And you LIVE or WORK in a city?
Are you a leftist or were you asleep for the past 20 years? (could be same thing)
Never ever leave yourself without a way out. Even if it means going over people.
I was at the Zoo today with eight kids, two in strollers. I know the National Zoo pretty well.
The flash mob "fights" went down right in front of me. About ten minutes before it happened, the vibe, which had been very peaceful, started to activate my Brooklyn spidey sense and we decided to leave. The music from the stage had just changed from Gospel to hip hop, and all of a sudden every thug in the pace was on a cell phone. We had to walk up a long incline to the car, and there are escape routes to the left in three places.
When the mob appeared (it happened like lightning), I saw that construction had cut my way out. We plastered up against a refreshment stand, sheltered the little ones with big kids and women, with me in front.
They came close, but not close enough to touch. The whole thing took about 60 seconds before the sirens.
I didn't see any weapons, but there were about 15 scary guys slapping and hitting bystanders.
Before I came down here, I checked the CCW situation (I'm licensed at home), and of course there is no CCW in DC.
This was clearly a situation that I would have had a weapon drawn if I had one.
Abidjan in DC, on a sunny day, in a flash. Never again.