I need some feedback on this....

[2speed]

I had something happen saturday I need some feedback on.

I went to the movies with my wife and some friends. In NC, you are not supposed to carry where admission is charged for entry so I locked my Hi-Power up in my car, (trying to be legal).

After the movie, I walked the wife to the car, unlocked the pistol, and HAD to go back inside to use the restroom. I left her in the car with the pistol.

As I entered the lobby and headed to the restroom, I noticed this "young'un", (mid to late teen) leaning against a column in the lobby. I entered the bathroom, "mentally cleared" it and went about my business. During the process, I heard the door open and close, but no one entered. As I was washing my hands, the "young'un" stepped just inside the door with his hands inside the pockets of his hooded sweatshirt and asked for fifty cents for a phone call. Now I don't know what his intention really was but I handled it in this manner.

I said, "Sure, just give me a second", and went for the paper towel dispenser that I had already noticed was empty but was in the edge of his "space". I started cussin' about the paper being out, the theater staff, and life in general more to distract him than anything else. Went to a stall, keeping an eye on him, got some toilet paper to dry my hands, and started towards him. As I got close to him, again invading his space, I raised my hand with the paper in front of his face and threw it at the trashcan with my right hand, grabbed my Benchmade with my left hand and broke for the door towards my left.

I don't know if he did, but I swear I felt him reach for me. After I got in the lobby, I reached in my pocket and when I saw he had followed me and his hands were clear, I let go of my Benchmade, dug 50 cents out, handed it to him, and said Merry Christmas as I hit the lobby door.

I have never been in anything other than fistfights & scuffles back in high school or in the service, but I think I either got lucky, or did just enough to confuse him and escape. That or I just imagined the whole thing like my wife thinks.

I know about being judged by 12 or carried by 6; or in my case 8;
I have LEO friends and a brother who is a LEO so I respect the laws even if I don't agree with it.

If my perceptions were on the mark and it was an attempt to do "whatever"; any suggestions on what I shouldda, couldda, done differently?

 

[PATH]

Sounds like you handled it very nicely.

 

[JPM70535]

Seems like to me that NC needs to have its regulations regarding where one may or may not carry overhauled. Does NC also prohibit carrying in Restaurants that serve alcohol? Places such as Movie Theaters, malls and associated parking lots, and restaurants are some of the prime areas where CCW has the potential to be needed most. A gun left in the car is just about as useful as a screen door in a submarine.


The 2 most useless things in the world, AN EMPTY GUN AND A DULL KNIFE

 

[Denny Hansen]

Being able to think on your feet keeps more people alive than firearms. Sound like a good job to me.

Denny

 

[boing]

CCW is prohibited in establishments that serve alcohol.

I have been told by "the guy behind the desk" at the sheriff's office that securing your gun in your vehicle in the parking lot is kosher. I don't consider him to be an authority, though. A call to the Attorney General's office might be in order.

I try to be "plausibly discrete" in such situations. Knife is good, but don't forget your back-up.

 

[sonoranjack]

I would have just said no. I would have used my voice & physical demeanor to make the punk back off. Pepper spray would be better than a knife. This is a teenager right. So if he didn't back off. I would have said excuse me still using my voice & physical demeanor to get him to back off. Now the puck is blocking the only exit from the bathroom right. So he's denying you freedom of movement which could be seen as kidnapping. So I would then have threatened to pepper spray him if he didn't move out of the door way & let me leave. If he still didn't move I'd have pepper sprayed him. Then detained him for the police. I guess ya did what ya thought was best. I wouldn't have done the fake out in the bathroom. But on the other hand I don't know how old you are & your physical ability to defend your self. After out of the bath room I wouldn't have given him any money. Then I would have told the manager the teen was begging for money.

 

[Schuey2002]

You just described the definition of the term, "Thinking on your feet"...

Good job!

 

[SkunkApe]

A similar thing happened to me just the other night.

I was lounging around my house on a cold and dark evening (it gets dark early now), watching King of the Hill on TV and eating a bag of chips. As usual, I was wearing my SP101 on a hip holster with P-32 in the pocket of my pajamas as backup. Then came an ominous knock on the door.

I immediately went to conditon orange. I checked my P32 to make sure I had a round in the chamber in my BUG, and careful crept from the back of my house to the front door, using the furniture as cover. I cautiously peered out through the drawn curtains of my bay window to see two teenagers in hooded sweatshirts standing on my front step. One of them had his hands in his pockets, the other was carrying a large trash bag. Suspicious teens on my doorstep! Condition red!

At this point, I considered using my wireless phone to call 911, but a didn't want give up my tactical advantage of surprise. So I drew my .357, threw open the door, shined my 100,000 candlepower flashlight in their faces, and yelled "Back off, punks, I'm armed!".

One of the hoodlums ran away, The other (now clearly identifiable as my neighbor's son) said "Knock it off with the Rambo stuff, Mr. SkunkApe. You got any empty pop cans you want to donate to my High School hockey team?"

All things considered, I think I handled the situation well. You can't be too careful, now can you?

 

[Triad]

SkunkApe, that could get you in trouble. Brandishing i think it's called.

 

[2speed]

JPM70535

I agree we, (NC), need change and we're working on it. Places not to carry are:

establishments where admission is charged for entry......
establishments where alcohol is sold for consumption......
establishments that post against the carrying of weapons......
"Government buildings or property", among others.

I don't agree with it, I was just trying to comply and in doing so remembered that old saying...."no good deed goes unpunished".

sonoranjack

All I had available were a Benchmade in each front pocket, and what little wits I still had when this happened. I'd have to do what was going to be done in about a minute; I'd be sucking wind after that. Too many years & pounds post USMC.

A close friend of mine who has "been there, done that," gave me an answer almost verbatim to your's. Although I'm not usually a loud or aggressive person, I will follow your suggestion if this ever happens again.

Thanks to all who answered.

2speed

 

[daorhgih]

Zones of carry

Good to have a blade near the top of the confrontation. Your 2d Ammendment rights should be carried a bit deeper. If you are the least bit leery of any site or situation, a gun is never wrong, de jure, RKBA, and the de factouse of one can be emminently justified by the action/reaction of the participants involved, in ANY State. Sort of an outqrowth of the "12 or 6" stand. Also, it's not brandishing if you are within the confines of you own property, whether inside or out. ML

 

[Keegan]

+1 SkunkApe

 

[Treo]

Let's Think This Thru

Going of the information we have, we know that:

You weren't hurt, that's the most important fact.

The (potential) BG wasn't hurt, always a plus.

Nobody went to jail , the only thing that can beat that is the fact that:

No cops were involved.

I'd say you got your fifty cents worth

 

[average_shooter]

Um... folks... might want to check the time stamps. This thread is over five (5) years old.

 

[BullfrogKen]

This thread's going back to bed.