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I almost got mugged today

Conceal and carry. Train carefully, become a master before you risk carrying a live weapon.

When someone makes the decision to break the law, and mug another person, they are voluntarily accepting the risks that go with that. They are counting on the victim rolling over, submitting, and giving them whatever they want. This response to a mugging only reinforces the behavior (and audacity) of the mugger.

Now, in my unpopular opinion, if someone wants to try and mug someone, they are making a conscious choice to take the risk. The risk could be that the other person is training in martial arts, is carrying a stun gun, or even worse, is carrying a loaded weapon and is trained to use it properly in that situation.

I have no pity, no remorse for such attackers. If they mug someone, and get shot in the process, they accepted that outcome as a possibility when they chose to act like a horse's ass.

I also live around Chicago, and the lack of a CCW allowance bugs me greatly. If more responsible people were carrying weapons, and were trained to be deadly with them, I imagine less muggers would take those risks. Just my thoughts.

I'm sorry that happened to you. Eventually, I am sure it will happen to me. Since the great state of illinois made it illegal for me to protect myself adequately from the scum of the Earth, I will probably lose a wallet or more, but hopefully not my life. I won't quibble, it isn't worth it.
 
/dev/toaster said:
The rest of the country really needs to issue more CCWs. I firmly believe there would be far less violent crime against innocent people. Don't get me wrong, there would be accidents and silly things. But, you gotta have some serious balls to think about robbing someone who might be packing.
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very true, my criminal justice prof says this all the time. all the anti-gun BS is crap! Guns don't kill people, people kill people!! I have been in an event where my dads weapon saved our lives probably....this guy on the freeway was driving eratically, and cutting us off, trying to run us off the road etc... I think he thought we were someone else or was mad because we were in front of him driving the speed limit(he was not)...anyways, he tried to run us off the road countless times, until my dad got really pissed rolled down the window and pointed his weapon at the guy. Needless to say the guy immediately slammed on his brakes, and exited the freeway. We still don't know why this guy was out for us, he was probably intoxicated but yah, theres my story where a weapon did some good without being fired. sorry for being off topic but yah just thought I'd give a story!!
 
When this happens, I just flex. Laughter is always the best medicine.

Oh, then tie up the old laces and Usain Bolt outta there.



And why would you bring a knife, so they have something to stab you with?
 
Thats like everyday in my neighborhood. just act tough and look big and for the most part people won't talk to you. I just about got jumped yesterday by this native kid and his brother, just don't confront them, and if you do make sure you make the first move. i also carry a knife and have several years of martial arts.
 
Get yourself a concealed weapons permit. I personally like the Glock 26 9MM is small compact and has enough punch to take down an attacker. I don't know the laws in your state but here in Fl it's fairly easy to get one. Then again muggings are almost unheard of here.You have to ask yourself what do you think these guys would have done to you if no one was around? What if they decided to rob you and then for the hell of it murder you to so there are no witnesses. This scenario seems a little extreme,but then again the world is a little extreme, Me personally I will stick to carrying my Glock in the event something like this happens my training & regular target practice will come into play. Yes there is a risk of your weapon being used a against you but I would rather die trying.
 
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Take some self defense classes and hope you never have to use what you learn. Keep those skills sharp, you can lose them to some degree without a bit of practice.
Carrying a weapon escalates the situation and usually puts you at more risk than not having one. The idea is to get out of the situation, not make it worse.

And what kind of pansy ass loser punches someone in the back? Glad you made it away only just a bit rattled.
 
Sorry to hear about your predicament. At least you didn't get hurt or anything stolen.

miamiracing said:
..
I'm 6'1 260lbs.. guess what i did? i gave him ****, i told him **** u and punshed right under his hand and he dropped his knife and i slammed my flat hand into his buddies face.. he felt down and guess what? the other dude picked them up and they run away...
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Reminds me of a story. My neighbors kid is a bit mischievous and the police took him in and his parents had to pick the kid up from the station. One of the police officers started demeaning the kid in front of his father. The father yelled at the policeman the the policeman threw the first punch. The father, a 6'5" HUGE jacked former NFL football player that works out every day beats the living **** out of the cop. The cop tries to sue my neighbor but it doesn't work because it was "self defense" and the cop got suspended from his duties for a month.

