My Mall Scenario :)

[Glenn E. Meyer]

You are at the mall. All of a sudden, you hear gun fire and looking down the length of the mall, you see a bunch of evil doers shooting random shoppers with AR-15s.

You are armed with a legit hi-cap semi auto handgun and an extra mag.

Thus, you turn at run your butt into Mervyn's and out the door.

As you get into the parking lot and move towards your car, you see a guy, open his trunk and take out an long arm and start to run towards the mall.

What do you do?

 

[LICCW]

Dial 911

Well, I either,
1) Get in my car, dial 911 on my cell, give all the info I can ,and leave.
OR
2) I dash to the nearest telephone booth, enter, spin round at the speed of light and emerge as the Man of Steel, re-enter the mall, twist the guns of the evildoers into pretzels, make sure little Sarah and her dog are safe, then fly out of the mall making back to my job at the Daily Planet before my lunch break is over.

Seriously, I'd just do the first. I'm kidding about the Man of Steel thing.

 

[SW_fan]

Call 911 for sure.

If the guy in the lot points his weapon at me, I'm shooting (then hauling ass outa there while calling the cops) But no way am I trying to take on multiple BGs with assault rifles.

 

[threegun]

He could be a goodguy trying to help and so far hasn't shot at anyone so I would hide behind cover and finish my getaway once he is out of view and it is safe.

 

[NBT]

Sounds the the North Hollywood shootout, but why would they be at the mall?

Don't try to play hero with your puny sidearm against atleast 3 guys with assault rifles. Who knows if the guy in the parking lot is one of them, he might be an undercover cop. Best thing to do is RUN

 

[ChrisJ]

Man, don't you watch 24? The AR-15 wielding evil doers are plain clothes counter terror agents, the "random" shoppers are Al Qaeda members with nerve gas in their shopping bags. Well it could happen right? Maybe not but regardless its not my fight unless they start targeting children or people I personally know. I'd get out of Dodge and call the cops.

- Chris

 

[Doug.38PR]

1) Lay low and keep my eye on him noting is appearance and the way he carries himself. Subtly following him back into the mall at a distance and see who he starts shooting at. If he shoots at the terrorists, I might just help him out. If he starts shooting at people and is just another terrorist, I put a 9mm hydrashok in his back.

2) Whether he is a friend and not a foe, I call the police and let them know what is going on if I have a moment of cover, where we are, who we are and our intentions.

3) Pray to God his will be done.

 

[rapier144]

If the guy with the long arm in the parking lot wasn't pointing the long arm at me i would tell him good luck stupid. And get the hell out of dodge.

 

[springmom]

that's what I have a cell phone for

...and that's when I'd use it.

Springmom

 

[Edward429451]

Go ahead and leave. Call it in to 911 so at least they have some info.

Whether it's BG's in the mall or not, or a BG in the parking lot or not a lone man with a pistol prolly wouldn't be of much help. If they're cops responding to something, a pistol wouldn't help and approaching him would just hinder and distract him/them and him being all keyed up is not a good time to approach him for anything.

 

[atlctyslkr]

I know a couple of cops who have wet dreams about stuff like this. I'd call 911 and then call them and tell them where the action was. I'd then go home and flip on the TV and watch it play out.

 

[BonnieBlue]

You are at the mall. All of a sudden, you hear gun fire and looking down the length of the mall, you see a bunch of evil doers shooting random shoppers with AR-15s.

You are armed with a legit hi-cap semi auto handgun and an extra mag.

My handgun against AR-15s sounds like the Battle of Samar Island--bad odds.
SOOO, I try to stay out of their sight and call 911---If I don't have it (my cell)with me or can't get coverage, I look around and see if I can get help(surely I'm not the only one in the place) If it comes down to the bottom line and one approaches me, I shoot him, assuming my hand isn't shaking too much. The truth is, I probably really wouldn't know what to do until such an event happened to me.

 

[Dust_Devil]

I agree that it would depend that I would have to be there and experience the moment before I could say what I would do.

Can I get out of the mall and call 911 without being seen and shot by the bad guys. I probably would. But then, if I'm in a position where I am cool and collected enough and enough positive andrenaline in me to get a well aimed shot at one of the bad guys or all of the bad guys, then I may just end up doing that.

I would just want to be careful to identify who's an actual bad guy and who's an armed bystander with a weapon such as a rifle that he's getting from his vehicle in the parking lot.

 

[threegun]

Add some flavor to the original scenario. What do you do if this goes down and your wife and child are at the other end of the mall?

 

[PSUGolfPro]

With being a "new" handgun owner...first of all pray and hope God's will is done, if its my day, its my day....

First off, call 911 and let them know whats going on

#1. Hide if at all possible from the guy entering from his car, and leave

I think if I have had experience and comfertable level

#2. Make myself present to him, I guess its taking a chance really, hoping he is a good guy going to help, but if he wasnt, possibly id "flash" the presence of what Im carrying and see if that changes his mind, thats if he hasnt fired shots already or began to....from there I do what I can...self defense as long as he fires first? I dunno about this stuff with it all being new to me...probably shoot to wound?

 

[riverrat66]

First thing I'm doing is looking for Doug.38PR because he's the guy who wants to carry a AR-15 in his car for backup.
I'd assess the situation and try to make my decision accordingly. How many shooters are there? Two, three or six? Maybe it would be suicide to involve yourself at all.
But if like threegun adds, "my wife and child are at the other end of the mall" then that changes everything.

I gotta check out the guy with the rifle running toward the mall. Maybe he's a "friendly", if not I'm capping him and taking his rifle because chances are I'm gonna die anyway trying to rescue my family.

Ya know, sometimes it's just your day to die.

If at all possible I'd try re-enter the mall at another entrance closer to the BG's. All I would need to do is clip one of them and hopefully get his weapon and then I have a fighting chance.

By then the cops would probably show up and shoot me thinking I was one of the BG's. This is a no win situation.

 

[axslingerW]

I'd get in a good weaver stance, have my "mall ninja" wife cover me and...

oh, wait. You were serious? I'd run like hell! call 911 from the car.

 

[Ichiro]

First, I clear my weapon and keep it in my hand.
Second, I attempt to get the hell out of there without being seen.
Third, assuming I got out of there, I have my wife call 911 on the cell and report what the hell is going on.

Then, I consider buying an AR and keeping it in my trunk.

~Ichiro

 

[riverrat66]

It's not that simple!

You were serious? I'd run like hell! call 911 from the car.

Did you read this part where threegun added:

"Add some flavor to the original scenario. What do you do if this goes down and your wife and child are at the other end of the mall?"

Do you still run like hell? Haven't you ever left your wife in the mall and told her "I'll meet you at the other end in an hour"? All of a sudden it's a little more complicated, huh?

Getting back to the original scenario, with my family not present in the mall I would probably retreat and take up a position somewhere that I might get a shot at one of the BG's. This probably sounds crazy but then I've been called crazy more then once.

 

[Topthis]

Gun drawn...running like a Olympic trackstar to the safest place, so that I can call 911. Guy pulling the rifle out of his trunk and pull all day long as far as I am concerned, if he starts to point the thing at me, then that is another story. Again, it is too high a price to pay for trying to be a Hero on the 6 o'clock news. What would happen if you shot and accidently killed an innocent? A child perhaps? Could you live with that? How would the community and the News and the Law react to the fact that you could have run away, but you chose to try to be a Hero and killed an innocent?