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A poster at opencarry.org, Southern Covenanter, recounts an ironic experience in Charlotte, North Carolina. Here’s his story:
I made it a point to stop and meet my parents for lunch in Pineville while I was passing through town, and after I left, I stopped at the QT on Woodlawn Road (right off I-77 where Woodlawn turns into Billy Graham Parkway) to gas up the Blue Bullet. This QT is in a somewhat sketchy part of town, so I was already on high alert when I pulled up to the pump.
About the time I got the Bullet in park, I noticed three young men walking through the islands towards the store. One of the three was a younger white guy (about 6’1″, 175 lbs, and all tatted up) was shirtless, loud, high as a Georgia pine, and clearly acting aggressively. I took note of him, and strolled inside to pre-pay for my gas. Lo and behold, when I got inside, some yuppie soccer Mom type wear(ing) a “Moms Demand Action” t-shirt spotted me and the sidearm on my hip and immediately started ranting about how I was dangerous and scary, that my big, bad SigSauer made her nervous, how did she know I wasn’t going to shoot everybody in the joint, etc. I did my best to ignore her, hit the latrine, and came back out and paid for my gas.
While I was walking to the door, I noticed the doped up potential troublemaker was waving his arms around, beating on his chest and (gesturing) at people like he was going to throw a punch while yelling, “I’ma f* you up! Y’all don’t want none!” and so on.
I walked out the door to head to the car, and when I did, the Mom’s Demand nutjob approached from my right and quietly asked, “Would you walk me to my car?”
My response: “I’m sure that loud mouth of yours will keep you safe.”
The shocked look on her face was completely worth it.
OC: 1. Moms Demand: 0.
The poster then goes on to explain that he briefly considered acceding to the request, but having information that the local chief LEO was anti-open carry, and concerned that the clerk might misunderstand a “walk to the car” because of the previous rant by the woman, he decided against it. Another poster mentioned that Moms Demand Action supporters have encouraged others to make, and have said that they would make, false 911 calls.
My instinct would have been to walk her to the car. People with phobias can overcome them with experience. However, I can easily understand his reluctance in the circumstances. What would you have done?
©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Gun Watch
They gotta reap what they sow.
Tell her to call 911 and see how that works out for her.
I might stand nearby and watch her walk to her car, as I don’t wish evil events on anyone, but actions have consequences, and some folks periodically need a reminder about this.
Exactly. It’d be different if she had said nothing, but if that’s how she wants to go about it then let her beloved law enforcement handle it. Then after waiting half an hour in a store for a cop to maybe show she’ll reconsider her stance.
Agreed!
+0.87
I would NOT watch her walk to her car. Let her suffer the consequences of her beliefs and her actions. She wants to disarm me and force me to rely on the police to protect myself, let her call 911 and ask for a police escort to her car. And I will guaran-damn-tee you that I will NEVER put my life, health, and financial stability at risk by using lethal force to protect one of these hoplophobic twits.
And ask yourself what the consequences are of you “walking her to her car”? Does that mean that you are now going to be willing to use lethal force to defend HER, when you know damn well that she will testify at your trial that “he didn’t have to shoot that poor man – I don’t think we were really in that much danger.” One of these Bloomberg Mommie snakes will turn on you immediately if you actually take any forceful steps to protect them – they will throw you to the wolves/lawyers every time.
Well said. Just as you wouldn’t point a weapon at something you didn’t intend to shoot, neither would you agree to protect someone you’re not willing to protect.
Exactly right.
Say a fundamentalist tree hugger on bike bitched at you about how much you suck for driving a car. Then it started pouring rain and she asked you for a ride, you would say what?
…Is she cute?
she’s a fundamentalist tree hugger on a bike…so no, she’s not cute
Hmmm…think hairy and VERY natural smelling.
It moved!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JPZskYKUvY
I want to commend you on your restraint. I would not have been nearly as polite though I understand you wanted to set a good example for your kids.
At times like that, the ability to fart on demand might be considered a good thing.
Are you on LamboPower? I ask because a member there had posted that video and said it was them (if I am remembering correctly).
Ha. Her fat little head would explode if I pulled into the parking lot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cI6IqoWVOk
I would have revved the engine if it were diesel just to cover her in soot.
Not a very good analogy, as there aren’t entire advocacy groups and bicycle moms demanding that we regulate/ban automobiles and doing so by attacking the character of car drivers. By the same token there isn’t a pro-car lobby who tirelessly focuses on combating this image of the evil selfish car driver and loudly proclaiming the benefits of the car in society such as saving peoples lives and deterring crime. You would still be an ass for not giving them a ride, but in this case, unless there is a tornado bearing down on you or baseball sized hail etc, there is little risk to you or your rights to drive a car beyond her hating you a little bit more for leaving her out in the wet with her bicycle. So its not the same.
Now the video posted above of the diesel truck driver and the angry prius driver is a better comparison, because refusing to give someone a ride is one thing, going out of you way to be a dick… a la rolling coal on a Prius driver, is a lot like the comment this story teller supposedly made to the angry MDA mom (Although I frankly doubt the whole story, especially the end as, lets face it, most people don’t have the balls to be so openly rude to someone’s face, and they certainly don’t come across as whitty or clever when they do as the author seems to think he was). Diesel trucks are a good analogue because there are absolutely as many or even more advocacy groups who wish not another one would roll off the assembly line, and will do whatever they can to make all of us drive Prius’s. I would say this is even more heated than the gun debate. And like the gun debate, assclowns who drive around rolling coal and deliberately modding their trucks to be dirty and piss off the “other side” cast as equally a dim light on all people who drive trucks out of necessity.
The plural of Prius is “Priai”
You do run the risk of getting sued however if the person “falls out” of your vehicle and “injures” themself. One has to be careful.
And no one needs to have a “need” to drive a truck remember 😉
Thinking it through, there’s NO way I’d get involved with her, not so much because of her ideology, but more because if there was some kind of confrontation with the shirtless loud mouth I wouldn’t feel comfortable using force in her presence. If, for instance, the shirtless idiot managed to knock me over and then straddled my chest and punched me, I would feel justified in using deadly force. Given her strong anti-self-defense tendencies, I wouldn’t feel comfortable having the MDA lady be the star witness at my trial.
I would do the same. don’t give me shit and then ask for my help because of the very reason you gave me shit. But i would watch and make sure she got to her car ok.
Just because they’re not civil, doesn’t mean we have to be.
Show some humanity, walk her to the car. Might just have an impact beyond a single voter…
So she can enjoy the benefits of the protection that she (and her group) would deny me and my family?
Bzzzzt. Wrong. Thanks for playing!
No, so she can see that we don’t carry just to show off, we carry as a deterrent to bad guys.
So you will allow her to enjoy the benefits of the protection that she (and her group) would deny me and my family?
Sorry, actions have consequences, and I believe life is the best teacher (if you survive to “graduate” to the next level of knowledge). If you think she is suddenly going to “see the light”, you’re more deluded than most MDA members. You have to be open-minded to learn, which means she is NEVER going to get an epiphany from an evil gun owner.
You’re forgetting that facts don’t matter to these people. This is a religious view to them and no matter how kind a member of a different “religion” acts towards them, they will never consider converting. It’s like saying that by showing kindness to a Jewish person, they’ll suddenly abandon their religion and convert to Islam.
I guess I’m still a ‘win more flies with honey than vinegar’ type.
I wouldn’t let it pass without pointing out the hyperbole of yelling at me for carrying, but then asking for my help while we walked too.
Why would I defend someone that is clearly unwilling to defend themselves?
You meant hypocrisy, right?
I’m down with hyperbole, but not so much hypocrisy.
Try it some time. Put out a bowl of honey and a bowl of any vinegar that isn’t distilled. Tell me which has more flies at the end of a few days.
Winning flies is winning disease. Same thing in this case.
And you can catch even more flies with a steaming pile of sh!t, what’s your point?
You could offer to escort her AFTER stowing your weapon in your car, so as not to offend her anti-gun sensibilities.
No, so can use the walk to enlighten her. It’s just a form of insurance, just a precaution in the event of the worst happening. To break down the us vs them attitude in her head and realize that she actually does have the same interest as us in staying safe. Being safe vice feeling safe.
This. I’d have walked her to the car. Might be enough to convert her. Might not. Either way, you can never control what other people think, can never expect them to be grateful when you do the right thing. All you can control is what you do, and count the knowledge that you did the right thing as it’s own reward.
And if the escort turns you into a target, and you can’t overcome the 3-on-1 odds, who will defend your family after you wasted your life defending this oxygen thief? Sorry, actions have consequences, and I believe life is the best teacher (if you survive to “graduate” to the next level of knowledge).
Points worth considering. If you don’t want to get personally involved, another option would be to suggest that she hang back and call the police. Even throw in a line about how, as long as the nut isn’t presenting an immediate threat, that it’s best not to risk a confrontation which could escalate. Let her chew on that coming from a carrier.
Anyway, I’m guessing the chances of a similar situation happening to any of us would be pretty damn slim. A much more likely (though still uncommon in most places) scenario would be someone asking for help without any prior interaction. I wouldn’t see that version as different, morally speaking. I’d hope my actions were dictated by common sense and compassion rather than personal feelings toward the person asking for help.
Old Ben turning in grave says: “I’d hope my actions were dictated by common sense and compassion…”
I agree! I’d let my actions be guided by MDA’s so-called common sense (No guns! Ever!) and the same compassion they’d have for me and my family in a similar situation (call 911, let the police handle it!).
If the situation went from potential problem to crime-in-progress, she’d probably get my protection, but not the peace-of-mind or deterrent effect of my pistol beforehand.
Right on, Old Ben. That is the ethical course of action. I’d pursue it as much for my own sake as I would for the woman I’d be protecting. It may or may not help the cause, but that’s beside the point. I’m helpful and chivalrous because that’s the kind of man I want to be. If a woman (or anyone, really) genuinely fears danger and asks for me to escort them across the parking lot to their car, I’ll do it.
