Sooo I got robbed last night.

[TUskate]

Yep that's right.

Last night while I was walking home, some kid pulled a gun on me and told me to give him everything I had. He got my phone (which was dead) and $5.65. So big fucking hall for that kid. He took my stuff, told me not to call the cops and walked away. So I walked to my house and called the cops. In less then 2 minutes later my house turned into a battle zone, there were a minimum of 10 police cars and a helicopter outside my house.

Now I live in a pretty sketchy area of Philadelphia, but this pissed me off quite a bit. I'm just posting this to see what you guys think about this/what you would have done in my situation.

Also has anyone else ever gotten robbed like this?

 

[E.A.]

Well, your pretty lucky you didn't get shot.

I think you did the right thing; If he has a gun, most of us would submit. Do you know if it was loaded? He could have just been bluffing if it was not.

If i lived in a shady area of a town, I would get one of those personal taizers for my safety.

And a helicopter would come to search for the guy (Seen those searchlights on helicopters in the movies?) They do it for public safety.

 

[TUskate]

Why would a helicopter come?

I think they wanted to kind of make a show of them taking these things seriously, because I go to the University right near were I live/got robbed. I'll admit that part was pretty cool.

Well, your pretty damn lucky you didn't get shot.

I think you did the right thing; If he has a gun, most of us would submit. Do you know if it was loaded? He could have just been bluffing if it was not.

If i lived in a shady area of a town, I would get one of those personal taizers for my safety.

The one thing I was thinking was that the gun might have been fake. It was a pretty large, silver, semi-automatic handgun, and I doubted a young kid (he looked about 16) would be able to acquire something like a desert eagle.

The other thing I was going to ask you guys was would you guys by something to protect yourself? Be it a gun, knife, tazer or mace?

 

[Dan Dan]

If someone pulls a gun...then you do what he says. It's not worth risking it to see if it's loaded or not. You did the right thing, and it sounds like the police are a lot more responsive than they are over here.

I was mugged and smashed over the head with a glass bottle. I called the police from a phone box afterwards and they didn't even turn up. I walked home bleeding from my forehead and with no wallet/cashcard/driving license. They came round to my house 3 DAYS LATER. By then I had pretty much tried to erase that night from my memory. All they did was take a statement and told me that they would "look into it". Never heard a thing.

Guess you get more attention if you have a gun though. Not sure if I would have called them in fear of reprocussions...but then I don't really trust the police anymore. It's sad how one bad experience can change the way you think about a supposed law enforcing unit.

edit: dude don't you skate? those trucks make nasty dents in heads.

 

[Colloquy]

First of all, I would spell "buy" right.

Tazers sound cool, that would be sweet to carry around. Definite no-no on "gun" and "knife" though, you don't want to go to jail.

 

[JerryBeans]

Well, your pretty lucky you didn't get shot.

I think you did the right thing; If he has a gun, most of us would submit. Do you know if it was loaded? He could have just been bluffing if it was not.

If i lived in a shady area of a town, I would get one of those personal taizers for my safety.

And a helicopter would come to search for the guy (Seen those searchlights on helicopters in the movies?) They do it for public safety.

iirc on the news, an average of 2-3 people die in the philadelphia area each day from street crimes, I guess your lucky? 5$ and a cell phone isn't bad at all. Infact, it's a damn good excuse to get yourself a new i-phone and a badass story to back it up.

My dad's car got robbed and my neighbor was robbed, never robbed in person luckily.

 

[mingot]

The other thing I was going to ask you guys was would you guys by something to protect yourself? Be it a gun, knife, tazer or mace?

Maybe, but do you think it would have been appropriate there? I mean you try to pull your gun and the kid shoots you. Or you kill the kid to hang on to a dead cell and 5 bucks. It probably worked out better the way it did. You got to see a real life ghetto bird and watch a bunch of cops actually doing something semi-useful.

Gun for the house is not a bad idea, though. I'd stay away from tazers/mace and other shit like that, if only because unless you get the good stuff mace is not that great and if you miss with the tazer you're going to be in pretty bad shape. Knife? No. Heh.

 

[Mekkah]

The other thing I was going to ask you guys was would you guys by something to protect yourself? Be it a gun, knife, tazer or mace?

