My thoughts are echoed earlier in this thread by an actual banker:g31357 wrote:I've walked into banks armed and unarmed. When I'm armed, I always think to myself, what would I do if a team of bank robbers come barging in with assault rifles? There's nothing I can really do with my firearm, I would just comply like everyone else. If it's 1 guy trying to rob the bank than maybe that's different but I never could figure out what I would really do. Thoughts?
It's not my job to stop a bank robbery, and the money is FDIC insured to the tune of $250,000 per depositor. So unless there happens to be only one single account at that bank, and that account has over $250,000 in it, and ALL of the money is in a cash state inside of the bank, no depositor is going to be directly hurt by the "unauthorized withdrawal". Whether the bad guy just wants to inflict pain/death, or he wants the money AND to inflict pain/death, the common denominator is "inflict pain/death".....and I don't care about the money that's in the bank. Neither am I willing to kill a man over my watch or the $20 in my wallet, if he will just allow me to surrender them peacefully*.Wtxchooter wrote:As a banker, I'm always surprised by the people who think its illegal to carry in a bank. Unless its posted 30.06, it's totally legal. Not only do I always have one on me, but a backup in my desk. And no, I'm not carrying to stop a robbery....give them the money & get them out. I carry for the looney who doesn't want money.
It's the guy that has a wire loose in his brain with a sadistic streak and for whom the rush of robbery isn't enough that worries me. THAT is why I carry my gun into a bank.......or pretty much anywhere else for that matter.
*Yes, there is an upper limit on what I'm willing to surrender peacefully, and I will NEVER allow a physical assault without an armed response. But the above presupposes that the bad guy has the drop on me and everyone else. In that case, going slowly for the $20 — if the bad guy will allow it — is a lot less likely to get me shot than going for my gun. Losing the $20 or a cheap watch is a small price to pay for not having to explain things to the police or the DA's office, even in a demonstrably righteous shooting.
Just my 2¢....
Not saying I would actually do this, but I would be sorely tempted after going through that discussion to do like you did and bring the gun surreptitiously, but then lie later when asked if I brought it after the scream came from the other camp, and say "Of course I didn't bring it.....because you very adamantly didn't want me to, and I just wanted you to be happy. I sure hope that poor woman in the other camp is OK."