Al Qaeda Shootin Up The Shopping Mall

Jrpeterman, thanks for the dose of reality.

Muslim terrorists do not whip out AKs and blast people indiscriminately. They wear belts with explosives and blow themselves up in crowds. Shootings risk capture which risks exposing the organization. If an al Qaeda guys blows himself up the best plan in the universe will not save you from that. Be aware of exits and use them, yes. In Israel the tactic is for one guy to blow himself up and then when the crowd gathers to assess damage the second guy "goes ballistic."
 
Shoebox/Steve,

Welcome to The Firing Line!

I worked as an armored car messenger/driver/guard for long enough to get to the point I hate crowds!

I like people watching & enjoy eyecandy, but DO NOT like being in a mass of people.

So, don't feel paranoid, just determine if you are paranoid enough!
Non clinical paranoia is the sum of your experience trying to tell you something ain't right!

Watch over your wife and child and do your best to train them to watch out for themselves.
 
But walter Mitty aside, if you are like me, you avoid malls on gneral principle.
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I can walk from end to end of your average mall and not find one thing I want to buy. Not one. Not even in the bookstores.

Of course, there are no gun shops in malls. :)

I notice that the older I get the more intolerant of large groups I become.
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Me too.
 
I don't mind the mall. Scenery is nice to look at, and I like a bargain too. I always go prepared for what might transpire, I keep the old situational awarness ramped up, and its also the best way to protect my wife. She is going with me or without me, so I might as well be there.
 
Answer the question

The original question was:

Have you walked with your teenage daughter through the mall and made sure she knew the escape routes? Explained how to take cover? Run through possible scenarios? Drilled them...

When you go off from the question onto a tangent about not liking malls, then you miss the question.

I don't have a daughter. I had a son. My son was licensed as a ham radio operator and had his portable gear and survival supplies locked in the principal's office when he was in elementary school in LAUSD.

When the riots came, he was drilled by me in advance as to what to do in case of riot when he was in school and followed those common sense directions and not the last minute thoughts of the Vice Principal when school was shut down in a riot.

The lack of awareness is apparent in malls and not confined to the same.

One day, I came out of a stalking exercise with a sniper scout school class and went that evening to a mall with a girlfriend. The lack of awareness on the part of security and the patrons was clear.

By the way, if Wildalaska thought it through, he would not take out his Taurus and engage. The appropriate response is to take cover (or concealment if cover is not available) and then decide whether you want to shoot the BG in the back (most effective tactic) or to do the PACMAN routine fantasized by people on the internet.
 
When you think about it, most people are sheep and they are in condition white, as Col. Cooper would say. They are complacent. The reality is, we all get that way from time to time. But there are many of us here who understand that the local mall would be a wonderful place to do something hideous. Therefore, we make contigency plans every time we go out to a public place. Others may laugh, but when you are caught that "one time", you'll never let it happen again.
 
When your son is taking portable surival gear to 4th grade you might as well just live in a dungeon if you're willing to let terrorists effect your life that much.
 
I'm with most of you that hate being in large crowds, too many people to keep track of. I am a naturally overly alert person, I have a tendency to "analyze" everyone around me. I don't consider it as being paranoid as it is something I have done for as long as I can remember. I just like knowing what the people around me are up to.

It also helps me notice more eye candy than the typical viewer. Maybe I'm just a voyeur and not paranoid? ;)

As for your scenario, not much you can do if a truck bomb comes flying through those big glass "Welcome to the Wonderful World of Capitalism" doors.

If a shooting rampage, most likely not a terrorist, just someone pissed off because daddy loved the bottle more than him. In that case, I would find cover and wait for a clear shot, and not hunt him down. Don't want the LEO's or Mall Ninja to confuse me with the BG.
 
I'm with most of you that hate being in large crowds, too many people to keep track of. I am a naturally overly alert person, I have a tendency to "analyze" everyone around me. I don't consider it as being paranoid as it is something I have done for as long as I can remember. I just like knowing what the people around me are up to.
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Thats not being paranoid or anything. ;) In a mall there are alot of people and knowing who and what is around you is a good thing. I over analyze everthing too and its helped me not get robbed a couple times. :) Plus there is alot of girls in malls thats always a plus when your single and looking for a girl thats your type to ask out. :cool:

As for the book "Teeth of a Tiger" by Tom Clancy its a pretty interesting book make a good read in a long car trip :)

Dimitri
 
Of course, there are no gun shops in malls.
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In one of the biggest malls in my state, there is a store called Scheels which is also probably the biggest gun shop in the entire state. The upside is that the store has its own entrance from the outside, so I can stop in there, and walk back out without having to go through the rest of the mall that I have no business in. :cool:
 
My biggest problem with my wife at the mall is getting her to spend money. She shops for hours there and leaves without buying. (yeah, that's a complaint???)

