Wednesday, February 13, 2008

The carjacking choice

Via Defend University:   

Now let me make a slight change in the scenario. You are on a trip with your two-year-old child. You have secured her in a car seat in the rear passenger area of your parked rent-a-car. You walk around to the driver's side of your car, get in, lock the doors and put the key in the ignition switch. You turn around and notice that your child's seat is not properly secured. You get out of the car to make the adjustment. As you do, a man with a gun appears and insists on taking the car now.

Do you:

- A. Refuse and try to block his entry into your car?

- B. Jump in the car to try to start it so you can drive away?

- C. Plead with him to let you have your child before he takes the car?

- D. Demand that he either give you your child, or you will insist on going with him?

- E. Try to wrestle the gun away from the assailant so you can shoot him?

- F. Run like hell away from the car?

The answer? Run like hell

In over 20 years of teaching Women's Self-Defense, I've always gotten a variation of this question after covering the basics, "Excuse me, Mr. Nathan, that's all well and good, but what if he's got a gun?" MY answer was the same each time, RUN!" You may not know that in almost all cases, a victim who's been removed from the original scene of her abduction will never be seen alive again. A potential kidnapper doesn't want to shoot when others are around to hear, so get going! The scenario mentioned above is also correct:, "If you were to plead, you'd be wasting you breath. If you were to resist, you could be injured -- or worse -- and the mope would probably take the car anyway. And if you were to insist on staying with your child, the carjacker would then have two victims instead of one. What's worse, there may be no one to report the incident or to get immediate help. The correct answer, from me, the travel security expert, is definitely F." Read the rest!

For more information:
Defend University
Crime Doctor
Rape Escape
Melissa Soalt
Crime Information
Charlotte Self Defense
No Nonsense Self Defense

TDA Self-defense, Women's Self-Defense

Photo: Jamd.com

2 comments:

Patrick Parker said...

great post. Before I clicked over and read the whole thing I thought about writing in and mentioning that no parent in their right mind would leave the kids in the car.

Great material for thought, but I still don't think that I'd let someone take my kid without killing me first - logic or not.

Not only could i probably not do it, but I woudn't want to be the kind of guy who could and also there's the fact that the wife would never forgive me if I did.

Defend University said...

Hi Nathan:

I saw this story that says it was Via Defend University and links to a page that has a number of links to it.

I don't recall this story and wondered if it was a scenario that is proposed by a different site that Defend University is linked to? Can you help remind me of where it originally came from?

Thanks.

Brad Parker