Possible aborted mugging

[draconis]

I'm not completely certain, but I think three teenagers were briefly contemplating mugging me and Rhi tonight.

Emphasis on *briefly*.

We keep a bowl near the front door, and every night I dump the coins from my pockets into it. Since it had filled up tonight, we decided to take the coins up the hill to the store where they have one of those machines that totals it for you (for a small percentage) and lets you convert it into bills.

I took the voucher from the machine up to the service desk to get my money (just over $100). Once the lady had given me the bills, I went to put them into my wallet, stepping aside from the window as I did so, to let the person behind me talk to the lady at the desk.

Doing this placed me in view of the front doors, and I saw three teenage boys come in, look around, and stop for a moment by the same change machine I had just used -- although they didn't put anything into it. In the time it took me to get out my wallet, put the money into it, and return my wallet to my pocket, they had gone back outside and were standing outside the doors -- two on the left side of the doors, on one the right. They were not acting particularly aggressive or anything, but there positioning was such that if they decided to jump someone coming out of the store, they could.

Nothing happened... but I'm not sure if that's because they noticed what I was wearing (my old Kung Fu school jacket), or if they realized that Rhi and I definitely do *not* carry ourselves like victims, or if it was because one of them got treated to a look my students used to refer to as "The Sleepy Eyes of Death" .

Now I'm mostly curious whether they'd actually intended anything, or if their motions were just coincidence.

Comments

[rhi]

They came in, mucked about by the machine while watching to see what people were doing, went out and broke up into a perfect mugging position where the rain would drizzle on them... and then went back inside after we'd passed. It looked odd to me.

Realizing I am about to get smacked...

[seferin.livejournal.com]

Without your health issues, are you capable of defending yourself? No offense, but I recall the posts about your health.

Re: Realizing I am about to get smacked...

[rhi]

Oh, I can defend myself. I just can't do it without hurting them. ::shrug:: The health problems play hell with stamina, and with the time I can spend in the gym, but no, I'm not helpless.

[radarrider.livejournal.com]

Either way, you did the right thing. I'm not trained in martial arts, but I'm usually equipped for self-defense. I carry a gun. Because I carry a tool which can maim or kill I'm considerably more aware of what's going on around me. I walk with my head up, my eyes open, and my jaw set. I look around and note who is nearby. Ideally, the outcome of any potential attack is one of the following, in descending order of preference:

- I avoid the situation completely either because I spot it coming and move away, or else the way I carry myself dissuades them.
- If actually confronted, I draw my weapon and the sight of it alone is enough to dissuade them.
- In the last resort, I fire.

I hope it never comes down to the last one, and I work to ensure that it doesn't, but if it does I'm prepared to aim at center of mass and do my best to eliminate the threat. I am not shooting to kill, I'm shooting to *stop* the attack. The difference is subtle but distinct.

[jcbdragon.livejournal.com]

Even with my martial arts training, it is not unusual for me to carry either a gun, a knife, or even both. Fortunately, I've very rarely needed to use the first, and have never had to use (or even draw) the other two.

That was actually one thing that I disagreed with them about, when I took the class to get me certified to carry a concealed firearm. They kept stressing that you weren't shooting to kill this hypothetical person, you were shooting to stop them from attacking.

My personal take on it is that if you bring any sort of weapon into a confrontation, you need to be prepared for the consequences associated with the maximum possible effect that weapon can have. In most cases, that "maximum possible effect" equates to killing someone.

This is particularly true of a firearm. I am a skilled marksman, and have handled firearms of various types all my life. My father taught me how to use and care for them, and I was judged to be ready to handle a .22 rifle at age 9, and a 410-gauge shotgun a year later.

However, if I am going to point a gun at someone, I have to be willing to accept the fact that there is a very real probability that pulling that trigger will kill them, whether that is my intent or not. I might have all the good intentions in the world for doing minimal damage (shooting for an arm, leg, etc), but even then there is still a definite chance that they will die, either because I hit a major artery, or because my aim was thrown off by adrenaline reactions, or because they just happened to move the wrong way at the wrong time.

I came across another training manual that put it much better, in my opinion:

"Never point a gun at anything that you are not willing to *destroy*!" (emphasis mine)

[radarrider.livejournal.com]

Agreed. Should the situation deteriorate to the point where I feel I must fire, my goal is to stop the attack as quickly as possible. The best way to do so is to put the attacker down as quickly as possible either by massively disrupting the circulatory system (heart or major artery) or the nervous system (spinal cord or brain). I would probably fire two to center of mass and then re-evaluate. Some people advocate two to center of mass then one to the head if the first two don't do it. I'm not sure my marksmanship is good enough yet, especially under pressure, for the head shot. I certainly wouldn't try for a leg or shoulder shot.

Although my first goal is to stop the attack, I do recognize that doing so effectively has a good chance of killing the attacker. I don't want that to happen but I agree that I have to be willing to accept that it could.

I just pray I never have to put my skill and resolve to the test. And I pray that, should it come to that, I'll be able to do what I have to do.

[jcbdragon.livejournal.com]

Amen, brother.

[themouseketeer.livejournal.com]

That just made me laugh out loud. I mean, my goodness, do those guys *know* what a near escape they had??!!

In a bizarre sort of way I wish they *had* tried....but I'd have loved to have seen it!!

[jcbdragon.livejournal.com]

::laughs:: I know what you mean.

Honestly, while I'm glad that they didn't, part of me was sort of hoping they would. I had already looked them over, and knew that the most any of them could have been armed with was a pocket-knife... unpleasant to deal with, and even at my skill levels the odds are good that I would take at least one minor cut...

But what they would have had no way of knowing is how I tend to react to such things.

If someone wants to throw a punch at me, that's one thing. Simple fisticuffs, plain and straight-forward. No big deal. Even if I lose, the results are uncomfortable, but minor.

But pull a weapon on me or mine, and I start getting *pissed*.

This is going to sound egotistical as hell, but... basically, there is only a tiny percentage of the population of this planet that constitutes any significant threat to me unless they have a weapon. As a result, I don't have to go straight into the most lethal modes that I have.

But pull a weapon, and the kid gloves are not just off, they're in shreds on the floor.

Just ask that poor sod in the haunted house that managed to surprise me... the one that I didn't see until he was already in motion with his (fake) knife coming down towards Rhi's head.

In that split-second, he became a "legitimate" threat. ("Legitimate", because I didn't know in that instant that his knife wasn't real.)

In the next split-second, he very nearly lost his life for it.

Fortunately, my conscious mind caught up with my reflexes before I actually *inserted* his fake knife into his rib cage. I think the only real casualty from that encounter was the poor fellow's pants.

I don't *like* it when things happen that require me to use my training, whether armed or otherwise. On the other hand, I *very much* like knowing that when those things happen, I'm capable of dealing with it.

I guess it goes back to the two questions I ask my students whenever they tell me they've gotten into an altercation.

"Did you start it?" and the answer had better be, "No."

"Did you finish it?" and the answer had better be, "Yes."

So long as those are the honest answers, my students are unlikely to catch any retribution from me.

So long as I am confident of being able to give those answers myself, I'm content.