I assume you mean after you got robbed once? Ignoring that not every country in the world allows guns on every citizen, I don't think it would help. Maybe as a placebo to make you feel safe, but the moment a guy puts a gun to your head, you won't be making a move for your own if you have one.

And yeah, you did the right thing, considering you did not even have a weapon. And you were lucky.

 

[Adam Blade]

In my opinion, you did the right thing. If they have a gun, you probably should listen to what they say even if it was fake. You never know when its a real gun and the guy blows your head clean off of your body. I was sort of robbed before. I left my backpack in the car and some person stole it. It caused a big drop in my grades. There's a lot of scums in this world.

 

[TUskate]

If someone pulls a gun...then you do what he says. It's not worth risking it to see if it's loaded or not. You did the right thing, and it sounds like the police are a lot more responsive than they are over here.

I was mugged and smashed over the head with a glass bottle. I called the police from a phone box afterwards and they didn't even turn up. I walked home bleeding from my forehead and with no wallet/cashcard/driving license. They came round to my house 3 DAYS LATER. By then I had pretty much tried to erase that night from my memory. All they did was take a statement and told me that they would "look into it". Never heard a thing.

That's totally fucked dude. They had me get in the police car and drive around with them to see if I could point of the kid who did it.

Guess you get more attention if you have a gun though. Not sure if I would have called them in fear of reprocussions...This was something that has been running through my head for a little bit, but considering the age of the kids who hit me up, and what they got I don't think I have to worry. but then I don't really trust the police anymore. It's sad how one bad experience can change the way you think about a supposed law enforcing unit.

edit: dude don't you skate? those trucks make nasty dents in heads.

Yeah under normal circumstances I don't think anyone would have tried anything because of my board, but I've got a torn ACL right now and won't be able to skate till at least May.

First of all, I would spell "buy" right. Seriously?

Tazers sound cool, that would be sweet to carry around. Definite no-no on "gun" and "knife" though, you don't want to go to jail.

Well how about if you could obtain this stuff legally? I just turned twenty on Tuesday and could go out and buy a gun if I wanted to.

Maybe, but do you think it would have been appropriate there? I mean you try to pull your gun and the kid shoots you. Or you kill the kid to hang on to a dead cell and 5 bucks. It probably worked out better the way it did. You got to see a real life ghetto bird and watch a bunch of cops actually doing something semi-useful.

Gun for the house is not a bad idea, though. I'd stay away from tazers/mace and other shit like that, if only because unless you get the good stuff mace is not that great and if you miss with the tazer you're going to be in pretty bad shape. Knife? No. Heh.

I was pretty hyped at the cops reaction. They seemed like they were actually ready to catch this mother fucker. Seeing the chopper respond to something for me was pretty sweet.

 

[Luduan]

I think you did the right thing; If he has a gun, most of us would submit. Do you know if it was loaded? He could have just been bluffing if it was not.

Maybe it is just the way I am reading it, but this strikes me as absurdly idiotic. You would have to be pretty fucking stupid to not submit if all you are going to lose is $5 and a dead cellphone. Also, I really doubt that you have ever been around guns if you think there is a way to tell if one is loaded by sight.

Besides, you don't want to end up like this guy: http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=139517

 

[CaptKirby]

I think it is absurd that a helicopter flew out for this. That costs more money than what you were robbed of, which defeats the entire purpose (not even addressing the time of the pilot and his salary or anything, or that of an excessive amount of cops sent lol)

 

[Iamslow]

I learned how to disarm people in Karate, but I don't recommend it unless you really have something you don't want to lose or unless somebody is really out to kill you. You definitely did the right thing.

 

[TUskate]

I think it is absurd that a helicopter flew out for this. That costs more money than what you were robbed of, which defeats the entire purpose (not even addressing the time of the pilot and his salary or anything, or that of an excessive amount of cops sent lol)

This definitely struck me as strange. I guess since a firearm was involved it was a little more serious. It also was a police helicopter that was immediately involved in the search.

You know what else was weird about the whole situation? The cops had me drive around with them seeing if I could ID the people who did it. Now the cops showed up about five minutes after it happened, but it still seemed really strange that they would be bringing me along.

 

[DM]

I'm a criminal justice major who has spent time riding with police officers, so take that into account when you read my post.

