Gas Station Tactics: It’s Not Hard to Stay Safe While Filling Up…As Long as Your Brain is Engaged

This is yet another article that I’ve had rolling around in my noggin for some time now and recent events at a gas station in Orland Park, Illinois were enough to get me to take a few photographs and put words to paper.

For those who haven’t been keeping up, Orland Park is a part of Chicagoland where citizens can’t expect to be safe from rampant thuggery, even at 9 a.m. An armed citizen who had the required Illinois permission slip to exercise one of his constitutional rights, was just trying to pay too much for gasoline when an aforementioned thug approached and produced a weapon.

Realizing that Ability, Opportunity and Intent were all present, the good guy appropriately drew a gun and shot the bad guy. The thug, upon receiving the incoming gunfire, rapidly retreated but, sadly, he continues to steal oxygen from the rest of us. 

While it might be easy to just applaud the guy and say, “Good job,” there are some lessons to be learned from this incident and we’d be remiss not to consider those here. And you know how much I hate to be remiss. 

Surveillance Cameras Don’t Stop Crime

This particular armed robbery took place in broad daylight, in public, at a business with multiple surveillance cameras. Are we to believe that even a dumb thug, in 2026, was unaware of the existence of surveillance cameras? (Pro tip: there is no such animal as a ‘security camera’ because cameras don’t provide security.)

Robberies, assaults, and even murders take place in full view of surveillance cameras every day. The rampant lie that a 24/7 Big Brother surveillance is going to reduce crime is the most ridiculous and insulting of lies. 

The lesson here is that being in public, where there are numerous potential witnesses, as well as surveillance cameras, even in the daytime, isn’t a guarantee of safety. We still encounter people who don’t carry their guns because they “don’t go to bad neighborhoods or stay out late at night.” Was the citizen pumping gas “in a stupid place, with stupid people, doing stupid things?” Well, he was in Illinois, so that’s one strike.

Awareness

Our lone civilian armed responder (LCAR) gets a gold star because he had his head up and was paying attention to the world around him. Well, I’ll give him two gold stars. The second one was for actually carrying his gun. 

I can’t begin to calculate the number of times I’ve witnessed both men and women get out of their cars, insert the pump nozzle into the gas port and then pull out their phones and look down. Women seem to have a tendency to return to the driver’s seat, sit down and scroll TikTok or whatever, until they hear the pump handle click. Either way, these people have zero situational awareness and a thug could walk right up and catch them by surprise.

Take three minutes away from your phone and pay attention to the task at hand. 

One of the most fundamental forms of situational awareness is to actually look around and pay attention to what’s going on while you’re pulling up to the pump. Once you have parked, STOP and look around before you step out.

One of the tactics thugs like to use is springing on drivers as they’re stepping out, unaware. This process literally takes less than ten seconds. Look out of the windshield, check all three mirrors, and then turn your head to look in the direction you’ll be exiting the car or truck. If someone looks hinky or your spidey sense starts to tingle, start the vehicle and pull away. You are under no obligation to remain there.

If you see a vaguely humanoid creature leaning against the side of the gas station building or just milling around without purpose, one of two things is going to happen. They’re either a vagrant who’s going to hit you up for some money and potentially stab you if you don’t cough some up, or they’re going to rob you.

Normal humans don’t just mill around gas stations (other than in movies) or lean against the building. Everyone except vermin and criminals has a deliberate purpose at a gas station.

When was the last time you went to a gas station and decided to just hang out lean against the wall for a while? Oh, that’s right, it was never. Around 98.7 percent of the homeless are drug addicted with mild to severe mental issues and 99 percent of them carry knives or other stabby things. 

When it comes to panhandlers and vagrants, I don’t want them in my personal space and the moment they begin their approach, my left hand goes out to give the universal palm open stop sign and I loudly verbalize, “No thank you!” If they then don’t stop approaching and attempt to get into your personal space, you have about one second to respond defensively. No innocent or harmless person is going to keep trying to approach you if you do both of those things. 

Gas Station Tactics

Naturally, situational awareness is a tactic, but that can’t always guarantee safety. The coast may have been clear when you parked at the pump, but it may have changed midway though the filling process. There are a couple of deliberate and easy-to-accomplish tactics you can employ during the gas pumping process.

First, I park by the pump in such a way that the hose creates a physical barrier for anyone who would try to approach from the rear of the vehicle. I’m on the other side. No, a hose isn’t going to stop someone with a gun, but a knife attacker needs to be able to touch you. If some creep tries to step over the gas pump hose to get close to you, that melon farmer just self-identified as an immediate threat. 

Secondly, I open the driver’s door all the way, creating another physical barrier. Sure they could push it shut, but that would require commitment on their part and again, that would be an immediate indicator of a threat.

Naturally, if your car’s gas port is on the wrong side of the car you’ll need to open the passenger side door. With the large pump apparatus also acting as a physical barrier, the vagrant or robber will be forced to maneuver their way to get at you. All that behavior negates the idea that it’s just an innocent person wanting directions to I-95.

Lastly, I always engage the auto-fill mechanism on the pump so that I can keep both hands free and put my back to the vehicle as I casually take in the world around me with my head up. That’s why I know so many people don’t pay attention to their surroundings while pumping gas. I see it all the time.

All of the aforementioned isn’t paranoia. It’s prudent, it costs you nothing and it only requires some deliberate thought and behavior on your part. At the very least, you will look like an unattractive target.

Remember, the thug doesn’t need to get you specifically. If you look like a “prickly person,” the human embodiment of a porcupine, it’s just as easy for them to wait for the next blissfully unaware victim of opportunity to arrive.       

 

Paul G. Markel is a combat decorated United States Marine veteran. He is also the founder of Student of the Gun University and has been teaching Small Arms & Tactics to military personnel, police officers, and citizens for over three decades.