AFTER he got shot in the head. Click here for the full story from floridatoday.com. Click here for Rob Pincus’ take on the strategic disadvantages of armed self-defense for cabbies.
I don’t really see how Rob Pincus was confounded? IIRC, Rob said that the odds are stacked against you in this situation which they were clearly stacked against the cab driver. I believe Rob was saying that training to draw and fire from a vastly inferior shooting position when an assailant has every advantage possible is fairly moot since these situations would result in a “really bad tie”. This situation seems to only proves Rob’s point which was at that point you can only react.
Cabbie was shot in the back of the head and has survived so far; then was able to shoot back – probably because the passenger was in “WTF?!? No way!” mode and/or used a weenie cartridge- and stop the threat.
I hope the cab driver survives and the company doesn’t fire him.
This illustrates how the cab driver’s resolve to fight back — and keep fighting no matter what — saved his life even when the situation put him at a big disadvantage. Recent posts on this blog covered how this is so important.
This is also a good example to refute gun grabbers when they claim an armed citizen is useless if the criminal already has a gun pointed at them.
I don’t see this as a case of a guy being at a disadvantage because he was driving a cab. We all share the same “disadvantage” no matter where we are, because the bad guy gets the initiative to start things. If the ‘enemy’ is skilled they’ll have put a bullet into their target before the target even clears holster;what happens from there is a matter of desire to survive.
Quite frankly if the bad guy clears holster in my direction Im mentally prepared to get shot, as no matter whether I resist or not the criminal’s gonna shoot anyway. The difference is that once the flag flies I’m sending the attacker to The Boss for an in person consultation .
will to live, or attack trumps ‘reaction’ any day of the week.
SO awesome…glad when a story ends well. Hope the cabbie heals fully. One less scumbag to reproduce.
Ah, I see Titusville has at least one of those sneaky slicks with the white on white reflective decals. I’ll keep that in mind next time I’m down that way.
The gentleman’s comments on a superior mode of carrier for most situations doesn’t make me put a lot of stock in his opinion. I’d still take training from him though.
I drove a cab in New York City when I was a poor college student. There weren’t many robberies in the daytime, but a lot of cabbies who drove the night shift got robbed at knifepoint. While that was scary, such encounters weren’t usually fatal. Sometimes, though, a cabbie ended up with his throat slit or his brains shot out. I think that there were years when more New York cabbies died in the line of duty than NY cops.
My “self defense weapon” was about 20″ of insulated telephone cable that was used just like a blackjack. It wasn’t much, but it was all I had. The best defense — the only defense, really — was to pass by anyone who appeared even remotely sketchy. If we were caught passing up fares by the rats of the TLC (Taxi and Limosine Commission), we got suspended. We took the suspension as a cost of doing business.
All law abiding citizens who practice armed self defense are at a disadvantage. We must absorb the first blow not matter what. So by Pincus’s reasoning we shouldn’t be armed.
I don’t really see how Rob Pincus was confounded? IIRC, Rob said that the odds are stacked against you in this situation which they were clearly stacked against the cab driver. I believe Rob was saying that training to draw and fire from a vastly inferior shooting position when an assailant has every advantage possible is fairly moot since these situations would result in a “really bad tie”. This situation seems to only proves Rob’s point which was at that point you can only react.
Cabbie was shot in the back of the head and has survived so far; then was able to shoot back – probably because the passenger was in “WTF?!? No way!” mode and/or used a weenie cartridge- and stop the threat.
I hope the cab driver survives and the company doesn’t fire him.
This illustrates how the cab driver’s resolve to fight back — and keep fighting no matter what — saved his life even when the situation put him at a big disadvantage. Recent posts on this blog covered how this is so important.
This is also a good example to refute gun grabbers when they claim an armed citizen is useless if the criminal already has a gun pointed at them.
I don’t see this as a case of a guy being at a disadvantage because he was driving a cab. We all share the same “disadvantage” no matter where we are, because the bad guy gets the initiative to start things. If the ‘enemy’ is skilled they’ll have put a bullet into their target before the target even clears holster;what happens from there is a matter of desire to survive.
Quite frankly if the bad guy clears holster in my direction Im mentally prepared to get shot, as no matter whether I resist or not the criminal’s gonna shoot anyway. The difference is that once the flag flies I’m sending the attacker to The Boss for an in person consultation .
will to live, or attack trumps ‘reaction’ any day of the week.
SO awesome…glad when a story ends well. Hope the cabbie heals fully. One less scumbag to reproduce.
Ah, I see Titusville has at least one of those sneaky slicks with the white on white reflective decals. I’ll keep that in mind next time I’m down that way.
The gentleman’s comments on a superior mode of carrier for most situations doesn’t make me put a lot of stock in his opinion. I’d still take training from him though.
I drove a cab in New York City when I was a poor college student. There weren’t many robberies in the daytime, but a lot of cabbies who drove the night shift got robbed at knifepoint. While that was scary, such encounters weren’t usually fatal. Sometimes, though, a cabbie ended up with his throat slit or his brains shot out. I think that there were years when more New York cabbies died in the line of duty than NY cops.
My “self defense weapon” was about 20″ of insulated telephone cable that was used just like a blackjack. It wasn’t much, but it was all I had. The best defense — the only defense, really — was to pass by anyone who appeared even remotely sketchy. If we were caught passing up fares by the rats of the TLC (Taxi and Limosine Commission), we got suspended. We took the suspension as a cost of doing business.
All law abiding citizens who practice armed self defense are at a disadvantage. We must absorb the first blow not matter what. So by Pincus’s reasoning we shouldn’t be armed.
Comments are closed.