However, giving this woman a negative interaction with an open carrier probably harmed the cause. I would have acted gentlemanly. Maybe she’d end up thanking me and thinking me a nice man, which might cause her to not jump to conclusions about people who carry firearms in the future.
Exactly, use it as an opportunity to educate her. Explain why the positions of the gorup she blindly supports are detrimental and offensive to normal human beings like you. That woman left that encounter probably more affraid, and jaded at the fact that this “wannabe cop” was so arrogant as to not help her. After all don’t we advocate the carry of firearms to protect ourselves and other innocents. As my mother always says, “kill em with kindness”, walk her to your car, be a normal human being, empathetic, compassionate etc. then give her your card and your 1 minute elevator speech about why you carry. Heck give her the card of someone who teaches CHL classes for beginners. So many missed opportunities here just because our auther decided to make a funny one liner about this lady to prove a point. Laughing at her when she is genuinely affraid or making offensive statements about her big mouth just fuels the fire against us. I at least want to believe (however false) that people of the gun are better than that.
Agreed that it would have been more constructive to be a gentleman, walked her to her car, then given her info on getting a gun to defend herself. Come on guys, be a mensch, not just a grump.
There’s an aphorism that the best way to win a war is to convince an enemy to become an ally.
That’s not always possible, of course, but it often is.
In this case, the lady was both emotional and vocal. She may’ve been a hard-core disarmamentor, or she may be someone who is parroting what she’s been told or she may never have thought about it at all — or something else or a combination.
Is it worth the try to turn her into an ally — or, at least, into a neutral (which may be the first step)?
I think it is. Yes, some pre-emptive defense against her being a full-scale evil person is warranted — such as requesting that she inform the clerk first as to what she is requesting. And, yes, perhaps the rhetorical “slap in the face” comment about her loud mouth might help in that way.
But I think in most cases, it won’t.
While accompanying her, mainly ask “what” and “why” questions.
– “A few minutes ago you loudly said some very nasty things about me, and now you’re asking me to protect you. Why did you change your mind?
– “How do you think I felt when you were yelling at me? [I daresay many MDA followers place a high value on “feelings”.]
– “What made you think that I would want or even allow myself to help you after all that?
– “Do you think that my wife, who normally would have a handgun on her, would feel safer than you would were I not here?”
– “When would you like my wife and I to take you shooting so you can learn a bit more about guns? ”
The situation prompts towards the last question, which could lead to her experiencing something outside her (current) comfort zone and more likely to help her grow in experience and knowledge.
“No. Sorry. How do I know you won’t decide to scream ‘Rape!” when we get to your car?”
Yeah, I’d have probably done the same. And asked her to reconsider her position.
I kinda think the whole thing is made up myself. (shrug)
Absolutely agreed – no need to lower yourself to her level. Besides, great teaching moment: This is why… Keep in mind that she is a voter
I would have walked her to her car. Reasons being in no particicular order of importance…
…I carry a gun to protect people who can’t protect themselves.
…What better way to convert an anti, than personal experience.
….Showing kindness to your enemy is like “pouring burning coals on their head”. 🙂
This, right there.
On the other hand. Were it one of those ‘you are a coward for carrying a FA’ people who like to boast about how they can just defend themselves with their fists. They are welcome to prove it.
Sadly, I guess I’m capricious and inconsistent.
Agreed
Probably turned on my voice record on my phone, ask her to repeat what she said and mention the potential trouble maker, and walked her out and hope she gained some valuable knowledge
Perfect. Either you get video evidence of her hypocrisy or you make her walk away without putting yourself in danger of grabbing the wacko’s attention.
it would have been hypocrisy if the two interactions were reversed.
In the order described, it may have been Damascene. (Look it up)
Good luck lady. I would not raise a finger to help her after she gave me shit.
Tough call, probably not though. One thing I have seen in every anti gun woman is this duality that men (usually with guns) will and do protect them, which is why they are anti gun to begin with. Maybe if we break them of this habit it will make them think a little harder about their stance.
I completely agree but would offer to aid her under the following conditions;
– her life must be in danger
– witnesses must be present
– she must swear to tell the truth at all times
What??? Am I wrong to expect some regulation here?
Expecting truth from a member of a group that is based on lies, pushes lies, and is happy censoring those that call them out on their lies is not a sound strategy.
As much as I despise the group, I’d be willing to bet a large percentage of their members (blind followers) don’t have any clue that the lies they are pushing, are lies. As others have stated, It could be an opportunity to educate and possibly gain another person of the gun.
Their leaders on the other hand, could careless about truth and we don’t have a shot at changing their minds.
Yes. Later, after she has a chance to think about it, the light may come on in her head.
Matt. 5:44-48,; Rom 12:17-18
+1
“after she has a chance to think”
Cant assume that she will actually think about it sadly, thats how these people have continued to ignore the reality around them and put their heads in the sand.
The whole “a liberal is just a conservative who hasnt been robbed yet” thing comes to mind… Not that you should have to get robbed, but generally only a truly traumatic event will fix their awareness.
“Can’t assume that she will actually think about it” … well what are we always saying? A liberal is a conservative who hasn’t been mugged yet? Having just experienced how vulnerable she truly is, she just might be ready to come over to our side now. This actually happened to almost all of the flaming liberal women on the cast of the television show The View.
I mustve missed that info about The View hosts, but with celebrity status comes increased potential to become a target.
+2
Nope. I might grab a soda and go sit in my car to watch the show. I am not their 911
Nope. She made her decision. Let her live (or die) with the consequences.
Can this story possibly be true? Or is it just a ‘what if’?
On a related note, although not such a made for tv moment, I recall a number of people expressing shock and outrage when you had to wait 15 days to pick up a handgun during the LA riots.
‘Gun control’ does comes home to roost occasionally.
I think the story is legitimate. Another poster verified the description of the location. I called the Quick Trip at the location described. They said that they could not discuss any details of any incident without getting corporate permission.
Perhaps, but none of that adds to the veracity of the story, though. It does seem a little too perfect that she’s wearing an MDA T-shirt (have you ever seen anyone doing that outside of one of their sad little eight-person “rallies”?), rants at the guy, and then pleads with him for help not two minutes later. My BS detector is pinging pretty loudly on this one. It reads more like somebody’s “that would show ’em” daydream than something that actually happened. There aren’t that many MDA supporters in the first place, and even fewer who would confront an armed person alone, without the groupthink reinforcement of their fellow anti-gunners egging them on.
Sure. I didn’t mean to imply anyone was being less than truthful. Or maybe I did I guess.
It was the shirt that made me wonder. Ive never seen such a thing outside of a bloomberg photo op.
‘An open carrier and a demanding mom walk into a gas station’ sounds like a bad joke.
Thanks for the reply.
I’d walk the silly bitch to her car and be humble in the face of extreme stupidity.
Sorry, but despite the excuses this just seems like an opportunity to demonstrate that we’re regular people capable of love and compassion, and not vile kindergartener murderers, pissed away to be cute and “show her”.
Of course I would’ve walked her to her car.
“Sorry, but despite the excuses this just seems like an opportunity to demonstrate that we’re regular people capable of love and compassion, and not vile kindergartener murderers,…”
Which is completely wasted on those who demonize us on a day-to-day basis, just for the act of owning guns for self-protection and learning from the mistakes of others.
You think she’d go right home and call all her MDA friends and tell them they’ve been wrong all along? Puh-leeze.
If anything, she’d go right home and feed the next generation of little rights-grabbers who will work to disarm your children.
She can reap what she has sown. If she lives, maybe life will provide the lesson, but she isn’t going to get an epiphany from an evil gun owner.
+1 These are people who would label us as any horrible thing they could come up with. Until this woman was actually in harms way(at which point I would help her without question, regardless if she is wearing an MDA t-shirt or not), I see no reason to afford them help they would NEVER provide to me regardless of how dire the circumstances were(people holding their camera phones comes to mind).
Sometimes that tingling fear when you know shit is potentially really close to going down, is a better motivator than taking the high road. Remember, theyre convinced they have the moral high ground, changing this is near impossible.
Too funny I just posted the same quote and 10 seconds later saw you had posted it as well.
I disagree. I converted my very used to be anti-gun European friend. Finally convinced him to go to the range and now he keeps asking when we can go again. Sometimes all it takes is showing how we can be responsible with firearms to convert someone. Once you show them that guns are not as evil and dangerous (when handled properly) as the media and the antis say, they could possibly be converted.
Well, that’s a good first step, but even comfort with using firearms does not automatically transfer to a willingness to use them for personal defense, or even an understanding that armed defense is reasonable and important.
I know FAR too many hunters that only look at handguns as tools of the mugger or murderer, to think otherwise.
…but if he had TAKEN the opportunity to walk her to her car, he would have had a few moments to explain to her that, despite what many WISH our world to be like, in reality there are a lot of really scary people out there and sometimes it’s a good idea to be prepared…and that’s why I carry.
i never give up an opportunity to say “I told you so”.
‘Would you walk me to my car?’
That is your cue to give her the ironic ‘Really?’ eyebrow raise, warm your face into a kind smile, and say ‘Sure.’
I’m sure her opinion of firearms hasn’t changed because of this guy. I’m willing to bet that the kinder, gentler, more neighborly response would have helped the cause – and more importantly, this woman – much more.
So much for chivalry. This man demonstrated to everyone that guns are more important to him than what they supposedly protect.
Supposedly protect what???
Is there some immediate need for her to step outside and face the threat? If I were her I would call 911 and wait this out. I am certainly not bringing deadly force for a stranger whose activism repeatedly advises their members to call SWAT teams on people like me. Nope, never, not a chance.
Would you be foolish enough to walk next to her and then have her change her mind, once safe, and call the cops claiming harassment? Good luck with your chivalry…
Definitely a possibility with folks like these who have such a warped worldview.
Be reasonable. I mean, MDA supporters have only threatened to SWAT gun owners, assault them…….
Sounds like another case of her large mouth overloading her hummingird a_ _.
Maybe she’ll think twice when voting for gun-control next time. A little dose of reality goes a long way.
