Episode 262 with Amanda Suffecool
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Rob- Introduction-
Welcome to episode 262 of Self-Defense Gun Stories. We’re glad you found us if you’re well trained.. and also if you’re still learning about armed defense. I’m Rob Morse and we’re joined this week by firearms instructor Amanda Suffecool. What have you been doing, Amanda?
Amanda- Hi, Rob. I’ve been traveling, planning and signing up for training for the year 2022. Yes – Instructors who are worth their salt keep training with even better instructors. I try to do one or two classes a year.
How about you?
Rob- I was on the Daily Bullet podcast for the Second Amendment Foundation, and on the Arms Room Radio broadcast out of Orlando, Florida.
Robbie wished us Merry Christmas, and Vic asked about our music which is Fanfare for the Common Man. Thank you both, and glad to help. Please go to the iTunes store where you subscribe to podcasts. Give us a rating and let new gun owners know why you listen.
Amanda- Here in the US, we defend ourselves with a firearm thousands of times a day. We look at a few recent examples to see what we can learn. The links back to the original news articles are on our podcast webpage.
Our first story took place last week in Tampa, Florida.
Rob- First story- Are you armed in public?
You’re getting some exercise on a walking trail. Several teenagers run by you, then they turn. One of them tells you to give it up. Another draws a gun and threatens you. You’re being robbed. You have your carry license in your wallet. You also have your legally purchased firearm on your hip.
The news article doesn’t say what happened next, but you shot your armed attacker, and you were shot. You run to get help. The police received calls about the gunshots. They find you and call emergency medical services. They transport you to the hospital. You give a statement to the police. You show them your carry permit. Police find your attacker dead on the park trail. You are not charged with a crime.
Rob- What did our defender do to save his life?
Amanda-
Recognized that he was at risk.
Bought a gun
Got his permit
Learned how to carry.
Carried on body in public in the middle of the day on a walk.
Recognized an lethal, immediate, and unavoidable threat
Defended himself
Moved to safety
Gave a statement to the police
Rob- Is there anything else you’d like us to do?
Amanda- Let’s talk about the problems that the story didn’t mention.
Your wallet identifies you as having a concealed carry permit.
To the robbers, your gun on your body means you might have a security job or be a police officer. That puts you at an increased danger of being murdered.
If you don’t see them coming, then you start from behind when they already have a gun in their hands and the gun is pointed at you.
Distraction, movement, presentation. Use them as a shield.
Rob- Do you see anything else in this story?
Amanda- The first person to call the police gets to be called the victim. You want to win the race to 911 because the bad guys might lie. If you lost your cell phone, then shout for help in the middle of the street.
The other thing to consider is GEAR. Good gear makes carrying comfortable. Bad gear makes carrying a PITA, and then you are more likely to leave it at home. Spend the time and the money to research and buy gear that matches your lifestyle.
Rob- What else do you see?
Amanda- That is enough for now. Our second story happened in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Rob- Second Story- Are you armed as you drive?
You drive for Lyft. You are carrying a passenger in the middle of the afternoon when a car runs into you. You pull to the side of the road, and the car runs into you again. You get out of your car. The passenger of the car that hit you points a shotgun at you. You’re armed too. You have your concealed carry permit. You get the passenger out of your car and away from the robbery. You duck behind your car and draw your handgun. Your attacker shoots at you and you shoot back. You retreat. The robber dives into your car and drives away. The car behind them tries to run you over. You shoot that driver, and he drives away too. You get out of the road and call the police. You’re shaken, but not hurt.
Police find your two wounded attackers nearby. Both of your attackers are taken to the hospital. Both had firearms in their cars. You are not charged with a crime.
Amanda- Dangerous job that does not allow CCW. Driver had his permit, and chose to follow the law, not the employment contract. Being armed in public could keep him alive, but may get him fired.
He recognized the threat once he was hit the second time, moved to defend himself and his passenger. Recognized second threat. Moved to safety.
Rob- That is a lot. Is there anything else we should do in a case like this one?
Amanda- This is a really complex environment. We need to identify the clearest path to safety. Is it in the car or out? Then we want to move to cover and we want to move so we don’t get shot, but It isn’t obvious where we should go. We don’t want to move into traffic and get hit by a moving car.
Rob- Let’s back up. Walk me through all the steps that this defender went through.
Amanda- Firearms safety and training. Concealed carry so that it is concealed at all times. Presentation when the situation calls for it. Legal use of lethal force. Presentation on the move using cover and concealment, while ushering someone else to safety. Engaging multiple targets. What to say to the police.
Rob- That sounds impossible to get right.
Amanda- No, that sound easy to get right, because we take it step at a time. You didn’t learn to drive in the snow until you had some practice parking. We learn self-defense as a series of steps or building blocks.
Rob- And like physical conditioning, we have to go back and exercise those building blocks. What does that exercise look like?
Amanda- We’ll talk about that in our next story that happened in Augusta, Georgia.
Rob- First this message from the Crime Prevention Research Center.
https://crimeresearch.org/
Rob- Third story- Are you armed in public?
