And the first one to threaten by or use any kind of force is the one in the wrong.
Sounds like he got away with one, having followed and "verbally confronted" (threatened?) the other guy.
It’s a little like the old “wild west” of old TV shows: Taunt the farmer to pull a gun on you and then shoot him dead “in self defense”.
But in this case, I think the hot dog vendor did not really mean to “set the guy up”. Rather, the guy made the mistake of bringing a baseball bat to a gun fight and took the first swing. I doubt the vendor expected more to happen then cross words.
There’s a great youtube “crash compilation” video where a guy stops in front of the car with the dash cam, opens his trunk, pulls out a big stick, and approaches the car angrily. Suddenly he stops, drops the stick, raises his hands, and backs back toward his car as the driver of the car with the dash cam comes into view properly holding, with two hands, a pistol aimed right at the guy.
I am a very, um, assertive driver. I’ve had a lot of guys want to rage with me, but I ignore them. However, if one gets REALLY bent on confrontation, well, this is why I started carrying in my car a week ago. It’s in the door panel.
Us old guys can be dangerous to the young and stupid.