Yeah she probably will think twice about gun control next time. Maybe this was her first encounter with someone actually carrying a gun. Now, thanks to his incredible lack of judgment not merely refusing to help (completely his prerogative) but taking an opportunity to hurl a cheap insult to her as well, her preconceived notion is if anything reinforced with first hand experience. She is going to go to her next MDA meeting and talk about her encounter with an open carrier and how crude and selfish he was. So pat yourself on the back there buddy, you sure showed her didnt you.
Instead, try and show a little bit of grace, and humility when you meet people like this woman. Its your hide on the line if you chose to walk her to her car , so dont take this as me saying he should have walked her to the car, but be the bigger person, if you turn her down why not use a rational argument as opposed to cheap insult? Use it as an opportunity to show here you aren’t some bloodthirsty commando wannabe and explain how the burden of being armed in public is looking for ways to avoid conflict as opposed to charging into it.
Why not say something like “Maam, I carry a gun for my own security should someone go out of their way to attack me, but I am not a security guard nor a police office, it is my moral obligation to look for ways to avoid conflict and I carry the legal burden of my actions should I ever have to use my firearm. You are more than welcome to stand over here with me until the crazy guy over there leaves, or might I suggest going back inside the store and calling the police if you really feel like you are in danger.” Boom, situation diffused. What she does after that is up to her, but at least she cannot go away with the impression that you went out of your way to be a selfish asshole.
He did the right thing for him. I certainly won’t berate him for doing so.
Tell them that [if their gov’t, or local LEO’s, the EPA, Homeland Security, the IRS, the FDA hasn’t violated your rights and the Constitution by confiscating them] you have the proper equipment for this situation at home, locked in your safe, with a trigger-lock and bore-lock, with lead-free rounds locked in a separate safe which is locked in a child-proof underwater safe. That you may have to contact local LEO to bring what’s needed to bear on this situation and contact your attorney to let them know you will be needing legal assistance ASAP, and that your attorney will need to call your bank to get a reverse mortgage on your house in order to escrow the necessary funds, and hopefully have time to create (or scrub?) your Facebook page of all quasi-pro-gun or quasi-threatening language. . .
Then, and only then, say that you’ll definitely maybe do it.
But seriously, why assume all that risk for someone who must presumably devote a lot of their time and resources to try and keep me disarmed? But when it’s convenient for them, they expect to take advantage of the right they want to curtail or take away altogether? So many people hold contradicting ideas without realizing it. I think allowing them to face the consequences will help alert them to their own ignorance.
Walk her to her car? No effing way. I would have called the bad guy over to her and made the introduction just to enjoy a nice, juicy wedge of schadenfreude.
That’s a tough call. I’d hope that my temper hadn’t gotten the best of me and tell her to fend for herself. I think it best to always be civil and show respect, even if the other person really doesn’t deserve it. It’s the right thing to do, and could go a long way to making a convert of someone who has made a decision about gun owners with no real facts or experience. Don’t leave her with a bad experience.
I would have left her to fend for herself because no amount of kindness on my part would wash the rabid foam spewed about gun owners from her gin and tonic washed mouth..Respect is shown then it is earned, and her hatred of me and lack of respect towards the act of me exercising my God given right to self-defense would cancel out her need. Choices have consequences, especially when her choice leaves me to be rendered defenseless and at the will of evil men. Folks like this woman wish death upon us for being self reliant so as Ralph said above I would have called the thug over and conducted a social experiment on what happens to an ignorant and willingly disarmed populace. There is no compromising with these disarmament folks and I’m just glad that I’m not on the side that is trying to subjugate armed American men and women. If history is any proof it won’t work out well for them.
Feminism and equality demand that you treat her the same as you would any man. Under the same circumstances, would you walk a man to his car? Revoke the pussy pass, don’t be a white knighting sucker.
Bingo. All of these guys are posting about how he should have helped her and kissed her ass are only saying that because she’s a woman. If it had been a man, they would all be agreeing that the guy did the right thing by walking away. If White Knight submissive men only screwed themselves over, I’d just have a good laugh and ignore them. The problem is that they harm all men with their incessant worshiping of women and trying to prevent women from ever suffering negative consequences for their actions.
I would ask her if the only reason she asked me to walk her to her car was because of the fact I was armed , even though she is rabidly against firearms , but that she knew I would be able to protect her , because of the firearm , just to give her a small wake up call , and then I would walk her to her car . Be prepared and ready . Keep your powder dry .
Depends. If she was hot, yes, I’d walk her to her car.
If not, I’d probably just ask her why she’d want me of all people to protect her. Make her say it out loud.
I would probably be inclined to walk her to her car. Yes, the lady was inappropriate and extremely rude. Yes, she was certainly unwise. It would have been a perfect time to display courtesy, while remaining aloof from her behavior. That’s how our side will carry the day.
I CC, it’s just easier all the way around. OC also gives the BGs more information than they deserve.
They dig in their heels, we dig in our heels, nobody wins.
Walk the lady to car and then remind her that what she feared just helped to protect her and that she should probably have second thoughts next time she wants to hate gun owners. And that an evil gun owner just helped her.
You can keep your values and not be an a$$ at the same time. No reason why you need to stoop to their level. We win by showing them we are better than they are.
This.
I’m a bit surprised at the bitter “that’ll teach her” attitude. Men are made to be protectors, to lay down our lives for those who need protection.
On a semi-related note, I wonder how cops put up with all of the ungrateful, negative attitude from the public? I’m not talking about the jack-booted thugs, I’m talking about the decent, hard-working ones. Or for that matter, firefighters and paramedics. They don’t seem to have a problem putting their lives at risk for the ungrateful public.
I’d suggest that humility and chivalry should always be the priority, even in the service of those who hate us.
So you will allow her to enjoy the benefits of the protection that she (and her group) would deny me and my family?
Sorry, actions have consequences, and I believe life is the best teacher (if you survive to “graduate” to the next level of knowledge). If you think she is suddenly going to “see the light”, you’re more deluded than most MDA members. You have to be open-minded to learn, which means she is NEVER going to get an epiphany from an “evil” gun owner.
There is a reason we have the old saying about “a conservative is a liberal who has been mugged”; it takes a life-changing event to open the eyes of people like this. Remove the event, and you remove their chance to grow and learn.
Shame on you for holding them back!
So, if the drugged-out loser decided to rape and beat her right there, in front of you, I presume by your tone and contempt that you would just stand there and watch, with a smug smile indicating that she deserves what she gets because you won’t allow her to enjoy the benefits of the protection that she (and her group) would deny [you] and [your] family?”
If you would intervene in that case, why wouldn’t you act to prevent it? You’re on a dangerous moral fence, friend.
Thats bullshit, Im sorry, but really, people like the woman in the above story are at the best, mindless pawns for the people above them. They dont want their kids to get shot in a school shooting and this is the easiest way for them to “feel” safe. I would even go out on a limb and wager tha very few people actually want civilian disarmament or even reallize that that is what these groups want. That’s why all these groups masquerade around as “Gun Safety”/”Gun Sense” groups. If people popular;y supported gun bans then it would be Every Town for Disarmed America or Moms Demand no Guns in America etc, they dont because nobody buys that. However, when we as gun owners go out of our way to be selfish assholes to someone who doesnt know any better, we hurt our cause. We give that woman a first person account that fits with the lies spun by Shannon and the Bloomberg and the pupetteers pulling the strings at the top. She can go back to her MDA meeting and talk about. Its why the organizers call them gun “buybacks” etc etc etc. This woman is more than likely blindly following the “gun safety” herd and has probably never even thought longer than 15seconds about what MDA actually stands for.
Opportunity wasted so someone could be funny… smh
Bodiddly says: “So, if the drugged-out loser decided to rape and beat her right there, in front of you, I presume by your tone and contempt that you would just stand there and watch,…”
And you would be wrong (again).
If you can’t tell the difference between stopping a violent crime that is already in-progress (which is probably safer to do because of the perps’ distraction, and much less likely to generate a lawsuit than the previous ambiguous circumstances), and putting yourself at risk BEFORE the circumstances DEMAND a potentially lethal response (which might allow them to stage an attack that you cannot stop/win), well, I probably can’t help you.
Maybe you ought to work on that.
“Bodiddly says: “So, if the drugged-out loser decided to rape and beat her right there, in front of you, I presume by your tone and contempt that you would just stand there and watch,…”
And you would be wrong (again).
If you can’t tell the difference between stopping a violent crime that is already in-progress (which is probably safer to do because of the perps’ distraction, and much less likely to generate a lawsuit than the previous ambiguous circumstances), and putting yourself at risk BEFORE the circumstances DEMAND a potentially lethal response (which might allow them to stage an attack that you cannot stop/win), well, I probably can’t help you.
Maybe you ought to work on that.”
I understand the difference. My point is: if she’s worth protecting, she’s worth protecting. And I would argue that there is LESS risk in trying to prevent a possible attack, than in intervening in an already violent encounter. Unknown risk versus high risk.
I appreciate your sentiment.
However, I value highly my family’s needs and feelings – who don’t need my paycheck but tell me they need *me* – and, frankly, my own future contributions to society.
That has to balance against the probability of death, injury, or problems trying to save someone else.
If in this situation the woman hadn’t demonized me first, and I didn’t know her from Eve, likely I would have walked her to her car. Most humans start with a baseline net worth above zero in my book, when I first meet them.
As it is, she would have dropped that into the negative category fairly deeply via the unprovoked rant. I’d need something indicating she’s worth saving – an apology, perhaps. That said, I would likely watch from my car to see what happened, and intervened if indeed she needed help. But that’s a serious escalation from “I’m scared.”
I don’t mean this to be a provocation, nor an insult:
If it would be worth intervening if the guy attacked her, why wouldn’t it be worth preventing the same from happening?
We (I include myself) spend an awful lot of time trying to demonstrate that somebody is contemptible (i.e. beneath us), while at the same time trying to morally elevate ourselves (i.e. would protect her if attacked). I submit that these two are incompatible. If you’re not willing to watch her die at the hands of a criminal, then she is worth protecting.
