Before you start in on me, I know: it’s not a David Kenik video. It’s a Glock ad. A work of fiction. But Wrong Girl so wrong on so many levels it’s scary. Alternatively, it’s a teachable moment. A chance to appreciate what an armed self-defender should do in a similar situation. So, where should we start? Let’s start at the very beginning (a very good place to start). Situational awareness much? . . .

Not in this case. The young lady in the video—heretofore known as Susan—walks down the street eyes front.

I’m not saying Susan’s head should be on a swivel 24/7, but landing and take-off are the most dangerous times for a pilot. I mean, entering and leaving buildings and cars are the most dangerous times for a law-abiding citizen.

At the very least Susan should have slowed down as she approached her digs and scanned for nearby threats. She should have paused before entering her apartment and completed her scan looking for hidden threats. Including . . . wait for it . . . mysterious strangers in parked cars.  

It’s not about living the paranoid lifestyle. It’s about being situationally aware, adjusting your awareness level to the situation (including the time of day) and creating good safety habits.

Susan settles in (and settles in and settles in) for a movie. She hears a knock on the door. RAP . . . RAP . . . RAP. Who knocks like that? Red flag on the play!

Thanks to some kick ass acting skills, we can tell that Susan’s not expecting anyone. (Oh! Expect me! Expect me!)

THIS is the moment when Susan should have armed herself. Strange knock, unexpected vistor, it’s go time! Actually, I lie. Susan should have been armed BEFORE the knock. She should have been home carrying.

Not to give anything everything away, but the Bad Guy eventually bursts through the door. What if he hadn’t knocked? If you were a crazed stalker/rapist/jilted boyfriend would you knock first?

Like any B-movie horror movie babe, Susan calls out “Who is it?” Bad idea. She’s just told whoever’s outside that she’s home. If it’s a nutcase that’s the dictionary definition of not good.

That said, “professional” burglars usually knock first, trying to avoid interaction with inhabitants (often with the breaking and entering accomplice at a second entrance). Even so, look before you speak. If you see someone you don’t recognize, ask for ID.

Do I have to say this? Never open the door to someone you don’t know. Even if they’ve got ID and they’re coming at night, tell them to come back during daylight hours. Not very neighborly I know, but a bleeding heart often ends up bleeding.

What’s that she sees through the spyhole? A white Ford Econoline van? Has this woman EVER watched a documentary about a spree killer? Jeez.

No answer. Susan goes back to her movie. Uh, no. If she should have been armed before the knock, if she should have been armed after the knock, the no-show should have motivated her to arm herself and call 911.

Although the music was a clear giveaway that something wicked this way knocketh, a real-life Susan might have been thinking it was a bunch of kids playing a joke. (If it hadn’t been RAP . . . RAP . . . RAP.) Even so, it’s better to have a gun and not need it than not have a gun and be raped and murdered.

Let’s let the next little interlude—another knock, another peep through the door—slide under the heading “dramatic tension.” It’s so obviously stupid it’s stupid. And good on her for finally getting a gun.

Note: it takes Susan 21 seconds to secure her Glock. How great is that? Not as not great as returning to the couch and putting the gun next to her thigh. Anyway, third knock and it’s time to . . . call 911. Hey where IS that cell phone?

Nope. Susan positions herself in front of the door. (I haven’t seen a doorknob that cheap since I stayed at a Motel 6). Susan backs away from the portal. Smart move. Distance is time and time is critical to a successful armed self-defense. Of course, she shouldn’t have gone up to the door in the first place.

Susan should have been aiming at the door from behind concealment or cover (of which there is practically none in a house; save the ‘fridge). And when the bad guy breaks down the door in, I dunno about you but I’m not so sure I’m going to wait for him to faint.

And once the bad guy passed out—or, as might happen in real life, gets shot and staggers around in a rage or lies screaming on the floor—GTFO girlfriend. Standing there like a lemon assumes that BG can’t regroup quickly. And there isn’t another member of the BGs coming-up right behind him.

Anyway, despite what I said in the headline, result! Any ad that convinces women to look after their own self-defense, to consider the option of doing so with a firearm, is a good thing, not a bad thing.

