aggressive panhandler (long)

[marksiwel]

Thats why I carry Mace

[gigag04]

What would you guys with CHL's do in this situation? You are walking to your car and confronted by this guy and he laid his hands on you.

Push him back, disengage and call the pros.

[gigag04]

If he surprised a CHL holder and was advancing and acting in an aggressive manner, I can see where you could make a case to the cops for pulling your weapon. Someone like that who is already acting aggressively could easily decide to pull a knife or something. The "victim" has no way of knowing with any certainty. I would feel threatened in a situation like that. I have my doubts about that particular situation justifying a shoot, but in a similar situation somewhere else, you just don't know. Someone popping out from around a corner at night is not the normal behavior of a panhandler.

Depending on what exactly constitutes acting in an aggressive manner, feeling threatened doesn't justify the threat of deadly force, despite what professional internet experts will say.

[smyrna]

Syrna, where did this take place?
I'm in DFW and have seen some pretty persistant panhandlers in my area too.
Just curious.

Longview, TX...'bout 120 miles east of you.

[smyrna]

I did notify the pharmacy girl about what was going on outside and why I was leaving and asking her to call me.

I'll be the first to admit that I probably get the "bad citizen of the year" award for not dialing 911, but I decided not to. We'd been in the ER for the better part of 8 hours, I hadn't eaten since breakfast, my wife was pretty heavily sedated, and I didn't feel like waiting for the police to arrive, give a statement, etc. Had my wife not been with me, I probably would have dialed and waited.

I'm really surprised that this guy didn't at least get a knuckle sandwich from someone. I think if someone gets close enough and put hands on you, it's time to go to to toe. There's too many things that can go wrong trying to draw a weapon while being in a pushing match with someone. And, shame on me for letting them get that close to begin with.

What was surprising was how this guy was sort of "hidden in plain sight" if that makes sense. I mean, sure he was between the vending machine and the other rack, but at least two people chose to ignore his position and walk right into his "trap". These people failed to recognize the potential threat and then found themselves at a surprised disadvantage in dealing with the guy.

[gigag04]

I didn't feel like waiting for the police to arrive, give a statement, etc.

You wouldn't need to. Just tell the dispatcher that you will be there till your Rx is ready and then you need to get your wife home, but that the guy is there acting weird.

[threoh8]

It's a good idea to keep the non-emergency number to the local police in your cell phone, just to pass on information about suspicious people and situations. 911 I can remember.

[mkosmo]

It's a good idea to keep the non-emergency number to the local police in your cell phone, just to pass on information about suspicious people and situations. 911 I can remember.

I keep the non-emergency numbers to every police department for every area I commonly frequent. It's come in handy multiple times... but Houston's -3131 non emergency number sometimes isn't available, redirecting you to call 911. My friend's car got egged (as he was driving down the road, the kids were just throwing eggs at moving cars), and we went back to call the police to handle it, we called the non-emerg, and ended up having to call 911. I'd really hate to take up a line that somebody dying could have used, but they left us no choice :(

[MojoTexas]

Back when I was single, I dated a gal for a while who was a 911 dispatcher. I got to "listen in" and observe with her one night...and it was very fascinating. I had always been hesitant to call 911 before then unless it life-or-death, but after hearing what sort of calls she handled, I am now not the least bit hesitant to call 911 if there's a suspicious person or someone doing something he shouldn't.

For instance, last year my wife and I were living in an apartment in east Plano, and I came home with my toddler son and stopped to pick up the mail. There was a heavily intoxicated guy wearing baggy pants and no shirt loitering around the mail box. He was so drunk that his pants fell down around his ankles (he was wearing boxers of course) and when I suggested he pull his pants up, he got belligerent with me. I promptly whipped out my cell phone while he stood there arguing with me and exposing himself and called 911. Plano PD showed up about 3 minutes later and took him in for Public Intoxication. I heard later that he had felony warrants, and he was evicted from the complex.

The whole time I had my son in the carseat in my truck, and I had a .357 magnum in the console (since I didn't have plastic yet), but he wasn't a big threatening guy, and since I'm 6'6" and 275 lbs, I never felt the need to retrieve my pistol from the truck. He did threaten me, but never touched me, and was so drunk that he wouldn't have been a problem if he had.