Bodiddly: I take your question neither as a provocation nor an attack.
Simply, for me the world has many shades of gray, not everything is black and white; but there are some hard lines. I am less “responsive” to an insult than to a shove, and less to a shove than to a punch, when I am the target, for instance.
In this case, I have no obligation nor moral imperative to assuage the woman’s fear. Our relationship was defined – by her – as a hostile and derisive one, and as pointed out elsewhere I have some reason to think she could herself be a threat to me if I walk her to her car. She has alternatives to walking alone to her car: she can call 911, she can go back into the store and wait, she can ask a clerk to escort her. It’s not me or nothing; she’s given me ample reason for it to be not me. I’m avoiding a dumb person doing a dumb thing at a dumb time by not walking her.
If Shirtless the Clown does attack her, however, the situation changes from a possibility to a certainty. It’s no longer a matter of being a security blanket vs a threat, and it now is indeed me or nothing, because nobody else could likely get there in time.
In other words, I believe I have a higher / stronger obligation to intervene against an actual vs a potential threat.
Well, to borrow a bit from Dave Grossman, sheepdogs make sheep nervous. Don’t let the bleating of sheep discourage you from acting honorably.
With that said, the gentleman in the story certainly had no obligation to provide this service. It was his right to refuse. I am in a different situation. Working in healthcare security, I have to routinely put myself in harm’s way to protect people I don’t necessarily care for.
Security personnel are not on the highest rungs of the healthcare caste system, so we can tend to be overlooked and ignored…until we are needed. The public doesn’t understand our role (they either think we are police or Paul Blart; people don’t have much understanding of private protective services), which is not surprising. But our own co-workers aren’t much better. But you better be there when someone gets violent. You better take the lead in a (non-clinical) emergency. And by god, you better be there at the end of the shift to drive Nurse Cranky, BSN, to her car (promptly!) or much pissing and moaning will ensue. When something goes wrong, we are also convenient targets for nurses looking to shift blame onto people who they deem less important to the medical center’s mission.
So why do we continue to put ourselves between the hostile drunk (or psychotic, or random criminal suspect, etc) and the people who sometimes think they are better than us. Well, for one, we’ll get fired if we don’t. But it’s more than that. Speaking for myself, I do it because I am a protection professional and that’s just what I do. I take pride in dealing with situations and people that others are afraid of. Unlike many people, I don’t freeze (or overreact) in the face of human aggression.
So, unlike the man in the story, I have a contractual obligation to do what I do. You don’t HAVE to defend people–including annoying, elitist people–like I do. But, if you have the training and the mindset to deal with threats, maybe you should do it anyway. Maybe you should do it as a service to society. After all, the threat may move onto other innocent (and less annoying) people. But it is all up to you.
I would say that many people do not have the verbal skill-set and attitudes that you possess, and therefore could not do what needs to be done. Maybe you don’t realize how rare this is, especially when it comes to folks in your position?
I will now take the time to thank you for what you do. As far as I am concerned, people like you are just as valuable to our country than our military forces, and that’s coming from a retired military guy.
Thanks for all you do.
DJ9–
Thank you for your kind words. Most of what I do does involve verbal skills (reducing tension in the hospital in general and using specific verbal de-escalation techniques when we are dealing with an aggressive person). We are usually quite successful and we keep the physical interventions to a minimum. After all, who wants to be wading in to strikes and rolling on the floor all of the time (not me!). Thank you for your service as well.
I respect your point of view, based on your experience, sir, and applaud you for it. Me? Miss MDA would have been on her own after trashing me like that. If her ass wouldn’t cover the check her mouth made, she should have kept it shut, because I surely wasn’t gonna use my ass to cover it.
sigh
Where does this insane idea that men exist to serve women and should always be submissive come from? Is it just a desperate attempt to win female approval in hopes of getting laid? Because I can tell you, that doesn’t work and all you do is further the entitlement mentality of women like her.
+1
The Warrior Creed
by Robert L. Humphrey
(Marine Rifle Platoon Commander on Iwo Jima & Bujinkan 10th Dan)
Wherever I go,
everyone is a little bit safer because I am there.
Wherever I am,
anyone in need has a friend.
Whenever I return home,
everyone is happy I am there.
—
Robert L. Humphrey
1923 -1997
She doesn’t have a phobia. She has an agenda. An agenda that has killed many more people than all the individual crime in in the last 100 years. That is what happens to a disarmed populous. If MDA chooses to be on the side of the enemy, then leave them there. I’m not going to be the one to assault her or any other grabber, but I’ll be damned if I fight for their side.
In that situation, the anti would be SOL.
I don’t believe the story myself, to well written with so many details that explain things,as a Lier operates from the position of being doubted and often adds them.
To perfect of a storm ,not only did a woman complain about the gun,she was wearing a MDA t shirt ! Oh and who pays cash at a gas station?
It reads like a shorty story, we got a hero,women in distress who we don’t care for,a villain complete with tattoos ,yelling threats, a choice the he to struggles with making,and a slam dunk ending leaving gun guys cheering !
I look forward to other works of fiction from him.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks this story is made up.
I had the same thought. The story is a little too perfect. I might have believed it if she wasn’t wearing the MDA shirt.
You are probably right, but I pay cash at the gas station. Too many ‘security breaches’ these days. My money’s safer in my pocket than trusting strangers with my credit/debit card number. That and I kind of prefer corporations and government to be clueless about how I spend my money. I’m sure I’m not the only one.
You may be right, but he didn’t say he was paying cash. He went in to pre-pay. There are still lots of older stations that don’t have pay-at-the-pump and require you to pay in advance inside the store.
It’s a brand new QT. I’ve bought gas there many times. Very clean, well-lit, accept all major credit/debit cards.
The story seems highly suspicious to me too.
Um. I pay with money at a gas station. At some stations, it’s usually cheaper than using plastic here in the Charlotte, NC area.
Same here.
Not only do I think he may have missed an opportunity, he may have fallen into a trap. Now, the next time some pro-gunner says, I carry to defend myself and others from bad guys, she will say, not without some reason, don’t talk about “others”, you’re selfish and uncaring like that guy that wouldn’t even walk me to my car. Besides, you can be decent to someone and help them out without necessarily expecting a change of heart on their part in exchange.
She would NEVER say something like that in public, because it would reveal the weakness of their cause, and her personal weakness of needing protection from an armed member of the group she despises.
Even if the original story is fiction, this type of response is much farther down the rabbit hole.
Just. Not. Gonna. Happen.
She was just a dope with a shirt, a filter most likely. What you say is certainly true for the leaders like Watts and Bloomberg, but not necessarily true for all their followers. Even if you can’t win over our even affect the individual in front of you, if you’re open carrying, you’re advertising for all gun owners whether you want to or not. “Kill ’em with kindness” is probably going to be the best course of action.
It may not have been an opportunity to put a crack in an antis’ beliefs, but it might have been. The only way to size those opportunities is to treat every potential situation as if it is such an opportunity.
She absolutely deserved his words though.
There is a reason we have the old saying about “a conservative is a liberal who has been mugged”; it takes a life-changing event to open the eyes of people like this. Remove the event, and you remove their chance to grow and learn.
Shame on you for holding them back by showing kindness!
Not without a talk first. An apology would be helpful.
No, I wouldn’t walk her to her car. I’m not armed to make an entitled imbecile feel better. It’s a different story if the punk threatens her, but otherwise she can contemplate her various beliefs while she shakes in her boots.
Maybe that MDA idiot’s eyes were opened up a bit that day.
-D
His comment gave her reason to keep them closed. Don’t get me wrong, I would have probably said something similar, but I’d have to kick myself after for a missed opportunity.
I wouldn’t want to, and there would be a spirited debate between the angel and devil on my shoulders, but I would do it.
I don’t want to be a Navy SEAL or a SWAT cop or a vigilante. I don’t even want to be in a lawful DGU, truth be told. However, I do buy into the three part paradigm, in broad terms, anyway, that society is divided between wolves, sheep, and shepherds. I’m not a wolf or a sheep, so I’d have to do it.
It must be getting cold there. Dean is contrastingly stepping outside of his normal garb above:
http://i.imgur.com/z146jUX.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/FRSCvrN.png
Thank god it ain’t that pith helmet.
My take: “I would be glad to walk you to your car if you promise me you’ll rethink your position on guns.”
In the moment I’d have probably said something similar to what the author said, though.
With family members that are class-3 disarmenters (is that how we’re to use that term?) I’d be remiss not to walk her to her car.
In the grand scheme of things, we carry to protect ourselves, our family, and the general public. She may be a hate-filled, argumentative, confrontational, gun-grabbing ninny, but she’s still human. She is someone’s mother, sister, spouse, daughter, friend. And I will not give up my humanity because I disagree with her.
Yes. I’d walk her to her car. I’d smile. I’d engage her in conversation. I would display that humanity which she denigrated. And I’d invite her to a gun class.
So you will allow her to enjoy the benefits of the protection that she (and her group) would deny us and our families?
Sorry, actions have consequences, and I believe life is the best teacher (if you survive to “graduate” to the next level of knowledge). If you think she is suddenly going to “see the light”, you’re mistaken. You have to be open-minded to learn, which means she is NEVER going to get an epiphany from an evil gun owner.
There is a reason we have the old saying about “a conservative is a liberal who has been mugged”; it takes a life-changing event to open the eyes of people like this. Remove the event, and you remove their chance to grow and learn.
Shame on you for holding them back by showing kindness!
I was raised by men that taught me that the strong protect the weak. Men defend women. I cannot legally carry a gun(Alameda county CA) and I have stepped up to assist total strangers.
I cannot believe that a man that is legally allowed to and is carrying a gun who doesn’t help those in need is anything but a coward. We talk about not needing cops on this site quite a bit. Proof that we do need the cops is all the cowardly “You reap what you sew” comments being made here.
Turn in your man cards. The feminists have apparently succeeded and immasculated you.
