I am not looking to jump in the fight, I am looking to get out of there any way I can. I DO NOT want to creep over to the fight to see if I can add myself into it if they were already doing just fine killing each other without me.
I like that answer. Gang bangers and scumbags thinning their own herds would be a good example of this.
Obviously if a child were in danger, it seems any moral man or woman would act to protect them if it could be accomplished without further innocents getting hurt/killed or if your family wasn't exposed to greater danger. It may seem callous to say, but honestly...my first concern will always be my child and my wife first and foremost. My job is to protect them first. Period. No matter what else may be happening, they are the ones who I am going to shield from danger. The fact remains, even in a so-called active shooter scenario, unless you were there for the beginning, you really wouldn't "know" who was who in the zoo. Lord help you if you act, and shoot the wrong person. It is sure a trick bag you won't want to crawl into.
No longer having the authority or mandate to get myself involved in someone else's fracas simplifies things for me. I got called out once in a discussion after I said that if a store were being robbed and I was there, I would simply get to the safest place possible and wait it out. I was accused of being cowardly, not worthy of the badge I wore, blah blah blah. The fact remains, the merchandise in the store is not my concern...other than the safety of my family and myself. Granted if the subject were clearly going to start hurting people, then I would HAVE to act if doing so would promote a positive outcome and MY family were not placed at greater risk...but if all indicators were that all the subject wanted was money and merchandise...have at it and be about your business. "You want a soda with that?"
It can also be argued that violent actions in robberies is on the increase...yes, this is true. It is more likely now that what once would have been a simple "stickup" will end in violence. All that is true, but it doesn't mitigate the fact that YOU or I are not sheepdogs, no matter how much some may want to be one. There are folks out there who wear a badge, dress a lot alike, and are paid to act on behalf of the public, maybe not as protectors of the individual, but you get my drift. They are paid to be the sheepdog. I was a paid sheepdog, now I am like the old lab on the porch. Sure I'll jump on a wolf's butt if I have to, but I am not out looking for the wolf in someone else's pasture.
The bag guy will "probably" be easy to recognize, but then again maybe not. Are you willing to risk your future and the future of your family to be wrong? I have a sneaking suspicion that the bag guy isn't going to be wearing a mask, striped shirt, and a stocking cap most of the time.