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XDSConcealer wrote:First, let me start off by saying I haven't had my CHL long (almost 1 month) but the things I learned in my classes, research and topics on this site really made me think about the following situation differently than I would have perhaps 5 years ago.

Last night I was driving home from the airport having dropped off family that was in town visiting. It was about 8pm so not too late. I was driving into my suburb community and in a rush I followed a truck a little too close to make a turn before a string of cars would have required me to stop for a while. Stupid I know but I think we can honestly say that we've all been there when we want to just get home.

At any rate, the truck in front of me abruptly stops and pulls over. At first I thought it was someone not familiar with the area and just pulled over to let traffic go by. He was going about 10 mph under the speed limit so I honestly thought this was the case. I went by and he immediately peeled out and got right on my bumper. Had I applied the brakes, he would have been inside my car as I have a sports car and the truck he had was a F250 with a 6 inch lift and huge tires. He followed me turn for turn as I didn't want to go home and risk showing this lunatic where me and my family lives. He must had followed me all over the community for almost 10 minutes and it was clear that he wanted a confrontation. Now in my youth I probably would have stopped the car, and gotten into something but I'm almost 40 and I had no idea who was in the truck, how many people there might have been, were they armed themselves? Who knew, and I wasn't going to put myself in that situation.

After driving around for almost 10 minutes and not seeing any of the Constables that patrol my neighborhood (never around when you need them) I pulled over and hoped they would just drive by and scream obscenities and give me a few hand gestures. Unfortunately, they stopped as well, got out of their car and came screaming up at my window. It was clear he had been drinking so now I knew the kind of mentality I was dealing with. Without getting out of the car or opening the window I apologized for upsetting him and just allowed him to scream at me and call me every nasty insult in the book. When he was far enough back that I wouldn't run over anything I took off quickly, made a few evasive turns and went home.

I did get his license number and gave it to the Constables as a FYI for them in case anything else happened that evening. They asked if I wanted to press charges for the threats and I indicated I didn't because I just didn't want to escalate and make a big deal of the incident. The Constable asked me if I feared for my life (as part of the report I did indicate I had a CHL) and I told him I wasn't going to let the situation get to the point that I felt I needed to pull my weapon. We got into a brief discussion that he appreciated the approach I took and said that if there is a next time I should call 911. I thought about it but I just didn't think to grab my phone while I was driving around trying to get this guy to stop following me.

I wanted to share this story as a way to illustrate to the new CHL's out there (myself included) that it's better to let the other person feel like they won the battle and are the bigger person then escalate things to the point that I make a life altering decision. To be honest, for a brief moment when I saw the guy get out of his truck, I had my hand on my gun. I did fear for my safety. I probably shouldn't have stopped but I didn't get the sense that he was ever going to stop chasing me around. He needed to puff out his chest and feel like a tough guy and I let him. I have played this whole situation over and over again in my head and thought of all the things I should have and should not have done. You never know what you're going to do once you get into a situation but one thing was clear during this entire event, I wanted to make sure I got out of it safely and not having to unholster my gun. I was successful on both counts so I would say the training, classes and self education worked. We have a greater responsibility to try and defuse hostile situations. Like I stated before, 5 years ago I probably would have escalated this because I would want to save face. I didn't like being called some of the things he said to me but again I had the greater responsibility to make sure this situation didn't get out of hand.

The stressful time of year is upon us and tempers will run short. Remind yourselves of the greater responsibility we have as CHL holders and stay safe.

God Bless my friends and get out and vote!