Jon Low published another of his Defensive Pistolcraft news letters last week, which I am slowly working through. I'd hoped to have something more to say about this past weekend, but the time got away from me. However, there was one article to which he cites that I particularly wanted to emphasize: "Raising Cognizance of Jugging Crimes and Situational Awareness" from U.S. LawShield. Jugging, if you are not familiar with the term, refers to crimes where a robber or thief picks out a target at a bank or a store, then follows them, either robbing them at home or a stopping point in between. The typical example might be a criminal watching for someone making a large cash withdrawal from an ATM, and then following that person to their home and robbing them in their driveway. The article details some tips on avoiding being a victim of jugging including:
- Keys ready and eyes alert, not on your cell phone.
- Know your surroundings and when to pay closer attention.
- Be on the lookout for loitering people.
- Engage in active avoidance.
In regard to the points above--particularly the first point--I found the following anecdote from Jon instructive:
Last night, I went to the movie theater in the Green Hills Mall to see "Sound of Freedom". ...
Standing next to the gentleman collecting tickets, was an armed guard. After the movie, around 23:30, as I was walking out, I stopped by the armed guard to say hello and to ask him which company he worked for. He was wearing ear buds and couldn't hear anything. I had to wave at him to get his attention, at which point he removed one ear bud. One of these days, a bad guy is going to walk up behind him and take his pistol. Because that's reality.
We teach young ladies to NEVER wear ear buds, because 100% of young ladies attacked by strangers in public places (transitional spaces) were wearing ear buds in a study done by Tim Larkin. Why? Because even when they have their eyes fixed on their phone, if they don't have ear buds in, they can still hear the predator approaching at which point they will, generally speaking, lift their head and look around. Predators like taking their victims by surprise.
Another anecdote (which for some reason reminded me of the shooting test for the recruits at the beginning of the movie, Men In Black):
Last blog posting, I mentioned a Simunitions training in a shoot house in which children were screaming and gun shots were loud and numerous. As I got to the top of a staircase, I saw a young pregnant white female in a flower patterned dress with a pistol in her right hand. The pistol was held by her right hip. The pistol was pointing at me.
I immediately fired two rounds into the center of the triangle defined by her nipples and the notch at the top of her sternum.
A friend that I work with, who is a retired Nashville Police officer and retired Marine mustang, told me that I had made a mistake. She might have been a good gal. I should have taken cover and told her to drop the gun.
But, as he described the situation, the outcome for those that didn't shoot was, shall we say, less than favorable:
In the Simunitions shoot house, we entered a building with several rooms. Had to clear each room while there was no stimulus. When the shooting and screaming started, we had to run upstairs and shoot the young white pregnant woman with the gun. At least that is what I did. In the review, the instructors brought up the fact that the women might be a good guy, how did I know she was a bad guy? I should have talked to her before shooting her. But she did have her gun pointed at me. Oh, well, . . .
A lot of the guys did not shoot her. So, she shot them.
A lot of the guys hesitated before shooting her. So she shot them.
Final item from Jon's newsletter:
"The more training and practice you do, the more time traveling you can do."
Explanation of the quote --
Tachypsychia (word not found in the Random House nor the American Heritage dictionaries, sad) is the neurological condition that results in the distortion of time. In practice, everything seems to slows down, giving you more time to do whatever you need to do. Your mind is processing everything much faster than normal, causing the action around you to appear to slow down.
Jon is not kidding that this can happen. I've experienced it myself.
Anyway, check out his newsletter. Lots of good stuff there.
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