I don’t need a card to tell me I’m a man, and my duty to protect others, ends with my wife, and kid. I couldn’t bring myself to help someone that is trying their best to deprive my family, and I of the very thing they are asking me for. I guess it is a good thing there are “better men” than me.
RT, hopefully your wife and kid will never need protecting or help when you’re not around. But if they do, I hope there’s a man there that’s willing to get involved. For their sake.
The woman insulted and slandered him, and made it clear that her intent is to disarm him through mildly terroristic threats and demonstrations. It is not a code of manhood to defend those that attack you.
Actually, it is THE code of manhood to defend those who denigrate you.
That code was articulated and lived out by none other than Jesus Christ.
Christ didn’t define manhood. He defined meekness. And not everyone is christian and values meekness.
Boo hoo. She hurt your feelings. Point proven.
jwm says: “Turn in your man cards. The feminists have apparently succeeded and immasculated you.”
A coward? Really? Me, one of the people who volunteered a large chunk of their life to defend this country and its residents from all enemies, foreign and domestic?
I’d say the person who is voluntarily convinced to do the bidding of the feminists and other misguided souls, so they can enjoy the benefits of on-the-spot personal protection without paying any of the costs, is the one who has been emasculated and enslaved.
May your chains rest lightly on your shoulders.
DJ9, I thank you for your selfless service to our country.
I would ask you to consider that you fought not for those who could and would fight for themselves, but for those who could not and would not. Consider those in Congress who voted to send you, and who appropriated funds to send you. If you consider them any more worthy of your sacrifice than the (admittedly hostile and irrational) woman at the gas station…
Yes, I did fight for everyone. But call me crazy, the situation and my feelings might change when it’s an individual who verbally “spits in my face” just prior to begging for help. She would still get my protection if the situation went bad and an assault actually started, but she would NOT get to enjoy the peace of mind and deterrent effect of the firearm and owner that she had just been demonizing.
To do anything else is to enslave yourself to their wishes, irrational feelings, and defective attitudes; and that, I will not do.
There is a reason we have the old saying about “a conservative is a liberal who has been mugged”; it often takes a life-changing event to open the eyes of people like this. Remove the event, and you remove their chance to grow and learn. And eventually, join our side.
What defines a man? Is it that he respond to insults with contempt? What kind of man do you want to emulate, the kind who seeks to serve himself and his own interests, or the man who is willing to put aside his own interests, and act in defense of the weak?
At the very least, consider how the story will be used against us (gun owners). Had he helped the woman, and been kind and polite, then MDA and their followers could have said nothing.
As I said above, she would benefit from my defense if the situation went bad.
However, she will NOT benefit from the deterrence effect and peace-of-mind of my gun and me being a gun owner due to her own laziness/stupidity of “farming out” her on-the-spot personal defense to armed (or large manly) bystanders, or the police. To do any different is to be an enabler (and supporter) of MDA’s defective positions and irrational attitudes.
And exactly what makes you think MDA wouldn’t lie about this, just like they lie about gun owners right now? I eagerly await your examples or any other support for this wild “theory.”
@DJ9: Good point about enabling.
Yes, you. I was also a volunteer and did the tour of the bad places. The difference between me and you is that I learned at an early age from good men that the strong protect the weak. May your cowardice rest lightly with you.
I would “protect” her from criminal violence, if things actually went bad.
But up to that moment, I would NOT allow her to relax and benefit from the deterrence effect of me or my pistol after speaking poorly of me and it.
Learn the difference, grasshopper; it may be important to you one day.
I think you’re confusing refusal to aid the enemy with emasculation.
I would have walked her to the car. With a bit of a sermon, but I would have.
That would not have made her safe. Stay between her and the threat (potential threat, that is) and keep alert. Walking her to the car does nothing in itself that he can’t do better without walking next to her. It just makes her “feel” better. Why should he care how she “feels?” She didn’t care about his feeilngs a few minutes earlier.
My only thought would be that, when does it actually become “those in need” and not those who are uncomfortable?
Screw that white knight BS, feminist cultural marxists have made their bed, let them lie in it. Stop being a lackey to feminism.
Modern feminist women (and their betafied enabler manginess) are poison, let them rot. And frankly, at this point, no woman below the age of 70 deserves the benefit of the doubt when it comes to being feminist shrikes.
What feminists fear the most is the possibility that one day men will demand gender equality.
She wanted to “feel” safe by not seeing a gun. Then she wanted to “feel” safe by having an armed man next to her. Seems to me she should be doing more thinking and less feeling.
You don’t protect someone with your gun by walking with them. It’s a stand off weapon and proximity to a target just makes you also a target.
Hells No.
“that my big, bad SigSauer made her nervous, how did she know I wasn’t going to shoot everybody in the joint,”
She isn’t scared of the gun or the guy with the gun or else she would not have confronted him. She knew the OC’er was not threat to her.
She was scared of the shirtless lunatic and she didn’t confront the tatted dope head because she saw him as real danger.
Besides if she is that committed to the anti-gun cause, then she is already at least partially unhinged and is someone from which I would stay very far away. An anti-gun voter is a pro-gun voter that hasn’t been mugged. Social liberals tend to believe in evolution and natural selection. The way I see is if she chooses to be in that part of town with no protection for herself, then that is just natural selection at work.
If the OC’er knew this was a bad part of town and saw three men of questionable motive moving about the location, why the hell did he stop there? Was he was coasting in on fumes? That would be poor planning on his part. Being alert to possible danger is good; not putting yourself in that position is much better.
Possibly. I’ve never been in this situation.
I think I’d ask her first why I should do so, given she just finished demonizing me I inside the store.
If she apologized, and / or showed anything like realization of how hypocritical she was being, then I think I would.
If the rant started up again, then I’d probably politely suggest that she ask the store personnel to deal with the situation, since after all it’s their place of employment and, presumably, their job to deal with it.
I tend to operate under the rule that no good deed goes unpunished in such situations. I can see getting arrested as a kidnapper by escorting the lady to her car if an unknowing witness (another “demanding mom” for instance) sees me as a threat to her friend. My response would probably be, “You should call 911 and wait for a police officer, have a nice day”. And I would say it as sincerely as possible. Had she not ranted directly at me when I arrived, I would probably escort her. Why the difference? The rant shows she has a much more deep seated agenda than just picketing with a sign and that puts me at more risk.
After thinking about this a few minutes, the whole incident comes under avoiding stupid people doing stupid things in stupid places, and avoiding winning stupid prizes, so maybe his response was best after all.
Obvious bullshit story is obvious. Come on.
Treating this story as the hypothetical that it actually is, the answer is: of course, unless you’re a total asshole.
Yep, file this one under “That happened”
Sub-heading “That Happened” right under “Another Gun Owner Becomes own Worst Enemy.”
Comments here no less cringeworthy than the original tall tale.
Yep. This is obviously bullshit, and I’m a bit embarrassed the website would publish it.
I carry a firearm to protect my life and the lives of my loved ones. On select occasions, I may act in defense of others (e.g., terrorist attack,) but otherwise, I’d be inclined to decline such a request from a complete stranger.
It’s nothing personal. That may make me an asshole in the eyes of some; that is a judgment that I am prepared to live with.
NO. I have been accused of being RACIST because I thought Barry Soetoro was the WORST president EVER. And shortly after this same (older acquaintance who is black) woman asked me to help her get in senior high rise in her crappy neighborhood. Without getting mugged. I’m not looking to convert the enemy of my freedom. Let this woman call the PO-leece. Yep I’m a courteous OFWG who protects women, loves children and generally gives people the benefit of the doubt. I also believe this story is TRUE. YMMV
I’m sorry but if someone can change their attitude so quickly then could you depend on her to be accurate when giving information to the police if things had gotten heated with that group?
There are no atheists in foxholes, there are no feminists when confronted with physical harm.
Bunch of hypocritical harpies, let reality beat some sense into ’em.
Fate is never without a sense of irony. The poster was wrong imo. Don’t abandon a fellow human being genuinely asking for help. Don’t use the situation trying to convert them.
You do it because it’s the right thing to do. She will make up her mind on her own. Had you refused and she walked to her car, you hear her scream, a familiar pop of a small caliber pistol, then see them run off…you will never be able to live down that through your inaction and spite, another fellow human being is dead or permanently scarred.
Just do the right thing. Honor is all we have that truly matters.
One of the better responses to the thread even if I dont 100% agree.
And if the “pop of the small-caliber pistol” happens behind your right ear, as the other two thugs distract you? And YOU are the one that ends up dead? And YOUR family is the one that no longer has a breadwinner, or a father/mother, or husband/wife?
And on top of everything else, MDA trumpets the situation as more proof that carrying a firearm doesn’t make a person safe? Uses your death as a prop to enable and support their defective attitudes? As they often do, they dance in your blood, and celebrate your death as another helpful step along their path to universal disarmament?
I think this alternate version of events is more likely than your proposed scenario, given the way MDA has acted in the past. Don’t mistake “protection from actual assault” with “enjoying the deterrence effect of my pistol and my armed presence”; the two are not interchangeable. I WILL protect a person; I will NOT enable their defective position on gun possession/rights by allowing them to enjoy my protection in advance of an actual assault.
So be it. If I worried about all the things that could go wrong, I would never leave my apartment. The only thing you can control in this world is what you put out into it. If you truly act in the way you typed that response, I feel very bad for the anger and vengeance you keep. Until a fellow human being commits a crime in my presence (common law, not statutory) I am there to help. If their life is at risk, I will do what I can to avoid the loss. I will judge each situation in real time and respond appropriately, but I will not throw my life away playing hero. I hope you can come to terms with how you feel, and one day make somebody’s life better or longer because of it.
You need to read that last line of mine again. I clearly said I would protect her, if it came down to that. What I would NOT do is allow her to use me as a tool to comfort her (at this point, imagined) fears after she had just ranted about the horrors of my being armed.
If you read the scenario closely, she was NOT in any immediate danger; she was just fearing the drugged-up psycho more than she was fearing the gun carrier and his gun. As soon as she locked her vehicle door, I’d bet that the disdain for the gun carrier would return with a vengeance, and there might not even be any thanks for the escort or the unspoken willingness to insert himself between her and any danger, real or perceived.
