Shooting Illustrated by Sheriff Jim Wilson July 8, 2019
A few years ago, I was coming out of a New Mexico restaurant after having lunch. As I stepped from the sidewalk into the parking lot, I saw a scruffy-looking guy, definitely out of place, with his hands in his coat pockets, headed straight for me. As he closed, he asked me the time.
Spotting this guy, I had immediately gone from Condition Yellow to Condition Orange, feeling that he was a potential threat. He didn’t look like the kind of guy who would really care what time it was and, as you might expect, there were clocks on the wall just inside the restaurant.
I put my left hand up, palm out, in a gesture that said “Stop.†My right hand brushed my coat back just enough so I could get my hand on my pistol. My body was slightly bladed away from him so he could not see what my right hand was doing. I said, “Go away.†And he did.
Now, quite honestly, this guy was probably just a panhandler who was looking for a handout. They will often ask some innocuous question in order to open a conversation that leads to a request for money. But, thieves and robbers use the same tactics.
Thinking back, I wonder just how many times the presence of a gun, seen or not, has stopped what could have been a criminal attack. I suspect it happens every day across this country.
More:
https://www.shootingillustrated.com/articles/2019/7/8/how-to-stop-an-attack-before-it-starts/