Me, I would have hired Quentin Tarantino to make this promo. Which is why I’m sitting here and not taking meetings in Hollywood. Or selling Glocks, per se.

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51 COMMENTS

  1. Holy Crap that was an awful piece of Hollywood produced fiction. Ugh!!!! Other than having a firearm available is 99 percent worthless. Still love the Gunny though.

  3. I saw this yesterday, and was wondering about her grip. Isn’t she riding the slide release / stop (depending on your preferred nomenclature)? Her thumb also seems to be resting on the slide, which might make for some interesting slide bite. Maybe I’m just being nitpicky.

      • It is an anatomical anonally that females have elbows that work differently from men’s. It occured to me when watching this to wonder if anyone has done a study to determine if this is detrimental to using this sort of shooting stance or if perhaps women should be trained to point that weak-arm elbow down instead of lining up both arms. If it makes no difference in accuracy or follow-up shots then there really is no issue.

    • He wouldn’t have made it anyway. Quentin is very outspoken when it comes to guns. Here are a few quotes from him.

      “If gun control were to happen in America, I would have no problem with it whatsoever. Gun control would probably do wonders here.”

      “Obviously, the issue is gun control and mental health.”

      He has also blamed firearms for all the recent mass killings.

      You can read more here. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/gun-appreciation-day-organizers-invoke-414272

      • what does he care? like the other “wealthy” (i use that term lightly to describe them financially inept baboons) hollywood people, he can afford a gated community free from the grasp of those miserable proles that surround hollywood.

  5. Should have cut the commercial at 1:33.

    Yeah, not a perfect setup but it gets the point across. I’d like to see more of these commercials on TV.

    • Final edit could have easily been 0:30. Dude attacks her, shoves her into the van, cut to EXT. VAN as windows are LIT UP by muzzle flash. CUT TO SUSAN kicking open back door of the van while reholstering her Glock and dialing 911. TITLE: ONE LIFE SAVED. Fin.

    • That’s the key point: This is an AD. It wants to convince women that owning a Glock does not mean you are hyper-aggressive. You may even be reluctant to go for your gun. You may dislike calling 911 every time something scares you. But in the end she does present the gun, and the f@@g guy faints just because of the way she looks. Woman want all of these things, especially to have a look that makes big guy faint. I would bet for all the poor training represented the ad…sells Glocks.

      • I totally agree. Since many women in America are taught from early childhood to be afraid and that they are going to be victimized, the makers of this ad played to that fear. Stretching out the drama of fear will hit most women right where they “live” and then insert the handgun as the solution to being afraid is gonna sell some Glocks, exactly what Glock wants.

  6. My 13 year old twins could make a better produced ad. That was terrible. Hopefully Glock did not pay to have that done. The concept could have been a home run just like the Gunny in a restaurant with all the cops.

  7. Gene’s comment raises a queston — Why don’t gun makers make television commercials? We never see the ‘other side’ of the issue (namely, the pro-gun side) on regular television programming.

    We’ll never see prohibition of alcohol again because, quite frankly, advertising has succeeded in making Americans believe that drinking is an important part of their lifestyle. Meanwhile, we gun owners are having to carry the fight with our less-than-knowledgeable acquaintances on a full-time basis.

    • There are plenty of gun ads on the outdoor type of channels.
      Unfortunately they are the only channels that will run them.

      If the major networks would run them it would be the greatest boon to our cause in decades, maby ever.
      But gun / self defense ads are not considered politically correct by the mass media. Alarm systems excepted.
      I have seen ads for the outdoor channels run on a few of the other cable channels but even that is rare.

  8. A couple things were dumb, but that whole list? Talk about paranoid. I think this is just Rob setting up an evidence trail to support the anti-dating lectures he gives his daughter, this way she’ll be too afraid of every shadow and every person she sees to ever think about dating.

    • It is a trait of the female body, that is why most women bowlers (amateurs) throw a backup ball (where a righty’s bowling ball will go from left to right), their arms are at a different angle then mens!

  11. No comment on Safety Susan and her DGU trigger finger of fail? Seem to recall a video post here about a month ago where a defender thought he was pulling the trigger and was just pressuring the side of the frame because of the safety habit.

