The one time I needed my weapon, I didn’t even have to pull it. I just put my hand on it in its holster and readied myself to draw it and the threats recognized the move and opted to leave us alone. I saw what I took to be the leader who, after sizing me up, looked over at the guy standing by my wife and he shook his head no and they walked away. They had a lookout posted in the street too. three of them and me with a little old 5 shot j frame. Real glad I didn’t have to pull it. 5 rounds isn’t enough.
Bad guys are, first and foremost, cowards. That’s why they operate in packs. And they are only interested in defenseless victims.
Right.
While acting in a civilian capacity, I have presented myself where my weapon was visible three times. I have drawn once. I have shot zero times.
...and this is from my contracted guard days.
Preparing for a self-defense scenario is impossible. The advise I was given and the advise I give is to get familiar with your weapon and practice handling your weapon. Nobody wants to be fumbling around trying to chamber a round or fumbling around trying to get a safety off or trying to undo a holster strap when seconds count.
Or women... trying to dig through a purse to find your weapon or reaching in a glove box thats locked... etc, etc.
I practice getting it out, getting it locked and loaded, and getting on target as quickly as possible. I would never know if I was upside-down on my back trying to ready my weapon or running a sprint trying to ready my weapon... I would never know.
Yes fortunately most of the time just showing the weapon is enough to diffuse the situation. Most criminals are looking for the easy target. They move on if it looks like a fight.
Mr. GG2 and I were in a situation a few months ago and we just gave the guy the stinkeye and he seemed to have ESP that it was going to be a bad outcome. He swerved off and kept walking away from us.