stalker and brandishing...does anyone else see a problem here?

[bladenbullet]

i was perusing a combat pistol (or something similar) magazine at the local walmart and turned to the "this happened to me section for a few stories of armed response...i'll try to summarize...

lady shoots and hunts internationally with her husband...both carry...husband goes away for multiple days...lady notices she is being followed from work on a daily basis...assumes a stalker of some sort...speaks with police...obviously nothign they can do at this point as there is no crime/contact...she decides to shelf her .38 for .357 just in case...she is at the store the day before hubby returns...walks around a corner and literally "bumps" right into the stalker (she is familiar with his face by now as he has been following her in his vehicle for days)...she immediately draws her weapon in a public place and informs him he better leave her alone...and spots the grip of a gun in his belt at that time...she has not seen him since...

it would have been intersting if he decided to call the police...it just struck me when she stated she bumped into him and immediately drew her firearm...wow...

how do you feel about that?...

my feelings?...assault with a deadly weapon?...brandishing at least...i understand her concern but at best he is gonna reply to the stalking accusation with he may take the same route as her but doesnt know who she is or hasnt seen her previously...all he did was bump into her in the store...

the whole story kind of rubbed me the wrong way and i wondered whether it should even be documented in a carry magazine...

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[phreddy]

I think the result would greatly depend on the city/state it happened in. One thing in her favor is that she had previoulsy contacted police about the issue.

[bladenbullet]

I think the result would greatly depend on the city/state it happened in. One thing in her favor is that she had previoulsy contacted police about the issue.

that could be construed as her setting him up...

[AzB]

Somewhere there's a guy posting this to the internet:

I was walking through Wal Mart the other day, and some crazy woman came up and stuck a .357 in my nose while yelling crazy stuff at me!

I'm never going back to that store!

I'm glad it worked out for her, but that's probably not the best way to handle things.

[jfl]

Somewhere there's a guy posting this to the internet:

I was walking through Wal Mart the other day, and some crazy woman came up and stuck a .357 in my nose while yelling crazy stuff at me!

I'm never going back to that store!

I'm glad it worked out for her, but that's probably not the best way to handle things.

Yep !

[OldVet]

Presense is not a threat. She could have been charged with assault. She has no clue who he is or why he's there, only that she keeps seeing him. Maybe the husband hired a P.I. to keep tabs on her?

[Hopyard]

Ability, opportunity, jeopardy. The guy bumped into had every right to blow her away; thus accomplishing the perfect crime of murder.

[shockwave]

Funny you should bring this up. I read the same article in the supermarket last weekend. "Combat Weapons," maybe. Masad Ayoob, "Armed Citizen," I read as many of these accounts as I can find.

The "I survived" section of Combat Weapons strikes me as being about as believable as the "You'll never guess what happened to me..." section of Penthouse. A passel of lies and fabrications.

These are people working out their fear and angst in a public forum, or the editors padding the issue with made-up crapola they think their readers will enjoy. But all that said, I did read the article anyway and thought the strategy indicated was idiotic.

Assuming (and this is a longshot) that the account was real and actually happened, the only justification for the woman to draw the weapon was if she had cause to fire it in self-defense. Bumping into to somebody she thinks was stalking her is not sufficient. She was in her rights to flip him off, tell him off, call him out publicly, but pulling the weapon is a felony and in my state she'd do three years of hard time for the offense.

The handgun isn't a magic talisman you can whip out every time you feel uncomfortable.

[21bubba]

Funny you should bring this up. I read the same article in the supermarket last weekend. "Combat Weapons," maybe. Masad Ayoob, "Armed Citizen," I read as many of these accounts as I can find.

The "I survived" section of Combat Weapons strikes me as being about as believable as the "You'll never guess what happened to me..." section of Penthouse. A passel of lies and fabrications.

These are people working out their fear and angst in a public forum, or the editors padding the issue with made-up crapola they think their readers will enjoy. But all that said, I did read the article anyway and thought the strategy indicated was idiotic.

Assuming (and this is a longshot) that the account was real and actually happened, the only justification for the woman to draw the weapon was if she had cause to fire it in self-defense. Bumping into to somebody she thinks was stalking her is not sufficient. She was in her rights to flip him off, tell him off, call him out publicly, but pulling the weapon is a felony and in my state she'd do three years of hard time for the offense.

The handgun isn't a magic talisman you can whip out every time you feel uncomfortable.

Reminds me of a certain section of a certain website at times.

[POGOTHECLOWN]

Shockwave, are you saying that: My recent contribution to penthouse was a lie?
It was true, all of it.

[QKShooter]

If the "stalker" was really a stalker and WAS stalking her then it's not likely that he would have ever reported a brandishing incident to police.
In which case she should have just shut-up about in instead of telling the story in a national gun ragazine.

[Treo]

I wonder if hubby had a PI checking up to make sure she wasn't cheating

[CCWFlaRuger]

I wonder if hubby had a PI checking up to make sure she wasn't cheating

my thought exactly!!!

[dtox]

I found the full article on the web. There are many more articles from previous issues. Tactical-Life.com It Happened To Me

Here it is in its entirety:

MAGNUM ADJUSTMENT
I am a chiropractor in a small southern town, in a practice with my husband and father. In the course of a day we see many patients from all walks of life, good and bad. My father, who has seemingly been around forever, always told me, “Don’t tell anyone your business.” It is not anyone’s business when you are home or out of town, the less people know about your personal life the better off you will be.

My husband and I are both avid hunters and licensed to carry concealed weapons. We hunt all over the world, my husband also works in Tanzania, so the patients are used to him being gone for weeks at a time.

Evidently the wrong person heard about my husband being away and decided to start stalking me. It took a few days to realize that someone was following me. No one ever believes that a complete stranger would suddenly target him or her but it was happening to me. Every time I got in my car the same truck would pull out and follow me from my office. Once I knew I was being followed my attitude changed from one of the hunted to the hunter. Maybe it was my experience hunting dangerous game in Africa, but instead of being frightened I was angry. Who was this person to think he would scare me? I had no idea what he was up to but it didn’t feel good.

Normally I carry an S&W Airweight .38 Special with Crimson Trace Lasergrips loaded with 158-grain +P hollowpoints in an inside the waistband holster. When I knew this person was following me I traded the .38 for a larger S&W M19 .357 Mag loaded with Glaser Safety slugs. I carried it in a strong side hip holster.

The days went on with my husband gone and sometimes I would see this truck following me and sometimes not. He would be gone for a day or two and then show up again. I had seen the truck enough to recognize his face. I spoke to several police officers, who were patients of mine and they said what we all knew. There was no law against driving behind someone and if the guy didn’t do anything there was nothing they could do about it. They did think that carrying the handgun was a good idea though. They couldn’t do anything until the stalker did something, but by then I was afraid it might be too late.

I continued to be vigilant. I don’t know if it was a coincidence or it was planned, but the night before my husband came home I ran into him. When I say ran into him, I mean just that. I walked out of the local supermarket turned the corner and bumped into him or I should say he bumped into me. I took a quick step back and drew the S&W. I pointed it as his chest from about three feet away and said, “You SOB! I don’t know what you want but you better stay away from me!” He raised his hands as he was backing up and I could see the butt of a revolver stuck in his waistband. He was talking a mile a minute as he backing up and putting as much distance between us as he could. After a couple of steps he turned and ran.

I called one of my police officer friends and reported the incident to him and he said what I did was fine under the circumstances and he didn’t think I would have any more trouble. I haven’t seen the truck or the stalker since.
—VN, TN

[ctsketch]

sounds like a PI, does she cheat on her hubby when she is away :p?