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"Going to guns", or employing a potentially lethal force option, isn't lawful in social circumstances. An argument is a social encounter. The case you present appears to be a social encounter start to end, and the actor in your C-Store encounter very definitely fits the "thug" moniker you applied in my mind and while this behavior may be typical in thug to thug interactions, it is incredibly risky, provocative and unsafe. If an argument escalates to displays of force (pushing, shoving, etc..., particularly involving a disparity of force) or suddenly devolves into an asocial encounter, it MAY become lawful to meet the situation with a lethal force option. Failing the reasonableness test (would a third party potential juror find the act of employing lethal force reasonable under the circumstances), this sort of behavior is UNACCEPTABLE in general society as well as being ILLEGAL.

I am glad you and your girlfriend are OK, and the lessons of experience were not overly severe. If faced with similar circumstances, the lack of options must have been very frustrating. I'd like to think that I would have been on the horn with the local police as soon as possible afterwards, relaying all the information I could remember. As Abraham points out, this sort of behavior needs to be met with consequences.