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There was bank robbed this past week in the Houston area, what & how would you do if you were there? Details: Man walks up to the teller & says this is a hold up & it's not a joke, give me your money. Never shows a weapon according to the media. What would you do? What can you do legally if your carrying at the time?

Looking forward to your answers

Based solely on the details provided, I would hit the floor. There is oh so much more that one would need to know scenario wise before making an informed decision about this type of situation.

Leave the area and/or discretely find cover and allow the BG to leave. A bank's money is not worth risking your life and those of the bystanders for. In fact, my money isn't worth that either.

Yeah, I agree. Now if he starts shooting, well, then in my opinion he's paid for and I would kill him. At least I think I would. Just my opinion.............

Agree..........

If there is no visible sign of a weapon and he is not overally aggressive, then just let him do his business and leave.

If he approaches you and wants your money, then you have to make another decision.

GlockenHammer wrote:Leave the area and/or discretely find cover and allow the BG to leave. A bank's money is not worth risking your life and those of the bystanders for. In fact, my money isn't worth that either.

I'm in no danger according to the details in the original post. Makes no sense to escalate the situation if no weapon is visible. At this point I'm just going to be a good witness.

I agree with the others.
Back off and take careful note of the event.
If the perp starts pulls and starts shooting then so do I.

RKirby wrote:

GlockenHammer wrote:Leave the area and/or discretely find cover and allow the BG to leave. A bank's money is not worth risking your life and those of the bystanders for. In fact, my money isn't worth that either.

I'm in no danger according to the details in the original post. Makes no sense to escalate the situation if no weapon is visible. At this point I'm just going to be a good witness.

This is my take as well. I was curious what others thought. I could've located the paper article I guess but the details are from what I heard on the radio.

Agree with all!

The money is insured, lives are not evidently at risk, be a good witness for the police and go home alive.

Being a good witness is the best advice here unless the threat level
to you or those with you starts to rise, then I could get nasty.

I agree with everyone else. I have no obligation to protect the bank's money. I have no desire to risk my life, freedom, and financial assets to protect the bank's property.

If I shoot the robber and get sued by his family, is the bank going to pay my legal fees and the judgment against me if I lose? Nope.

If he starts acting aggressively, then I have to decide if my intervention will be more likely to make things better or worse... but in the situation given, I'm not even close to trying to draw.

I will always draw if required to protect myself or my family. I may draw to protect strangers. I won't draw to protect someone else's material possessions. Everyone has their own "rules of engagement." Those are the simplified versions of mine.

Sangiovese wrote:I agree with everyone else. I have no obligation to protect the bank's money. I have no desire to risk my life, freedom, and financial assets to protect the bank's property.

If I shoot the robber and get sued by his family, is the bank going to pay my legal fees and the judgment against me if I lose? Nope.

If he starts acting aggressively, then I have to decide if my intervention will be more likely to make things better or worse... but in the situation given, I'm not even close to trying to draw.

I will always draw if required to protect myself or my family. I may draw to protect strangers. I won't draw to protect someone else's material possessions. Everyone has their own "rules of engagement." Those are the simplified versions of mine.

Very well put.

In the situation as described, I would do absolutely nothing except to try to be a good witness.

GlockenHammer wrote:Leave the area and/or discretely find cover and allow the BG to leave. A bank's money is not worth risking your life and those of the bystanders for. In fact, my money isn't worth that either.

+2

I would discreetly take my gun off safety if I could.
I would get to a safe place. If that safe place allowed me a vantage point where I could be a witness or take pictures with my camera phone, I'd do it. People that rob/steal cost all of us a lot of money. (Why do you think insurance is so high?) It's not worth pulling out my gun & shooting the guy, however. The price of legal & civil defense, paired with the financial toll on my family would be too much for me to simply protect property.

However, if he pulls a gun & starts shooting, I'll try to take both cover & aim if I can do so. At this point, I think we can all agree that lives are in immediate danger.

Venus Pax wrote:I would discreetly take my gun off safety if I could.
I would get to a safe place. If that safe place allowed me a vantage point where I could be a witness or take pictures with my camera phone, I'd do it. People that rob/steal cost all of us a lot of money.

Note that if you were carrying a revolver, you wouldn't have to worry about getting the gun off safe.

I wouldn't do anything that might draw attention. The bank is going to have multiple camera coverage. I doubt my cellphone would make any difference.

And if the BG sees me trying to take his picture there's no telling what might happen.

Melting into the background is my basic strategy here. The BG would have to show/brandish a weapon to make me consider taking any further action.