Okay, let's look at this....
- Do you run and hide/escape and hope that you can find a place where you can be secure?
I probably wouldn't *run* -- running from a mob that isn't looking for you specifically or at you specifically is just asking for their attention. Mobs are like dogs: if it runs, they chase it.
But I would try to escape or hide.
- Do you go to the assistance of a victim and attempt to stop the attack?
This point contains two separate questions. In answer to the first, I would go to the assistance of a victim if I could do so without putting my life or the lives of others at significantly heightened risk. I think that chances of being able to do this are reasonably decent. So it's not unlikely that, in practice, I would try.
In answer to the second, I would not try to stop the attack unless I thought I could do so without putting my life or the lives of others at significantly heightened risk. I think that chances of my being able to do *this* are down in the noise. So I doubt that, in practice, I would try.
- Do you draw your weapon without pointing it at anyone?
No. If I draw my weapon, it's because I intend to use it. In a mob, that would be an absolute last resort. It's too likely to provoke more violence.
- Do you calmly make your way out of the park and hope you aren't attacked?
Yes. Of all the things that you suggested, this is what I would do first. The few times I've been in or around a mob or fighting, it has also worked. If you don't engage, the fighters usually have better things to do than to bother you. (And I was in the former Yugoslavia in spring of 1991 right after the war broke out. *That* was interesting....)
- If attacked do you defend yourself and your family (with lethal force if necessary)?
Yes. The only time I could see letting a mob attack without defending myself is if, in my judgment, I can't do so without risking innocent other lives.
- Do you take the beating and hope they don't kick you in the head too much and take your gun?
This is prejudicially stated. However, it contains a valid point. Because I carry the means of defending myself with lethal force, I have a responsibility to other innocent people NOT to let it be taken from me by somebody who will then use it to kill others.
There are two corollaries to this point as well. First, although I carry openly from time to time, I don't do so when I expect to be in a crowd. Second, if I am going to participate in a protest or demonstration of any kind, I leave the gun at home. I'll carry pepper spray or some non-lethal (or usually non-lethal) form of self defense instead.
- Would your decision be affected if your race was the same as the mob or the victims?
Not unless you mean the human race. Any human being is of the same race as me. (We'll leave speculation about sentient non-humans out of this.)
- I don't think it happened, this thread is racist, and should be locked.
In Wisconsin? It happened, unfortunately. But that other individual people (of any race) are racist does not mean that I am, or should be.
I thought about skipping this list, but IMHO considering what to do in specific circumstances is an important part of training for self defense.
I've also been in a mob a few times, unlike most people I know. If you ever are, you won't have much time to think, and you'll be WAAYY ahead of the game if you've already thought about what to do. You're also far more likely to get out unscathed, or at least alive, if you don't let any testosterone-generated nonsense such as "they can't do that to me" affect your thinking or choices. Mobs unfortunately CAN do nasty things -- things that the vast majority of individuals in the mob would never do on their own. The best way not to be the target is to act in such a way that the mob won't notice you, and then GET OUT OF THERE.