On 7/27/2020 at 4:37 PM, Bankc said:

That's the truth right there.  The last thing you want to do is escalate the situation.  It's best to defuse and escape if possible.  I've been in too many bad situations before, and have even had a few guns pulled on me.  What's gotten me home safe every time is being situationally aware, calm, and collected.  Never show fear.  Never show anger.  Never lose control.  Just smile, keep your tone light and friendly, talk slow and do your best to be helpful.  Try to be the guy's friend and help him with his problem.  Try to stand to the side of them instead of in front of them.  Don't let anyone stand behind you, but don't make it seem obvious that you're trying to position yourself.  Mirror what they say so that they understand that you understand.  Don't freak out that they have a gun.  Ignore it and concentrate on their problem and how you can help resolve it.  Fear and anger have a way of spreading, just like calmness and laughter.  These people are usually mentally unstable or high on drugs.  In either situation, it's just as easy to make things worse as it is to make things better.  They can turn on a dime.  And it can go either direction.  Guide them so that it goes in the right direction. 

 

I make it home safe because I don't panic and don't escalate.  It's a bad move to try to draw a gun on someone who already has their gun trained on you.  Once you've lost the draw, the last thing you want to do is make it a "fair fight" for them. 

 

I agree, it's important not to exhibit any fear or anger.

As they say, it's better to look like the mugger, rather than the victim.

In other words, carry yourself with confidence, like a troublemaker, not like the ‘path-of-the-least-resistance’.

 
On this night, I was exiting a nightspot called “Snookies”, in a dangerous section of Newark, NJ.
As I left the club, I noticed 4 guys milling around my Jeep Cherokee. No problem, I’ve dealt with this same scenario several times. As usual, I twirled my key-chain around my index finger, so they knew I was the owner of the vehicle, and they would disperse. I had already dismissed them from my mind and was thinking of other things, but that proved to be a mistake. 

 

As I was inserting the key in my car door, I suddenly got the eerie feeling that I was surrounded. When I lifted my head to see over my car roof, a masked man was pointing a gun at my head; with his arm resting on the roof of my Jeep. I asked calmly: “What's going on?”. With equal serenity, the masked guy said: “We're going to shoot you”. Oddly, that gave me a sense of relief. All he had to do was crook his trigger finger, but instead he was wasting time talking to me. Thankfully I was right. After a brief silence I asked: “What do you want?”. The gunman replied: “We Want Your Wallet”. With no further ado,

I replied: “You’ve got it”. As I reached behind my back to fetch my wallet, a little guy behind me batted my hand to the side.

I should've known better, because it looked like I was reaching for a handgun, though I was not.

I was very fortunate, because after absconding with my wallet, they melted away on foot over the railroad tracks.
 
I’ve often mentally revisited that 4 to 1 firearm confrontation. Knowing the pigheaded kid that I was,

I can't help but think; if I was packing a firearm that night, Snookies may have been my Waterloo.   

 

Roger

 

 

 

To the guys saying they may carry in the near future. You don't decide when you will need a gun to protect yourself. The criminals do. Need to be a step ahead of them . Wait till you need one and it will be to late. This is why I carry every second I am awake and am never a full arm's length away from one while I sleep 

Good post Rolo. I agree it's always good to trust your instincts. I fish with a 73 yr old friend named Mike. Mike got shot up in Vietnam, and walks with a slight limp, otherwise he's a tough old guy. We had finished fishing by noon one Saturday, when a truck pulled up in the lot, and two younger guys got out and quickly dumped 2 bags of garbage in front of the dumpster- not in it. I was getting the boat ready for the ride home, when I heard Mike say" pick it up", you guys know better". Things got tense for a minute, then they picked up the trash and threw it in the dumpster. On the ride home I said" Mike, what would have happened had those guys pulled out a gun on you"? He shrugged and said" well, I guess I would have picked up the trash instead". I don't think anything scares this old hard nosed guy, but he made a bad move there. It's far better to avoid a confrontation, and let it go. I keep a close circle of friends, all of whom I've known for years, and all of whom are trustworthy to the end. As much as I hate to admit it, I can size up a guy pretty quickly, by his attitude, the way he acts etc. If he's not someone I would choose to fish with, or hang around with, he won't be part of my circle. That's just how it is these days, sad but true.

