jurisdiction and make sure that your firearms proficiency is maintained so that you do not wind up arming your assailant(s).
Marine who trained me said to empty magazine unless there was another immediate threat. Police Lt who taught concealed weapon course said not to reload and continue shooting the threat target as jury tends to not appreciate.
Absolutely your best legal defense is to articulate just that. You did not employ your firearm to kill, only to halt an imminent danger to yourself or others. Normally that involves “Center of Mass” aim at the most immediate threat. You don’t want to miss the threat, you want to immobilize it. Nor do you want a round striking another person (potentially innocent and of no threat to you) because you missed the person presenting the most serious threat to you. If your first round does not immobilize the threat which still presents danger to you, you are justified in continuing to shoot it until it is neutralized (note that I did not say kill although the result is often the same).
Do not shoot to warn, wound, or kill. Shoot to stop the attack.
Mind explaining what that is supposed to mean?
That depends on the bad guy, not you. If you have made the decision to defend your life with lethal force, you draw, aim for the center of mass, and shoot twice. Either he’s so focused on hurting you that he either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care that you’re drawing a firearm, or he desists before you can fire. If he desists before you fire, let him go. Otherwise, you then briefly assess whether the bad guy has stopped. And proceed from there.
Bob, If you don’t understand that conce[pt, you definitely need a lot of self-defense training.
In foreign countries the security forces identify the leaders/agitators and kill them first as best means to break up the riot. Israeli forces are prime example. If threatened by mob killing the leader would seem to be best defense based on experience and then worry about your prosecution because you may still be alive.
Riots are the scariest situations out there. People will do unspeakable things in a riot that they would never do as an individual
I know some people don’t like appendix carry, but in a crowd it’s my preferred method. Easier to protect and easier to get to if necessary.
Hugo, I had a guy say that to me once. After determining that the gun was clear ( a 1911), I told him that I was going to disarm him. I told him when. He laughed. I counted. I had his gun.
I’ve personally been in two riots and yes, they always start as a crowd. Getting away is the absolute best thing a person can do, especially if the cops are on the way. And they never arrest the first person trying to get past them, so go fast.