Take my wallet please!

[Animavore]

"...coming into my personal space like that is. They deserve any lesson they get."

Go right ahead. Not my problem. Not my civic duty either. I figure two such thugs will kill each other some day, or two young thugs gang up on a older one. In any case most of them do not live past 25.

What the fuck?! Do you think a person who has the balls to put it to a thug is also a thug?
Look, I'm trained in martial arts. If some dickhead tries mug my I'll break his arm if I have the chance. That doesn't make me a thug. It makes me an anti-thug. If he pulls a knife on me I'll bend his arm around and drive it into him and won't give a shit if he dies from the injury. People like that don't deserve their life.

In other words...

Sorry if I sound too pessimistic, but I don't see any lessons to the thug as worth my effort. They are no longer teachable, a lost cause. They will cause damage to others as long as they are alive.

Which is an excellent reason for them not to be alive.

[Tero]

Go right ahead, I did not say YOU should use my tactic. It's just that take the wallet and get the hell out of my life gets me home faster. You can do your civic duty and teach all the lessons you like.

[Seth]

Go right ahead, I did not say YOU should use my tactic. It's just that take the wallet and get the hell out of my life gets me home faster. You can do your civic duty and teach all the lessons you like.

See, that's the thing, everybody gets to make up their own mind about what to do in that situation, and few people know what they will do until that situation arises.

My objection is that there are those who would remove from me the most effective self-defense weapon yet invented and thereby preclude a choice that I may feel compelled to make in order to save my or another's life...just like Zimmerman was forced to do when Martin was trying to kill him.

I will never understand or accept the notion that the vacuous and paranoid fears of gun-haters and hoplophobes justify putting MY life in unnecessary danger by disarming me. They can toss all the wallets they like, and so might I if the tactical situation calls for it. But if somebody is trying to knife me or beat my brains out with a tire iron I want to be able to respond effectively, immediately and conclusively to protect myself. I deem it desirable and necessary for me to carry a handgun against that peril.

Since it's my life that's at stake, and not that of the hoplophobes, I get to make the call, not them, and most certainly not the government.

[Tero]

As long as you don't think you are teaching a lesson. Other than the simple lesson: don't mess with Seth. Even thugs might learn that. Eventually.

[Seth]

As long as you don't think you are teaching a lesson. Other than the simple lesson: don't mess with Seth. Even thugs might learn that. Eventually.

The lesson is not for the thug who attacks me, it's for all the other thugs who might make the same mistake. The thug that attacks me is likely not to be able to learn any more lessons...if he provides me with legal authority and practical necessity to kill him.

[Tero]

Same thing.

How many have you shot so far?

I still have my first wallet.

[Coito ergo sum]

I don't think it's at all about teaching lessons. It's more about the fact that robberies and burglaries are not mere property crimes, and they do invade a person's physical space, often constitute physical assaults and batteries, and often involve trespasses. They also involve severe psychological trauma to the victim and a loss of peace of mind. The false premise here is that it's just about a bunch of junk. It isn't.

[Seth]

Same thing.

How many have you shot so far?

I still have my first wallet.

Zero, and I intend to keep it that way if at all possible.

And I've replaced my wallet three times because it's worn out.

That's because I don't allow people to steal my wallet, nor do I allow them to threaten my or anyone else's life while attempting to do so.

[Tero]

So how do you go about establishing a reputation against the thugs? Don't you have to shoot one? You can't go around pointing the gun.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

So how do you go about establishing a reputation against the thugs? Don't you have to shoot one? You can't go around pointing the gun.

The attitude that you will fight goes a long way to avoiding fighting. Worked for me. When I did have to fight I worked under the assumption that the other person would try to kill me if they got the chance. They never did. I don't fight fair.

[Seth]

So how do you go about establishing a reputation against the thugs? Don't you have to shoot one? You can't go around pointing the gun.

Sure I can, if someone threatens me.

The point of widespread lawful concealed carry is to "educate" thugs by example while keeping them in the dark about which particular potential victim might use them to provide an object lesson to the others.

The more often this happens, the less likely thugs are to attempt to victimize people. Therefore a universally-armed law-abiding populace would be the best of all possible worlds. The poor substitute is the average 5% rate of concealed carry, which has been shown to have a disproportionate positive correlation on suppressing criminality in those places where it is practiced.

[Seth]

So how do you go about establishing a reputation against the thugs? Don't you have to shoot one? You can't go around pointing the gun.

The attitude that you will fight goes a long way to avoiding fighting. Worked for me. When I did have to fight I worked under the assumption that the other person would try to kill me if they got the chance. They never did. I don't fight fair.

Absolutely and completely correct. Your very body language walking around the streets is one of the most potent self-defense...or self-victimizing things you can do. Criminal predators can read body language cues very well. It's a survival trait. If they misread the body language of a potential victim, they might end up dead or injured.

So, as a potential victim it is always wise to project a body image that leads predators to believe that you are unafraid and fully prepared to render them lifeless if they dare to attack. It's pure science, and predators in nature do it all the time.

I have always told you that I "walk like a wolf" and that's true and deliberate. Head up and on a swivel, eyes moving, casting about looking for and analyzing threats, erect posture and positive forceful stride, proper attention to and use of concealment and cover and the occasional direct warning stare (I practice mine in front of the mirror...it involves a grim visage with narrowed eyes and the chin lowered so as to look menacingly from beneath the eyebrows combined with a tense stance with my off-hand shoulder towards the threat, my gun hand behind my hip where it can't be seen and a balanced but aggressive stance) to those who venture too close to my personal space or who pay unwarranted attention to my movements has nearly always worked to keep predators at bay without needing to wave a gun around. Less extreme versions of this posture work well most of the time, but occasionally a defense (or attack) posture is called for to dissuade a determined predator.

It even works on dogs.

[Tero]

Sounds like a lot of work. I'll just give them the wallet. I have another one.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Sounds like a lot of work. I'll just give them the wallet. I have another one.

Tero, try this: Look them straight in the eye and say nothing. Just keep rolling scene from movies over and over in your head, like when River stomps Reaver ass in "Serenity". If you do it right, it will show through.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

You can also say, "Which wallet? The one with my driver's license or the one with my badge?"