Posted on 08/21/2005 6:02:36 AM PDT by CholeraJoe
"Never, ever leave home without it." No, not your American Express card, your sidearm.
This morning, I woke up about 4:15 and was hungry, so I decided to drive to the local 24-hour beanery. The only other customers were a table of 10, intoxicated 20-somethings making alot of noise.
There were 7 muscular young men and three loud-mouthed young women. After listening to their raucous laughter for 10 minutes, I politely asked the waitress to ask them to hold down the noise. All I wanted to do was eat my breakfast in relative peace.
Her request for quiet lasted about 45 seconds, then the noise and laughter resumed. At that point, I decided to do something.
Bear in mind that I am not an imposing figure. I'm 5'9", mid 50's, and slim. I walked over to the table, and walked completely around it twice. I said, "I'd like y'all to hold down the noise for a while, please." One of the young men started to give me trash-talk but within seconds was elbowed by the guy next to him, who whispered something in his ear. Then everyone at the table said, "Yes, sir, or OK."
What made the difference? Open carry. I was wearing a 9mm semi-auto on my right hip. I never touched it and I made no threats, but it was nevertheless visible.
What drivel....I have no idea where you live but you would definitely be in danger in many areas of this country....especially when you attempt to control the uncontrollable crowd....There are folks that would slit your throat and order another hamburger and put it on your credit card while you bleed.....
All this over "eggs" and "quiet," right? I understand "manners," but I don't think you taught these young people anything other than someone can be as big a jerk as they want if they are packing.
If your son or daughter had come home and told you about some grumpy geezer with a sidearm pacing around their table at 4:30 in the morning, I have a feeling you'd feel quite different about it.
You were out of line.
The rank-in-file Million Mom types imagine that CJ's attitude is the attitude of the average gun owner (the MM leaders are the fascist control freaks). I was wondering if his post was written by someone who wants to ban guns and the person was hoping there would be a lot of approving "let's whack all the rude kids and minorities" responses that would have been used as examples of how typical gun owners are dangerous, etc. Actually, I'm hoping the entire story was made up. I would rather avoid a bad situation than respond in the wrong way and just be lucky that I didn't make things worse. CJ seems to think he was so clever when the truth is he just lucked out.
I was thinking of the drunk the same way you are, and imagining him dead over someone's breakfast not being quiet enough. A little more premptive deescalation in the world, sort of like defensive driving, could save a lot of lives.
Agree!
I think I said that you owe it to yourself to use commons sense! If you don't act like you owe common sense to yourself you will probably owe lawyers a lot of $ for the rest of your life.
I've been to many countries worse than this.
And, I'd make sure that I'm NOT in a situation where I would get my throat slit before I opened my mouth. I spent 23 years in the army, I know how to handle situations quite well, and have been in many a brawl.
As another poster said, I'm not that stupid to walk into a place armed where nobody would walk into unarmed, I'd avoid it completely.
Can't you people take the law into your own hands? I mean, we can't be policing the entire city!
Criminals that are good at their trade.....know how to exploit every advantage.... One doesn't always have the 6th sense of which you must possess.....
Good for you...you will never be a victum of crime....Now if only you could teach the rest of us idiots.....
I strongly support right-to-carry laws for all 50 states; but I'm not sure if I'm impressed with this story.
Amen. Common sense is the best weapon there is. Oh, I think my 1911 is a fine weapon but it is no substitute for common sense in the first place. I think I have a good fire extinguisher, too, but I don't go around playing with matches.
LOL! Mmmmm, doughnuts! (in a Homer Simpson voice)
Your opinions noted....
", the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed". Pretty straight forward is it not? Unfortunately this right has already been infringed on quite a bit by unenforceable laws. Our founders understood that certain human activities can not be curtailed by laws so they wisely put those activities beyond the touch of the laws so that we can enjoy our freedoms. However want-a-be tyrants are constantly striving to do away with those freedoms so that they can impose their will on all of us.
It reminds me of an old friend of mine who used to have a concealed carry permit and would often "accidentally" let people catch glimpses of it in public. It gave him a power trip. The power trip ended when he developed a crush on a liberal slut from his work, and he sold his guns to a pawn shop to impress her.
So, what do you do, sit at home and cower with fear?
You give the criminal element far too much credit.
It doesn't require super powers to avoid situations which may land you in trouble.
Do you want to avoid bar fights? Avoid bars. Avoid trashy bars, they are the worst. If the front door is all bashed in, blood on the sidewalk in front, screened windows, it's probably not a good idea to walk in there unless you are with a good group you have confidence in. Even then, your looking for trouble, and you will find it if you go in.
See? That's easy. I guess I'm more experienced in life than you, I know these things.
What? Was you goin' to a tea party, or is you one of them fancy boys?
;o>
Huh? What's the right to bear arms clause have to do with this?
I carry, I bear arms, but I don't use them to intimidate people. They are for hunting and self defence.
Well I know when I've been licked...all over...
Still, my point is...one can be the victim of crime when one least expects it. Since you are so experienced, this will never happen to you....but then if..... you are as experienced as you say, you know better.
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