Scenario: goon invades your personal space.

1) My Jeep has remote keyless entry so I doubt that that while alone in a mall parking lot I'd be standing there "fumbling with my keys". I will admit that on rare occasions my keys may get caught up in the lint in my pockets. However I've already figured it out before arriving at my vehicle.

2) When and if a person calls me out in the street I usually ignore them by force of habit on the first call if they're not calling me by name. They would have to be a little more persistent to "get my attention" even though I'm already aware of them.

3) In a situation like this (if this guy is/or has begun approaching me). a)Because I ignored him I would've just continued my business of leaving. Then he has to either give up or quicken his pace. If he chooses the latter we make direct eye contact. I determine whether its a threatening glare or a person with a plea. Either way the reply is [firmly - and with a look of "No Compromise"]: "Sorry, I can't help you". Its a conversation stopper. Saying, "How may I help you?" allows this guy to close in a little more as he begins talking. Peripheral vision would be keeping watch while I opened the door to the Jeep and picked up the pepper spray if he continues to approach me (I never get this far). There would've been no way to just hop in and drive away because of the locks that are on my Jeep.

4) Also, by this time at some point I would have prayed that I don't have to get into a situation wher I have to hurt someone or end up getting hurt (most likely this would've been after the initial call and before the eye contact).

5)I probably wouldn't have been at a mall by myself. Thats not my kind of place. I don't carry a gun so that feeling at 4 o'clock business is something I wouldn't experience. Basically most times when an attacker feels he's going to have more trouble than he bargained for, he may feel less inclined. Thus, giving you the edge since (hopefully) you've made a resolve to yourself that you're not going to be a victim of some senseless BG's impulse.
 
My apologies to Ateam and nbk200 anyone else that I offended.......I'm very new to posting on this forum ........


I guess I thought he was being serious....and I took offense to his joking about such a serious thing........

But the bottom line is,,,,my comments were out of line and I again apologize for them.....


Be aware and be safe ..............
 
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Kmb, I do believe that AteaM was being sarcastic. ( and damn funny by the way). There are no rules here against sarcasm, but there are rules against calling people names.

On a serious note. My keychain is a Spyderco Delica. I keep it clipped to my pants pocket. The keys are attached by a quick release buckle if I just want the knife. Good way to hold on to you keys. And a handy defensive knife should you need it.

Perhaps this isn't a situation that most of us would get ourselves into. (agree, I would try to make distance) But I thought of one that I don't like, but I have to do just about every day. Buckling your child into a car seat. It forces me to turn my back and stick my head into the vehicle while I fumble around with a squirming 2 year old. Not fun, and somebody could close on you pretty quickly while you are doing this.

We had another TFLer who had a thug get into his "personal space" while he was vacumming out his van. The incident ended with a groin kicked thug.

So maybe this scenario doesn't really apply to us a 100% but I do think it has some merit to examine how we should react if we are taken by surprise. I try to always be in condition yellow. But any of us can be taken by surprise. It would be really easy to look up from something and have a thug within 5 yards. How we react is up to us.
 
A curious little incident to follow up with.

On that bright and sunny day that I most recently presented myself at the range for my CCW proficiency test (mandatory for CHL applicants and holders in Texas), I was getting out of my car just as the trainer---a retired army commander with 20 years in the service---was stepping out of the adjacent building for a smoke.

Now it should be noted here that he didn't know me; nor had he seen me at this point, although I did notice him sweep the peripherals with a quick glance as he came through the door.

He reached into his pockets. And it was at this moment, as he was lighting up---weak hand holding the cigarette to his mouth, strong hand holding one of those old Zippo lighters---that all at once I called out to him: "Sir!"

I was less than five yards away, having suddenly emerged full stature on the opposite side of my Chevy.

For whatever reason---possibly the glare coming off the windshields of nearby cars, including my own---he was taken by surprise. What's more: when he saw me, he instantly froze, staring at me with that aquiline gaze of one who knows that this could be it; the day he had trained for; the encounter with the unexpected. But he didn't move. How could he?

One could have cut the tension with a knife in the second or two that followed.

His acknowledgement then came with a controlled, but visibly concerned nodding of the head. He later revealed to me that he carried an STI Eagle cocked and locked under his dark blue Smith & Alexander (or maybe it was a Bratari); and I am absolutely sure to this day that under "normal" conditions, he, with his training and experience, could have sliced me, diced me, and folded each of the tiny pieces four ways before I could have said squat or diddly, if I was a perp. But what got to me was that he could have been an easy target for me then and there, if I were the other guy, what with the glare in his eyes, stuff burning in his hands, and mine nowhere to be reckoned.

I wonder, every time I think about it, what might have happened if someone had had a bone to pick with the commander that day. A sober reminder that, for all of our preparation and awareness, there is always a little blind spot in the manifold of our worldy existence.


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kmb3576:

nbk2000(I think was the user name),get a handgun, a permit to carry and some training, and that goes for the rest of you that dont understand the proper use of lethal force.
Click to expand...

Sorry if my reply doesn't meet your narrow definition of what a proper response to this scenario should be. I guess if I had said "Unload a magazine of .44 magnum to CNS, reload, and repeat as needed", then that'd get your approval?

Please read some of my prior postings (likethis topic thread ) before painting me with the broad brush of being "ignorant" about the proper use of lethal force and CCW.

I could, if needed, quite easily crush a skull with the cast-iron body of an extinguisher while the attacker is blinded and gagging, so lethal force is still available to me.

Not every weapon has to be a gun.
 
I'd say the white powder substance would play a significant role in the investigation if you were to shoot the BG. Of course you wouldn't be thinking of that at the time, but it is interesting. And I am amazed at how many people said it was none of their business. If there is a white powder substance on the ground of a mall parking lot(great teenage hangout place) and it appears to be drugs, it is your business..

As far as answering the question.. I would reach for my cell phone way before my gun, unless of course he threatened my life.. Like everything else, this is different for each person, I run a 4.3 40 and could run circles around the fastest 300 pounder in the world.. So I would simply grab my phone and keep my distance..
 
well since he is a big guy i can assume he can't run that fast. so i show him some of my gun and warn him to back off. he doesn't so i run far away from my car and get my car key ready. when he is close enough to me and far from my car i immediately run back to my car. with my car key already in hand i immediately open the door, get inside and lock all the doors. then i start the engine and take off then make a u-turn facing the bad guy. then i play chicken with him. i would not run him over per say, i would try to run over his foot (both of them). see no bullets wasted.
 
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