The Annoyed Man wrote:Yes, and this is exactly why I say his actions were heroic, and it is absolutely NOT my intention to beat up on him at all. My point about the mags was mentioned because, no matter how well performed the action is, there’s always room in the after-action analysis to learn from what went right, and what went wrong. Other than running down the street barefooty (I don’t do “barefooty”montgomery wrote:Mr. Willeford said he fired three rounds at the scene (probably more because most folks that have actually been in a gunfight remember firing less than they actually did). During the chase, he had the presence of mind to check his ammunition. He had one in the chamber, one in the magazine, and none in his pockets. So, he showed up with at least 5 rounds to face a guy who allegedly fired 450 rounds with plenty to spare. Shocked he did not have magazines ready to go - but I am proud he showed up to fight with what he had.The Annoyed Man wrote:And he made a critical error prior to grabbing his AR15 and responding to the ongoing shooting, and that was to NOT have any already charged magazines on hand for his AR. It is absolutely possible to keep charged mags on hand, without violating any gun safety rules. I wonder how many he dropped on the ground as he ran. But almost nobody can hold 30 5.56 rounds in one hand, let alone stuff them into a magazine while running, with a 7 lb rifle tucked under an arm. It is a safe bet that he probably had fewer than 10 rounds in the mag by the time he got there - the church being just down the block. And he was facing a determined homicidal maniac who had more than one gun, and who had charged mags for those guns.Jago668 wrote:Considering that if you go to any training at all you get more training than 50% of the sworn law enforcement officers in the country receive.
The driver, Mr. Langendorff, had the presence of mind to call 9-1-1 while driving 95 MPH.), which isn’t really a mistake, the unloaded magazine thing really jumped out at me when I first heard both him and his cousin’s oral recounting on video of what he did. He described grabbing “a handful” of loose cartridges (5 sounds like a “handful” to me), and said that he literally had no idea how many that was, and then started loading the magazine on the run. Not knowing myself the actual distance that he had to run, although I understand that it wasn’t far at all, I thought geez, what if he got there before he had finished loading the mag? Like I keep repeating, I don’t want to take away from his heroism at all. God love him for having the courage to do what he did. But I just think that a big takeaway for the rest of us is to have at least ONE fully loaded magazine ready to go......more if that’s what makes you comfortable (15 is the number that makes me feel cozy)......and I’ll bet dollars to donuts that our hero made the same calculation after it was wall over. I worry less about damage to magazine springs from long term compression - not really an issue with modern magazines - than I worry about not having enough ammo available when I most need it.
And I was in awe of Mr. Langendorff’s recounting of the story. He was so humble and straightforward in describing it. I was just really impressed by his humility. That was a man’s man, right there, without any bluster. I know they don’t know me from Adam, but I was just REALLY proud of those two guys. I don’t know if either of them drink, but it will be a long time before either of them ever has to pay for a beer again.
