Bank Robberies & Concealed Carry

Thanks to a couple of HARD TARGET students, I am writing another commentary on another topic of interest to my students.  What is the best thing to do if you are inside your bank conducting business and suddenly a bank robbery goes down?  Well this is an easy one, you just whip out your old trusty pistol and fill the air with lead and gun smoke, RIGHT?  I know you guys are a whole lot smarter than the average bear and you are not falling for that one.  But take this one to the bank (no pun intended), bank robbers are a special breed.  They are usually very different from the average stickup artist that knocks off a liquor store, but they are every bit as dangerous and in fact can can be far more dangerous.
The answer is actually pretty simple: it depends.  It depends on a whole lot of things, but the most important thing to know is this, the vast majority of bank robberies across our great nation do not involve any injuries to anyone.  Since this is most likely what you will face it makes a lot of sense to go along with the robbers' demands and DO NOTHING TO ATTRACT ATTENTION TO YOURSELF!!!!!  Just be a scared customer and do what the robbers say with the knowledge that if things get out of hand, you at least have the means to defend yourself as an absolute last resort.


Civilians do not have a duty to apprehend like law enforcement officers do.  Let the bank robbery go down and let the bank robbers leave without incident.  Just be the very best witness you can be.  Speaking of law enforcement officers, we give them the very same advice if they are off duty while a bank robbery takes place.  Just be a good witness.  The last thing we want is for there to be an O.K. Coral shootout inside the bank.  So do not go there unless you have no other choices left to you.

As a good witness, what the police looking for?  These are the most important things that the police must know immediately upon arrival when it comes to a good description.  Let's look at this from the standpoint of describing one of the robbers.  Was it a male or a female?  What race was the robber?  About how tall and about how much did he weigh?  Can you estimate about how old he was.  The police will really need an accurate as possible clothing description.  Start at the head and work your way down.  Hat, cap, ski mask, coat, shirt, pants, and shoes.  Many times the bank robber will cover his face so the clothing description becomes extremely important to the police.  Burn the clothing description into your mind.  Look for something unusual about the particular hat, shirt, coat, pants, and shoes that separates them from anything else similar to them.  Look for anything about the clothing that sets it apart from other like clothing, a mark or tear, or a dirty spot or stain.


Really focus, if you can, on seeing the race of the robber.  It is not unusual for the police to receive a description of the same person and he is described as being white and black.  Look for exposed skin around the eye holes of the mask or around the wrist area between the gloves and the shirt or coat.  If the robber is so stupid as to not wear gloves, make a concerted effort to memorize what the robber touched with his hands.  This could lead the police to developing fingerprints.  If a robber spits on the floor focus on that area so you can point it out to the police.  If he accidentally drops anything, again focus on where it was dropped and DO NOT TOUCH IT!  Point it out to the police when they arrive.

Try as best you can to figure out how many robbers are in the bank.  Notice when they leave if there is a person that leaves with them that did not come into the bank with them.  This will be someone that just appears to be a bank customer like you, but their intentions are far more insidious.  This could very well be the "stand-off man."  These are really scary robbers that utilize a stand-off man and it usually means they are more professional than the average local yokel.


The stand-off man comes into the bank prior to the robbery and poses as a customer, but likes to stand off in a corner where he can cover the bank robbers when they come in.  The stand-off man's job is to protect the backs of the robbers and by looking like a frightened customer it is fairly easy for them to get the drop on someone that tries to be heroic.  These stand-off men will execute you from behind if you are not careful.  They are extremely dangerous.  They will usually shoot without warning to the back of your head while you are trying to take the robbery suspects on from behind.


Over the years there have been several police officers killed in just such situations.  Do not allow this to happen to you.  Be a good witness and let the robbers go.  But, what if they are the violent "take-over" type robbery suspects?  Again, you are probably better off just being one of the victims, but you might find that these guys take your choices away from you very quickly.  Take-over bank robbers will come in like gangbusters and will fire shots into the ceiling or walls and will strike customers and bank employees causing injuries.  Again, these robbers want the money and they want it now and they control people with fear and death threats.  On a few occasions, they have come into a bank and shot someone just to make a point.

The only way I think an armed citizen should ever pull out his/her gun during a bank robbery is if the robber or robbers start shooting people and you feel you have no other choice.  Just remember, when you do make that decision, it will be loneliest decision you have ever made, because you, and only you will be the one to take them on.  You will be all alone and on your own.  You will have to consider some things like, how many robbers are there?  How are they armed?  Most likely they will be armed much better than you are.  Another consideration is that more and more criminals are wearing body armor.  Now think of this situation.  You pull out your five shot .38 Special revolver and take on three armed bandits that are armed with an AK47, sawed off shotgun, and a high capacity Glock pistol, and they are all wearing body armor.  What is wrong with this picture? 


I think you already know.  You are going to lose BIG time so you better not attempt to use your concealed carry gun unless it is absolutely necessary to save your life or a family member's life.  There is a very harsh reality to all this.  You may have to standby and watch these thugs kill a couple of  customers and not react.  For us cop types, this is something that will be damn near impossible for us to do, because we have taken a sacred oath to protect the public up to and including sacrificing ourselves to save other lives.

The bottom line is - Don't try to be a hero - Be a good witness and keep your options open.  Only use your weapon as a last resort.