Tarmac and tires, people. Whenever you’re driving your car, make sure you can see the tarmac and tires of the vehicle in front of you. That way you’ll have a chance to drive around the car ahead should the need arise. Which it would during an attempted robbery or carjacking. Because no matter how fast you are at unholstering a firearm in your vehicle, flexing your right foot is faster . . .

You can use your vehicle to escape or counter-attack as needs be. [NB: It’s not clear if the driver above faced an imminent threat of death or grievous bodily harm as he ran over the perps. Let’s go with yes.] The wider point: a gun fight is a fight with a gun. The first and most important element is the word “fight.”

If you can’t escape, use the best (i.e. the quickest and most violent) tool/method to attack your assailant. That may involve your firearm and it may not. Don’t forget the “not” part of the equation.

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52 COMMENTS

  3. Many years ago I attended a general self-defense class in TX. It was taught by a retired Texas Ranger. I still remember his answer when a woman in the audience asked him what to do if someone tried to force your car off the road. He explained that he had encountered many such cases in his career and most of them ended very badly for the victim(s). The surprising thing to him was that in most case the victim’s car was not damaged. Then he said, “The most powerful weapon I have ever used was a Chevy.”

    • “The surprising thing to him was that in most case the victim’s car was not damaged.”

      I wonder if this has to do with the fact that a vehicle owners we have a strong unconscious will to avoid damage to our vehicles at all costs.

      • I would say its conscious. Never been run off the road for the purpose of Robert or assault but every time a car or truck has entered my lane I have avoided contact. If someone were trying to force me off I could see my self avoiding contact to the point of compromising my ability to defend my self. You are probably less likely to recognize it as a deliberate attack until it is to late compared to a personal conflict.

  4. That’s the stupidity of NYC and similar cesspools. I can’t bring in a gun, but I can ride through the streets in a weapon of mass destruction, which, if done with skill, can be quickly activated over and over without losing lethality.

    Your point is well taken: don’t assume that the obvious weapon is the only one or best one. After all is said and done, your real weapon is your intelligence. Everything else is just a tool.

  6. Is there any more information on the background of the video? Country, city, state, status of perps etc? What is Idiot #2 scrabbling for after being run over?

  7. It’s better to drive your way out of Dodge than to shoot your way out of Dodge.

    But it’s still nice to have a gun.

    • Or you can make the Baddies dodge your Dodge. Pick up that is. If his attempt to squash the truck jackers is any indication of his hand eye coordination it’s better he didn’t have a gun.

  10. I took some specialized defense driving courses designed for executives that taught similar things. Got to learn to do a J-hook turn, slalom, and how to swerve/sideswipe someone to push them off of the road if they are following you. I suggest some of the tactical pistol classes that teach this point so you can wreck their vehicles in the fight.

    As one instructor said “this is why you have f**king insurance. Blow through the deductible!”

  14. AAAHHHHHH ! The truck, it’s defending itself somehow… I know, I’ll hide behind the motor bike ! It can’t hurt me then ! 🙂

  16. GREAT POST!!!

    I tell people, “My wife carries 10 rounds of Glock .40, but 8,000 lbs. of Ford Excursion”.

    • I was curious, too so I figured it out:

      F150 weighs about 5000 pounds (2268 kg) and is traveling at 30mph (13.4 m/s)
      KE (in joules) = KE = 1/2 (M * (V * V))

      203621.04 Joules

      Found a few energy converters online: 150183.16 ft/lbs

      • 150,000+ !!!! Sweet. Thank You for doing the math. As Foghorn Leghorn once opined, “Figures don’t lie”…And either does a truck.

      • And NO recoil pad needed!

        It’s true, a lot of victims seem to forget they are driving one heck of a weapon.

  18. I recall an epiphany that an old mentor laid on me many years ago; I was sitting in my car at the local shooting spot attempting different techniques for engaging a target placed beside the car and partially to the rear of my drivers window. I had was becoming a contortionist as I tried to find the most rapid and effective movement to bring my pistol to bear on the target with something approaching a sight picture and had begun to wonder if I should simply learn to shoot blindly over my shoulder (we are talking about a target less than 3 feet away and visible in my side view mirror). The grizzled old timer comes around to the passengers side and gets in, asking about the challenge I’ve set up and I explained it to him. He reached out, started the engine and began cutting the wheel to the right. I looked at him, wondering what he was up to when he said “Shift it into reverse and floor it!” The solution was that obvious but I’d been focused on the pistol as the weapon, completely ignoring the fact that the problem only existed when seated in the drivers seat of a much more powerful weapon altogether. It pays to think in terms of speed and violence of action rather than a specific response to a given situation. The goal is to ‘win’, and that might be best accomplished by a unique action that only applies in that one specific situation . . .really, how many times does one have a life and death fight? Just win (meaning don’t die), it doesn’t have to be elegant, just effective.

  21. The worst thing about that video is that the two asshats actually survived. They should be permanent oil stains on that pavement…

  22. Excellent advice, RF. Leave 1/2 car length in front of you reduces rear end crashes and gives maneuvering room to fight or flee.

    • “make sure you can see the tarmac and tires of the vehicle in front of you. That way you can create gridlock and ensure that only 1/10 as many cars can fit in any given left turn lane.”

      Fixed it for you. If everybody followed that advice, commute time would more than double. It’s a nice idea but the streets are not designed to accommodate it.

  23. The myth of stopping power once again. Those 2 turds got squashed by a truck and still managed to bounce and run. Nobody that’s serious about self defense drives anything with wheels. It’s tracks or nothing.

  24. How exactly is he supposed to floor it when a car is right in front of him, farrago stop being a keyboard ninja

  25. Your car is ALWAYS your best option. Whether to get away or to run some assholes over, cars are more lethal than any gun you may be carrying.

  26. I lol’ed.

    The only way it would have been better is if they would have had to rinse those two assholes off the sidewalk.

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