Both my wife and I got home from school (both high school teachers) and we were dead tired so we decided to go out for a spot of dinner. I was sooooo exhausted in fact that I determined I wasn't really up to the alertness level of carrying my gun and doing so safely and responsibly. Anybody here ever experienced that? So we went to a nice dinner.....and took the pup (100 pound Newfoundland) to eat in a sidewalk cafe. On the way home I stopped to fill my tank with gas (price drops!) and as I started to pump, my little voice started screaming the "trouble alert." I'm always in condition yellow and when something happens to agitate that I kick into a higher mode even if I can't quite put my finger on the threat.
So I start looking around, carefully. No other cars at any of the other pumps. Inside the convience store about 50 feet from me were four latino males and they were MOVING as I saw the clerk dive for the telephone. I had the oddest feeling I was watching an aborted robbery in motion and here I was with my wife and beloved pup....unarmed and exposed with the gas hose firmly inside the car and chugging away. As they exited the store on the run I thought to myself they were a SALTY LOOKING group. Real punks. Didn't see any weapons. The clerk is on the phone. when he hangs up he inches out the door and carefully eases to the corner of the lot to see if they're still there and they're long gone. I asked him if he needed a witness and he said "no." So I finished filling my tank and left.
I kept thinking later; WHAT IF? and things got kinda shaky for me. I'm certain that had I been armed, tired or not, I could've dealt with the threat from my position behind solid cover (huge concrete pillar) but I doubt I would have acted unless they threatened to kill the clerk or somebody else or decided to approach me and the wife. Better to act as a good witness. But the fact that I was unarmed by deliberate intent was chilling.
So I start looking around, carefully. No other cars at any of the other pumps. Inside the convience store about 50 feet from me were four latino males and they were MOVING as I saw the clerk dive for the telephone. I had the oddest feeling I was watching an aborted robbery in motion and here I was with my wife and beloved pup....unarmed and exposed with the gas hose firmly inside the car and chugging away. As they exited the store on the run I thought to myself they were a SALTY LOOKING group. Real punks. Didn't see any weapons. The clerk is on the phone. when he hangs up he inches out the door and carefully eases to the corner of the lot to see if they're still there and they're long gone. I asked him if he needed a witness and he said "no." So I finished filling my tank and left.
I kept thinking later; WHAT IF? and things got kinda shaky for me. I'm certain that had I been armed, tired or not, I could've dealt with the threat from my position behind solid cover (huge concrete pillar) but I doubt I would have acted unless they threatened to kill the clerk or somebody else or decided to approach me and the wife. Better to act as a good witness. But the fact that I was unarmed by deliberate intent was chilling.