    • We brought some friends to the range a couple months ago, when the wife’s turn came around she stood there for a good 30 seconds with the rest of us looking down range before Mrs. Mountocean noticed what was wrong and told her, “That’s not the trigger, honey.” She had been pulling on the front of the trigger guard the whole time.

      • Guess this woman was not given any firearms instruction before someone handed her a loaded one, then stood staring down range a good thirty seconds before anyone noticed something was wrong.

    • When someone knocks on my door at 2 AM it’s almost always a farmer who needs a hand with a down animal. Granted I still require vocal ID from them.

  13. I agree completely, especially with the calling 911 part, even if she didnt have time to answer 50 questions, just dial and keep the line open. Reason being is that just because you have a gun doesn’t mean you will win. I have seen cases where an armed home owner lost, still speak to the widow of a guy who grabbed his gun and went downstairs to investigate a breaking window sound. He found what he was looking for and he also lost the fight and his life. As soon as possible always call 911, even if it turns out to be nothing and 5/0 got a ‘tood’ when they get there, …its their job and if you get a good cops, he/she will understand and be thankful that they came to a call where their was no injuries. I would personally rather answer 50 of those calls a day then one a year that turns out to be a real job.

  14. You have to give Glock some credit, they know pretty girls when they see them. They have them shooting for them and now apparently making ads for them. Who cares about the production quality? They could stand that girl in front of the camera for 30 minutes doing nothing but looking pretty and most gun guys would watching it from beginning to end.

  16. Nice post. Makes me grateful for where I live, a 3,000-pop. very rural Nebraska town. I don’t CC. I certainly don’t home carry. My house door isn’t locked, and at this moment, there are a couple of revolvers (unloaded) lying on the front-room desk, in plan sight in the unlikely event anyone comes to the door. I fully expect them to be there when I get home from work in a few minutes.

    Keep up the good work on fighting for the 2nd.

  17. A better commercial would be to inter-cut interview clips – juxtapose the stories of unarmed victims against those of armed non-victims in similar circumstances.
    Done.

    The phony drama, just comes of as …well, phony.

  19. Before the nitpicking gets to out of hand, can we
    at least realize that this ad is sending antis into
    fits of rage.

    Let’s savoir the moment before tearing into it
    with coulda, woulda, shouldas.

    • ” ********this ad is sending antis into fits of rage.”
      How I wish this were true.
      Unfortunately the only people who see this type of ad are enthusiast, outdoorspersons and channel flippers.

  21. There was a gun, a bad guy, a Ford and Gunny in that ad? Sorry, I hadn’t noticed. I’ll take another look, stand by…Nope, just a hottie. I have no idea what y’all are talking about…

  22. I’d love to see an NRA commercial where a conceal carry member is ambushed – but another conceal carry member stops the perpetrator (by verbal command or firing).

  23. I dare, double dare, Selma Heyak to break in on me! I hate I misspelled her name. As the day winds down my pistol draws closer. Not sure a lot of people think of it, but sudden violent noise is psychologically jarring as well, robs you of time. Not sure exactly how to put it, but, I go thru imagined scenarios where there is a sudden kick at the door, a window being smashed, lights going out, etc. In a war you expect anything, so when the rounds come in you react. Civilian life you do not expect a lot of things. I still have the left over experience, but try to keep from becoming complacent. Having the dog is a big plus, if he alerts, false alarm or not, I check. It may be true, something like that is a one in a million chance, but you never know when that one will come.

  24. You’re right, she didn’t have the best response to the threat. This reminds of me of the show “Best Defense”, where Pincus would show different responses to threats, starting off with the worst.

    Unfortunately, a lot of people haven’t seen that show. I can’t get it anymore on FIOS, because I don’t pay for the more money than god package. I believe this is an accurate response for most gun owners that aren’t avid readers of TTAG, or otherwise “tuned in” to the firearms community. That includes people that have taken only the most basic concealed carry class, and that is the extent of their training.

    It’s a manufacturer’s ad to sell guns, and I think it was a pretty accurate piece. At least they thought enough to make the character store her gun in a lockbox.

  30. As an older woman, I think I need to buy a small Glock so I can be prepared to protect myself. I learned some good lessons from the video!

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