Moral of the story don't try to beat up someone that is 2x as big as you.
 
Sounds like you handled it well.

Truly the best defense is awareness. If one walks around in this world not paying attention to his or her surroundings, they become target to those who wish to prey upon them. Check out this link to see what I mean, they usually teach this in law enforcement training. I am not saying you have to be paranoid, just considers the dangers that are present and everyday life.

I am a firearms instructor and I can tell you that in your particular situation, the use of a weapon would have certainly escalated the situation. In such close quarters a firearm would have been the worst choice possible. It takes a LOT of training to become proficient in accurately shooting from a weapon retention position. The degree of difficulty increases in a multiple assailant situation. Not only that, but by deploying a firearm in a crowded environment you expose yourself to civil liability if you accidentally shoot someone who is not attacking you. YOU are responsible to every one of the bullets that leaves your barrel.

There is no reason to stand there and go toe to toe with these guys. There is no shame in keeping yourself safe by talking your way out or by moving to a more crowded area.

To Bassproguy07:

Displaying or brandishing weapons is never a good idea.

...until my dad got really pissed rolled down the window and pointed his weapon at the guy...
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If that guy then pulled out his assault rifle, then shot you and your dad, he would have had a valid self defense claim.
 
Sorry to hear this. These are awful and ruin everything. People take a long time to get back to normal again. Just reading about it raises my blood pressure. Terrible.
 
sdschwendener said:
On the CTA Red Line Roosevelt stop. These two black guys in black jackets one with a red baseball cap started acting all sketchy and telling me I was acting nervous. I was like "I'm not nervous, why should I be?" but I already knew what was up. This has never happened to me before but I always knew it was coming.

Anyhow I tried to get on the train and one of the guys grabbed my backpack and pulled me off and I just looked at him and then tried to run onto the car which was like half full. So they get on as well and start talking some more **** to me. I'm like 5 ft 7 so there was no pretending to be tough. Anyhow, I tell the 6.3 white guy next to me that if one of these guys hits me to pull them off of me. The black dudes were saying "There is no support, no help here." Who really tries to threaten people like that? So I said back.. "Anybody with a conscience helps out someone who needs it.. But you wouldn't know that cause your nothing like these people." The guy next to me between the next three stops went to the back of the car and hit the button to speak to the train conductor and told him to call the police or something or other.

When we got to Lake a CTA woman asked if everything was alright so I explained what was up, one of the guys denied it so I told them he was full of **** and got off. As I got off the guy punched me in the back! Like that was going to make a difference at this point. The train and subway are full; its rush hour. Anyhow, she told me to go to the front car and one of the guys was like yeah.. go to the front car. I knew if I did they would follow me. I found another CTA guy who was looking for them and he told me to go up the escalator because a few cops were there. Just before I got on I saw the two guys because of the red hat (there were a TON of people in the subway). I told the cops they were still down there and they all went down. I was looking around for them but didnt see them. A person came up described the two guys and said they ran up the escalator next to the one I just came down on.

I was so frustrated I didnt see them. It was packed with people which stopped me from getting my ass handed to me but it also let them get away. I'm pretty certain they got away. I'm just so frustrated people like this exist.

All my friends are working and I needed to vent. I knew sooner or later it was going to happen to me cause I'm just a short preppy white kid. Time to carry a knife?
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This is always one of my fears.
I get on/off the red line @ the Roosevelt stop about three days a week.
There are always sketchy people on the red line, going south-bound and north-bound.
I don't know what I would have done in your case...
It really got me thinking.
Glad you're okay.
 
