Would You Have Done It?

[chasfm11]

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In another part of my life, I lived in this area and rode SEPTA buses. Not much has changed since then.

Edit: The hero, not the gun carrying women is the subject of the title of this thread.

[Dave2]

Gosh, I hope so. I also hope to never have my mettle tested like that.

[Hoi Polloi]

I would have in a heartbeat. Those were his two kids who had the barrel pointed at them as they sat wide-eyed staring at what could have been their death. The guy was bigger than her and able to have physical presence to help escort her out. That would be one area I would be at a disadvantage, especially if the woman was much larger and older than me. I sure hope if I'm ever in a circumstance like that that a guy like him or my husband is there, but I wouldn't hesitate to protect my kids if no one else was doing it.

[C-dub]

You betcha! Only I wouldn't have let her go. I would have held her until the police arrived.

[Katygunnut]

The problem is that intervening could escalate the situation further, but as soon as the BG (Bad Girl) started "waving" the gun around, I think everyone on the train was in a life and death situation. I would have done what I could to quickly incapacitate her if possible. A hard punch to the back of the head might have been effective, depending on the individuals involved. Tough situation where you could potentially have a struggle with an armed and unstable person that is waving a gun around, and very easy to have it go off while you are trying to deal with the situation unless you handle it with immediate and incapacitating force.

Now it would have been really interesting if the hero had been carrying. In that case, his best course of action might be to take a safe head shot, assuming one is available.

[chasfm11]

The problem is that intervening could escalate the situation further, but as soon as the BG (Bad Girl) started "waving" the gun around, I think everyone on the train was in a life and death situation. I would have done what I could to quickly incapacitate her if possible. A hard punch to the back of the head might have been effective, depending on the individuals involved. Tough situation where you could potentially have a struggle with an armed and unstable person that is waving a gun around, and very easy to have it go off while you are trying to deal with the situation unless you handle it with immediate and incapacitating force.

Now it would have been really interesting if the hero had been carrying. In that case, his best course of action might be to take a safe head shot, assuming one is available.

You have captured very well what I was thinking when I originally posted this.
- as much as I would want to intervene and quickly, the possibility of an escalation is probably the greatest risk. Whatever attempt is made at incapacitation had better be right the first time. My first impulse might have been to go for the her gun hand with both my hands, pushing the muzzle upwards and then trying to kick her hard enough to knock her down, grabbing the gun in the process. While I would have the element of surprise working for me, that maneuver could turn out badly, too. I'm probably a lot stronger and, based on the video, more agile than she but even those factors don't assure success.
- in viewing the video, I didn't see any possibility for a safe shot by someone else. It is one of those places where the collateral damage could easily be high. Even a head shot might not take her out and a reflexive grip on her gun could have easily caused her to fire at least once.

In the end, the hero handled it better than I might have. I agree that there was no way that she would have walked away from the scene without a police escort if I had been involved.