I don't think that individuals should or really can confront a mob.
An individual responsible for the safety of children or spouse doesn't have a choice.
Can't be done is to strong a word. How do you know this? How many attackers in the mob? How far are they? Are they armed? Are they willing to loose a few members to get you? Taking on and defeating even a mob is possible depending on many factors from their willingness to die to your tactical ability.
Give me my AR and a handful of mags and we should be able to make a real big dent in them real fast. Put 20 yards between me and them and the dent will be a crater. Give me my 5 shot 638-3 airweight and the going will be much slower and less costly on them. It really just depends.
Reality suggests that they will likely run like scalded dogs when you start shooting. This is why there is little or no video footage of unarmed people advancing on an armed person who is shooting at them.
In fact I just saw another video of a shooting. Guy was punched by another dude who had tons of friends out in front of a corner convenience store. Victim of the punch gets ticked and pulls a gun from his car. He appeared to be surrounded yet once he started firing folks were running in all directions. Someone could have easily come from behind but nobody wants to die and nobody was willing to take the chance. It really just depends.