You get a call from your adult son. It is after midnight when he chased a stranger out of your home. He is still concerned and your son knows you’re armed. You tell him to stay outside and you’ll be home in a minute. You meet him in the driveway, and the two of you search downstairs. You don’t see anyone, but you hear sounds. When you reach your upstairs bedroom you find a stranger standing in your room. You raise your firearm and shoot him. He jumps out the bedroom window.
You and your son call the police and stay inside your home. You holster your gun and show the officer what happened. They find a cap and a bloody shirt in your backyard. You are not charged with a crime.
Amanda- Gun owner. Has a Permit and carried that night. The key to this story is that she asked her son to stay outside. Recognized that if there was one, there may be more.
Rob- What would you like us to do if we were in a similar situation.
Amanda- First, lock your doors so the bad guys have to break into your home. Make them work for it. Next, call the police. I wouldn’t advise doing the clearing drill yourself as this mother son team did. The second call, once you hang up from your son, should have been to the police.
Rob- If we have a gun, why do you want us to call the police?
Amanda- You can answer that yourself. Do you know if there are strangers in your home? Have you ever played hide and go seek. Remember hiding – real still – and watching the other person move around looking for you? That is what happens when YOU are trying to clear an area. You are not trained like the police are for this. Let them look for someone who should not be there.
As an instructor, I want to train your actions so you don’t walk around a corner and find four men with guns pointed at you in the dark and you get shot and die in front of your children. Yes, protect your family, but leave the exploration to the cops. Let the police bring lots of men and equipment and dogs, and let them do the discovery for you.
Rob- Avoid getting killed.
Amanda- Exactly. Understand the law so you know when you may defend yourself, when you may not, when you should let the police do the work for you, the work they constantly train to do.
Rob- We want to train our hands, and our mind so we understand our options.
Amanda- We’ll talk about that in our last story that took place near Los Angeles, California.
Rob- Fourth story- Are you armed at work?
and https://bearingarms.com/tomknighton/2022/01/03/armed-citizen-ca-n54003
It is a few days after Christmas. You have customers in your jewelry store. It is the middle of the afternoon when four young men come inside. They are all wearing masks and hoodies. One of them starts spraying the customers and staff with something, and the victims double over, cover their faces and start coughing. You’re being robbed. You’re armed. You step back and draw your firearm. The robbers see your gun pointed at them and they head for the door. You don’t shoot. You holster your weapon when they leave. You check on your staff and your customers, and then you call 911.
The story doesn’t mention a video camera, but the police were able to identify the robbers. They arrested four of the five robbers, and three of them had outstanding warrants. They sprayed your customers with bear spray.
You’re not charged with a crime.
Amanda- Purchased a gun in California, went through those hoops.
Planned, trained and prepared to be armed at work
Sounds like the gun was carried on his body
He presented his firearm and that ended the robbery. That is what usually happens. He recognized that the criminals were running so he didn’t shoot them. He checked on the victims, then he called the police and gave them a statement.
Rob- Is there anything else you’d like us to do?
Amanda- This store owner was able to get his carry permit because of the county where he lived. The story doesn’t mention if he had a permit, and I want him to have one. I want all his employees to have their carry permits too. I want them to carry at work, carry as they travel to and from work, and carry at home. That is so we stop depending on luck to save us.
What if the store owner were on the phone when his customers were attacked? If you think you’re the designated defender, then what happens when you go to lunch or to the bathroom? What if you’re carrying out the trash so you’re out the back of the store at that moment the bad guys walk in the front door? Depending on luck isn’t a defense plan. Also, you want you to have a permit so the police know you have a clean criminal record.
Rob- Four men broke into my store and sprayed my customers and staff. Was that a lethal threat?
Amanda- It could be. They blind you and hurt you with bear spray. They make it so you can’t defend yourself. They have four of you against a single defender. You are justified to use lethal force in defense of yourself and other innocent parties. AND you don’t know what they are spraying you with, or what they intend to do with you once you are incapacitated.
Statistics say you are not likely to survive if an armed intruder moves you to another location by gun point. Though I have to say – to find those statistics I read some concerning info on kidnapping, hostages and government based advice. Bad, untrue but interesting. Funny how some political ( read that anti gun) agendas fit into educational propaganda material.
Rob- That matches what I heard in my training. Don’t let them move you.
Exit-
Rob- that wraps up this episode. Amanda, thank you for helping us again. Where can we learn more about you?
Amanda- My nationally syndicated radio show, eye on the target radio, is on Sunday nights from 5 to 7 eastern time. I instruct on the weekends in Northeastern Ohio. I’m part of the DCProject that you can find at DCProject.info and now am on TV on the OpsLens channel with both EOTT and Women for Gun Rights on Fridays at 7 pm eastern.
Rob- After you watch Amanda’s TV shows and subscribe to her podcasts, then please leave her a message on the podcast webpage.
Amanda- We share this podcast with you for free.
Please share the podcast with a friend and give us a rating on I-Tunes and Stitcher.
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Rob- This show is part of the Self-defense radio network. Find more pro-freedom podcasts at sdrn.us
I’m Rob Morse. We’ll be back next week with more Self-Defense Gun Stories.
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Wow, that story about the Mom clearing her house was nearby. Great advice. Go to or stay some place safe. Call the police and let them do what they are trained to do. Keep up the good work, Rob. Love your show.