When she goes to the mall, I go along and so does my carry piece. I don't worry about OBL's guys, just the local "gangsta's". Been more incidents involving them than terrorists (or they the local chapter?). Recently moved (when I retired) from the Denver area. The Aurora Mall (Denver suburb) was the local parade ground for all the gangs of the area. Several shootings, one turned into a shootout, in the mall. So much for foreign terrorists (although is is rumored that several gang members were from a country that adjoins our southern border and their immigration status was questionable).

My military service has made me just paranoid enough to avoid groups, notice strange (or out of place) people, and to ratchet up the awareness when necessarily. Actually turned and stepped in front of someone getting ready to put his hand in my wifes purse during one trip. He looked like he was going to fill his pants and ran.

I refuse to be held hostage by the thought of terrorism. I will just make sure that I am aware of what is happening around me.
 
Wild, come on. I've been there. There is no way in hell that Alaska has malls :D

Seriously though, my area of Northern VA has about 6 malls within a half hour or less (Tysons, Tysons II, Springfield, Landmark, Fair Oaks, and Potomac Mills)

I have gone over in my head what I might do if there was an incedent involving gunmen (robbery or terrorism). Quite simply, I'm not sure what I could do. Malls are big places with lots of places to hide. I'm not gonna go chasing down bad guys.

I would pretty much funnel as many people to safety as possible, call the police on my cell phone, and use my pistol only if I have to for defense, or I have a for sure kill shot. Even then, I would have to carefully double check that a bad guy didn't have a bead on me.
 
Can't believe I'm not the only one who is "uncomfortable " in the croweded malls. Too many nut jobs too close together !!
Last Febuary the wife and I went to the Kingston mall , in upstate N.Y. to
buy a valentines day gift for her. Got in early, found what we wanted, and left. When we got home about 45 min later ,the ariel photos from the news chopper showed,there in the same space I had been parked in ( :eek: ) was a Sheriffs car that was responding to the call they got for a "man with a gun" who was shotting up the place!!!!! It was plastered all over the news for the rest of the day. Just bumped up my awareness level from "uncomfortable" to "PARANOID".
Sidearm or not I still hate malls.
 
I usually don't visit malls that have a 30.06 posting (sign in Texas that owners put up that say you can't wear your gun :rolleyes: ) for just this reason. Katy Mills Mall in Katy (just west of Houston) has one. They get very little of my business.

Luby's cafeteria learned their lesson in Killeen, Texas about 15 years ago. :eek: Soon after that event I gather they removed their 30.06 sign. Now I eat there all the time and enjoy their Country Fried Steak with my OP on my hip. I'd rather not be a mall owners educational piece getting shot while unarmed.

I had a very long thread along these lines way back concerning if I had my gun and some islamic terrorists, crazy columbine kidz, or just some nutcase with a brain tumor came in and started "hosing people down." What if your bullet missed or went through the perpetrator and hit someone else...yikes!

on that point, try to make sure you have a clear shot if you can.

If your gun is in your car then the problem is likely to be over before you get back in there, plus you want to be extra careful not to get shot by a nervous mall guard or a policeman mistaking you for one of the bad guys.

Aside from that all I can say is happy hunting and be safe.
 
#1. They actually do have at least 1 mall in Anchorage, probably more by now.

#2. Vigilant persons have detected suicide bombers prior to their detonation, and armed persons have killed them preventing detonation.


Avoid paranoia. Take reasonable measures to drill your family in whatever you consider appropriate behavior. Be vigilant, if you detect trouble, take the appropriate action.

As for engaging evildoers, men are obligated to do so. Sheep may do as they please:barf. Avoid the company on sheep, mutton sucks:barf:.


Sam
 
There's nothing at any mall that I cannot order now through the 'net and just have shipped to my house. I haven't bought anything, clothing, shoes, etc from any mall in ages.
 
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