The Mind is the Weapon...

Handbag-Swinging Granny Foils Robbery

(CBS) In Northampton, England, a gang of robbers trying to smash a jewelry store window Monday was surprised by a Good Samaritan, said to be -- in her 70s.

She rushed up to them without hesitation and started swinging at them with her handbag.

There's video here. Take a watch - this little old lady sent a half dozen thugs packing with naught but her purse. She comes running in out of nowhere and just starts whomping on these yobs, with not a single person lifting a finger to help her. Maybe it's the sheep mindset - don't dare do anything to upset the wolves. Maybe it's the fear of retaliation from a government that "discourages self help". For a myriad of reasons known only to themselves, bystanders stood around and watched the events unfold - right up until the thugs ran like the cowards they are when facing opposition.

Mindset is key. I'd rather face a sheep with a rifle than a wolf - or sheepdog - with a baseball bat. That one old lady with her handbag defeated a crowd of hooligans - because she was willing and able to deliver violence to those who desperately need it. She's obviously a survivor of WWII - she's most likely seen real thuggery up close and personal - and that mentality, it seems, is dying with her contemporaries. The thought of facing down a single goblin - let alone a gang - is as alien to the modern Brit as the concept of algebra to an amoeba.

There's a lesson here for those of us that carry firearms for self-defense. The bestest, fanciest, shootin'est, highest capacity blaster is no better than a dull rock if you can't bring yourself to use it. There's no way to train for that, though; you can't pay someone to randomly accost you on the street to see what your reaction will be. Dave Grossman, in "On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society" (thanks Heath!) talks about man's inherent unwillingness to kill his fellow man - the high number of rounds fired per soldier killed being one indicator of this. There's simply no way to know if, when the time demands it, you'll be able to effect violence - potentially life - ending violence - on your fellow man.

"It's a hell of a thing, killing a man. Take away all he's got and all he's ever gonna have."

Even the thug kicking down your front door with a stolen Glock in his hand, he's got something you're going to take away when you pull that trigger. That's something we all have to face - if you carry a gun or simply have one in your home for self defense - will you be able to use it when you need it most? One of the reasons we train is to lessen the innate aversion to killing; to make one's motions so automatic that we react without thinking; that we turn a voluntary action into an involuntary response. Do the same thing over and over again until you can do it in your sleep and you're a lot more likely to do it that same way when the situation demands it.

But that split-second... the instant you realize that once you pull that trigger there's no going back, no do-over, no mulligan... Well, some folks - a lot of folks - stop right there. There's no shame in it; there's no cowardice in wavering over the taking of a life. Right up until the point where they start actively trying to kill you or yours, there's that tiniest shred of doubt - that voice in the back of your head that wonders, "do I really have to kill this person?" There's no way to know how you'll react at that instant; there's no class you can take, or training procedure you can follow.

You just have to hope that when it comes down to you or him, your hesitation is less than his.

That is all.