Best defensive place to sit at a restaurant, theater, etc.

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Kevin Rohrer said:
According to FBI crime statistics, there were 9,146 murders by firearm in 2009.
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I also refute this allegation. It depends on how you define "murder" and count the numbers. I believe the FBI counts any killing by firearm, including self-defense as being murder.
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If the FBI is taking specifically about murder, that would not include justifiable homicide. They know the difference.

This FBI table show murder by weapon type. It show 9,199 murders by firearm (out of 13,752 total murders) in 2009.

The FBI publishes separate statistics for justifiable homicides. According to FBI data, there were 216 justifiable homicides by private citizens in 2009, and 411 justifiable homicides by LEO in 2009.
 
It's simple:

Back to the wall with a clear field of vision. There are some restaurants I just won't go to at night anymore, not because of what's inside, but because what may be lurking outside, in the parking lot or on the street.

My wife's favorite steak house is in a very bad neighborhood. I told her we would go again after she gets her CCW permit.
 
I worry more about what I'm eating at the restaurant and the drive there more than the place I sit at one because I feel those first two things are orders of magnitude more probable to impact my life.
 
what KMAX said

I try to sit back to the wall, away from entrance and bathrooms, and out of the line of traffic. I do this not only for reasons of security but also to avoid noise, weather, odors, privacy, and intrusion by other patrons, intentional or not.
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Me too.
 
To try and find a simple answer to a complicated question is tough. Ask 50 people and get 50 different answers.

I myself when I sit I like to sit facing the front door preferably next to a window (doors are not the only outs) but not in front of it (ya never know what comes through it) and I don't like people walking behind me like next to the kitchen door. The threat can come from anywhere so the best thing it to mentally map the place out on your way in.

I live in Texas so the luby’s shooting in Killeen ever present as is the McDonald’s shooting in California. To say it will never happen is to be in denial but to stop living because it might is even worse
 
This has nothing to do with sitting in a restaurant or theater but a situation that happened in a small sporting goods store and before CCL. Myself, my wife, and daughter were shopping and i was on one end of the store and the girls on the other end. Two employees were working and no one else was in the store.

Five men came in the store very quickly in a planned manner(yes stereotyping. dressed gangsta style)and automatically spread out seemingly to divert attention to the employees. I overheard the largest man(who seemed to be "in charge") tell two of his crew to get over by the cash register and he told the others were to move too.

When I heard that I immediately felt something was up so I went to my wife and said we need to leave now!She was being helped by one of the employees and I was thinking in my head i need to say something to him but all I was thinking about was get my family out of there. When i told my wife what was up she kind of blew it off but I just had a feeling something wasn't right. Again I told her we need to go NOW!

When we left the store I felt bad for not saying anything to the employees and I thought about calling the police. I did nothing but get my family out of there!(also got a license #) I thought about going back by the store after we left to see if anything was going on and I did check the police reports the next day but nothing was reported. I really feel had we not been in the store it might have been robbed. It was that intense in that store at that moment.

Again nothing happened but instinct told me to go! In all our ''what if" games and planning scenarios it never seems to pan out the way we plan. Has anyone ever had that "feeling" in a similar situation? Would you have left also and do you think i over-reacted?
 
No particular rule I follow. Personally I look to control variables. I need to enjoy life. Increasing my comfort level in my immediate surroundings helps me do that. I also manage risk. If it can't be managed to a level that provides me comfort, I move on. That is much more fun than staying home and peeking out of the window.
 
Best defensive place?


At home- in the corner of my bedroom with my guns out.


And for when I run out of peanut butter I have my CCW- I keep to the dark alleys.


hahahah I love this forum but some people need a valium prescription.
 
biggun,

You did not over react, and you did do the right thing. It's always good to listen to your gut, and equally good to get away from trouble before it starts.

Maybe nothing happened because the would-be criminals realized you'd picked up on their plan. Or maybe nothing happened because nothing was going to happen. Does it matter, really? In either case, you did the right thing by listening to your gut and quietly leaving the situation.

A lot of people are so enslaved to looking cool that they put themselves and their loved ones at unnecessary risk of dying of embarrassment. For example, I had a friend who was sitting in a restaurant when the smoke alarms began to sound. He did not get up and leave -- simply because no one else did, and he didn't want to look like a coward or a fool. He looked a great deal more foolish ten minutes later, when the fire engines arrived and the fire marshall yelled at everyone who'd remained (and esp. at the manager) for being a bunch of damn fools too cool to heed an alarm system designed to keep them safe.

Listen to your alarm system. That's what it's for.

pax
 
My wife and I have been together for a long time ... so she knows to check, with me, where the exits are in restaurants and theaters .... and to give me the seat facing the door, so I can watch who's coming in ... in theaters, we generally try to sit near an aisle and closer to the back than the front, simply to try and evade the volume most theaters think is appropriate for the theater experience ... we try to give ourselves the best tactical advantage we can without inconveniencing ourselves ..
 
dawg23 said:
If it takes longer for you to draw from a holster than it does to pull a J-frame out of a pocket, you may want to re-examine your carry choices and/or practice regimen.
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Who said anything about pulling a j-frame out of a pocket? If I've decided to shoot you, worrying about replacing a jacket hasn't even crossed my mind.

The quote you're referring to is below. Notice the phrase that I highlighted for you.

How do you get the bad guys to let you know when you're going to have time to get an M22-4 out of your holster instead of using an M442 snubby fired from in your pocket?
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I don't need to re-examine my carry choices and/or practice regimen. If you think you can outdraw someone with a j-frame in their coat pocket pointed at you with their finger on the trigger, good luck and keep up your practice! ;)
 
I never eat at fast food. Any restaurant worth going to usually has crowd, and sometimes a wait to be seated. I often have to make reservations if I am going at the peak hours. All of these factors reduce the opportunity to pick an ideal spot. Besides, the purpose of me being there is to enjoy the food, the drink, the ambience of the place. The best spot for enjoyment would rarely be the best spot for a tactical retreat. Now, I would object to a very bad seat that severly boxed me in or severely restricted my view. But other than that, just get me a seat, bring me my salad and the wine list... thank you.

If I go to see a movie, the whole point of being there is to SEE and ENJOY the movie. I want to sit in the spot that gives me the best view of the screen.

Like Biggun, I have, on several occasions, gotten a bad feeling about my circumstances, and in one of those circumstances, something bad happened soon after I left. Always trust that instict... 9 times out of 10 it is nothing, but that is a small price to pay for being right that 1 time out of 10, which is priceless.
 
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In restaurants and food places, its always better to sit facing the main entrance door. I also usually request a window table if available to see outside.

In theaters, obviously at the end of the row is the best spot.
 
Fire, nutjobs, it doesn't matter. One restaurant we frequent has some booths in dead end aisles, no windows or doors at the end, one way in or out. I won't sit in those aisles.
 
At home, as there really is no 'Best place' out in public. Perhaps it is better to be in a large group. I think those four officers in WA thought they were in the 'Best place'. It did them no good.

A false sense of security can be one's downfall.
 
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