Here are ten tactics to help keep you safe using Vehicle Self Defense.

TACTICS FOR VEHICLE SELF DEFENSE

1. LOCK YOU DOORS! If Attacked forget the cell phone it will just distract you. Do you think the police will be there in 45 seconds?

2. BE ALERT while driving. Don’t daydream as you do at other times. You’ve got all those mirrors. Use them. See as far ahead as possible, not only as far as the car in front of you. Pulling slightly right to be able to see around the car in front of you (this is the zig-zag formation in a motorcade) can also offer you a view past the car(s) in front of you as well as keeping you from being wedged in. NEVER FOLLOW SO CLOSE THAT YOU ARE WEDGED IN. Can you see the rear tires of the car in front of you? If you can’t you are way too close.

3. ALWAYS HAVE AN PATH OF ESCAPE. Continuously look for places you can pull out of the line of traffic and take off. Stay away from areas where there may be anti-police or anti-government demonstrations. If you need to MOVE NOW! Realize that might involve contact with another vehicle or other objects.

4. BE POLITICALLY INCORRECT. In the real world, certain areas are more dangerous, don’t go there. If you feel frightened LEAVE, don’t worry about offending someone. Be like President Obama’s Grandmother move when you see some thugs in the road. Listen to your inner self. Read “The Gift of Fear” by Gavin de Becker.

5. MENTALLY PREPARE YOURSELF TO RUN OVER SOMEONE who is a threat to your life. You’ve spent your entire driving life doing everything you can to avoid accidents and hitting pedestrians. That’s no small thing to overcome. Mental preparation alone is of limited value.

6. PRACTICE USING YOUR GUN FROM THE CAR. Remember you CAN shoot through the glass. An open window will help mitigate damage to your ears. Be prepared for the sound. You wear earplugs at the range and you probably have never experienced a sound as loud as shots in a car. Practice drawing while seated and belted in. DON’T CROSS yourself with the muzzle. Use an Airsoft or paintball pistol if you don’t have a range that lets you shoot from your car. If right handed, try putting you left hand on the wheel, then WEARING A HIGH RISE HOLSTER draw and place your wrist of you right arm on top of your left forearm. This should result in a full size semi-auto barrel being about 3-5 inches from the window. In you are in imminent fear for your life and have no duty to retreat (check the laws of the state you are in) legally, you can legally fire, hesitation may get you killed. Don’t fire to “scare”, fire to stop the attack. The window glass will likely fall apart when one or two bullets hit it. The windshield could take 100 rounds. Depending on you ammunition, it is usually best to fire three rounds to center mass in order to stop your attacker. The fact that you may be surrounded my 25-50 people may be legal justification for using lethal force whether it be a firearm or your car if you think they are an immediate threat to seriously injure or kill you or your passengers.. Disparity in numbers, size, or age can be grounds for lethal force. Your attacker does not need to have a weapon.

7. KNOW THE LAW OF LETHAL FORCE AND HOW IT RELATES TO THE VEHICLE. Not just the legal aspects but your political/social climate. Your car can be used as a weapon to apply legal lethal force. When can you justify running someone over from a practical point of view? You are in an escape pod. If you are alone and well-armed, you might be able to bailout of the car and escape. With two young children that becomes impossible. It is going to be harder to justify shooting someone if you had the option of driving away from the attack. But, there is more of a chance of killing an innocent bystander, maybe a new mother and child crossing the street if you hit the gas and take off.

8. BEWARE OF SCAMS/TRAPS such as these from modern day “Highwaymen”:
   1. 1. A car in front of you backs up fast and hits you, causing your airbag to deploy. You are stunned and trapped for 15 to 60 seconds, maybe more (many drivers suffer a broken nose, eye damage, etc.). The occupants jump out and while you are dazed they are hitting your windows with a small sledge hammers to gain entry to take you or your child. Think of proper responses NOW while you can. Awareness of your environment shouldn’t be limited to the Tactical, but also to the Strategic.
      2. What would you do if you were stuck in traffic and a motorcycle speeds up between the stopped lanes of traffic and either shoots out your rear driver’s window or breaks it out with a hammer and tosses a smoke grenade or Pepper Spray grenade in the back seat of your car? Answer: Grab your gun and any children and evacuate if you can or hit the gas while rolling down the windows and hitting he gas. You may have to exit, fighting your way out with your handgun.
      3. What if you are driving down a country road and all of a sudden you have two flat tires? They are flat because of a roofing nail or spike strip ambush. Are you mentally prepared and do you have the tools necessary to survive?
      4. You, as a woman, see an apparently hurt child by the side of the road? Your heart tells you to stop. Should you? Is she hurt or is she bait for her father and his gang. If she is bait and you stop the three sex predators that are hiding can grab you when you stop. Are you ready?

    

9.  CARRY PEPPER SPRAY (not WASP SPRAY or Clorox) in case you have a drunk just knocking on your car window and also carry a steel telescoping baton. It is called the continuum of force. Keep 2 or 3 loaded magazines in your car. Anyone who carries a semi-auto should carry one spare magazine and should have at least 6 magazines for their pistol as semi-autos go out of production and it is hard to find the magazines.

10. HAVE YOU EVER SHOT A KEL-TEC SUB 2000 Gen. 2? The 9mm version uses the same magazines as the Beretta M-9 pistol (currently the U.S. Army’s standard issue sidearm) or in a Glock 17. However, the Kel-Tec folds in half so you can slip it into a computer bag. It takes 5 seconds to pull it out and lock it down and load with a 30 round magazine. At just 29 inches in length it is not the most comfortable carbine to use but if you have to exit the vehicle having your Beretta M-9 on your side and the Kel-Tec Sub-2000 in your hands gives you a lot if firepower. It will hit steel targets at 100 yards using the poor standard sights. Throw in a pair of comfortable shoes in the car also, they are great for escape or just if you break down. Cell service still is not universal and cell jammers, although illegal, just like cocaine is, are about as easy to buy as cocaine.