How would you have handled this? Educate, or walk away?

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I had a very similar situation happen about a month back. I was in a convenience store around 10:30 PM and noticed a tall man walking down the center isle wearing a hoodie and ski mask. About the time I discreetly put my hand on my pistol he removed the mask and I realized that he was a store employee who was stocking the walk-in cooler.
 
Don't over think this... do what you feel necessary when your alarms go off -but be ready to stand down when you see your fears were un-founded.

Never, ever... try to caution strangers you see doing something that could easily be mis-construed. Most folks go through their lives without the slightest thought of the things that self defense classes/training can alert you to. Wish I had a nickel for every time a sudden alert on my part was found to be un-necessary. It's the time I don't alert (when I should have) that worries me and I'm a retired cop who dealt with serious stuff for years before I was finally able to leave that world. My only hope is that the experience I gained in bad places late at night never leaves me (and my prayer is that those old skills are never needed...).
 
I don't think there is anything for you to educate them on. Walking around someone on a trail is a perfectly normal thing to do. The most of all I would have done in that situation is probably just angle my body slightly so that I can see all them, and even that would have been subconscious. The other hikers just didn't do anything wrong. You were about to head up the trail, they were just coming down. By the very nature of it, they had to have been behind you at some point. I think that's the bottom line. They didn't do anything wrong, abnormal, or threatening at all.

Furthermore I think telling them "that's a good way to get a gun pulled on you" could very easily have made them feel threatened. And they would have been right to think so. I gotta say, I think the OP was firmly on the side of paranoia in this case.
 
Back to my story,

I had a very similar situation happen about a month back. I was in a convenience store around 10:30 PM and noticed a tall man walking down the center isle wearing a hoodie and ski mask. About the time I discreetly put my hand on my pistol he removed the mask and I realized that he was a store employee who was stocking the walk-in cooler.
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Being that I sort of knew the guy I decided to handle it sarcastically and said: "For a second there I did not know it was you in behind that mask." He laughed and I then asked him would he wear that mask into a bank? He said: "No, somebody might think I was a robber" I then asked, "Where do robberies happen more, in banks or late at night in convenience stores?" I think he got the point but I never mentioned that I was armed.
 
When someone walks up close behind you like that on a construction site unnoticed, we usually turn around and say, "You obviously haven't spent much time in prison... walking up on a man like that! Good way to get your head busted open"

We are generally an outspoken bunch on the jobsite...
 
I can't think of a single situation where I would ever tell a total stranger that I might pull a gun on them or bust their head open. Those are just not things civilized people tell other people. If someone is overtly threatening you, you deal with the threat. But if they are just doing something you don't like or it makes you uncomfortable, you don't start talking to them about hurting or shooting them. Seriously, who does that? To actually tell someone you might commit aggravated assault or assault and battery.... because they're standing behind you. Really?
 
Who said we were civilized?

We are rude, crude, lewd, and socially unacceptable more often than not. Have you ever been around construction workers much? lol
 
Only a fool out numbered in the back country would allow a stranger on his blind side. You were engaged talking to his amigos at 20 feet and he moved to your blind side? I am not sure they were not checking you out for a mugging. Remember Abe Lincoln let a stranger get behind him. How did that work out?:eek:
 
If your reaction to someone being behind you is anything more than heightened awareness or a change in body position, you're doing something wrong, possibly illegal. They have just as much of a right to stand where they want as you do. Whether that be in line, or out on the trail.

A threat is NOT an appropriate response to being uncomfortable, ever. If I'm doing something that makes you uncomfortable, and it's my right to do so , your only real option is to change something to make yourself more comfortable. Like we're talking about on another thread, if we're in public and you don't like my music, go someplace else. If I have the right to do something in public, I'm damn well going to do it. And you can huff and puff inside your head all you want, that's your right. But you do not have the right to do or say anything to me about it especially if it's a threat, like telling me I might get a gun pulled on me.

