Something big going on at King Soopers on Table Mesa in Boulder

[rondog]

Wow, guess I slept thru it, wife just told me about it. Unreal. I can't even say anything to the victims and their families......

So - asking the LEO's and other professionals here - IF a citizen were to find himself a witness to such madness - SHOULD he grab his weapon and attempt to intercede?

I mean - yeah, I carry - but I also roll heavy. SHOULD a citizen grab his vehicle rifle and run towards the danger? In theory - of course you should. But in reality, SHOULD you?

SHOULD one grab the AR in their back seat and try to engage the shooter? Or would you just likely get shot by the cops?

[Bailey Guns]

Wow, guess I slept thru it, wife just told me about it. Unreal. I can't even say anything to the victims and their families......

So - asking the LEO's and other professionals here - IF a citizen were to find himself a witness to such madness - SHOULD he grab his weapon and attempt to intercede?

I mean - yeah, I carry - but I also roll heavy. SHOULD a citizen grab his vehicle rifle and run towards the danger? In theory - of course you should. But in reality, SHOULD you?

SHOULD one grab the AR in their back seat and try to engage the shooter? Or would you just likely get shot by the cops?

I'll give you my opinion...and that's all it is:

Unless someone you personally care about (including yourself) is directly threatened, I wouldn't. Has nothing to do with being a coward or needing to "nut up" as others put it. It has to do with unintended consequences...especially in today's society. Not only do you risk harm to yourself...which may present great harm to family/friends with you...but you risk all sorts of other issues. Just remember, you're responsible for every bullet you fire. And if a wayward bullet misses the bad guy and goes thru the bread aisle into an innocent that you can't see, it's still your bullet.

One good thing can come out of you getting involved. The bad guy is stopped, one way or another.

A million bad things can come out of it. Some that will ruin you financially, ruin your family, cost you everything you own or kill you. Or worse, maybe kill someone you care about.

I'd recommend you be a GOOD witness...they're really hard to come by in situations like this, regardless of how many witnesses there are.

[tmckay2]

I'll give you my opinion...and that's all it is:

Unless someone you personally care about (including yourself) is directly threatened, I wouldn't. Has nothing to do with being a coward or needing to "nut up" as others put it. It has to do with unintended consequences...especially in today's society. Not only do you risk harm to yourself...which may present great harm to family/friends with you...but you risk all sorts of other issues. Just remember, you're responsible for every bullet you fire. And if a wayward bullet misses the bad guy and goes thru the bread aisle into an innocent that you can't see, it's still your bullet.

One good thing can come out of you getting involved. The bad guy is stopped, one way or another.

A million bad things can come out of it. Some that will ruin you financially, ruin your family, cost you everything you own or kill you. Or worse, maybe kill someone you care about.

I'd recommend you be a GOOD witness...they're really hard to come by in situations like this, regardless of how many witnesses there are.

I agree, unless there is no other option I don't think you get involved. There's a lot of things that could go sideways and you may think you have a handle on the what the situation is but you could be incredibly wrong. In any circumstance like that you are going to be operating on extremely limited data which makes any action all that more risky.

[KevDen2005]

I'll give you my opinion...and that's all it is:

Unless someone you personally care about (including yourself) is directly threatened, I wouldn't. Has nothing to do with being a coward or needing to "nut up" as others put it. It has to do with unintended consequences...especially in today's society. Not only do you risk harm to yourself...which may present great harm to family/friends with you...but you risk all sorts of other issues. Just remember, you're responsible for every bullet you fire. And if a wayward bullet misses the bad guy and goes thru the bread aisle into an innocent that you can't see, it's still your bullet.

One good thing can come out of you getting involved. The bad guy is stopped, one way or another.

A million bad things can come out of it. Some that will ruin you financially, ruin your family, cost you everything you own or kill you. Or worse, maybe kill someone you care about.

I'd recommend you be a GOOD witness...they're really hard to come by in situations like this, regardless of how many witnesses there are.

I'm going to add on to this. I think conceal carry is excellent especially in this type of situation. The last thing you want to be is a target, especially if you're outgunned. I love the idea of a truck gun a lot. Having responded to multiple events like this now I would say that the amount of resources that the metro area provides is going to be a lot and a good thing that agencies want to help. Ultimately, having been in that situation I can tell you there can be too many resources, initially. Command posts and entry teams can only handle so much personnel. Again this is good. I would rather have too much than not enough. As I mentioned last night the guys and gals that initially responded are going to be emotionally and physically exhausted after only a few hours of working the inside. The additional help will be welcomed to take over the scene when things slow down to give the initial responders breaks.

Back to the truck gun. I say all the other stuff to say in a rural community maybe you need to get it. Who knows how far help is and how overwhelmed one or two shooters can make a community. Look at the Texas church a few years ago. That citizen grabbed a rifle. They had time to engage before help arrived. They had time to update law enforcement during response. The first officer on scene used that citizen to cover the bad guy until more help arrived. So back to infantry school....you grabbing additional equipment is all dependent on METT-T (Check out FM 7-8)

Again my opinion is that the concealed weapon you carry is for your protection or loved ones. If you feel you can safely intervene and not be misidentified by LE (who is not going to have a ton of information especially on initial response) then do what you think is necessary, no one can make that decision for you. Keep in mind your safety, the safety of loved ones around you, your limited supplies, and what legal consequences look like if you misjudge the situation or misidentify the suspect. Citizen witnesses have reported more innocent people as being involved in a crime than I would like to count (not out of malice but because they see something and focus on one thing) so as a CCW holder and a person aware of their surroundings we ask you that be a good one when many will not be. Cops may be running in and need good information and people to pass that on. Looking at cameras may not be something that can happen for a while. Mobilizing SWAT teams takes time. Organizing groups of more than 10 cops from outside juridictions in an orderly manner takes time. Piecing together an initial story and getting response takes minutes but those minutes seem like hours especially to the victims and those holding a camera to judge everything about the situation later.

Just my opinion.