"...just try to remember all the tools you have at your disposal next time."
"You acted as appropriately as you could, considering that you forgot you had a gun. Face Palm!"
Maybe I'm getting
too used to carrying it*. I didn't even
think of putting my right hand in my pocket to prepare for a draw. As mentioned, this is because of the many unarmed contacts I've had in Denver when I worked there for over 16 years.
"...especially when the unknown contact modifies his trajectory to intercept you, was exactly the right thing to do"
Well, that's why I posted about the situation. He
could have been an ordinary person who changed his trajectory toward me merely because he thought I was looking at him for help. But as I said, my "Denver Reactions" took over and I automatically assumed a suspicious/defensive attitude. Chances are 50-50 that he walked away thinking "What a crazy old coot." But as the saying goes, it's not the odds that matter, it's the stakes involved. His walking back to where he came from confirmed but did not prove my suspicions.
Is your cane hickory? If I ever get lucky enough to get old I'm going to take up stick fighting as a hobby.
Yes, my go-to car cane is stout hickory or birch, not sure which. (I've got other canes for around the house, but I can make it to the car from the house without one.) I've had to hold the cane downtown in <ahem> a non-peaceable manner several times. (Left hand on shaft, right hand near crook.) I've often thought of putting a lanyard on it. You can carry a cane anyhow, though. Put a pebble in your shoe so you limp. :) (No, you don't really have to. :) )
A likely place of encounter of these types is at a gas station, too. 95 percent of the time when someone trys the "get close to him" approach it's at a gas station within a couple of blocks of a liquor store.
Haven't had that happen at a gas station, but it did at an unattended car wash while I was riffling through my wallet for a $5 bill. Right after the "Hey, buddy, can you spare..." he spotted the J-frame on the passenger seat and walked away again. Didn't see him coming while I was focused on my wallet. (I take the gun out of my pocket while driving and the hell with the bus drivers who might spot it at traffic lights. Perfectly legal here in CO.) I note that Florida recently passed a law allowing brandishing in certain instances.
You left with the same number of holes as when you arrived, and apparently none of yur fluids were leaking. Pretty much the standard definition of You Done OKTM.
Thanks, gave me a chuckle, especially since my concern was with a brake fluid leak.
"Practice checking for threats. He could have been a distraction while an accomplice was circling around."
"Yes, I am very bad about locking on to one thing. Last time I did it was with 4 legs, I had bambi #1 all figured out, but bambi #2 popped out in the opposite side of the scene and there was no missing that one."
That was my biggest tactical error.
I tell ya true, since I retired and no longer work in Denver, I've got a little lax about situational awareness. First of all, I was concerned about checking the brake fluid and it was, frankly, by pure accident that I spotted him in the first place as I went around to the back of the car. And then when I was watching him approach, I didn't "check my six," although the car was behind me and the open car door was shielding me on the right. Couldn't call it smart luck that I was positioned that way, so it must've been dumb luck.
"Out of curiosity, how was he dressed? Right or wrong, I often use that as an indicator when someone enters one of my 'zones'."
"The two that were looking hard at me were dressed 'average poor' in my book. Jeans, flannel shirts. the one from the front had a hat on. Appropriate for the time of year. Not gang wear, not street bum."
Just regular clothes, khaki-colored slacks, nondescript shirt, but hanging out. Was not wearing a hat. Just had that plastic shopping bag.
My takeaway from this and a couple of other incidents is that I
must practice not wandering around blithely in what they I guess they call "condition white," but boy, that's hard to do when you're thinking about other stuff. I've got to remember that I'm in the most-assaulted group of people --children, women, and the elderly.
As I said, it was just dumb luck that I spotted him in the first place.
So I guess, from youse guys' remarks, it wasn't just geriatric paranoia... thanks.
Terry
*That's in summer. In cooler weather I carry either a CW-9 or a 1911 in holsters under a vest or coat.
