How to avoid being a "fight target"?

[BeerSleeper]

Find a bigger, tougher, meaner looking guy. Befriend him, take him to the bar with you, and sit by him. If you're gonna swim in sharky waters, bring a slower swimmer with you.

[TXGunNut]

I'm a bit large, probably a bit bigger than the OP. In my early LEO days I was amazed by the number of times drunks picked fights with me on duty, sometimes off. I never took it personally, quite often enjoyed it, sometimes even had a good visit in the book-in room afterwards. As I got older I took longer to heal from the rougher fights and learned to avoid them. Dunno what it was, just learned to smile and somehow convey that I'd be happy to kick their backside and they wouldn't enjoy it. I used to enjoy going to bars but saw too many problems inside and in the parking lots outside to enjoy them much any more. When I do go, I don't drink whether I carry or not. I do the social thing, enjoy my club soda or ginger ale and go home early. Not many bars carry a decent single malt anyway.

[SVO]

I understand the OP predictament. Always seems like either one of the smallest guy or the largest guy in the bar wants to take you on. And all you are doing is minding your own business, having a drink or two with a friend. I think that there are just some type of people you just can't avoid.

[jmortimer]

Like someone's mom said "Nothing good happens after 10 pm" and especially so at a bar. Alcohol is a truth serum - it will bring out what ever is on the inside. This thread seems to stand for the proposition that if you are really big that is the end of the story. It helps,as they say in basketball, that you can't teach height and you can't teach big but a well trained boxer at 175 pounds would have no trouble with a 275 pound former football player. These days even if you are a runt you can still shoot - Colt made us all equal. I figure that if you have a family you have no business in a bar - sports bar or otherwise - but to each his own. You never know who you are dealing with. I met a guy who was building a (big) house and he had on a long sleeve shirt and looked tall (6' 4") but not gigantic or even mean. Later I learned that he was a 4th degree black belt and was, at one time the Sgt. at Arms for a Hell's Angels chapter. Next time I saw him in a T-shirt I saw "the" tatoo and that there are few people on the earth who would want to get upside down with him to say the least. Even if you somehow got the best of him which I doubt, I'm sure he still has a few "friends."

[Stevie-Ray]

I had a problem similar to the OP's many years ago. I'm 6'4" and 255 and it seemed a lot of big guys wanted to "test" me. As I've said before, I wrestled most of my life and have been weightlifting many years. It was usually easy to dodge or block a punch thrown at me and hoist the offender over the nearest pool table. Always looked far worse than it was, but it was usually enough to end the confrontation. Naturally, I'd get out ASAP. It became tougher to weed out what was simply "interest" and what was genuine threat when my wife became handicapped and I became dangerously protective of her. I decided this was my problem, and quit going into bars; didn't care how good the food was. We've only recently started going back into a few bars, and these are generally local microbrews that have incredible food. They also are generally known for having little or no trouble. I've never carried into a bar, as it's illegal in my state, and I make sure that I know whether or not there's a chance I'll have that beer at Applebees or wherever, and in that case the weapons get locked up before we go. The advice to simply stay out of bars is good. It's what I had to do.

[cubesmoothie]

Ramslammer, its probably drunk folks trying to pick fights with you. Tell them something, that would make them look like idiots if they tried to fight with you. Something like, "I am not a good fighter" or "I just want to eat my pizza".

This takes away the incentive of a trouble hunting drunk. They will have no pride to gain from commencing a fight with you.

[ursavus.elemensis]

This site is about responsible ownership of guns, and the moderators (and forum members) are all ready to pounce on anyone who ever suggests that using your brain is actually OK when it comes to carrying a gun and drinking a beer. That's a real shame, because all that is accomplished by shutting down the discussion with admonishments that "guns and alcohol don't mix...period" and the like is to abdicate the opportunity to have an intelligent discussion and provide true discourse and meaningful guidance. In other words, letting the dogma fly just means you do not have anything thoughtful to say.

