Recognizing the Bad Guy

[Dale00]

An interesting article with just some highlights shown here.

...It’s normal for first time gun carriers to imagine what we’ll call “my gunfight”. They imagine the late night stop at the convenience store or gas station and spotting a masked robber holding the customers at gun point. They visualize the knife-wielding robber approaching them at an ATM.

Here is what they don’t imagine or visualize:
Shopping at their favorite grocery store at 11:30 a.m. and a crazed ex-husband walking in the front door with a shotgun looking for his former wife then taking hostages.
They don’t expect to be sitting in a booth at a popular waffle restaurant at 4 p.m. and a mentally unstable man walking in and indiscriminately opening fire.

Both instances took place recently.

Reasonable people certainly don’t consider sitting in a church pew Sunday morning when a lunatic enters the building with a gun to terrorize the parishioners....

...Most of us like to think we can see trouble coming, we know what the bad guy is supposed to look like. The ugly truth is that many threats materialize from under our radar because the person(s) intent on harming us don’t look like our perceived image of a villain. In the real world there is no menacing music to tell us the villain has entered the scene.

As a former cop, I cannot recall the number of times I saw convicted criminals, those I’d dealt with personally, while out in town. I’d see them in the local grocery store or gas station. They don’t wear neon signs that say “Danger: Violent Felon”. Every time you enter the big box store whose headquarters is in Arkansas the chances of brushing elbows with a felon is high. But it’s not just the career criminals you need to be aware of....

...The social bully might not be known to you, but he’s the guy who thinks you cut him off in traffic or took his parking spot. He’s the one who attacks you for seemingly no reason because in his mind you affronted him....

...The social bully is dangerous because he or she looks just like your neighbor across the street. They don’t wear ski-masks and hide near the ATM. The social bully is in the restaurant, the movie theater, and the grocery store. Because the social bully doesn’t fit the pre-existing villain stereo-type he/she often is able to attack before the good citizen realizes what is happening.

Possessing no fear of the civilized man, the social bully moves through life largely unchecked. The enlightened members of our society will offer myriad excuses for the bullies’ behavior and innumerable billboard attorneys will get them off if ever pressed into a courtroom situation.

Being emboldened by an enabling society and fearful victims, the social bully attack can be more than a simple sock on the nose. Having lived their lives unrestrained the bully’s assault can become a vicious, crippling beating, stabbing and even a shooting. Take a long hard look in the mirror. How many vicious punches to the face could you withstand before losing the ability to defend yourself?

Your choice as the good citizen is either to increase your vigilance and rethink your image of what a bad guy really looks like or simply shrug your shoulders and wait to be a victim. In the end the choice is always yours to make.

http://www.outdoorhub.com/stories/social-bully-the-other-bad-guy-a-concealed-carriers-thoughts/?utm_source=iContact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=GlockTalk&utm_content=GT+Newsletter+2

 

[sanjuro893]

Good article. Thanks for posting!