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This happened last year. I did not want to post about it at the time.
The wife and I were in New Orleans.
We went out to the French Quarter at night for dessert. We were dressed well. Because I was wearing a cashmere/wool suit jacket, I was carrying concealed out of necessity.
We were returning on a relatively well lit city street with several lanes and a trolley car track down the middle. Businesses were open. People were strolling about. It was not dark or empty.
A young black man we passed tried to attract my attention. I indicated clearly to him that I was not interested and he should back off. We continued walking. He tucked in behind us at a distance and began following. I chatted with the wife mainly as an excuse to keep track of his position in my peripheral vision, since I thought it odd he was following us. He had been standing in the same place on the sidewalk for quite a while before we passed him.
I saw him raise his hand and make a motion, looking ahead of us and to the right. I turned to look ahead and saw another young black male standing far ahead and across the street acknowledge the signal with a nod and cross the street perhaps 75 yards in front of us. He turned left on our sidewalk and began walking straight toward us. The one following behind kept his distance.
"Did you see that?" I asked the wife without explaining what I meant.
"Yes," she replied, confirming for me that it was rather obvious.
The sidewalk was very wide on this particular street (unusual for New Orleans). As the man in front closed the distance, he moved way over to his right, our left, and passed us. I watched him pass as we continued walking. He met up with the other guy who had been following. They had a brief conversation, then turned toward us and began following.
I grew slightly alarmed as I noticed that the pace with which they followed was unusually swift and nothing like the pace being used previously. Something had changed, and they were closing the distance between us rapidly.
We kept walking. I waited until they were about 10-12 feet away, my head still turned toward my wife feigning polite chattiness so that I could observe them in my vision's periphery. Their path was on a direct collision course. They showed no sign of moving left or right to pass.
I intentionally slowed my pace to close the gap a little faster than they expected. The rest happened in less than two seconds. My smart and very perceptive wife immediately moved several feet away from me, and I stopped completely and abruptly, which I hoped they also did not expect. As I was stopping, I placed my hand under my coat and obtained a firm grip on my H&K USP 45C, then turned quickly to face them, with no gun showing yet.
My intention at this point was only to issue a loud challenge, since there was no overt threat yet existing.
I did not even get to open my mouth. They took off.
I posted this tale in this section because I do not believe this would have happened at all had I been carrying openly. Carrying concealed, middle aged, dressed well with my petite wife dressed well, I probably presented the image of a clueless tourist. An easy mark. We looked like soft prey.
I have tried to describe the event as accurately as I can, but it is hard to capture what happened exactly in print. For one thing, the entire event unfolded in less time than it has taken for you to read this post.
So, what do you think? Were they intending violence? Were they collecting for the Red Cross? Did I over or under react?
The wife and I were in New Orleans.
We went out to the French Quarter at night for dessert. We were dressed well. Because I was wearing a cashmere/wool suit jacket, I was carrying concealed out of necessity.
We were returning on a relatively well lit city street with several lanes and a trolley car track down the middle. Businesses were open. People were strolling about. It was not dark or empty.
A young black man we passed tried to attract my attention. I indicated clearly to him that I was not interested and he should back off. We continued walking. He tucked in behind us at a distance and began following. I chatted with the wife mainly as an excuse to keep track of his position in my peripheral vision, since I thought it odd he was following us. He had been standing in the same place on the sidewalk for quite a while before we passed him.
I saw him raise his hand and make a motion, looking ahead of us and to the right. I turned to look ahead and saw another young black male standing far ahead and across the street acknowledge the signal with a nod and cross the street perhaps 75 yards in front of us. He turned left on our sidewalk and began walking straight toward us. The one following behind kept his distance.
"Did you see that?" I asked the wife without explaining what I meant.
"Yes," she replied, confirming for me that it was rather obvious.
The sidewalk was very wide on this particular street (unusual for New Orleans). As the man in front closed the distance, he moved way over to his right, our left, and passed us. I watched him pass as we continued walking. He met up with the other guy who had been following. They had a brief conversation, then turned toward us and began following.
I grew slightly alarmed as I noticed that the pace with which they followed was unusually swift and nothing like the pace being used previously. Something had changed, and they were closing the distance between us rapidly.
We kept walking. I waited until they were about 10-12 feet away, my head still turned toward my wife feigning polite chattiness so that I could observe them in my vision's periphery. Their path was on a direct collision course. They showed no sign of moving left or right to pass.
I intentionally slowed my pace to close the gap a little faster than they expected. The rest happened in less than two seconds. My smart and very perceptive wife immediately moved several feet away from me, and I stopped completely and abruptly, which I hoped they also did not expect. As I was stopping, I placed my hand under my coat and obtained a firm grip on my H&K USP 45C, then turned quickly to face them, with no gun showing yet.
My intention at this point was only to issue a loud challenge, since there was no overt threat yet existing.
I did not even get to open my mouth. They took off.
I posted this tale in this section because I do not believe this would have happened at all had I been carrying openly. Carrying concealed, middle aged, dressed well with my petite wife dressed well, I probably presented the image of a clueless tourist. An easy mark. We looked like soft prey.
I have tried to describe the event as accurately as I can, but it is hard to capture what happened exactly in print. For one thing, the entire event unfolded in less time than it has taken for you to read this post.
So, what do you think? Were they intending violence? Were they collecting for the Red Cross? Did I over or under react?
