You are going to your cabin in the woods. Upon arriving in your car you get out and there is a man at the front of your cabin. You get out and ask if you can help him and he pulls a gun on you. What would you do? Your car is 5 feet behind you. He is 10 yards away from you. No cover but, your car. Your family is in the car.
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Get in the car and go. Call 911, Avoid, Escape, Defend.
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I would try to run towards my car for cover while attempting to draw my weapon and if the person takes a shot hope to God that he misses. Yell at someone in the vehicle to get down and call 911. While all this is happening you may be in a firefight with this individual, a difficult situation to be in. But you would be justified in using deadly physical force.
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Since Iām not already dead Iām guessing heās not ready to shoot. While slowly backing up I smile , say Iām sorry weāre lost, will leave you alone, I hope I make it inside the car and can leave. My wife would have already armed herself. We leave call LE and let the proās deal with it. Iām not reaching for my weapon, unless no other option is there. Iāve no illusion that Iām at a huge disadvantage since he already has his weapon pointed at me.
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I took a class that used a similar situation to explain why they have you move and draw at the same time. I donāt have the science to back it up but a buddy and I tried this theory with airsoft guns and it held up.(the instructor said it holds up in the shoothouse.)
If youāve trained enough you could take one big side step while drawing at the same time and make a good hit before the bad guy has time to process that youāve moved. You have interrupted his OODA loop (decision making process) and for a moment in time taking back the advantage.
Your personal level of training is going to heavily dictate what you can or should do in this scenario.
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Iām not positive, but I think the math says about 2/10 of a second to go from see it, process it, and to trigger pull.
Absolutely, getting off of the X is many times better than having your boots glued, but you better practice a whole bunch if your plan is to beat a drawn gun from concealment. This isnāt to say you are wrong, but rather to stress the importance of practice since the other options tend to leave you āpursuedā with your family sitting in a car that WILL NOT stop bullets.
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You first have to realize that you are in a lose/lose situation. He has pulled his gun and you are in the open. All you have is surprise of your reaction, the perp has one thing in mind causing harm to you. His state of mind is on attack. Your state of mind is defend.
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Mistake no. 1: Getting out of the car.
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Skipping the fact that getting out from the car seeing the stranger is not a good move (as @BeanCounter mentioned)ā¦
making perpendicular steps while drawing is what Iāve been taught.
@Sheepdog556 
ā¦easy to writeā¦ hard to executeā¦ 
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How a person reacts to a situation depends on experience. One can only speculate how you would react. Each situation brings different reactions. How are you mentally at this time? Are you happy go lucky? Are you in a bad mood because of any bad row of incidents that you have been dealt?
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Iāve never had access to ālaserā training, where you actually setup such scenario, but Iāve trained this on defensive classes.
However shooting stationary paper target is not the same as shooting armed person, knowing your Family is at the line of fireā¦
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In this particular region, people arenāt nearly as nice regarding trespassers. You either belong, or you donāt. If you donāt, there had better be a good reason as to why youāre there. Iāve only lived in this state for a few years, and I know better.
That being said, where my cabin is located thereās only one way in and one way out for a vehicle, and one trail to enter by foot. Any other way, they would have been busting heavy brush or traversing some fairly serious terrain.
I would not have had a viable option for a hasty retreat, it would have been assumed they are up to no good from the moment I saw them, and would have already had my sidearm drawn prior to exiting my vehicle.
If they needed help, or had a legitimate reason for being thereā¦it would be sorted out in short order, and weād help them with whatever they need, otherwise they move along.
In this scenario, they already had the drop on me. They have the advantage. Either Iām going to comply and wait for my opportunity, or move to some sort of cover other than my vehicle (in hopes to keep his attention on me vs. my family), draw my sidearm and go to work and hope it works out in my favor.
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Number one on my list is getting my family out of there without a scratch. Get back in the car and leave the area. Let the police deal with the trespasser being very clear with them that he is armed. I would also consider the very real possibility that the trespasser is not alone and think about how to clear the area before bringing family back to the cabin.
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So this aint when you fall to the ground an curl up in a fetal position and start yelling for mommy
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Truthfully Iād try an move me from line of sight off my family an since already out of the car approach him slowly an try to defuse the situation an hope i can slowly position myself ware i can draw if need be. Thereās no right or wrong answer here cause weāre not knowing why he is here in 1st place. Could be many reasons why he felt the need to display his firearm.
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That is plan āBā 
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First instinct is to move laterally away from the car as my family is in the car and draw while moving. The guy hasnāt said anything so I have to go on the assumption that heās hostile and going to shoot. Moving laterally means heāll have to adjust his aim which means Iām less likely to get hit and draws his aim off my family and car. Even if I donāt make it, it buys time for my wife to get her gun into play.
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Well you said cabin in the woods. And because my family is in the car, I have to direct his attention away from the car. Iām always carrying. I would run the direction fastest way from line to the vehicle. Get behind a tree. By this point if he has plans on shooting he would have already. Hopefully reloading by this point. Either way Iām returning fire and because my wife is a smart woman I know she would take off to safety and call 911.
Her and I have talked about situations like this ( we have a cabin on a lake that has had some break inās) and she knows to get the kids to safety and call the cops.
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The gun was not drawn until you exited the car as stated in the scenario. Maybe the man was lost, possibility he was in trouble thatās why the question ā how can I help you.ā Why would exiting your car be a mistake?
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Even though criminals are not known for their marksmanship, 10 yards is not that far. I can hit the target relatively fast at 20 yards and not have even 1 bullet hit outside the target. Iād have prepared my family in advance (over time) to get down if a situation with a criminal ever occurs. Hopefully, the car is facing the criminal which means the engine would be between the criminal and my family. The engine is the only part of a car that can stop bullets.
It was well tested that no other parts can stop bullets that well. If he doesnāt start shooting right away Iād start walking back (facing him with my hands half up) saying that I donāt want any trouble and that I can leave right away. Always waiting for an opportunity or moment of distraction to draw my gun of course. If you can leave, itās better to do so and call the cops from somewhere else.
If he starts running at me itās obvious whatās going to happen so Iāll just take my chances and draw anyway. As far as you can get from the criminal to shoot the better. If you practice, have mental stability, and is not too emotional youāre at an advantage against the criminal.
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