# Would you beg for your life if you were held at gunpoint? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 12, 2021, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-beg-for-your-life-if-you-were-held-at-gunpoint/944088 "2021-06-12T02:36:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2021, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-beg-for-your-life-if-you-were-held-at-gunpoint/944088/21 "2021-06-12T16:59:34Z")
I would like to think that I would be Joe-cool about the whole think but IRL I would probably win an award for best groveller. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2021, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-beg-for-your-life-if-you-were-held-at-gunpoint/944088/22 "2021-06-12T17:18:58Z")
They might pass out from the stench of the load I’d drop in my pants. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-beg-for-your-life-if-you-were-held-at-gunpoint/944088/23 "2021-06-13T01:32:27Z")
Not voting, because I don’t know. And I don’t believe anybody knows unless they’ve actually been in the situation. (And I’m not sure they’d know then about what they’d do if it happened again. I think you’d be an at least slightly different person afterwards; and the different person might react differently.) ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-beg-for-your-life-if-you-were-held-at-gunpoint/944088/24 "2021-06-13T02:16:16Z")
I didn’t vote. _I don’t know_ how I’d react in such a scenario as nothing in my life has come close, but I know I’d be in shock from such an unpleasant surprise, so may not act rationally. Coldly going over the details now, I can say I’m not afraid to die, but I am afraid of torture, so I’d like to think I’d tell him to get fucked, attempt to fight him, whatever. But in the moment, who can say, perhaps I would both beg and soil myself. ETA: I see I got ninjad ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-beg-for-your-life-if-you-were-held-at-gunpoint/944088/25 "2021-06-13T02:53:58Z")
_“Shoot strait, you Bastards! Don’t make a mess of it!”_ ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-beg-for-your-life-if-you-were-held-at-gunpoint/944088/26 "2021-06-13T03:42:25Z")
I’d like to think that I would resist from being moved to a remote location, and if I was unsuccessful and then threatened remotely, I would act is such a way that would keep me alive. I have no problem intellectually with begging for my life if I thought it would help. The hypothetical thug has already demonstrated that he’s an inferior being from his behavior. I can’t predict whether I would suffer from PTSD afterwards. Also I’m a male, so there’s a set of issues I don’t have to deal with. Speaking generally, self defense is a matter of doing things that take the perp off of his agenda, and begging is far from the top on the chain of constructive responses. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-beg-for-your-life-if-you-were-held-at-gunpoint/944088/27 "2021-06-13T03:49:25Z")
> [@Mundane\_Super\_Hero](#): > > I “forgive” myself now of course. The real underlying emotions were how deeply humiliating it was that some low-class drunk \< can’t say wrong forum\> could hold my life in the balance with a little two pound gun. I’m glad to hear you were able to forgive yourself for doing what you had to do to stay alive. And I’m glad you’re here now to tell the story. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-beg-for-your-life-if-you-were-held-at-gunpoint/944088/28 "2021-06-13T03:57:33Z")
> [@Mundane\_Super\_Hero](#): > > The real underlying emotions were how deeply humiliating it was that some low-class drunk \< can’t say wrong forum\> could hold my life in the balance with a little two pound gun. There’s nothing to be humiliated about. You were being threatened with the most lethal handheld weapon ever invented. Nobody would think you a coward if you were being menaced by a chainsaw or huge battle ax, and a firearm is deadlier than either. ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-beg-for-your-life-if-you-were-held-at-gunpoint/944088/29 "2021-06-13T04:31:08Z")