Am loving the idea that a gun would have solved this. This took place on a packed commuter train, had a weapon been pulled there would have been panic and likely as not people would have been killed in the stampede. At close quarters firing the weapon would likely have resulted in an uninvolved person being injured.

It seems to me that the OP handled this just fine. There's no harm in telling others that there is a problem, and happily enough people helped out. He achieved a non violent resolution without any weapons being involved. Had a weapon been produced you can guarantee that someone would have been hurt or even killed: mugger, victim or even by-stander.
 
BoyBach said:
How do you "almost" get mugged? Surely you're either the victim of a mugging, or you're not?
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He wasn't mugged, but two people seemed to be working toward that goal. How would you title this thread-- "I wasn't mugged today"?
 
A couple of years ago I was mugged by three young black guys with a meat cleaver at the end of my street.
It was one of the few times I ever carried my much loved TiBook on the street with me as I was on my way to a friends house 5 minutes away to ask her opinion of a design I'd done for a job.

I was walking along and the bigger and older of the three guys came up from behind, stopped in front of me and pulled out this meat cleaver. His two mates, who looked about 16, were behind me.

He asked me for money but I didn't have any and said so. Then he asked me if there was a laptop in the bag. (Yup, my un-backed up TiBook with all my work and accounts and life on it) I told him there was nothing in the bag but, to distract him, said he could have my phone and handed it over. I don't think it crossed his mind that anyone would lie to a meat cleaver, much less a small woman.

While he was showing my mobile to his mates I ran like a rabbit, bag with laptop banging me in the back, and stopped a passing car for help by standing in front of it. When I went to the car window, and explained to the guy driving I'd just been mugged and asked him to call the police he promptly drove off leaving me there.
But so it goes, just my stopping the car caused the muggers to run away. I ran to my friends house bag, TiBook and all and she called the police.

I lost my phone which was annoying but I kept my computer which was key and I didn't get hurt which was the most important thing. I'd have handed over the computer if it had been that or get cut. Meat cleaver injuries are seldom trivial.

I think I kept my presence of mind as a result of self defence training I undertook some years previously because I had a bad case of post traumatic stress after getting a bit bashed up fighting off a guy who tried to rape me.

Learning to fight taught me (amongst other things) that the biggest thing is mindset. I've been out of training for a few years now so I would have to be really up against it to try and take on a guy now, it would have to be something like another rapist or someone trying to kill me, where I'm going to get hurt anyway (if you get in a fight you're going to get hurt win or lose) but I think I am still a lot more resourceful in a crisis even now because of that training. I assessed the situation without panicking and went for what I believed was the best course of action in the circumstances.

Carrying weapons is not a good idea by and large unless you know how to use them and are really prepared to do so, and almost anything can be a weapon if you do know what you are doing.

I did, very briefly, weigh up the option of round-housing Mr Meatcleaver in the head with the heavy laptop in the shoulder bag but decided it was a high risk strategy as so far they only wanted money or goods.

I would recommend anyone who has had a bad experience like yours to find a good self defence trainer. It might take a while as there are some rubbish ones but shop around until you find something sensible that suits you.

I did Jeet Kune Do, because I am 5'2" and under 100lbs and anyone who attacks me is going to be a lot bigger than me so Judo or anything predominantly weight/sized based isn't much use. The guy who taught me was also small and was brilliant.

My advice. Find a small martial arts teacher. They have to know the good stuff because they don't have weight or height to rely on and are up against people who do. And after a while you will feel better. Not go out and take on the world better, because that's just dumb, just more able to cope with some of the really bad stuff life can throw at you if you have to, and then you can forget about it and move on.
 
spencers said:
Concealed carry!
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How common is it in the US? In Canada it's flat-out illegal save for people in security and trapping, and I don't think they can conceal their weapons either. Full-autos are also completely banned and smaller pistols are banned too. :mad:

What's it like carrying?
 
