[LordTio3]

I've only ever had a couple of incidents (thanks to God for that) in my years. 2 were misunderstandings about proper procedure for maintenance workers letting themselves into my apartment when I'm not home which got me strict compliance and a written apology... the second time.

The only other time I had to use my CCW weapon against a BG in self defense was to deter two individuals from robbing me outside of a drive-thru ATM at a gas station. The entire situation is burried somewhere here, but the basic situation was that two individuals who knew that I had just gotten money from the nearby ATM came at me in a Kroger Gas Station lot. I saw them coming and looked at the teller in his booth and said, "Call the Police right now." I then walked a few feet from the booth, squared up with them, cleared my cover garment and gripped my weapon. I stopped there and didn't pull. I could see all 4 hands under the lights of the station. I made menacing eye contact and said very seriously,
"Stop right there. The police are on their way... If I were you, I'd be running right now."

They stopped when I told them to. So I stopped my draw. If they had come any closer, they would have had a pair of sights trained on them. But they didn't, so they didn't. If one had pulled a weapon, so would I. If one had come at me with a weapon, a small cohort of my weapon would be coming at them; quite quickly. But like most criminals, they were also cowards when their victimology proved faulty. They exchanged a thoughtful look between them and took off running.

This ended exactly like it should have. And my unlock codes served me very well. See a threat - prepare yourself. See an armed threat - arm yourself. Witness an eminent attack - produce an eminent attack.

And what is more, no one ever saw my weapon; I could have been bluffing my hind end off. But HAVING my weapon on me gave me the confidence and knowledge to face two possibly armed individuals without hesitation. Just as 90% of defense encounters are solved by simply brandishing, I believe that many more are prevented altogether by how criminals perceive the behavior of those individuals that have the capacity to defend themselves. They are looking for defenseless, so they naturally pass up quiet confidence and implied strength for weak and insecure every day of the week.

~LT