With that as an introduction, I do personally think that if you are going to carry a gun, you absolutely HAVE to have the capacity for logical thought and to make important decisions. And, if you drink beer, you still have a God-given, and constitutional RIGHT to not be killed by a mugger on your way back to the car. So, I will not join the chorus that wants to pretend that somehow bad guys do not target people who are leaving bars at 2 AM. If you drink, and you are going to drive a motor vehicle legally, you have to maintain a certain level of minimum sobriety. And, I submit that if you are doing that, it is not only impractical to say that someone should not carry a gun if going to a bar, but it is precisely the time that you should carry a gun. Why do people think that you need to carry a gun, ever, and yet at the same time think that you should not carry a gun when you go out to dinner or out to have a beer or two with your friends? Either you need (and have a right) to be able to defend yourself or you don't. That need and right do not disappear because you are drinking a beer. In Pennsylvania, there is no law that says you can not carry a gun when going to a bar. I believe that Virginia just repealed their silly no-guns-in-bars law.

But, as with any detail of carrying a gun, you need to be the model of responsibility and not be a drunk fool if you going to operate a car, or if you are carrying a gun. But senseless, mindless dogma about alcohol and guns not mixing is just silly talk from people who can't accept the concept of using your brain. You should not be a drunk fool, but not because someone may make you look even more foolish in court. You should not be a drunk fool because it makes it hard for you to avoid the kind of situations that compromise your security. THAT is why you neeed to use your head, drink in moderation, maintain sobriety, and exercise your right to defend yourself. So, in summary, I think it is useless to advise people not to carry guns if they go to a bar.

[LafeHubert]

I'm not as big as some who have posted (6'1" 230#) but have been approached by others with intent to start a fight in bars, but have never been in a bar fight. When accosted, I back pedal, apologise for any insult (real or imagined), and un-access the area as quickly as possible. Flight is a perfectly acceptable response to physical threat. I simply refuse to fight, and do what ever is necessary to escape. When a thug confronts me, I sit my drink down, and without uttering a word, picks my money up off the bar, and turn and walks out of the bar. Doing this makes a fight is pretty hard to get going. I have been called a coward, and every scatological variation of that verb, but as country singer Bobby Bare sang in the song, "The Winner", "My eyes still see, my ears still work, and my teeth are still in my mouth. So you know, that makes me, THE WINNER!".

I no longer go to bars, as I seldom drink, and I have a tendency to drink at home, or at the home of friends where I can stay the night if I drink too much, as I will not endanger others by driving under the influence.

Don't go to rowdy bars, don't drink to excess, when challenged refuse to participate and leave.

Good Luck

[TenRing]

You make good points but the fact remains that most people do not live in PA or VA and many states do not allow carry into liquor establishments. I think people were just acknowledging this.

[brucey44]

Well I would either change the places that you frequent or just stay home. I would definitely leave the gun with the wife.
Hey the good thing here is your a big dude. If you were little and couldn't handle yourself that would be a different story.
Just avoid the confrontations, the idiots will move on to someone else.

[Stevie-Ray]

You make good points but the fact remains that most people do not live in PA or VA and many states do not allow carry into liquor establishments. I think people were just acknowledging this.

I don't know about everybody, but I was for sure. Michigan allows .08 BAC for driving and absolute zero for carrying a gun. I believe this to be total nonsense and think that if you can drive legally you can carry a gun legally. Unfortunately, my state has yet to accept this, so I simply obey the law. It does NOT stop me from defending myself on my own property, and I don't really care what people think about that, but that's another thread.

[Elvishead]

Must be a southern small pp thing

Without reading all that has been said, just about nobody has ever messed with me.

I guess it's your personality or body English, and trust me I have pushed the ends of the envelopes, a lot.

TBS, I hate those Duss baggs.

I'm 6'1 210-240lbs on a good day!

