Armed Defense from Your Vehicle

When thinking about defending yourself while in your car, from a carjacking or any other deadly attack, one might keep in mind that probably the best defensive tool is what you are sitting in. Yep, your car. When confronted with a threat, the best move is to stick your foot on that accelerator and leave. 

And this is also not the time to try to follow the admonishments of your old driving instructor. If you have to ram the bad guy’s car, do it. If you have to drive up on the sidewalk—if you can do it without endangering innocents—do it. Accept the fact that your car is probably going to get dinged up, just get away and notify law enforcement as soon as you can.

However, situations may occur where you can’t drive away from the attack. In that case, if there is shooting, or the likelihood of shooting, you need to get out of that car as quickly as possible. Sitting in the car, especially behind the steering wheel, really limits a person’s mobility. Imagine having to engage someone who is directly behind the vehicle and shooting at you through the back window.

So you need to get out of that vehicle and get to better cover. Many attacks will come from the driver’s side of the vehicle, which means that you need to go out the passenger door. Have you tried that? Can you climb over the center console and get out through the passenger door? You may want to give that some thought and practice.

Further, if a passenger is in that right front seat, do they know that when you say, “Get out!”, that you mean for them to get out right now? This is not the time to have to have a discussion about the merits, nor is it time for a lengthy explanation. 

And, of course, once you are outside, your car itself can serve as the cover you need. The best position being the front of the car where you can keep the engine block between you and incoming bullets.

We spend a lot of time in our cars, but I fear that too few armed citizens really give a lot of thought to dealing with armed attacks while in the car. Take some time and do a dry practice in your car. Imagine dealing with various different positions for your attackers, left corner, right corner, directly behind. Figure out how you can quickly get over the console and out through the passenger door. Give it some thought and work out some techniques.