You want to act the part of a tool, used and then discarded as soon as it is convenient for the tool-user? Go for it.
I’ll stand ready to help, but I will NOT enable her poor choice that got her into this situation in the first place by comforting her with my armed presence so she can later continue on down this irrational path.
Without question I would have walked her to her car. Even if it doesn’t sway her opinion, how would I feel (or you) if she was attacked when I had an opportunity to provide a deterrent to her being attacked?
Of course, I would not let the situation end without some sort of comment like “This is why good people need guns.” Being polite and respectful, imho, does a lot more to change hearts and minds than snarky comments.
I probably would have said, “I’m sorry, but that t-shirt of yours makes me nervous. It makes you terribly scary looking! How do I know you’re not going to call 911 on me and strip me of my rights with a false police report?”
One’s typical gut reaction would probably be to say no, but what better way to show we are not the dangerous ones and convert someone merely regurgitating what they were told? Actions still speak louder than words. If you carry, especially openly, you have assumed the position of the sheep dog. We might not like the sheep but we, at times like these, can show the sheep it’s not the dog but rather the wolves that are too be feared.
Nope. I would not even considering helping. Yes I am legally armed but I am not deputized. And considering how the left turns on even their own, you could have saved bho’s life and Mother Teresa’s as well and still get screwed by some disarmament politico. F ’em. As far as defending their right to life goes, they did get my gun.
I’d respond with, “Ma’am, you just berated me for carrying a gun, and told me I’m dangerous and that I make you nervous. Why do you suddenly want me to walk you to your car?”
“No, i don’t think I’ll protect you with my irrational penis surrogate today”
We disagree yet again, Dean “ammo price CRASH” Weingarten. I’d probably do what the OP did. Maybe I’d ask the lady why she would want my help, given her previous rant and the anti-gun group she supports? If she hates law-abiding citizens with guns, this one will abide her wish and leave her alone.
I mean that I’d respect her anti-gun views and let her go, without escorting her to her car. She obviously wishes not to be around armed citizens, so I’d respect that wish.
Protect her, why?
So, I could end up shooting someone and having to deal with the possible ensuing legal ramifications, while she goes on about her gun hating, self righteous life…
Yeah, no thanks.
Another really good point, right there.
Anyone think that MDA is gonna take up a collection for your defense costs? Feed your family and pay your bills while you await and prepare for trial?
Me neither.
I feels it is the biggest factor, but nobody seems to really be talking about it…
If you were laid up in the hospital or in jail from an altercation that was the direct result of you protecting this woman, would she be there for you when you needed her?
I think the answer is no. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if she testified against you.
“In the grand scheme of things, we carry to protect ourselves, our family, and the general public. ”
I’m going to get flamed for this.
I’m not armed to protect the general public. There are people that get paid to do that. I’m not one of them.
” I cannot believe that a man that is legally allowed to and is carrying a gun who doesn’t help those in need is anything but a coward.”
I’ll go out on a limb and say “better to be a live coward, than a dead hero” for someone that I don’t know and hates me. I prefer to be a good witness UNLESS I have no choice. It’s the “death or great bodily
harm” that may prompt me to act to aid a complete stranger.
I want to go home to my family and life, just like everyone else.
“Only if you take off that shirt first!”
AND to those who condemn me or the author I WILL NOT defend your right to say whatever you want. Where did that cliche come from? This obnoxious woman is responsible for the venom she spews.
I think that cliche came from the first amendment. If you are not defending other people’s right to say anything; they why should anyone defend your right to the first or second amendment.
You either take the good with the bad, or take none of it.
Have fun defending gals like this. My interpretation of the 1st amendment is YOU are responsible for your own speech. I don’t defend blasphemy, racism, Muslims who want to kill me, democrats who want to take away my rights or the government who taxes me to death. First time on here andy? Surprised all of us 2A folks aren’t lock-step in agreement?
sorry, but my pistol is there for my protection and the protection of my family. I might be inclined to help like minded people, but I might not. Certainly not inclined to serve and protect those who have abdicated their right to self preservation.
To refuse would be ungentlemanly.
I would have walked her to her car and bid her farewell.
She made her bed she can lay in it.
I’m not a security guard. She couldn’t pay my fee for “Executive Protection.”
As you speak, so shall you reap.
Sounds made-up. Like Readers Digest comments. No police report? Too perfect of a story. Sorry
One more thing to keep in mind.
A conservative is a liberal who has been mugged.
I’ll leave it at that.
Didn’t read all the comments, but put me in the wrong-answer column. I’ve seen my share of hopped-up dumbasses; from the facts presented, the threat level here was just barely measurable. Meanwhile, our intrepid OCer, deciding to take the low road and be a jerk, threw away an opportunity to replace the soccer mom’s propaganda-based impression of gun owners with a picture-perfect real life one. Heckuva job, Brownie.
Then because you may have missed this, above, I’ll repeat it here.
So you will allow her to enjoy the benefits of the protection that she (and her group) would deny us and our families?
Sorry, actions have consequences, and I believe life is the best teacher (if you survive to “graduate” to the next level of knowledge). If you think she is suddenly going to “see the light”, you’re more deluded than most MDA members. You have to be open-minded to learn, which means she is NEVER going to get an epiphany from an evil gun owner.
There is a reason we have the old saying about “a conservative is a liberal who has been mugged”; it takes a life-changing event to open the eyes of people like this. Remove the event, and you remove their chance to grow and learn.
Shame on you for holding them back by showing kindness!
You have the same problem as the MDA mom–you’re reacting to what you read on the Internet. If we all did that, the civil war would start tomorrow. But in real life, there is more to people than their politics on some particular issue. Yes, she was a jerk to the OCer. He still had a choice of being petty or being the bigger man. He chose petty and I disapprove.
The critical fact is that in spite of her intemperate words a moment earlier, _she asked him for help_. That means she didn’t quite believe all her BS to begin with. That thirty seconds of walking, even if he just kept his mouth shut the whole time, might have made all the difference in her views, those of her family, friends, etc.
Instead, in all likelihood she walked away thinking damn, those guys really are assholes just like Shannon says.
Yep, just like I said above, you’re more deluded than most MDA members.
All her request meant was, temporarily, her fear of being assaulted overcame her fear of the gun carrier. It does NOT mean that once the overriding fear dissipates, that she would rearrange her entire way of thinking/feeling about guns.
And if she DID suddenly realize the value of a firearm, that would not be changed by the gun carrier’s attitude, now would it?
I would have walked her to the car, probably.
I think I would have said to her “Go in the Ladies room, turn that offense shirt inside out and I’ll be glad to protect you with my legal weapon.”
*Exactly*
As she turns her shirt out in the washroom, it will force her to make the association of her message with her now admitted vulnerability
As you get to her car ask her what her opinion was now of that evil gun of yours…
The acrimony, hate and calls for violence against gun owners by Moms Demand Action supporters made my decision about helping any of their members if they are being victimized by a criminal. I wont help them, even if one of their members was getting sexually assaulted. them, far as I`m concerned they can go straight to hell. MDA is so focused on criminalizing lawful citizens they don`t even see who the real enemy is.
SO many different perspectives.
Hasn’t the MDA and anti-gun groups already dug in their heels?
What line in the sand do they have to cross?
Before I walk you over to your car, Let me introduce my self ma’am. My name is Terry. What your name? Well it’s a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Shannon Watts. Shall we get you to your car safely now. You know it can be like an open air mental institution around here sometimes. Ones gotta do what ones gotta do to be safe in these parts. Here is you car ma’am. You take care.
I know this would never happen because she has body guards paid for by her employer. But then again no job last forever.
Abandon her to the wolves that she would have us all be prey to if she had her wishes.
The way I was raised would compel me to escort her. When we got to her car I would open the door. After she is safely in I would calmly point out that the gun that scared her in the station is the same gun that made her feel safe when walking to her car. Point out that guns, like all things can be used for good or bad; its not the gun, it’s the people that can be evil. Don’t assume that because someone is carrying a gun they are bad. Have a nice day. At least you’d give her something to think about.
If she is radical enough to wear a shirt and ridicule me for choosing to protect myself, she is radical enough to “backstab” me if I come to her rescue. Suppose I help her, and then she taunts the BG into attacking me in order to exploit the situation? I have a family to think about, and I will not knowingly risk their safety or financial security on what is most likely a no-win scenario. If she was an absolute stranger with no affiliation with an anti-second amendment group, I would gladly help, but not in the scenario above. And, I would have to be a fool to believe that she is going to have a change of heart by me escorting her around a BG.
Gladly mam….. If you’ll burn that shirt.
A variation of “Tits or GTFO”? 😀
My response, F— Off
It should never be about proving a point or making a political statement.
If you carry a gun, be the upstanding person that you are trying to pretend to be. Make sure everyone is safe; including the Mom’s Demand Action lady.
I don’t agree with her stance, but I will defend her right to have that stance. I will also defend her life as she is a human being.
I could care less if she swayed to my point of view as long as her (and children if she had any there) drove away from that situation safely. Drop the pride, speak softly, defend those who cannot (or will not) defend themselves.
Maybe it is idealistic. I don’t care.
You walk her to the car because when a woman asks a man for protection, he does.
I figure it took a lot for her to ask such a favor after that rant so I would’ve walked her to her car without rubbing any salt into her wounds.
I think it was Jon Stewart that once said, “If you don’t stick to your values when they’re being tested, they’re not values: they’re hobbies.”
Only because of the potential for a set up given how MDA types have been advocating SWATting OCers, I wouldn’t have walked with her anywhere if I wasn’t already recording the conversation. I would have, however, briefly explained why I wasn’t going to do it and offer to watch out for her from my vehicle or other neutral location. Then again, many of us carry recording devices so more than likely she would’ve been recorded requesting assistance. Under those circumstances, I would probably have complied with her request.