[grey sky]

I have a friend who says he is always a target. I have been with him many times and don't see it although he will say latter that someone was sizing him up. I pointed out I didn't see it and he says "Well, your not someone to triffle with." I don't see that either but it seems to work.

[grymster2007]

Well, I run around 250 lbs...... but I'm short enough that the drunks look right over the top of my head and pick a fight with you taller guys.

Actually, in my younger days I participated in a lot of street/bar fights and I'd have to say I was looking for more than half of those, but there were certainly many instances of people attacking me without obvious provocation. I just kinda have that "look" I guess.

[retiredcoasty]

txgunnut wrote: Not many bars carry a decent single malt anyway.

Amen brother! Amen!!

[Uncle Ben]

I'm curious as to what the legal recorse could be from firing a gun within city limits, when not used for self defense or any legitimate reason (other than "I didn't mean to")...

I never have had a ND, but I can imagine a VERY upset wife...and perhaps very upset neighbors. Especially if neighbors were anti-gun, I could see them trying to pursue something to get your guns taken away.

[markj]

Tell them something, that would make them look like idiots if they tried to fight with you. Something like, "I am not a good fighter" or "I just want to eat my pizza".

I was a bouncer, broke up many a fight. One guy tho made me crack up to the point all I could do is laff as everyone else was including the guy that wanted to kick his rear. He said, "I tend to cry easy and bleed a lot, if you can handle that then lets go". no fight that night.

Wish I had a nickel for every drunk that thought he was a bad azz that I threw out.

[Peptobismol9]

I usually dont worry about it. Were almost identical. Im 6'2 and 270 pounds. (last Time I checked). I wind up in fights here and there because someone feels they have to prove something. Not in sports bars, just High school.
The best thing to do is, try to walk away, announce loud and clearly that you dont want to fight and that they should leave you alone. They will 99% of the time ignore this and swing immediatley. Dont throw the first punch if you dont want to go to jail. End of story.

[JohnH1963]

Uh-oh, this sounds like a formula to getting arrested. Once you are involved in a fight, then the police will come and someone might be taken away. The police have to write a report which may then become searchable by way of Google on the internet.

The best advice is that as soon as you see any signs of trouble to immediately distance yourself. Walk to the other side of the room or better yet leave the bar and go home.

Getting arrested may not be as bad as having your name searchable on Google or the local paper might even do a piece on it..."Police break up fight at local bar..." Dealing with the police in these matters and risking arrest is simply not worth it. As soon as I saw it coming, then I would walk away. If you do not go home, then simply walk out to your car...sit in it for 15 minutes and come back. Use that time to de-escalate the situation.

[Blue Grass]

This thread makes me glad I quit drinking 20 years ago.I don't miss the booze or the boozers.

[mygila]

I just tell them I don't fight fair. I tell them I use bricks ,rocks, bats , sticks, & if they win I hunt them down later with my shotgun. Now that you know my rules, lets go outside. Haven't been outside since 1956. And that only lasted one punch as I hit him coming out the door.Mygila

[nefprotector]

A bar is a bar is a bar. Sports bars serve alcohol too. Whixh brings out the Azz hole in people.

ps
I too tend to attract trouble makers. I stay home more often now,

[FreakGasolineFight]

I'm 6'1 and about 240 and I've never had anyone pick a fight with me in a bar. Maybe I just don't go to the 'fun places'.

EDIT: Scratch that, one guy kind of did, but I more of picked the fight with him because he was being stupid and unruly towards a random girl who was there. So he didn't really instigate the fight.

[BlackFeather]

I wouldn't post that here, people are bound to charge in with ropes and torches. Saw a pitch fork once.

[FireForged]

Probably not a whole lot you can do since picking on a little guy isnt going to gain anyone "street" credit. You are a big fellow and that wont change, so the only way I could see this not happening so much is to stay away from places that contain troublemakers.