I am not a firearms expert or even enthusiast. I have used firearms to threaten criminals and have dealt with firearm threats by criminals. All of this experience falls into the behavioral, rather than technical, realm. I would like to address this subject for the benefit of those, self-defense people or not, who would like to understand their risks of firearm-involved aggression. As with all risks of aggression yours will be somewhat subjective. Based on my interviews with victims, criminals and eye-witnesses I have determined that you are looking at four likely threats.

The primary concern of criminal handgun users is visibility and response by police, so most handgun crime takes place by night, particularly if outside. What follows is nothing more than an outline of criminal handgun tactics related to me by those who have witnessed, survived and perpetrated these crimes. It is necessarily light on details concerning successful killings, for which a law enforcement source must be consulted.

This is usually a walkup shooting usually against a target standing outside. The survivors I interviewed all ran. The ones who did not run were not available to be interviewed. We are not talking about the most efficient use of a handgun to be sure. However, since all handgun defenses and disarms I have seen promoted by self-defense instructors feature the gunman touching the defender with the barrel before firing, this subject seems to be essentially unaddressed by the self-defense community, though track & field instruction has apparently saved some.

This is the other handgun use against men on foot and out of doors. While the walkup shooting is usually employed against someone standing, the stickup typically targets a walker. The target is rarely touched with the barrel, the exception being when there is a hands-on accomplice conducting a shakedown or pat down. The main concern here usually seems to be weapon visibility by third parties. The gun is rarely extended at arm’s length but held back.

This is the one criminal handgun use where the aggressor is likely to touch the barrel to the target and make a demand. The driver’s chance of survival is much higher when he or she is not taken hostage. This attack is facilitated by windows that are rolled down, traffic lights, and unlocked passenger-side doors, or a downed passenger-side window that permits the opening of the door by the carjacker. The safest option for the carjacker is to access the vehicle from the passenger-side door and slide into the seat, threatening with a couched gun that is out of sight to bystanders and out of reach of the driver.

The classic convenience store holdup, which we can all view on YouTube, often features elements listed in the three uses above. Where the Smoker walks up firing from an extended hand, the stickup boy threatens from a refused hand, and the carjacker threatens with the touch of the barrel, the location robber might do any of these. The dynamic here is that he is just worried about a time window rather than visibility and is in as much of a hurry as the walkup shooter. Where threats are evident in this situation you are far more likely to see the gun brandished at arm’s length or used to touch at arm’s length, whereas the stickup boy and carjacker tend to use the gun to threaten from a bent-arm posture. I have interviewed witnesses who saw armed robberies turn into executions. This can probably be attributed to the gunman feeling confined and cornered.

I would personally rather be the target of a walkup shooting than a retail robbery.

Update, 2017My experience with handgun threats have either typed as stickups or as a threat [often implied] to use a pocketed gun while making demands verbally, backing away or closing.