I would explain to her that the reason I carry is to protect myself and those around me. Then I would mention that her group would like to see that right taken away from me causing her to be left to fend for herself if they had their way. Nothing like schooling them with visual aids. (aka the druggie shirtless idiot)
The varying responses really got me to thinking about this, at least trying to objectively decide why I chose my position. I remember reading a comment Dirk posted of a similar situation a week or two ago, except it was essentially walking to this lady’s car through a bad part of town at night time instead of a gas station.
I dont honestly know if I would have retorted with anything other than some sort of quip or snarky comment, I do agree with some of those above, I know I would sit in my vehicle and ponder the alternate endings to the situation (“choose your own adventure” book style of course 🙂 ) and hope that most of them would have been positive and resulted in no harm/loss of life. Even if this story is false, I dont personally believe that, It at least serves as a catalyst to some thinking.
No. That twit doesn’t deserve my protection. I’d tell her to call 911 and wait a half hour for the cops. And I’d tell her that if calling 911 didn’t work, she should vomit and p!ss herself.
It’s a good story, but it sounds made up to me. Really, what are the odds of all the following occurring:
1. Someone is wearing a Mom’s Demand Action T-Shirt in a Quik Trip in a bad part of town;
2. Someone else happens to be open carrying there at the same time;
3. The action demanding mom berates the open carrier;
4. A threat materializes at just the right moment;
5. The mom then asks the open carrier for protection; and
6. The open carrier thinks of the perfect witty retort for the action demanding mom.
I ain’t buying it. I’m guessing some of it happened, like he was open carrying at a Quik Trip, and he named his car the Blue Bullet, but no way it all happened just like that.
The question is valid whether or not the incident occurred.
Sort of like the question of what will I do with the pot of gold I find at the end of the rainbow?
This guy holds himself out as a Christian. He should have helped the person who asked him for help.
You just commented that the story was BS and even if it was treated like a hypothetical (what would you do?) question, it’s invalid — and then you answered it.
Contradict yourself much?
No. One point is that hypothetical questions have limited value in all cases and no value in many cases. In cases like this where the hypothetical appears (at least to me) absurd on its face, answering it has little if any value. Thus, the pot of gold illustration of the point and the reason I didn’t provide an answer in my original post.
The main point I see illustrated by this scenario (hypothetical or otherwise) is that someone who holds himself out as a Christian refused to help someone who asked for help. Many teachings of Jesus illustrate the importance of helping others, particularly when you have reasons not to like the other.
Leaving her to her own has just as good a chance of making her see the light on guns and self-defense as showing her compassion and providing an escort.
That being said I most likely would have walked her to her car, after pointing out the irony, but won’t criticize anyone for doing the opposite.
This is a response to bodiddly which I couldn’t post at the spot, for some reason:
I take your question neither as insulting or provocation.
Simply put, the two situations are different.
If she were being attacked I’d intervene because (a) it was actually happening and (b) it likely would be me or nobody.
I would not walk her to her car to assuage her fear, because (a) she has other options, (b) the threat was at that point only potential, and (c) by her earlier actions and words she’s demonstrated she’s a potential threat to me. (Stupid person doing a stupid thing, etc.)
I would have walked her to her car and then said as we reached it “In case you’re still not clear, THAT kind of thing is why I carry.”
I will provide security to an anti-gun person if providing that security is necessary for my security. For example, in civil disorder situation i can’t have people breaking into an anti-gun neighbor’s house and maintain my own safety. But if I am at the scene of crime and there is a mom demanding action then she is on her own. I will not risk my life for her.
This is probably the most sensible answer.
Well, if she’s demanding some action, that meth’d up freakshow might be able to get it up and oblige her…
All you can do is be nice to people. Just help her out, smile and be polite. Is there any guarantee she’s going to do a 180 on gun control or even soften her stance a little? Probably not. But you can hold your head up high next time you see MDA threatening people with being SWATed knowing you were a good person and they were unreasonable. Maybe, just maybe, they will connect the dots, being afraid unarmed, feeling more secure in the presence of a gun. Lots of these people have been sheltered by confirmation bias. Ultimately you’ll feel bad if you decline to help and someone gets hurt.
OK after read more comments I’ve to a realization. If I’m walking down the street and see a pile of sh*t, I avoid it. I don’t intensely step in it or stop to look at it. I don’t confirm what it is, I keep going. That is how I’d treat this situation, provided, there is no imminent threat.
No. Not my job to be security, or the white knight.
My job is to protect my family, and my own health, to be able to provide for them until self-reliant.
If this MDA shirt wearing woman was ‘really’ walking around verbally challenging armed strangers,
I’d consider her a loose screw, and a risk, to be avoided. Especially while carrying.
I’d politely point her back to the store manager or cashier,
to ask them to call the cops on the loose screw guy out front.
I *might* suggest she google NRA education by certified instructors in the area,
on her smart-phone, while waiting. There’s one for women on “How not to be a victim”.
my bad…”Refuse to Be a Victim”
http://refuse.nra.org/
Walk the lady to her car. My morals and values stay intac to regardless of the anxious of other. That and to do otherwise is to contradict the very reason you carry in the first place; to defend yourself and others. Spiteful ness does nothing for our cause or for other perception of us.
Children respond with comebacks. Men respond with respect and right action. My $0.02
I don’t carry to defend others; I carry to defend myself, my kids and grandkids. I don’t carry to defend someone else’s money or random strangers. And I certainly don’t carry to protect some strident harpy.
Sounds like a setup. She was probably so fixated on the OCer’s gun that she may not even have noticed the actual danger from the thugs. She was probably trying to get him into a compromising position so she could SWAT him.
Somebody really should call 911 here. That said…
There have been plenty of times in my life when someone who has treated me badly in the past found himself needing my help. You can do the right thing and help someone, or you can use it as an opportunity for revenge. I admit that at various times I have chosen the latter option.
Vengeful or uncaring behavior has never given me any sense of accomplishment. It has left me feeling empty and regretful. Probably my Christian upbringing.
Yes, there are sometimes risks involved in helping people, and they don’t always show the gratitude we think we deserve. Even then, it feels better to do the right thing. To be sure, this (probably fabricated) situation presents a teachable moment. We should always try to teach by example, even when it seems the student may not be willing to learn.
If a friend asks to borrow 50 bucks, and you give it to him, then you find out he has developed a bad drug problem, is it being vengeful to say no the next time he asks for money? I say no, it is not. You are refusing to participate in him enabling his destruction, assisting in his progress down the wrong path, a path that will end up far worse than his current small problem (a lack of 50 bucks).
You make sure he sees the light, you make him aware of the consequences of his poor choice(s), and then you let him live his life. You MIGHT intervene if his life was in danger, but you don’t make it possible for him to keep living the lie and eventually destroying himself.
Same as the situation outlined above; you don’t enable the person who refuses to take charge of their own personal security. You may defend them once it is clear that their life is truly in danger, but if you make it easy and secure for them to go down the wrong path, you are hurting, not helping, them. It has nothing to do with being vengeful (well, okay, maybe just a little, but I swear, only a little…). It’s really for their own good.
Heck, if they have kids, it’s for the children! 🙂
NEXT time, no, it’s not vengeful. But FIRST time, it’s best to give people benefit of a doubt.
They had their FIRST time, as a group, a long time ago.
As I’ve said before, she’d likely GET my protection if the situation went downhill, but what she would NOT get, is a comforting, gun-bearing-butler-like escort to her vehicle. Tactically, if she became the target, I have a huge advantage as one or more of the attackers focus primarily on her. If WE are the target, that advantage goes away, and their advantage in numbers and first action will make a successful defense far less likely. Not to mention I would have a flighty, gun-shy individual trying to run and hide behind me while I am trying to act; not a recipe for success.
Open Carry just doesn’t seem smart to me. You’ll always be the first target (I’d rather at least be the second target so I can protect the 3rd, 4th, etc.) no matter if you’re dealing with a gun control idiot or an aggressive guy looking to hurt people.
I doubt the veracity of the story as well. If she was actually in danger, I’m guessing he would’ve escorted her. I’d escort Hillary Clinton if she were actually in danger and I didn’t have the time to fully consider my actions – its natural instinct in good people (if I had a second to think about it, maybe not). If she wasn’t in danger, her natural instinct would be to avoid controversy and that includes the open-carry guy who she sees as a threat to her world. She would’ve walked to the car or avoided going in at all. Sounds like a good story to tell that doesn’t fit well in reality. I’m from Charlotte, and was on that very stretch of road earlier today coming back from the airport, and I call B.S.
Hey, that’s the world-famous Triple-T truck stop!
Story is obvious BS, but I’d say to the lady “Go on, I’ll cover you!” and make crazy eyes.
I’m sure this is a true story lol. She just happened to be wearing that shirt, you just happened to saunter in with your gun, and there just happened to be a crazy shirtless tattooed guy. Sureeeeeeeeeeeeee. And she then asked you to escort her. yeah I am sure that happened. And who the hell uses the word latrine…
Yeah, dunno if I buy the story.
Ain’t nobody actually owns and wears a MDA shirt. I’m pretty sure there’s only 10 shirts, and they hand them out and give them back at the end of each “rally.” Gotta save that Bloomberg money for jet fuel!
But, to the real question Dean is asking here, I’m afraid the answer has to be yes for me as well. Especially if she had kids with her. Of course, if it had been me, my sidearm would’ve been covered, so I doubt this hypothetical situation would’ve applied. I would’ve had a difficult time leaving a place where people were potentially in danger, so it might have been worth sitting in the car for a minute to see that those poor urban yoots didn’t trail mommy out of the store with trouble on their minds, but truthfully there would’ve been no “teaching moment,” no chance for a zinger to exit on, it would’ve been just another orange moment in a regular condition yellow kinda day.
But sorry, even if she’s got nothing in mind for me and mine but to piss all over my rights, she doesn’t deserve to be hurt or killed just because she’s ignorant. I couldn’t just drive by if I saw her on the side of the road with a flat tire, either. I was raised better than that.