You did the right thing, without a doubt. Like Dan said, you don't ask questions when someone pulls a gun on you, even if you think it might not be real. Unless it has an orange fucking tip, assume it's real and you have a chance of getting shot.

As for protecting yourself... don't waste your money. There is absolutely no proof that carrying a personal weapon lowers your chances of being robbed, nor is there any proof of personal weapons raising the likelihood of fighting off an attacker. All it will likely do is injure yourself or some other innocent, especially in the hands of an untrained civilian.

As for a young kid getting such a nice gun... you'd be surprised.

 

[Surgo]

I think it is absurd that a helicopter flew out for this. That costs more money than what you were robbed of, which defeats the entire purpose (not even addressing the time of the pilot and his salary or anything, or that of an excessive amount of cops sent lol)

Are you kidding? It cost more money then what was robbed then, but part of the point is to catch the thief before he robs again.

To add on to what DM said: I'm no Criminal Justice major, but I have done Tae Kwon Do for many years. One of the classes was on defense against guns and knives. What was the first, middle, and last thing told to us during lessons on gun defense? If a guy points a gun at you and demands your wallet, give it to him. The risk for reward is just too high for a simple mugging.

 

[Syberia]

Having a gun under the bed to protect yourself if someone breaks into your house is one thing, but if they jump you on the street and are pointing a weapon at you, all trying to grab a gun will do is get you killed. Though, if someone tries to rob you without a gun, you'll most likely be able to scare them off. If they still try something, shoot the bastard.

However, just remember that if you shoot someone in self-defense there's still a good chance of going to jail, either because your lawyer doesn't know what they're doing or because some prosecutor somewhere wants an easy target.

 

[TDS]

It's best to travel in large groups. People wont try anything as long as they don't have ak 47's or anything that can kill 10 people at one time.

 

[Vineon]

I was robbed a couple times in my life but never at gun point. I like to believe our guns control is part of the reason. I don't know exactly how I'd react.

but yeah west philly is dangerous..

what you need is a rich uncle living in Bel'air California.

 

[GTS]

My friends were mugged a few weeks ago. They didn't get much, but the robbers were quite ignorant and punched my male friend because they swore he had more. They felt up his girlfriend while searching them down as well.

It wasn't some epic deal, but it sucks.

I never have personally.

 

[one winged angel]

When you say kid, do you mean 10 year old kid or 20 year old kid. it makes a difference

i have never been robbed in my life, and i carry a ds, an ipod, a cell phone and at least 50 bucks wherever i go

 

[macle]

When you say kid, do you mean 10 year old kid or 20 year old kid. it makes a difference

i have never been robbed in my life, and i carry a ds, an ipod, a cell phone and at least 50 bucks wherever i go

TUskate said he looked around 16.

Why would you carry that much stuff around? I carry $10 max and my cell phone whenever I leave my house.

 

[GoldenRifle]

When you say kid, do you mean 10 year old kid or 20 year old kid. it makes a difference

I'm pretty sure teenagers from around 14-19.

Unless he's talking about kids like this :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jhs8hHvolM0

Anyway, I've never been robbed, but I heard a story from one of my friend that he got robbed by a guy holding a knife. Yeah, it sucks.

 

[one winged angel]

if he was sixteen, i would do exactly what tuskate did. i carry as much stuff around as i do, because everyone around me is to big of an idiot to try and rob me, so i dont fear that it will happen. i have even had around 200 and everything else on me and told everyone, still no one robbed me.

 

[StrangerDanger]

Man i was almost mugged like this. people on IRC got the story but when i stayed at a beach home in Virginia Beach for a week, i was walking home from the 7/11 at 2am and a guy pulled a knife on me.

I was RIGHT at the stoop of my step and the guy was like 10 ft away from me, so i told him my dad was the lawyer in the poster to the left of me and that if he wanted this to blow up larger then it had to and spend time in jail he should go ahead and do it

obv without giving him time to think i went inside and deadbolted the door. The guy had a sweatsuit, stunner shades, and nice shoes. I figure he didn't need 2.89 and a bag of cheetos.

I know that this may sound like i'm being INTERNET TOUGH GUY but i was in cold sweat and having a heart attack behind that door. What i did was probably mad reckless and if i wasn't so close to my door i'd have definitely given him my belongings.

so i guess yeah don't do what i did--you're much safer.