Civil unrest (aka mostly peaceful protest) is an ugly phenomenon that occurs in our country from time to time for a variety of reasons. It’s sometimes caused by an unfortunate event and is fueled by emotion and misinformation. Other times conditions of unrest are intentionally created purely for political gain by one group or another. The Left was unable to instigate riots during our recent election which doesn’t mean they won’t have more success in January during the inauguration. In any case, occasional civil unrest is a fact of life in our country.
Periods of violent civil unrest present a very real danger to innocent people who are unfortunate enough to be in areas where these events develop. Often people behave differently when part of a group, committing acts they would not necessarily do if alone. People are more likely to commit acts of violence if those around them are committing similar acts.
Legally armed citizens strive to avoid potentially dangerous situations. But what happens if you are confronted by mob violence? What can you do and what are you not allowed to do? Are appropriate self-defense responses in agreement with what’s allowed by law? If you’re a legally armed citizen, do you know the rules?
A point that I emphasize with all my concealed carry students is regardless of what action you take in a self-defense situation you need to be able to explain why that action was reasonable and that there was no other option available. The defender doesn’t need to be correct, but the action taken needs to be reasonable given the situation and what the defender knew at the time.
Suppose you find yourself in an area where mob violence has broken out and you are threatened by a group of people, you’re armed but what is the appropriate response? Can you escape or is it unlikely you can outrun your attackers? If escape isn’t an option the next choice might be de-escalation although that is unlikely to be successful with an emotional, violent group.
Say at this point you draw your firearm and issue commands, at whom do you point your firearm? Do you point at the mob in general? Do you aim at the apparent leader, or the one that is the most aggressive, or loudest, or closest? Are any visibly armed with objects that could be used as weapons? If you decide to shoot, which one do you shoot or do you shoot multiple attackers? Remember you’ll have to explain why all your actions were reasonable given your situation and what you knew at the time.
You’ll be making these decisions in seconds under extreme stress which is why training is so important. The more training you have the more information you’ll be exposed to and the more likely you’ll be to respond appropriately in a self-defense situation. Your training history can also be used by your legal defense team to help explain why your actions were reasonable given what you knew at the time.
Self-defense situations involving violent mobs are very complex requiring life or death decisions to be made in seconds under extreme stress. Two examples of self-defense situations involving violent mobs are the cases of Kyle Rittenhouse and Jake Gardner. If you’re unfamiliar with these two names or need a refresher, see my article on use of deadly force for a description of each incident and links to additional information. Both men were attacked by violent mobs, both responded appropriately, reasonably, and successfully, yet both were charged and prosecuted in politically charged environments. Kyle Rittenhouse’s case ended in a positive outcome while unfortunately Jake Gardner’s case ended with Gardner’s suicide.
This all comes back to training to understand your options when threatened by mob violence and to maximize the chances of an appropriate response. All gun owners, not just concealed carriers, should train regularly. Remember as in the case of Mark and Patricia McCloskey, mob violence can come to you at your home so it’s critical to know what to do.
There are a wide variety of trainers, some having primarily military experience, some primarily law enforcement, and some strictly civilian. Each have a different philosophy and approach and train varying techniques which is noticeable after having trained with several. Each has valuable information to contribute and the more training you have the better off you’ll be.
The last critical component all legally armed citizens need is adequate legal and financial support. Even if everything done in a self-defense incident is deemed correct, legal, and reasonable it can easily cost tens of thousands of dollars to prove that. If the incident becomes politicized (think Kyle Rittenhouse or George Zimmerman) the legal defense can easily cost hundreds of thousands or more. Also, no matter the legal outcome there will almost certainly be civil action against the self-defender.
So, be armed so as to keep yourself and your family safe. Be trained to be able to protect yourself and your family effectively. Have legal and financial support to win the fight after the fight. And finally, go out and enjoy life and our great country unafraid.
©2024 Joseph T Drammissi
This article and more of Joe’s work covering the Second Amendment and other topics can be found on Substack at https://getagrip.substack.com
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