I would have walked her to her car with a smile. Maybe changed a mind. If not, just the humiliation of having to ask after a rant like that would have been reward enough without actually willingly putting a woman at risk of actual harm.
I would have glare at her, then nodded yes and VERY SLOWY walked her to her car. I would use that opportunity to reaffirm my right to carry, the fact that I never felt unsafe in the store, and the fact that the presence of a firearm on a good guy made her feel safe. I would then ask he if she would like to go to the local range and try shooting one. (was she good looking?)
I would not have cared what she said. I behave the way I think I should behave.
Well I certainly wouldn’t let harm come to another person if I had the ability to stop it; even if they disagreed with me.
Seriously. The fact that this is even open to debate is pretty damn sad. Yes, you walk her to her car. Yes, you vocalize before you leave the store, in a moderately loud voice, that “Yes, of course I will walk you to your car.” (Nothing wrong with a little CYA). But .. seriously? Are we humans? Or are we the animals that the agressive hyper-left makes us out to be?
Do you want to know who you are? Act, don’t ask. Your actions delineate and define you. *Thomas Jefferson*
Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly. *Plato*
Do not do to others what angers you if done to you by others. *Socrates
My only concession would be to advise her to wait until the potential threat goes away. Your first line of defense is avoidance whether you are armed or not.
It all depends. How far away is the car? I hate walking.
Guess I’m old school and feel that you get what you invest in.
She has no right to protection anymore than anyone else has any rights. Just ask the politicians. They’ll lie …
It isn’t a matter of rights anymore, they are just trying to organize the order of removal. Who first, gun owners. Second, reporters, then conservatives, then the liberals.
Again how much do we put up with? After all Income Tax was a temporary measure too, and we all can see how that worked out.
I wouldn’t walk her to her car, but I would tell her that I will keep an eye on her and make sure they didn’t hurt her. I carry for my protection and others. If I exclude the “others”, any of the “others” then I am like them. I like me just fine as I am 😉
No. Tell her she should stick with her beliefs and count on the wonders of a disarmed public with a police state to demonstrate its effectiveness. Yeah, this story seems a bit bogus.
Out of all the gas stations on the trip, why refuel at one that is in a “sketchy” neighborhood? Do stupid things in stupid places, win stupid prizes.
I have to agree with Indiana Tom. Several years ago (a couple of decades, now that I think about it…wow), a friend of mine who is a firearms enthusiast got me interested in firearms. One of the big things always emphasized by him, as well as many firearms and other self-defense experts I have read in the intervening period, is the necessity of being aware of one’s environment and making choices which alleviate the need to defend oneself or others, such as avoiding dark alleys and “sketchy” neighborhoods. It seems to me that this wisdom would have helped Southern Covenanter to avoid this situation, if it actually occurred and is not just a theoretical exercise. Hopefully he will adopt this point of view in the future and will never have to face a situation in which he actually has to use his sidearm to defend his life, or the life of someone about whom he cares, or even the life of someone who follows a different morality than his own.
Absolutely without a doubt in my mind and bid her a good day. The only way to change a persons way of thinking is to show them that their preconceived notions are WRONG.
This story seems fictional, because no one has ever worn an MDA shirt unless they were at a 5 person gathering with 10 news cameras present.
My instinct is simply to protect women, children, old folks and anyone else that might be easily preyed upon by scum like that described in the article.
I would ask for two things.
First, I’d record her on my phone asking me for an escort, while wearing the MDA shirt. This would be non-negotiable as legal protection should this idiot try to SWAT me or make some other false allegation.
Second, I’d ask her to go to the bathroom and turn her shirt inside out. I’d still escort her if she didn’t do this, but I’d certainly ask.
Honestly, I would’ve walked her to her car. It’s the exact opposite of what people like her expect. They think we’re all crazed, deranged, dangerous, etc. So the opposite would have been better than saying “go screw yourself”, in my opinion. I like being nice when people expect the opposite, it screws with their heads. It’s fun to watch them struggle with what to say next. It worked when I got picked on by bigger kids in school. I’d laugh at their insults right along with them. Sure, sometimes it made them think I was dumber than they thought, but regardless, they still didn’t know what to say or do. They were hoping I’d either fight them or run away, but I did neither, and it really messed with them.
The way I see it, it’s taking the high road. Instead of stooping to their level when they start shooting their mouths, tell them why you own guns. Tell them why you carry. Tell them you value human life, and will protect it from those that don’t, even if the life you’re protecting is against your beliefs. My neighbor is one of those “ZOMG BAN ALL GUNS NOW” people. But if his life was in danger, I’d protect it in a heartbeat.
My wife, on the other hand, would have said A LOT more to that woman than just “your loud mouth should keep you safe”. She would have told her to go hide behind the loud shirtless guy, because he didn’t have a gun. No, that’s still too polite. I can’t repeat what she’d say here. I’ll leave it to your imagination. Just make sure to add lots of cuss words.
Alright, maybe I’m just revealing myself as a young’un here, but to all of you concerned that she’s going to scream “RAPE” or call the cops on you – there is something very simple you can do. It is called getting out your phone, turning on the video recording option, and getting documentation that yes, she is anti-guns, but now that there is a threat, she is realizing that having someone with a gun to protect her isn’t that bad of a thing, and that she asked you to do this and you willingly obliged. Also get verbal confirmation that in case you do need to use the gun, she will not turn around and then testify against with things like “oh well I don’t know if he really needed to kill the youths, I wouldn’t have minded giving up my wallet if it would have saved one life.”
TBH, I wouldn’t shed any tears if the leaders of the various anti-gun movements find themselves on the business end of gangland thuggery. But forcing them to confront the failures of their ideology seems like a better way of rubbing it in.
Would I walk her to her car? Only if she took off her “Moms Demand Action” t-shirt… or at least covered it up while asking her if she has seen the errors of her way, at least for a few seconds as I’m sure she would find some way to rationalize her MDA stance once safely at home.
[edited to decrease snark]
I’d walk her, just the right thing to do IMO. Might have changed her mind, might not, might change her mind some about gun owners even if she disagrees with the concept of the right. A lot of people can change on certain issues when reality jumps up and slams a brick in their face. Like the staunch anti-gun types who went to buy guns on the eve of the L.A. riots.
I agree.
I think it is very human to walk away, but what is right is right.
Nope!
The right thing to do
The Christian thing to do
The obvious thing to do
Right is right, etc.
Bull sh*t! Everyone is different and was raised with different experiences. What is “right” for one is idiotic to another. To use such a broad brush is to discount our uniqueness of experience and thought!
Get a third party to walk with. As both witness and protective assistance. Seems like the right type of common sense thing to do.
As much as it pains me to say, I would have escorted her to her vehicle. My reasoning is three fold: First, If it were my wife, I would have wanted her to be escorted even though she is terrified of guns. Second, I am a Soldier and have a responsibility to the people of this country to provide for their defense, regardless of their being a loud-mouthed brain dead liberal or not. Finally, I would not want it on my conscience if something happened to her and I was able to prevent it.
Under the circumstances, I would have. I’m from Alabama, and was just raised that way.Also, it probably irked that woman to ask for his protection. The best way to desensitize someone is to let them see oc as completely ordinary behavior. We need more opportunities like this.
Assuming arguendo that this story is true…
It is too bad that this person decided to be petty, when he could have been the bigger man and helped change this opinionated woman’s perspective on firearms owners forever.
I once used a firearm to stop a guy who was breaking into my house at ~5:30am, about twelve feet away from my breastfeeding wife and infant son. Thankfully, I was not forced to shoot him, and I am very glad that is how things turned out. Instead of shooting him or calling the police, I gave him some food and as I sent him on his way I warned him not to try anything else in my neighborhood.
“Teaching people a lesson” is best achieved through generosity and forgiveness, not bitterness and hatred. When you have a firearm, you have options, and one of those options is to get the upper hand in a potentially bad situation and then show some mercy and magnanimity to someone who doesn’t deserve it. Let’s not stop at just calling ourselves “the good guys.” Let’s act like good guys so that our adversaries cannot credibly deny it.
The selfish, schadenfreude side of me would want to let her reap what she has sown.
But the Christian side of me would almost certainly win out. Helping someone in need of help is the morally right thing to do. Will it change her views? Maybe, maybe not. But my conscience will be clear.
I think I would rather turn enemies into allies.
Yes, this woman is a fool for her stance, and a jerk for going off on the OC’er without provocation. But walking her to her car, and politely explaining to her *THIS* is why we carry… and that doesn’t she now feel a bit safer because of it… could help her see the light. Added bonus… hey, we people of the gun aren’t a bunch of crazy gun toting nuts, but considerate people who are willing to protect others. It probably had the potential to be a rather humbling experience. Rebuking her like that when she was apparently willing to eat her own words, probably didn’t win any converts.
And this was an amazing opportunity to win a convert.
you want gun owners to be percevied as the good guys?
then start acting like one.
Like millions upon millions of us do, every single day?
Yeah, that’s worked-out so well for us (as a group) in the past.
There will ALWAYS be “that guy”, who did “that one thing”, that they will be able to point to as the justification for their emotional rants and illogical positions.
And any misguided soul who thinks we could “buy” our way into the anti-gunners’ good graces just by acting nicer (defined as: “doing what they want us to do”) is displaying a level of willful ignorance and/or low mental capacity that is almost unimaginable . Are you related to Neville Chamberlain?
Good question in this article, I would say.
I reckon I would have replied exactly like the guy in the story, but I would have walked her to the car, and maybe make a little conversation with her, just for the chance to get those gears turning in her head, as some already mentioned before.
If I would have choose not to walk her to the car, I would have kept my eyes on the situation to assure myself that she get to her car safely.
Many possible variants of response on the matter, a lot of nuances, and I guess that all comes down on how you feel about it in that particular moment.
Where did you get the picture of the guy standing in front if Mr T’s???
That is in TUCSON, AZ! (Has nothing to do with the story!) I-10 X267
I would have to announced that I, a good guy with a gun, would be glad to cover her while she got in her car. No way would I have followed her or allowed her to follow me to set me up.
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