Encounters With Criminals

[Perd Hapley]

Here is an artifact that can make the smallest, frailest old women a terror to the largest man.  Yet they're not carrying them.

Sigh.  I know - the mindset of the individual female and the mindset of the culture.  For one thing, there is this idea that it is unlady-like to shoot a "cad" between the eyes when he gets out of hand.  Secondly, the idea that humankind was progressing beyond such vulgar violence was very strong at that time.  It was not the era in which to start a trend of armed women. 

Then there is that curious mechanism in the female mind that, when exploited by goblins from an early age, begins to believe she is meant to be the plaything of goblins.  Hence, domestic violence, the more outlandish forms of pornography, and other horrors. 

I'm sorry, am I wandering far afield?

[brimic]

People perceive me as being very large and dumb when they see me, strangers pretty much leave me alone.

[Perd Hapley]

People perceive me as being very large and dumb when they see me.

Yes, we do.   

[Tallpine]

I was just walking across a parking lot minding my own business one time, when a girl about 14 started chasing me with a bowie knife.

[Sindawe]

My closest encounters with criminals have always been at a distance, never face to face.

1. Somebody decided to swipe from the back of our VW Bug the autoclave bag full of micropipet tips and boxes that the ex and I had brought home to refill.  Made no sense to me, but hey they ARE criminals.

2. Somebody decided to smash out the rear quarter window on my Civic and loot around inside.  Nothing valuable was ever kept in the car, so I figure they musta thought my motorcycle cover was hiding something.

3. The emergency generator my employer owned "vanished" one weekend.  Oddly enough, it had sat outside under its cover for almost a year unmolested.  Then one weekend, dropped in to change archive tapes and noted that some "immigrant laborers" were busy removing a dead tree outside.  That following Monday the generator was gone.

[Ron]

some "immigrant laborers" were busy removing a dead tree outside.  That following Monday the generator was gone.

they were just doing work Americans don't want to do.

[Eleven Mike]

I was just walking across a parking lot minding my own business one time, when a girl about 14 started chasing me with a bowie knife.

The ladies won't leave me alone, either.  Curse my good looks and devilish charm!

[Waitone]

Other than my three year old grandson being murdered, haven't had a lot of contact with criminals.

[Guest]

This is the closest I've come to agreeing with mr on anything.  While women have every right to "traipse around" unaccompanied, there are two facts that women seem to be ignoring these days.

1.  Men are generally stronger than women.
2.  Partly because of this and partly because of male psychology, women are much more tempting targets for the goblins on our streets. 

But perhaps they do this for the same reason that I haven't gotten my CCW yet. 

How wondrous it is that, when repeating handguns came into vogue in the mid-nineteenth century, men didn't immediately demand that all their wives, sisters, daughters and mothers learn to use them and carry them whenever they left the house.  ...

 They didn't leave the darned house, grasshopper.

[Perd Hapley]

When and where is this that they didn't leave the house?  And are you serious about not letting women go out by themselves? 

[mustanger98]

Ya'll aren't considering women in rural or frontier situations.

[grampster]

Former LEO here.   Don't have the space here.  More fun with beer and my ex partners. 

[cosine]

I consider myself quite lucky, I've never had an encounter with a criminal.

Some of you here have had some real hair-raising experiences it sounds like. 

[garyk/nm]

Ladysmith,
I've heard some stories, I've even told some stories, but DAYUM!!!!

My hat's off to you, ma'am.

[pluvo]

I've had a few encounters that never escalated, mostly because of situational awareness & not looking like a victim. However there is one incident I don't talk about often due to it's less-than 'high road' nature.

I was 19, had just gotten off work, and drove to the big city for the midnight movies. The theater was on the inner 'ring' of the mall itself & I parked away from the theater but under a lamp.

I had just gotten out of the car & set my soda on the roof, when 2 guys approached and one asked the time. Back then I wore one of those military watchbands with the velcro cover. When I brought my hands up to open the watch, the guy on the left reached forward. I thought he was trying to swipe my watch, but he had actually tried to stab me.

Due to the position of my left arm & the slight twist to the right I ended up capturing his right hand. When I jerked back & sideways I swept him off his feet. I know it sounds like some kind of ninja crap, but it was really just dumb luck. He fell to the pavement flat on his back & smacked his head good. Sounded like thumping a ripe watermelon.

The other guy spooked & turned tail to run. I grabbed the soda off the roof & caught him square in the back of the head. This was the late 80s & if you remember the soda bottles were made of glass with a styrofoam cover.  The bottle shattered but remained together because of the cover & the guy splayed right out on the ground face first.

Here's the part I'm not proud of. I reached into the car & got my pistol. As walked over to the first guy, fully intending to end him, a couple walked by & the woman started to scream. I got back in my car & drove home. Everything was fine until I got home & saw that I was bleeding. I started to shake & didn't stop until I fell asleep.

I look back on this as a lesson. While I'm confident that I'll be able to do what needs to be done when the time comes, I just hope I'm older & wiser & I'll have the self-control to stop. I can easily see where someone could 'shoot to slidelock' in a situation like that. It's like something took over & my 'fight or flight' instinct got switched to 'win'. Everything was in slow motion & my heart was pounding in my ears. It wasn't until that scream that I snapped back to reality.

And to LadySmith - I think I love you.