I’ve been following these “flash mob” stories for awhile, and certainly it does pay to be armed.
However, what happens when you go up against a “flash mob”, let’s say, composed of 100 or so individuals, all of whom are armed as equally as you?
All it’s going to take is one of the “flash mobbers” to get shot, and they’ll arm up as well. I’m surprised they haven’t already, to be honest.
It’s easy to say fire off a shot and they’ll run.....but what if they don’t? They may not be the shots in the world, but all it takes is one bullet from a lucky shot, and down you go.
I’m NOT saying you shouldn’t defend yourself in a life-threatening situation; of course you should. I’m asking a hypothetical question. What happens when the “flash mobs” are as equally well-armed and carrying as law-abiding citizens?
Your observation that the flash mobs have not "armed up" is cogent and instructive. There are several reasons for this. Most of the people in the flash mobs are legally disbared from possesing firearms. If they possess them illegally, they cost resources to obtain. One of the prime motivators of flash mobs is the near certainty of immunity from prosecution. If there are 30 young black people involved in an attack, it is fairly easy for anyone of them to claim that they were not involved, so it is a good defense in court, and it is hard for police to catch these people in the act, which tends to occur quickly.
If they start carrying weapons illegally, they give up much of their advantages. They are subject to prosecution before, during, and after the attack. If they are chased by police, they have to figure a way to get rid of the weapon before they get caught. They don't want to use a holster because it is harder to get rid of. If they figured they were going to get into a gun fight, it is more likely they would be deterred from the attack rather than carry a weapon to it.
In short, I think it unlikely that the flash mob phenomena will start "arming up". If they do, the populace will "arm up" all the faster. While a CCW holder may go down in such a situation, he/she is likely to take more than one flash mob types with them. Statistically, the flash mobs will be on the losing end of this sort of attrition.
This is why civilization works. The majority of citizens know that life is more comfortable and safer under the rule of law. They vastly outnumber the outlaws, who are attrited out of existance by the majority, which uses the mechanism of the government to its advantage.
The places that you have serious problems are where the government has protected the outlaws, or has become outlaw itself. In most of the U.S., we are not at that point.
Excellent and illuminating response. Thank you.
The only places I can see this being a truly serious problem is in locales where CCW is essentially forbidden, either prima facie or through official intransigence. I think of LA, Chicago, NYC, places like that.
And, I’m hoping that these little events of do-it-yourself wealth redistribution don’t spread over to Germany. My neighborhood of Berlin is pretty heavy with Turks, Kurds, and Arabs; most of them are small-business owners (tons of little mom-and-pop shops here), and if their counterparts in London during the recent riots are any indication of the future, I don’t think they’ll be taking any guff from amateur looters.