Never forget your rights end where mine begin.
 
I absolutely agree. But just as I can yield my right for you to do as you please, you can also yield your right in consideration of my discomfort.

It seems people are all into their considerations of self and screw everyone else. Then not only do we wonder where the younger generations get it from, but are all aghast when someone makes their unwillingness to yield any further.

But you do not have the right to do or say anything to me about it especially if it's a threat, like telling me I might get a gun pulled on me.
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I do have a right to make my own considerations known to you. BUT I never have the right to threaten or otherwise go on an offensive unless you threaten me first.

Of course the "you" here is generic.
 
My opinion? OP handled it well. The spider sense was tingling and he kept alert to a possible developing threat. The threat didn't develop, so he kept it to himself and didn't get crazy on the three hikers. Everybody went home. OP has a question about threat awareness, three other hikers are totally clueless and are probably watching some "reality" show right now.
 
Well it's rude if they're not actually trying to make you uncomfortable. If they're just doing something normal, like...walking, than you're being rude if you start making a big deal about it.

If you mention that you might pull gun on them, it's assault, which is a crime.
 
Posted by DammitBoy: What's wrong or illegal about telling someone to back off or explaining to them their behavior is not welcome?
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Telling someone to "back off" is a command that one cannot expect to enforce unless the other person is actually doing something unsafe or unlawful, and explaining to someone that his or her "behavior is not welcome" is not likely to be helpful at all.
 
Funny, last time I was in a bar, a guy kept hitting my elbow which threatened to spill my drink. I turned around and said, "Hey buddy, would you mind backing off some? If you want to keep rubbing up on me, you're gonna have to buy me a drink first."

He apologized and backed up off of me. I told him thank you.

Which part was not helpful, or illegal, or wrong?
 
Three guys looking to roll you in the woods would most likely have guns or weapons themselves. I would have been more worried about a single guy roaming around in the woods by himself. I think you might be a little over protective....Russ
 
Ragnar Danneskjold said:
What if he said no?
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What if he punched me in the mouth?

What if he bought me a drink?

What if he was an alien who wanted to wear my skin?

I don't deal in what if's - I've used that routine on numerous occasions and it's worked every time. I find humor helps grease the wheels of cooperation.

There are plenty of rude, inconsiderate, thoughtless jerks out there, who have no problem doing things you don't "dare" consider every single day - your mileage may vary...
 
Posted by DammitBoy: Funny, last time I was in a bar, a guy kept hitting my elbow which threatened to spill my drink. I turned around and said, "Hey buddy, would you mind backing off some? If you want to keep rubbing up on me, you're gonna have to buy me a drink first."

He apologized and backed up off of me. I told him thank you.

Which part was not helpful, or illegal, or wrong?
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There is an obvious and distinct difference between someone rubbing against you and spilling your drink in a bar and someone walking where you may not happen to prefer.
 
Originally Posted by Ragnar Danneskjold
What if he said no?
What if he punched me in the mouth?

What if he bought me a drink?

What if he was an alien who wanted to wear my skin?

I don't deal in what if's - I've used that routine on numerous occasions and it's worked every time. I find humor helps grease the wheels of cooperation.

There are plenty of rude, inconsiderate, thoughtless jerks out there, who have no problem doing things you don't "dare" consider every single day - your mileage may vary...
Click to expand...


It sounds to me like you're opening up the situation for a number of outcomes, but you only know how to deal with one. So far, you've had them just leave in every case. I'm really asking you. What do you do if he doesn't just leave? What if he says no and just turns around and keeps talking to his friends. What if he does punch you?


This is "strategies and tactics". What's your strategy for dealing with people who choose not to do what you tell them? Please don't tell us you're really so naive as to think everyone will always just do what you say.
 
I haven't read all the replies, but requesting the guy get out of your personal space would have been a better option than alluding to the fact that you're likely to shoot him.
 
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