[PinnedAndRecessed]

However, there did seem to be a common tactic among the responses that advocated aggressive action. They said to drop/throw the wallet in such a way as to distract the gunman then pull your weapon and fire until the threat is removed. It would seem you a) throw your wallet on the ground away from the perp, b) when the perp takes his eyes off you to follow the wallet you c) draw and commence firing. In terms of an aggressive course of action, this was the commonest.

One poster however, gave a real life instance of someone, highly trained, who fought back and died.

Almost that exact situation happened in my city a few months ago. Wannabe young thug with a .38. The guy he was robbing was an off-duty police officer, SWAT, too. The cop pulled his Sig .40, they exchanged fire. Result - cop dead, thug took 3 rounds, but wasn't seriously injured.

Having better training and a superior weapon only gets you so far when you are at a significant tactical disadvantage. Even if the cop had been wearing a vest, he was also shot in the jaw/neck area. Nobody is Superman.

The following gentleman had a truly unique perspective.

Actually happened to me.
Its nothing like you dreamers think it will be like.
After I gave them my money and my watch the guy with the gun stepped back pointed the revolver at my chest and pulled the trigger at me anyway. The gun just went "click" and I jumped him. I was really REALLY pissed off at that.
We fought for the gun and I got it pointed at him and pulled the trigger somehow as his friends were trying to kick me to death.
They backed off when the gun went off in his right eye. They ran. He died.
Its nothing like you dream its going to be like.
I was sweating like a pig after it and it must have lasted maybe 20 seconds from the start of it all to him lying there.
There was a huge inquest and fuss and muss as I am white and he was black and there was, of course, no mention of the fact that he and his pals were robbing me at gunpoint at the time and had decided to kill me anyway.
I think I lost 20 years of my life due to fright that day.

One guy recommended Krav Maga for up close and personal work. I googled Kray Maga and it seems to be hand-to-hand training. It would not apply to our hypothetical scenario since Kray Maga is close in.

Here's someone who responded to the Kray Maga advice:

When I was taking martial arts a few years ago, we actually did some Krav Maga. VERY effective, but it takes a looonnnggg time to master and even after a few years of it I STILL wouldn't want to chance it. Gun point was the ONLY situation we were encouraged NEVER to fight with martial arts.

Unless you can somehow disarm the BG with one hand and KEEP the gun pointed away from you, while you simultaneously draw your gun, point, and pull the trigger...I would do my damndest to play a helpless, NON-THREATENING victim...probably would scream and cry to. Then when they have their guard down, you pounce (shoot). I've actually tried it before at work and it works like a charm. However, at my work the teens don't have guns, they make shanks instead.

I liked this post since it gave me a benchmark of reaction time as well as a practical experiment.

well said. For those of you that think you would shoot the mugger try a little exercise. Take an inexperienced shooter to the range and set him up with a pistol in single action mode and let him aim. Set up next to him with your best gun in your fastest holster in single action mode with targets for both at 6 feet. Tell your friend as soon as he sees you move quickly out of his periphreal vison, shoot. Your never going to win, not on your best day its not possible. Rob leatham couldn't pull this one off. Not only do you have to draw and fire from DA or safe before he fires from SA but you have to hit a "lights out" area. When police sharpshooters shoot in hostage situations it is in the rectangle with the upper corners being the eyes with the lower edge on the point of the nose. Does anybody think they can hit that with your carry gun first shot at their fastest speed? Hitting anywhere else, with the exception of some very small targets, will allow the BG to still pull the trigger. If you attempt to draw and fire you are all but insuring that the BG will fire. Personally I would calmly hand him my wallet and at least take the 50/50 of the BG just goin on his way. I don't want to kill anyone, BG or not. I don't want to live with it the rest of my life. I know one guy who did and despite the clear morality of what he did, its still tough on him. I don't have the time or money to fight the legal battle to follow either. The only situations I could imagine trying to outdraw a drawn gun is: A. my family is present and the guy isn't happy with just taking the wallet, I would rather get shot than have him shoot one of my family members or worse. B. the guy is pressing the gun up against my head and wasn't happy with just the wallet. Assuming I had the presence of mind and was in the right position the combination of moving your head out of the line of fire and use your offhand further move the gun away. Then either go for your gun or knee punch etc. Again its a slim chance but with the gun pressed against your head it is possible to move clear of the line of fire before the trigger is pulled.

Some useful suggestions:

No way to answer from the internet. Get an airsoft and a sparring buddy and go to work on this yourself. You might find that stuff that is supposed to work doesn't, and stuff you didn't think you could do you can. Get some training to deal with this sort of scenario.

The best I can do is work on clearing my pistol from my cover garment and shooting as (accurately) fast as I can at an IPSC target 5-21 ft. The auto-pilot is what I can't work on other than trying to maintain a mindset.

Lessons I've learned.
My CCW setup is all wrong. I've got too many rigs/prospective rigs. If I carry a J frame revolver in a pocket holster on Monday, a 1911 with thumb break holster on Tuesday, and a Glock 17 in a cross draw on Wednesday, then when I get held up on Thursday, I'm not going to know what I've got or where I've got it. I need to select one appropriate rig and stick with it.

I've got to get a phony wallet, put some documents in it, a little cash, fake cards, etc. If I'm held up, throw him the fake. If he takes his eyes off me, draw and fire. If he keeps me in his field of vision, I guess I just gave him a used wallet with a few bucks.

Keep training scenarios to a minimum. Keep it as simple as possible so there's less to remember.

Am I forgetting anything?