This is a true story, please take it seriously:
This past weekend a fellow student at my college, which will remain unnamed, was attacked by a gang in the early morning. As far as I know it was random violence, not a planed attack or anything. The student was walking home at around 3:00am (not a good time to be out) when he was suddenly jumped by 9, yes nine, guys. He got a broken nose, a broken elbow, and has dents in his skull in two places. The good news it that he will recover just fine, no permanent damage. Before this inicident I had no knowledge of any gang violence in the area. But now I know that there are two main rival gangs with "turf" right near the college campus. I do not know if the guys who attacked the student were armed (knives, bats, chains, etc.) or if they used their fists. This is very disconcerting to me, as I had no idea there were gangs so close. But there is violence everywhere. What could the student have done? If you are jumped by 9 guys you don't have much of a chance, even if you were carrying a concealed handgun. Would it be legal to shoot if you had a gun even if they didn't have any weapons? (Please don't make this a caliber war here; but in this case I would want a hi-cap 15rd 9mm, not a 7rd .45, not enough bullets to shoot all the bad guys. And there is no way a revolver has enough rounds.) You would certainly be in fear of your life, and even if they didn't present any "deadly weapons" like knives. It's nine against one! But even if I carried, I might be afraid to pull my gun, since it's a gang, I would worry that they have guns too, and pulling my gun would just make them pull theirs too, then I would be a dead man. Since it is college, it is not legal to carry a handgun on campus, and since I live on campus, that presents a problem for me. Right now all I have is mace/pepper spray. Not good enough for this situation. Even a good martial artist probably wouldn't fare well against 9 guys at once. The only thing I can think of is to avoid the situation all together, walk in groups, and don't be outside at 3:00am. But if you happened to find yourself in my fellow classmates place, what could you have done?
This past weekend a fellow student at my college, which will remain unnamed, was attacked by a gang in the early morning. As far as I know it was random violence, not a planed attack or anything. The student was walking home at around 3:00am (not a good time to be out) when he was suddenly jumped by 9, yes nine, guys. He got a broken nose, a broken elbow, and has dents in his skull in two places. The good news it that he will recover just fine, no permanent damage. Before this inicident I had no knowledge of any gang violence in the area. But now I know that there are two main rival gangs with "turf" right near the college campus. I do not know if the guys who attacked the student were armed (knives, bats, chains, etc.) or if they used their fists. This is very disconcerting to me, as I had no idea there were gangs so close. But there is violence everywhere. What could the student have done? If you are jumped by 9 guys you don't have much of a chance, even if you were carrying a concealed handgun. Would it be legal to shoot if you had a gun even if they didn't have any weapons? (Please don't make this a caliber war here; but in this case I would want a hi-cap 15rd 9mm, not a 7rd .45, not enough bullets to shoot all the bad guys. And there is no way a revolver has enough rounds.) You would certainly be in fear of your life, and even if they didn't present any "deadly weapons" like knives. It's nine against one! But even if I carried, I might be afraid to pull my gun, since it's a gang, I would worry that they have guns too, and pulling my gun would just make them pull theirs too, then I would be a dead man. Since it is college, it is not legal to carry a handgun on campus, and since I live on campus, that presents a problem for me. Right now all I have is mace/pepper spray. Not good enough for this situation. Even a good martial artist probably wouldn't fare well against 9 guys at once. The only thing I can think of is to avoid the situation all together, walk in groups, and don't be outside at 3:00am. But if you happened to find yourself in my fellow classmates place, what could you have done?