Mammoth said:
How common is it in the US? In Canada it's flat-out illegal save for people in security and trapping, and I don't think they can conceal their weapons either.
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Depends on where you are in the U.S.. It's almost impossible to get where I live, whereas a clean background check is basically all you needed back when I was living in Austin.
 
dmr727 said:
Depends on where you are in the U.S.. It's almost impossible to get where I live, whereas a clean background check is basically all you needed back when I was living in Austin.
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Ah well, almost impossible is better than completely impossible.
 
Mammoth said:
Ah well, almost impossible is better than completely impossible.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Cali is a tough place to be if you believe in defending yourself with a gun. I own a few guns, but I'm a target shooter - none of the guns serve a defensive purpose. They're all locked up in a safe, and since I don't keep ammo in the house, I couldn't do much more than throw my pistol at an intruder. :)

California law pretty much requires you to keep any guns locked up. If you don't, and someone gets a hold of the gun and uses it to hurt or kill someone, you could be found liable. So if you use a gun for protection, meaning you keep it loaded and ready to go in an accessible place - you're running the risk of being responsible if someone else gets their hands on it.
 
sdschwendener said:
On the CTA Red Line Roosevelt stop. These two black guys in black jackets one with a red baseball cap started acting all sketchy and telling me I was acting nervous. I was like "I'm not nervous, why should I be?" but I already knew what was up. This has never happened to me before but I always knew it was coming.

Anyhow I tried to get on the train and one of the guys grabbed my backpack and pulled me off and I just looked at him and then tried to run onto the car which was like half full. So they get on as well and start talking some more **** to me. I'm like 5 ft 7 so there was no pretending to be tough. Anyhow, I tell the 6.3 white guy next to me that if one of these guys hits me to pull them off of me. The black dudes were saying "There is no support, no help here." Who really tries to threaten people like that? So I said back.. "Anybody with a conscience helps out someone who needs it.. But you wouldn't know that cause your nothing like these people." The guy next to me between the next three stops went to the back of the car and hit the button to speak to the train conductor and told him to call the police or something or other.

When we got to Lake a CTA woman asked if everything was alright so I explained what was up, one of the guys denied it so I told them he was full of **** and got off. As I got off the guy punched me in the back! Like that was going to make a difference at this point. The train and subway are full; its rush hour. Anyhow, she told me to go to the front car and one of the guys was like yeah.. go to the front car. I knew if I did they would follow me. I found another CTA guy who was looking for them and he told me to go up the escalator because a few cops were there. Just before I got on I saw the two guys because of the red hat (there were a TON of people in the subway). I told the cops they were still down there and they all went down. I was looking around for them but didnt see them. A person came up described the two guys and said they ran up the escalator next to the one I just came down on.

I was so frustrated I didnt see them. It was packed with people which stopped me from getting my ass handed to me but it also let them get away. I'm pretty certain they got away. I'm just so frustrated people like this exist.

All my friends are working and I needed to vent. I knew sooner or later it was going to happen to me cause I'm just a short preppy white kid. Time to carry a knife?
Click to expand...


That really sucks:(:(
 
Bastards! Sorry to hear about that and glad you got away safely. How about carrying a knuckle duster? Living in the safest country in the world I forget about these realities of urban living. And let's not turn this into a racial thing. It's about people's experiences.
 
I was almost mugged on my way to university one morning. Was only 10am and took a shortcut through Canal Street. 3 miscreants approached me and asked for a lighter/the time... something like that. One of them wanted to listen to my iPod and I realised what was happened. I said something like "oh nonono, you can piss right off!", one of the 3 said "come on, leave him alone" and just walked off.
Informed the police when I got into uni, gave descriptions and that was that.

It's CCTV city down there and I wouldn't have gone down without a fight :3

Overall thought it was quite a whimsical experience. First encounter with such people in all my 22 years.
 
Dros said:
He wasn't mugged, but two people seemed to be working toward that goal. How would you title this thread-- "I wasn't mugged today"?
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How about "I was assaulted today"? That would reflect what actually happened to sdschwendener.
 
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