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Daugherty16 · November 23, 2009, 01:51 PM

JROD: Can't fault you for your generosity, but some of us who've lived longer and seen more have become jaded

. I've lived in LA and SF, and work in NYC now. Bumming is a way of life for a lot of folks, some of whom have reduced it to fine performance art. So for those reasons, i made the personal decision to just say no. I give plenty each year, but structured the way i want it, not the way some bum wants it.

The other thing is the potential set-up for a robbery/mugging or worse. Your anntena obviously went up, and you wisely (instinctively or from Situational Awareness?) created distance. Pax's point about the gas pump (tempered of course, by the FM's words of experience) is a good one. No need to feel sheepish, she often presents thoughts or observations a lot of us would have missed.

But you said you had a shotgun in the car. I presume it was unloaded, as is the law most everywhere, and possibly cased. If so, other than visual deterrence and having a large club in your hands (not necessarily bad things), what would it have gotten you? Wasn't it in the back, behind a locked door? Could you have gotten to it and loaded it quickly enough, with your back presumably to the BG while you were halfway in the car and bent over to reach the back seat, to have been of use if the BG were armed or just determined? Jumping in and locking the one unlocked door may have been a better and faster option - why fight if getting away is so much easier?

Anyhow, it went down ok and it's just a theoretical exercise now - exactly what this forum is for. I know i've learned a lot over the years since i found TFL. The question is, what would you do differently today?

November 23, 2009, 01:51 PM	#36
Daugherty16 Senior Member Join Date: July 10, 2008 Location: Live Free or Die state Posts: 259	A couple questions... JROD: Can't fault you for your generosity, but some of us who've lived longer and seen more have become jaded . I've lived in LA and SF, and work in NYC now. Bumming is a way of life for a lot of folks, some of whom have reduced it to fine performance art. So for those reasons, i made the personal decision to just say no. I give plenty each year, but structured the way i want it, not the way some bum wants it. The other thing is the potential set-up for a robbery/mugging or worse. Your anntena obviously went up, and you wisely (instinctively or from Situational Awareness?) created distance. Pax's point about the gas pump (tempered of course, by the FM's words of experience) is a good one. No need to feel sheepish, she often presents thoughts or observations a lot of us would have missed. But you said you had a shotgun in the car. I presume it was unloaded, as is the law most everywhere, and possibly cased. If so, other than visual deterrence and having a large club in your hands (not necessarily bad things), what would it have gotten you? Wasn't it in the back, behind a locked door? Could you have gotten to it and loaded it quickly enough, with your back presumably to the BG while you were halfway in the car and bent over to reach the back seat, to have been of use if the BG were armed or just determined? Jumping in and locking the one unlocked door may have been a better and faster option - why fight if getting away is so much easier? Anyhow, it went down ok and it's just a theoretical exercise now - exactly what this forum is for. I know i've learned a lot over the years since i found TFL. The question is, what would you do differently today? __________________ "To my mind it is wholly irresponsible to go into the world incapable of preventing violence, injury, crime, and death. How feeble is the mindset to accept defenselessness... How pathetic." - - Ted Nugent "Cogito, Ergo Armitum Sum" - (I Think, Therefore I Am Armed)- - anon.