Bureaucratic mindset about self defense

[antsi]

This went out over the university email system. I thought there were some interesting clues to the bureaucratic mindset about self defense and response to attack. I'm highlighting the stuff that stood out to me.

PUBLIC SAFETY ALERT

A [university] student was the victim of an armed robbery early this morning (April 24). The student was walking north on 19th Street and stopped at a home on 19th and State. The student was approached by four males who demanded his property. The student, who was not physically injured, surrendered his property, and the suspects fled northbound on foot. The incident occurred about 1:20 a.m., and the student immediately called DPS but was unable to supply a detailed description of the suspects. Both DPS and the [city] Police Department were on the scene within minutes.

All [university] students and employees are reminded to immediately call DPS to report any criminal or suspicious activity. Calls can easily be made from one of the nearly 300 blue light phones on or near campus or call DPS at 8-6800. In addition, students and employees are reminded to:
• Walk in pairs, being aware of your surroundings at all time.
• Use the LIMO and safety patrol services provided by DPS.
• If approached, give up your property.

My takes:

1) Within minutes? That's reassuring. Counting reload time, the bad guys would only have time to shoot 6 or 8 mags worth of ammo into me, grab a burger at the nearest fast food joint, and leisurely wander off before the campus police would be on the scene. I think that's important, because when someone kills me I don't want my corpse to be left lying around for days and days, rotting, and stinking up the neighborhood.

2) "Give up your property." In other words, if you give the bad guys what they want, you won't get hurt. So, how does that work out if the bad guys want to hurt someone? "If you let them hurt you, you won't get hurt." "Ladies, let them go ahead and rape you, because if you resist they might do something unpleasant."

I guess there is nothing new in this - the bureaucratic mindset about self defense is a well known phenomenon. It was just kind of jarring to receive this email from another planet in my inbox this morning.

 

[Eddie]

Not to mention that "within minutes" really tells you nothing. Does that mean three minutes? Eight minutes? Forty-seven minutes? Yep, give up yer property; 147 grains at a time.

 

[trnsplntfrmohio]

property can be replaced, But I will still choose to protect myself my pointing my gun in their face, however if the persist for my things, I will give them what they want minus the gun. If they wan't my gun they can take it with a face full of bullets. But really property can be replaced, if it's my life yeah, but it's just property.

 

[Iron22]

it takes 1.3 seconds to draw a weapon

 

[antsi]

property can be replaced, But I will still choose to protect myself my pointing my gun in their face, however if the persist for my things, I will give them what they want minus the gun. If they wan't my gun they can take it with a face full of bullets. But really property can be replaced, if it's my life yeah, but it's just property.

If we are really talking about a "just property" scenario, then yeah, I would not shoot. For me the classic example would be someone is running out my back door with my DVD player. No, I'm not going to shoot someone just to prevent them running off with my property.

But the scenario here is different - someone threatening me with a weapon as a way to acquire my property. That registers very different on my threat meter. If they tell me, in effect, "I will shoot/stab/bludgeon you for the $15 in your wallet," then I'm going to consider this person a serious threat and respond accordingly. If they'll kill me for $15, they'll probably kill me for no reason at all.

 

[TheCapulet]

At my uni, campus police routinely give rides to any girl who calls the CPD office and asks for one. Most of their time is spent giving rides around campus, which, at the same time, gives them perfect random patrol routes. And my freshman year, me and a couple guys had the SUV patrolman give us a ride to the nearest taco bell. Of course, we bought him some food too. :P

More on this topic though...
Walk in pairs? Sure, so the bad guys have twice as much stuff to steal from defenseless students who are forbidden from carrying weapons on uni property.

Seriously, there have been enough stories of dudes being robbed in the middle of the night on campus property, or girls jogging who are picked up on campus property, raped repeatedly and left in some ditch somewhere. I really hope these uni's stop giving criminals extra occupational security by banning the legal licensed carry of weapons.

 

[Snowden]

In the bureaucratic mindset, you are a source of income, nothing more. Student X is worth Y amount of tuition. And he will cost the school Z in legal fees when they are sued by the poor defenseless mugger he shot. Z is a very large number, so it serves the administration much better if the student merely gives up all of his possessions or dies.

 

[BearArms]

it takes 1.3 seconds to draw a weapon

That's a slow ass draw you have there. CC I take it?