SassedandLoaded wrote:As a new-ish CHL holder, I had been a little hesitant about carrying my p238 with "one in the pipe". NEVER AGAIN.
Today I had my first close call. My hands are still shaking and my heart is still racing even though it is 30 minutes since the incident.
I work in a downtown area. My office is close to a pharmacy which we frequent for cokes, snacks etc.
This afternoon, two of my male colleagues and I were headed for our afternoon Dr. Pepper when a male in his early 30s came from behind a truck and started running towards us telling us to stop walking. I immediately saw him as a threat and held my hand up and yelled at him to "STOP GET BACK". He continued to run towards us, and I could feel the two guys I was with retreat (nice, huh). I told him again to "STOP, GET BACK". He then shouted back that he would teach me a lesson on how to talk to people and continued to move towards me. At this point he was less than 10 feet away. He was holding his oversized basketball jersey with his hands and started moving them around. I immediately began drawing. Before I could even get my shirt lifted out of the way, he backed up and ran away muttering about how I was "some crazy white lady".
My lesson from this is, in the heat of the moment (and even afterwards) there is
NO WAY I would be able to rack the slide and chamber a round. I could barely even get my credit card out of my wallet 15 minutes later when trying to pay for my drink.
No matter what, I will always be prepared from now on. My male coworkers may think I'm a crazy lady for causing a scene, but honestly, I think I did the right thing. There was no reason for that man to approach me and then refuse to stop running towards me.
Any tips for calming down?
First of all, you did very well in handling a sudden threat.
Street folks are really quick at sensing the very beginnings of a draw stroke. Most will react exactly as the subject of your account did and back off in a hurry.
The answer to your coworkers' "crazy lady" comments should be something along the lines of: "Well, someone had to manage the advancing threat while you two were busy wetting yourselves."
You've now had a first hand experience with the mental and biological changes that happen when you're confronted by a sudden threat. I'd encourage you to learn more about that so you recognize what's happening and can manage it to your advantage.
Again, you did really well.
Your coworkers did not.
