[rangefinder]

I believe it was a year or so ago that a young woman entered the passenger terminal, Logan Airport, Boston, Mass. with a faux bomb on her person. She called this an "art project" and was dressed as a suicide bomber. She was a second year student at MIT.

A, hopefully, very astute police officer, apprehended her and escorted her out of the teminal to the roadway/parking lot.

I got to spend a lot of time in the Mediterranean during the 80's and a lot of visits to Israel. Security in Israel was very good and they still had problems. "Abandoned packages" were destroyed and chances were/are if you claimed them they would still be destroyed. After all suicide bombers are called that for a reason.

The question: If you encountered at the local mall at Christmas time a person dressed like the MIT student what do you do?

At this point in time I don't know what I would do. I still find the homicide/suicide bomber a difficult concept here in the U.S. But 9.11 sure makes this scenario a terrifying concept.

 

[Ram Rod]

Run away as fast as I can.

 

[oldogy]

I would be on the handy cell phone to the three digit emergency number with a good description, location, and the reason for my concerns. In other words, I would try to be a good reporter. I would distance myself from the person while doing so. IMO, if a person were to try to alert the masses there may be unwanted consequences. Let the law sort it out.
oldogy

 

[Janq]

Run away as fast as I can.

Bingo.

Remove myself, and escorted family, from the anticipated blast zone immediately as in right now...By way of in mall store interior emergency exits.
I would not go running lengthwise away from the BG. Not even Usain Bolt can out run a blast radius embedded with ballistic particulate matter.
By placing between me and the BG various degrees of shielding (wall, store product, other people!, etc.) I then increase my chance of escape if not simply survival.

The Boston chick was wearing a LiteBrite getup with a 9V battery glued to her chest. Stupid.
But say it were some real threat and it wasn't looking like a kid on break from holiday...The above is exactly what I would think on the fly to do.

- Janq

 

[Bark'n]

Run away as fast as I can.

Put me squarely into that group!

Until it starts happening here on US Soil, I'm not going to be a test case for intervention.

If it ever becomes widespread here, forcing individual ccw holders to respond like in Israel, to save the lives of many more innocent people, I'm not getting involved.

If it does ever become wide spread here, I will revisit my tactics and response to such a scenario at that time.

 

[RETSUPT99]

That's a tough one...only because I can't run that fast anymore...but I'm still leaving the area as fast as this fat body can move...:blink::yup:

 

[AFVet1982]

+1 to all responders. I'd give my wife and anyone else with us the "Immediate Bugout" word and do my best to share anything that I'd witnessed via cell phone to 911 as long as I could still see the individual, which hopefully would not be for much longer. Unfortunately, the malls here in Omaha are also "Gun Free," so even if a clear shot were to present itself, I wouldn't be able to do much of anything besides what I stated above.

 

[tbrenke]

in the run to get clear group.
then call and give info.

there is no need for me and mine to stick around.

 

[ccw9mm]

The question: If you encountered at the local mall at Christmas time a person dressed like the MIT student what do you do?

Dressed how, exactly? I'm unfamiliar with what "suicide bomber" dress looks like, as if it were a standard.

Now if it's MIT students we're talking about, "Run Away" sounds like the best option so far. :sport23: :tongue:

 

[UnklFungus]

+1 above. Chances are, you'll never know. Buy stuff online!!!!

 

[paramedic70002]

Remember, often body bombs have a reverse switch. The bomber hits the switch in his/her hand, then releases it to detonate.

Ideally you would, upon encountering such a person, squeeze their hand shut and lop off their head with a concealed machete.

 

[robinsonre]

Step 1-GTFO

Step 2-911

 

[Jcabin]

get you and yours out as fast as you can.

if you're rolling solo try and get as many people out as you can while youre on the phone with 911.

Dropping a mad man shooting up the mall with an AK is one thing.

Trying to stop a guy who claims "he's going to blow the mall up" is another thing. It could be a fake and you could be in alot of legal trouble for dropping the fellow.

 

[Pikachu711]

Dead-Man Switch

Remember, often body bombs have a reverse switch. The bomber hits the switch in his/her hand, then releases it to detonate.

Ideally you would, upon encountering such a person, squeeze their hand shut and lop off their head with a concealed machete.

I believe that these are called "dead man" switches. You're right in thinking that squeezing the DM switch arms the bomb. Releasing the DM switch activates the bomb. The only way, as you mentioned, to preventing the bomb from detonating is to grab the hand holding the DM switch.

 

[dukalmighty]

Buy a shirt that says "bomb technician if you see me running try to catch up"

 

[NC Bullseye]

I ain't McGyver !


Feets don't fail me now......

 

[cmb]

An MIT student with a 9V and a Lightbrite, darn, I could have gotten in that school!

 

[TN_Mike]

Run away as fast as I can.

I agree. Right now, as things are here in the USA now, we do not have suicide bombers blowing themselves up all over the place as they do in Isreal. So, if I were to see someone with a heavy coat on with wires sticking out of it or something, I will move myself and family out of the area as quickly as possible and call the police.

Now, fast forward several years and if this is an all too common thing here, as it is in Isreal, then things may be different. In Isreal, civilians are encouraged to watch for the tell tale signs and to take action if they can. The last time I was in Isreal (several years now) at an outdoor market, a Grandmother saw a young man who was dressed in a heavy coat enven though it was in the 90's. He was facing away from her and reached into the pocket and pulled out something that had wires trailing back into the coat. The Grandmother walked up behind the man and put her handgun to the back of his head and fired, killing him instantly. He was wearing several pounds of Semtex.

She was hailed as a hero and rightly so. There were many people in the market including many children.

But I am not sure that even if suicide bombings became the norm here, that American citizens as a whole would have the stomach to do what that Isreali Grandmother did.

 

[obxned]

If that stupid cow's act appeared truely genuine, and I were armed, she would get her 87 virgins.

 

[ccw9mm]

But I am not sure that even if suicide bombings became the norm here, that American citizens as a whole would have the stomach to do what that Isreali Grandmother did.

Until we do, we'll fail as a social experiment. Until we do, we'll fail to put our money where our mouths are, via action instead of mere words. Words, alone, aren't going to fix what needs fixing. Action might, just barely.