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And I completely disagree with you. MY many experiences with bums and possible muggers sizing me up says different. I have yet to see a bum or beggar respond to kind gentle requests. Typically it encourages negotiations while they size you up. Not every bum or beggar hangs around for a second or third "get away". Matter of fact...most move along rather quickly with a simple go away...I can't help you or an I'm not interested in what ever your offering. The ones who persist are the very ones you better worry about.

My technique no more encourages an escalation than a woman encourages rape for wearing sexy cloths. If a BG has bad intentions, being a kinder gentler guy is not going to change his mind. Being unapproachable serves to keep the distance at a level I can deal with. I won't be kind and polite while I allow them to walk up on me.

I am not sure how some of you fellers think you can determine the level of the threat when approached aggressively by a stranger in a parking lot. I have been approached by bums all over the country and I can say that I am quite mean and nasty at them. How dare they think they have some kind of right to approach me or my family begging for anything. Personally, I have nothing but contempt for a person who is healthy enough to hang around parking lots begging but not healthy enough to get a job at the grocery store bagging groceries. They are dangerous in my opinion. They are about one step away from just stealing what they want.

I have issued every conceivable threat known to these blights on the community. My first words are always..."Get Away From Me". They have about a tenth of a second to start moving the other direction before I begin to move aggressively at them. The next warning is always more aggressive than the first and usually includes one or more of the following... "or I will beat the tar out of you", "or I will break your neck", or "I will run over you with my truck", "or I will knock you out with this (insert what ever I am holding that can knock a person out), "or you won't have to worry about eating anymore". Admittedly, I have never said "or I will shoot you in the face"...LOL...I love this one and may use it myself one day, but the single most relevant reason I never say "or I will shoot you" is because I like my gun defense to be a surprise and don't want to let them know I have it until I say "stop or I will reload".

I am kidding around just a little here, just a little cause I have said some of these things when approached in public by strangers, but I feel bums and vagabonds deserve to be treated like rodents. These folks are typically desperate and this makes them somewhat dangerous. You folks that say the poster was wrong to get aggressive may very well find yourselves at an extreme disadvantage in a mugging some day. Many muggings start out as an approach asking for cigarettes, food, quarters, change...what ever. Why allow them to get close enough to do damage? This risk may be OK for you. For me......I will continue to get mid-evil on any stranger approaching me in public.

You want to do something Christian? Tell them to get a job. Rewarding the bum behavior only encourages it to continue.