Needless to say, that incident and some others were highly instrumental in us moving into a house in McKinney shortly afterwards. :-)

[wheelgun1958]

The whole time I had my son in the carseat in my truck, and I had a .357 magnum in the console (since I didn't have plastic yet), but he wasn't a big threatening guy, and since I'm 6'6" and 275 lbs, I never felt the need to retrieve my pistol from the truck. He did threaten me, but never touched me, and was so drunk that he wouldn't have been a problem if he had.

A lot of us AREN"T 6'6" and 275 lbs and are too old for a fistfight.

[MojoTexas]

The whole time I had my son in the carseat in my truck, and I had a .357 magnum in the console (since I didn't have plastic yet), but he wasn't a big threatening guy, and since I'm 6'6" and 275 lbs, I never felt the need to retrieve my pistol from the truck. He did threaten me, but never touched me, and was so drunk that he wouldn't have been a problem if he had.

A lot of us AREN"T 6'6" and 275 lbs and are too old for a fistfight.

Well I don't think it would've necessarily been a fistfight. The guy was so intoxicated he could barely stand. I could've knocked him over with a finger to the chest had he decided to get physical with me.

[VoiceofReason]

Last weekend I had the pleasure of spending the better part of Sunday afternoon/evening in the ER with my wife who was ill with a stomach virus. She was released at about 9:00 pm and we made our way to a nearby Walgreens to have a couple of prescriptions filled, and pick up Gatorade and some chicken soup.

She was still groggy from being on meds in the ER so as I pulled into the parking lot of the Walgreens I asked her if she could walk in with me or if she would stay in the car. She indicated that she would stay in the car (which is what I thought she would say). Anticipating her response, I chose to park near the street away from the store as the Walgreens appeared unusually busy for that time of night and there were lots of cars parked in the front row near the sides of the store. I figured that with her seat reclined and the car away from the store, no one would notice that she was in there.

I got out of my car and did a quick scan of the cars near the front of the store, made mental notes on which were occupied and chose my path to the front door. As I am scanning and walking I notice a man (probably a transient) peering out in between a movie vending machine and a rack of propane bottles on the side of the building. He looked like a cat in wait of a mouse. Meanwhile a man (customer) comes out of Walgreens and heads down the side of the building and I know he can't possibly see the transient behind the vending machine. Sure enough, the customer is walking along oblivious and the transient literally jumps out and starts cursing the customer and asking for money. The customer is obviously startled and jumps back slightly and instinctively raises his hands, palms out as if in a "hold up" position. I slowed my stride to watch what happens next as a shoving match ensues. The customer literally shoves the transient to the side and makes his way to his vehicle and leaves.

I went in the pharmacy dropped the prescription off, gave the the girl my cell phone number and told her to call me when it is ready, so I could return to the car with my wife. On the way out the front door, I looked back toward the vending machine and there he is again waiting for prey. Sitting in the car waiting for the prescription to be filled, I watched this guy pop out like a jack-in-the-box catching people off guard and getting into a shoving match with most. What was more astonishing was the amount of restraint (or I suspect lack of knowing what to do) that most people exhibited. Most people stiffened and tried to keep their stride even after the guy laid hands on them.

Long story short, I made my wife go in with me to retrieve the prescriptions, Gatorade, chicken soup, etc. No way was I going to leave her out there again.

OK. I am disabled, walk with a cane, can’t run and can’t fight. I have a good idea what I would do if this guy popped out and laid a hand on me.

I would like to know what others think I should do.

[roff]

OK. I am disabled, walk with a cane, can’t run and can’t fight. I have a good idea what I would do if this guy popped out and laid a hand on me.

I would like to know what others think I should do.

Beat him with your cane.

[VoiceofReason]

OK. I am disabled, walk with a cane, can’t run and can’t fight. I have a good idea what I would do if this guy popped out and laid a hand on me.

I would like to know what others think I should do.

Beat him with your cane.

OK, I asked for that one. Now that it’s said, what would you do in my position?

I believe I would point my gun at him while trying to step away from him and tell him to “get back”. Hopefully he would wet himself and run away.

P.S. It’s not nice to make fun of a gimp.

[LarryH]

Seriously, I've read two separate items in the USCCA weekly e-newsletter about carrying/using a cane for self-defense.

In this week's edition, a member described an encounter in which he whacked the aggressor twice, once in the knee and once in the jaw (causing quite some pain). When the perp seemed about to continue the aggression, the member drew his carry gun and the aggressor changed his mind and limped away.

The detail that struck me about the other article was that the author recommended a "plain, wooden cane" rather than the "quad" type (with the four little rubber feet, unless of course that's what you need), because it would attract less attention at security checkpoints, or otherwise.