Riots in London got me thinking...

[Hkchris]

Watching this on the news the last few nights got me thinking. I'm going with my EDC and the FN 5.7 with 6-10 30 round magazines in each car and possibly the FN PS90 with 6-10 magazines as well.
That's over 2300 ft/s in a small package and nearly 900 rounds.

At the house I have other options. I can see using a .22 rifle for torso shots. If after a couple of shots that doesn't seem to lower their resolve it's time to go with the .223 or .308.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[mprp]

Not if I were on the jury. You look down the street. You see a mob burning every house and killing the occupants. Why would you NOT think they were coming for you too?

Good point. Specifically burning every house and killing the occupants is a little different than the most likely scenerio though, where there are a few in the crowd that have no regard for life. In a situation like that, I think a good batch of grenades are in order. More often than not though, it's a bunch of knuckleheads that just want to steal stuff and make the 5 o'clock edition of the news because they figure that in the masses, they probably won't get caught.

But just for the record, I too have no sympathy for whatever happens to people who stick around and participate willfully in a riot. Nor do I really care when I see a war protester get smacked in the face with a rubber bullet when their little gettogether goes bad. I just find the angle of SD interesting from the individual BG, mob/riot and the mixing of the two.

[Guantes]

I just find the angle of SD interesting from the individual BG, mob/riot and the mixing of the two.

In a way I agree with you. On the other hand, when you are on the receiving end of the rock & bottles, I can assure you that it loses it significance/importance.

[Anthony]

Every riot is different.
Sometimes they are huge and organised and go on for hours, such as in the past in Northern Ireland, and the recent/present London mess.
Sometimes they just blow up from nothing, - or are the result of too much drinking by sports fans, - their team losses, etc.

We got some intensive training in riot control for Northern Irealand work, back in the 70s & 80s. - My tours took me to rural areas, so I never faced a large mob.
We were completely within our ROE to shoot a molotov cocktail throwing rioter, IF he was within range of the 'missile' landing within our ranks.
But the shooting of molotov cocktail wielders was discouraged in the 80s, due to good shields and trying not to cause an incident. - It was quite likely that the IRA (I'll use "IRA" but I'm talking about any of the various terrorist groups there,) would have put the molotov into the hands of a large but young teenager, - hoping to win a propaganda coup, (when the Army shot dead "13 year old, - never did anything wrong", little Patrick.)

Small groups of thugs gathering together, - sort of a build up to a riot, were quickly dispersed with the hard plastic 'rubber' bullets, especially if the faces were targeted. ("Opps, I aimed at his chest Sarge.....honestly!")

IMHO.
Forget birdshot. - Birdshot is for birds.
The .22 rifle option is very good, especially with a suppresor, because your fire can be from a hidden location, which the thugs will have difficulty locating. - Also, the pólice too.
The shots can be delivered into the belly regions of the thugs. Fast, "silent' and accurate fire can be delivered at up to 100 yards easily.

Keep a repeating shotgun handy for close range, plus the overall "deterent effect" it has, when seen by thugs who really do not want a fight, but are out for any easy target to loot or burn etc.

A 5.56 or 7.62 military style semi-auto rifle as a reserve if things get very nasty.

Remember: - You may very well be filmed unknowingly, so one should try to either shoot from a hidden location, (and not be seen neither filmed,) or if in the open, do not do anything stupid!

[heylin]

News just in

Prime Minster Gordon Brown has authorised UK police officers to use the word "STOP" against rioting teenagers and failing that officers will be allowed to use the next level of force available to them which is sitting them in the naughty corner for 3 minutes.

I really fear that my country is heading this way with and the PC bull s--t thats rife in our police HQ and government.

[QKShooter]

If you are caught up in an urban riot you'll need to attempt to extricate yourself as stealthily and as quickly as possible.

Avoidance is your best best of arriving home unscathed.

Naturally if you are being physically attacked you'll need to try and stop the immediate deadly threat and by whatever means possible.

Hopefully all are aware of the fact that as an armed citizen you cannot play "Judge, Jury, & Executioner" and just indiscriminately fire live ammunition into a throng of riotous people.

The punishment for standing in the street yelling and tossing bottles is not death.

There is a reason WHY the Police "back down" - as you have stated in your original post.

That reason is that they cannot quell the situation with the "less than lethal" tools that they have available to work with.

So they "fall back" rather than have officers killed or seriously injured.

They ARE NOT going back to the station house in order to grab the Fully Automatic weapons so that they can go back to the scene and exterminate the rioters by machine gunning them all down.

If that was an acceptable response and they wanted do that - they could end every riot in a big hurry just by leaving no human being standing.

[GrandBob]

I dont rekon I'll ever be in a riot, so I dont worry about it.

In the unlikely event I find myself trying to escape, I'll just hop in my 4 wheel drive and run like a scalded dog.

[gdm320]

I'd be in my home not out in the open, so long range is not much of a concern. A Ruger 10/22 to send a message and Remington 870 with no plug loaded with Winchester PDX ammo in case they tried to come through the door.

[21bubba]

38 posts and no "call 911 and be a good witness"?

[shockwave]

Anybody here remember the Rodney King riots in South LA in the early 90s? Those Korean shopkeepers got up on the roofs of their stores and brandished shotguns. The rioters turned their attention elsewhere.

Moral of the story?

Nobody wants to eat a load of buckshot. The shotgun is the king of defensive weapons. It offers maximum firepower and excellent visual and audible deterrent cues.

Put yourself in the position of a bad guy. Are you going to approach a shotgun muzzle? You'll probably find better things to do.

[ncsteveh]

All I can think of is if you do end up with a pile of bodies at a distance, you will most likely have a hard time in court proving that the people that you killed were an immediate threat.

Wasn't me, I lost all my guns in a boating accident the week before.

[hoghunter84]

That's what I'm thinking, but I would do it with an AR-15.

725ft lbs out of a 223 No I like the 2064 ft lbs of the 30.06!! How do they say it? Complete cranial evacuation.

[archer51]

I'd prefer to have 2 12 gauge shotty loaded with 00 buckshot, with someone along to reload as 1 is emptied. Mob violence directed at me will be answered as violent and ruthless as I can.

[Guantes]

This proved to be pretty effective.

[searcher 45]

The after effects of action taken during a riot will depend on the state laws where you live or encounter the riot.

Knowing the state laws about defense is very important to what you may choose to do as a armed citizen protecting your self, family or property.

In Texas you can POST your property and extend your legal lethal range to the property edge.

All you have to do is put up a sign saying posted or paint the fence post tops purple to incarnate POSTED prosperity.

Personally if the rioters were just coming down the street throwing rocks etc. I would wait until they crossed my property line and then act accordingly.

If they were looting every home and burning them afterward, I would try to stop them a long range any way I could.

A stack of rioting looters on the street may not play out right with the law after the fact but neither would being burned out and maybe the family and self in the hands of out of control rioters and looters.

If you are out in vehicle the Castle Doctrine in Texas extends the protection of your home to the occupied vehicle, defending that occupied vehicle is self defense.

Some states are just better for their citizens protection than others.