I have no way to know. I’d like to think I’d act logically and with dignity, fighting when necessary, complying when it would likely end with being released, even pleading if there was a chance the gunman would let me go, but we don’t REALLY know how we’d act unless we’ve been in that situation. Ever read about horrific acts of mass murder in times of war or genocide? One horrible scenario that seems to occur over and over involves groups of people being led to a trench and made to kneel down, only to be shot in the back of the head and fall into it. A similar event happened here in my town, where a night shift crew at a fast food place was executed by robbers in the cooler after closing. Most of these people had to have known what was coming, but they were afraid or in shock, unable to act. Maybe they didn’t fight back because by complying, they’d gain a few extra seconds of life. I’m not to proud to beg if I thought it would help. I would probably plead in any scenario - I guess a drowning man will grasp at anything in hopes of saving himself. When I was healthy, I could have fought back effectively, and I like to think I’d go down fighting, at least getting some of the gunman’s blood or hair, or forcing them to seek medical attention. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-beg-for-your-life-if-you-were-held-at-gunpoint/944088/30 "2021-06-13T04:41:39Z")
I would guess this has psychologically a lot to do with whether it is a single gunman or multiple gunmen. With a single gunman, you might be able to rush him. With multiple ones, if you take down one, his buddies will just come over and put bullets into you, thus making no difference in outcome. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-beg-for-your-life-if-you-were-held-at-gunpoint/944088/31 "2021-06-13T04:46:35Z")
That, and also the victims do not have a hive mind. If you could somehow coordinate a plan you might all rush the shooter or scatter in different directions. But as an individual, any resistance could likely mean being killed immediately, or being savagely beaten. So at every moment to the grave there may not have seemed a good chance to do anything. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-beg-for-your-life-if-you-were-held-at-gunpoint/944088/32 "2021-06-13T05:50:07Z")
Who is Breaker Morant and Bryan Brown? (BTW, really nice guy. I interacted with him on the set of Tai Pan a couple a times in China, and he was just a really nice ordinary bloke)/ Who knows. But some sick fucks get off on the begging and that would help end up dead. I did 5 years of Kenpo. Any chance to strike and I would take it somewhere along the line. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-beg-for-your-life-if-you-were-held-at-gunpoint/944088/33 "2021-06-13T11:00:31Z")
I did not beg when I had a strait razor to my throat. I talked they guy down, made him a sandwich and called the cops on him. When I had a gun pointed at me I saw him pull back the slide and jam the pistol. I then threw some loose ones on the ground and ran the other way, got into my car and heard him scream as I almost backed over him as I made my get away. When I was actually stabbed near my heart I fought off my attacker, ran away to call the cops and saw her arrested before I passed out from blood lost. So no, I don’t beg. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2021, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-beg-for-your-life-if-you-were-held-at-gunpoint/944088/34 "2021-06-13T12:59:22Z")
Potentially illuminating read on this subject: > **[Kiritsis and Me: Enduring 63 Hours at Gunpoint: Dick Hall, Lisa Hendrickson:...](https://www.amazon.com/Kiritsis-Me-Enduring-Hours-Gunpoint/dp/1945306513)** > > Kiritsis and Me: Enduring 63 Hours at Gunpoint \[Dick Hall, Lisa Hendrickson\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. Kiritsis and Me: Enduring 63 Hours at Gunpoint ---
**Author:** ![Brayne\_Ded](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Brayne\_Ded](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brayne_Ded)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2021, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-beg-for-your-life-if-you-were-held-at-gunpoint/944088/35 "2021-06-14T11:42:43Z")
What I have heard is that it is a mistake to beg for your life, it gives the gunman a sense that he has total power over you and could use it. The question here is, what does the gunman want from you? If it is money, stay cool, avoid eye contact and give him the money. If he is a nutjob who might be a spree killer, then the only thing to do is to rush him and hope to divert the gun before he shoots, reckoning that your chances are not good but doing nothing would be worse. I just hope that it never happens to me. ---
**Author:** ![deeram1399](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@deeram1399](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deeram1399)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2023, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-beg-for-your-life-if-you-were-held-at-gunpoint/944088/36 "2023-07-31T13:32:15Z")
What if they hear you but pretend they do not [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-beg-for-your-life-if-you-were-held-at-gunpoint/944088.md?page=1)