29 minutes ago, Mobasser said:

Good post Rolo. I agree it's always good to trust your instincts. I fish with a 73 yr old friend named Mike. Mike got shot up in Vietnam, and walks with a slight limp, otherwise he's a tough old guy. We had finished fishing by noon one Saturday, when a truck pulled up in the lot, and two younger guys got out and quickly dumped 2 bags of garbage in front of the dumpster- not in it. I was getting the boat ready for the ride home, when I heard Mike say" pick it up", you guys know better". Things got tense for a minute, then they picked up the trash and threw it in the dumpster. On the ride home I said" Mike, what would have happened had those guys pulled out a gun on you"? He shrugged and said" well, I guess I would have picked up the trash instead". I don't think anything scares this old hard nosed guy, but he made a bad move there. It's far better to avoid a confrontation, and let it go. I keep a close circle of friends, all of whom I've known for years, and all of whom are trustworthy to the end. As much as I hate to admit it, I can size up a guy pretty quickly, by his attitude, the way he acts etc. If he's not someone I would choose to fish with, or hang around with, he won't be part of my circle. That's just how it is these days, sad but true.

 

You keep good company  

 

 

On 7/27/2020 at 12:49 PM, garroyo130 said:

This guy did the right thing ... he clickbaited a bunch of people into thinking this was real.

 

Rest assured if you try to draw like that odds are youll wind up dead.

Its not real ? 

16 minutes ago, scaleface said:

Its not real ? 

I highly doubt it. Hes fishing on a slope and its 2 vs 1 ... the moment he reaches hes getting pushed. 

 

Real thugs are taking the camera ... its easier to pawn

The times they are a changin' and as the old saying goes, Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

I've lived and/or worked in and around Chicago for 50 years. I've been around guns for 46 of my 50 years. I was robbed at gunpoint once in my early 20's, which would have been the early 90's, at a business I managed. I've been accused of being a cop because I was in "bad" neighborhoods and have been profiled by cops because I was in neighborhoods I shouldn't have been in.

Life is different than 25 years ago. Drug addiction and mental illness is more rampant and gets ignored. State and county run institutions no longer exist for the mentally ill and the drugs are more potent, and easier to get a hold of. I will refrain from commenting on policing because of current events, but those of you who grew up "back in my day" know that policing was conducted differently.    

I currently live in Crook County IL, 20 minutes west of Chicago and under the same gun restrictions. I cannot legally enter a Crook County forest preserve with a sidearm. I take my grandson fishing in a county immediately south of me which I can legally enter with a sidearm. My home water is in Lake County which is just north of Crook County and I launch my boat at the American Legion ramp which shares the parking lot with the Lake County Police Marine unit. I'm just too old for the bullspit and being disabled for 8 years now has really brought some light on what I cannot physically do. My son jokes with me because my tolerance for bullspit gets lower every year. On occasion I may or may not get in heated discussions with idiots on the lake who tend to be drunk, ignorant, or both. My son tells me to chill out because he doesn't want to have to defend me. LOL Now I sound like a grumpy old man and that couldn't be further from the truth. My dad is the grumpy old man I aspire to be.

True story. A couple years ago dad and I were bluegill fishing in front of some guys dock. Old guy started with his grandkids swim there and he doesn't want them to get hooks in their feet. I told him not to worry, I won't break off if I get hung up and would just motor over to dislodge the hook. He then said "you don't own property on the lake do you?" I told him no but I paid the ramp fees and if he has an issue to take it up with the ramp owner. He started yelling at me and I told him to call the police if he had a problem with me fishing in front of his dock. He then went up to his shed and started mulling around the shed walking in and out and in and out. I've been peppered with warning shots above my head on that lake before because I got too close to the duck blinds, and I didn't know if he was capable of doing anything or not. Dad hadn't said a word this entire time. We continued to fish for gills until the bite died down. We moved on. Fished about another hour until the bite shut off. On the way back in dad told me to slow down, he's going to tick in front of this guys dock where his grandchildren swim. Now, dad is currently 80 and has horrible arthritis and has difficulty standing in the boat. I have a plastic urinal in the boat because he doesn't need to be falling in the lake when relieving himself, which happens quite a bit because of his enlarged prostate. He pees in the urinal and dumps in in front of the guys dock. He's the guy I aspire to be. Like a fart. Silent but deadly. LOL

 

Geez.... thankful to live where I do... I'm never out past sunset but would have never even thought of this being an issue.