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KD5NRH wrote:

The Annoyed Man wrote:I don't want any trouble. I just want to get to where I'm going, so I avoid replying and interacting with you and I just keep walking. You pull a gun on me. I don't want to escalate the situation

Seems a bit late for not escalating at that point. IMO, when the "defender" draws, it's a bit late to hope for a nonviolent end to the situation; your only warning that it's going to escalate further (to you getting shot) will be if you're observant enough to watch his finger taking up slack on the trigger.

I was postulating a non-violent and innocent silent stranger. If I, the silent stranger, draw my gun in response to someone who already has drop on me, which might certainly be a legitimate response, it will also most certainly degenerate to a blood bath, with me being on the receiving end of it - since the other fellow already has his gun out and can certainly shoot me before I can draw mine. That sounds to me like an escalation - albeit not the kind of escalation we usually refer to.

Obviously, the best tactic would be to avoid walking down the street toward a couple that had a suspicious vibe about them in the first place. From 'John's' perspective, what did he do to put distance between himself and a suspicious stranger? We covered some of this stuff in the Shooting from Retention clinic at the forum day last month.

radioflyer wrote:Perhaps I shold have clarified: The hands wern't in pockets....rather inside the flaps of the jacket opening....the location where some carry a shoulder rig.

I sometimes use a shoulder rig. I actually wore it today. Not to criticize your friend, but picture this: I'm walking down the street, minding my own business, with my gun in a shoulder holster under my trench coat. I see you and a woman by a car, and there's something suspicious about your vibe, so I reach inside my coat and get a hand on my gun, but I don't draw. As I get closer, you start shouting commands at me. I don't want any trouble. I just want to get to where I'm going, so I avoid replying and interacting with you and I just keep walking. You pull a gun on me. I don't want to escalate the situation by opening my mouth, or drawing my own gun, so I just keep walking, and hoping that you don't back shoot me after I pass. When I get safely around the next corner, I stop to throw up as waves of adrenaline wash through my system.

This encounter might have been nothing more than that, and the silent stranger went home and changed his underwear, still wondering what might have stumbled onto that would make the "bad guy" pull a gun on him. Were they trying to steal that car? Who knows?