re: If you were mugged, would you fight back?

I actually fought a mugger at the Exxon station on Hwy 19 in Baker. I snuck behind the car wash to take a piss while the driver went inside to pay for gas. I had my junk out and a black dude approaches me and says "Yo dog I gotta take a piss too". It was strange and I knew something would happen so I zipped up and that's when he grabbed me around the neck and said "Give me all of your money so I gave him the $9 I had in my pocket but didn't give him the $100 I had in my wallet. He seemed happy with the $9 and then wanted my gold chain I had around my neck and my watch. If you know me I like my watches so I spun out of the headlock and started fighting. I got the best of him and started to run around the corner of the car wash with him grabbing my shirt. He had caught me. As I turned the corner I ran head first into an EBR Sheriff who had seen me sneaking to take a piss and was going to chastise me or write me a ticket (He never said). The black dude jumped back and yelled "YO DOG I DON'T WANNA BUY YO DRUGS". I yelled that the dude mugged me so he drew down on the mugger and detained him. Then he asked me a bunch of questions about how much money I gave him etc. The exact amount of money that was found on the mugger. I had to go to the Sheriff Substation and press charges. I was supposed to testify in court but the Sheriff's dept called me about 6 months later and said "Don't worry about testifying, we got him on grand theft auto which is a much bigger charge". So yeah, I actually fought a mugger and sort of won. With the help of a very shocked Sheriff's deputy.

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Gold chain?

Are you Denny Terio?

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This was 30 years ago skipper

did you get the $9 back?

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True. I guess I should clarify what I mean by "approach". If I see a brandished knife in 10+ yards, the .40 is coming out.

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If someone is planning on robbing you, you’ll never have that kind of time. You’ve already been stalked.

A question I CAN answer, as the only time I was mugged I ATTEMPTED to fight back.

(sorry if TLDR)

22 years ago (1997) in (of all places) Laurel, MS. My wife, my 5 month -ld daughter and I were coming back from the Smokies/Gatlinburg and headed to Hattissburg, where we would spend the night with my dad and stepmother. we got off I-59 in Laurel for a gas and snack break, BROAD DAYLIGHT, in the afternoon about 3 PM. Going into the store building, I noticed a teenage kid hanging out around the bathrooms outside.

After getting snacks, wife was by the SUV backseat changing the baby's diaper or something. I was about 20 feet away eating a potato log when I saw the same kid from earlier coming up to me. As he said. "Excuse me, sir" I figured he was going to panhandle me for some money, and I said in kind of a weary, disgusted voice, "Yeah, whaddaya want?"

That's when he swiveled up an old bolt-action rifle that he had been hiding along his side. The rifle was wrapped in some spots WITH DUCT TAPE. Holding it at waist height, he pointed at me, saying, "Your wallet. I want your wallet."

At that point I kind of felt like I was in a dream. The whole thing was very unreal; it was like I was in a zone or something. It was completely ridiculous; a sunny afternoon, a relatively crowded gas station, and this kid with an old World War era rifle that looked like a piece of junk. Sort of in shock, I looked at the rifle and said,

"You've got to be be kidding me.."

His response was "No, I ain't kidding you, m-fer, give me you f-ing wallet!" Again, I was in a sort of a daze, and instead of doing so, I took a step towards him and grabbed the rifle.

That was a mistake. At the time I was 32; he was a lean, fast and young kid of about 15-16. In a flash, he swung the rifle around and hit me in the head (hard) with the stock end, which didn't knock me out but dropped me to the ground.

He then stepped back and raised the rifle to shoulder height and aimed it at me again, and got REALLY agitated: "You crazy, man? you better give me yo m-fing wallet!"
About 20 feet away I could hear my wife screaming, " Give him the wallet!"

He then yelledd, "I ain't messin' round, you better give it!" and then he turned the rifle towards my wife. I took out my wallet and threw it to him telling him to take it and get the f__ out of here. I was no longer dazed at this point, just really pissed. He picked up the wallet and ran off around the back of the gas station.

While all this was going on, the folks at the gas station became aware and called the cops, who were there in about a minute or two. They checked us out; we rode around with them in a cruiser a few minutes later through some neighborhoods by the gas station trying to identify the culprit, but that didn't work.

We gave our statements and descriptions to the police, which came in handy. I have a ridiculously good memory, and described the gun and the guy perfectly, especially his shirt, a maroon t-shirt which said "Grambling Golden Tigers".

The incident was put on the evening news in Hattiesburg with a Crimestoppers request. By the time we got back to New Orleans the next afternoon, someone had ratted him out and they caught the kid the next day. They had him dead to rights and recovered the gun and his shirt which matched my description perfectly. We picked him out of a photo line-up. We consulted with the DA's office afterwards, and the kid was convicted as an adult and got 5 years in jail with no chance of parole/early release.

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Always have my hand on my weapon walking to my vehicle late at night.
Would welcome the opportunity.

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I would rather give up a substantial amount of cash and my cell phone and replace my IDs, etc. than deal with the hassle of killing someone, even though I have no moral objection whatsoever to killing an armed mugger

I CC, but I don't want to deal with an investigation, or give testimony, or get sued civilly, or worry about retribution (even if unrealistic) or deal with some unknown mental/emotional issue that I don't foresee happening but I suppose could occur, etc.

Now in real life all you can do is make an educated guess as to whether or not giving up property will suffice, but I certainly don't "welcome" the chance to kill a thug

Guy tried to mug me once. I fought back but only because he was behind me and put a gun to my head. It was pure instinct and I saw it coming. I fricked that dude up real bad but I also shite my pants a little. true story. His gun still rests in the bottom of Cross Lake where I threw it off the bridge to dispose of it.

Disclosure: I shouldn't have been where I was when this happened. Hard lesson learned.

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I carry, mugger is getting shot. Contrary to the ill-informed opinion of many here, fighting back has the better overall outcome.

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Not when the gun is already drawn on you.

Even if you get them to talk and slow their reaction times. A .95 second draw and fire (an extraordinary feat that requires training) still gives them a .2 second advantage for average reaction times.

I'm ballsy, but I'm also a realist.

depends on how drunk i am, and how big he is.

more than likely i end up with a gunshot wound