A rhetorical question:
"Where does it say, or implied that a person who is licenced in this state to carry a firearm for lawful self-defensive purposes, has the duty or obligation to intervene in a situation like this?"
Now with that being said, let me quantify that previous statement...
Yes, every moral citizen should feel obligated to step in and be at the very least a visual clue to another person that their activity(ies) are a little over the top and unreasonable...I have no real problem (not that I am an authority to dictate policy, but I tend to interject an opinion that irritates some, but expands others thought processes) with that action taken on that evening...
But, just because you have a gun, and the sober faculties to reasonably determine if force, or deadly force, is immediately necessary to stop a threat to you or another person...This is CHL 101...Do you have to wait to see (reasonably determine) if others who are not in control of their faculties will escalate???
In this case most would know that this is going to get out of hand in due time...Once I see, in my opinion, that there are minors in a group that are consuming alcohol, whether I am right or wrong in that determination, a call would have been made to some authoritative body, and that would have been that...
The underlying issue I see is the lack of parental responsibility and counsel of those parents of the kids going out and doing this, regardless if the ages are 18-19 for some, and minors of the others...
They would have never known who would have made that call that evening, they can assume all they want after the fact...I would not accept paying for a camping spot to go fishing, and put up with the crap going on nearby, just to be near a bunch of idiot underage kids drinking themselves into oblivion...
By eventually standing up and walking over towards the kids, to make sure you are seen, is escalating, as evident by one of them telling the poster to take a flying leap (basically), this is another thing that is a CHL 101 no-no...
But to keep it fair, the incident eventually was taken care of by lawful authority...And we should give Mike_G26 kudos for it turning out that way...That was a hard decision to make sir! And you did ok...
The most powerful tool anyone of us has is that grey matter between the ears, and the next tool is that phone (cell)...The least important, in this situation, was what you have holstered on your hip...
I hope I am not considered to harsh, or just a plain pain on this, but just because you have something, most others do not, and should not know about, hanging off your belt...Should not give you any reason to step in and physically intervene in cases like this...
Shooting a drunken kid who happened to notice you scowling at them because of their debauchery will not do anything but screw your life up in the end...
Just my opinion based upon what was said in the original post...I'm not trying to be mean, uncaring or preachy, but it is just the way I analyzed this situation...
We are expotentially smarter than this, and being clever, without any desire to be noticed in this world because we are, is way more satisfying, than dragging our knuckles on the ground because we know we have the ability to end most bad situations very decisively...That is the way to go though the rest of our lives, and encouraging others to do so similarly is a way to make real change in this state and our country...
//off the soapbox//
