flagellum
Regular Member
So I met up with Tread, Sabotage, and DVC, we had a good time, roamed the strip, saw some cool entertainment, all around good night. A couple wandering eyes as usual, not out of the ordinary for us.
So here is where it gets interesting. I break with the guys, say goodbye, and make my way back to the Four Queens where my car is parked. I get to the big intersection at Freemont where everyone waits to walk, it has just turned orange when I arrived. So I'm standing there with about a million other people, when some chewing tobacco comes spitting over my shoulder into the street. I'm like "Wtf?" in my head and I look back. It's some dude, probably about 200 pounds, 6 foot, tattoos, gauged ears. He looks at me and is all, "Sorry about that man." I'm a pretty chill dude, so I'm like "No worries, it's cool". So about two moments or so later I hear, "Oh man, I'm REALLY sorry!" and I didn't need to look back to know what he was talking about.
The guy drapes his left arm over my shoulders almost, like... hugging me like a buddy or something. I say, "Haha, yeah." (Not really sure what to say feeling kind of awkward.) "So What is it?" he asks. "Is it one of those FN's?" I look down at my XD(m) and say, "nah, it's a XD... 9millimeter" at this point I notices a 5 foot something girl to his right...
JAW ******* DROPPED TO THE FLOOR
Straight up mesmerized. She was wearing a DCU blouse with US ARMY patches on it, kind of casual. She speaks out, "Do you know this man?? What the hell?"
The tall fellow responds, "Nah just met him. Don't mind her, this is my daughter." at this point nothing has changed, I swear to god this girl is tripping. "Oh my god, what are you doing? seriously?" Can't remember her words exactly, but I can imagine what she was thinking, "Is there some dude walking around Las Vegas with an OPEN GUN on his hip? Just like that?"
So around this time the light turns white, and we step out into the street, the dude tells me his name, and reaches for a shake, I look over, and shake his hand. He makes some remark, I can't quite remember, but it was to the general premise of "Glad we have the freedom to carry" kind of remark.
I did find it a bit strange that a chick with a frickin DCU jacket that said Army on it would be a little more keen on guns, but maybe it wasn't hers, and either way she might have had a mindset that couldn't fathom the idea that a mere civilian could carry a gun out in the open like that.
As I split right the girl is still shocked, and as I separate I can hear her giving him an earful. Overall I would say it was a positive experience.
Looking back on it a bit from a "tactical" perspective, I thought about a couple things. Firstly, when I stand I usually tuck my thumb into my front pocket, with my elbow draped back, with my forearm contacting the holster slightly while the upper end my my arm touches the grip. This way any movement to my weapon will be immediately noticed. I'm glad I do this, because in these close quarter situations its near impossible to have eyes-on all the people in your surrounding area. Situational awareness can only take you so far.
Now the part that got my heart beating a bit was when I went to shake his hand. The moment I did I realized one crucial thing. This man has the thing that brings everything together, my right hand. Without that hand, I don't have ****, and my little bit of inertia doesn't mean jack crap if at that point he wanted to pull me around. This was a non-issue, and he is like 99.9% of people and just wanted to give me a friendly gesture, but it became troubling at that time.
I do have a remedy for this, as when I OC I always carry my BUG (Back Up Gun) in my left pocket, so that were I to lose control of my right hand, the left was all ready to fire in the second it would take me to draw. This is pretty fool proof IMHO, except... for the first time ever.... I forgot my BUG. So while it was all fine and dandy, it taught a lesson that I should always carry a BUG when OC, were I come into a vulnerable position like that again. As a great man once said,
"Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet. "
So here is where it gets interesting. I break with the guys, say goodbye, and make my way back to the Four Queens where my car is parked. I get to the big intersection at Freemont where everyone waits to walk, it has just turned orange when I arrived. So I'm standing there with about a million other people, when some chewing tobacco comes spitting over my shoulder into the street. I'm like "Wtf?" in my head and I look back. It's some dude, probably about 200 pounds, 6 foot, tattoos, gauged ears. He looks at me and is all, "Sorry about that man." I'm a pretty chill dude, so I'm like "No worries, it's cool". So about two moments or so later I hear, "Oh man, I'm REALLY sorry!" and I didn't need to look back to know what he was talking about.
The guy drapes his left arm over my shoulders almost, like... hugging me like a buddy or something. I say, "Haha, yeah." (Not really sure what to say feeling kind of awkward.) "So What is it?" he asks. "Is it one of those FN's?" I look down at my XD(m) and say, "nah, it's a XD... 9millimeter" at this point I notices a 5 foot something girl to his right...
JAW ******* DROPPED TO THE FLOOR
Straight up mesmerized. She was wearing a DCU blouse with US ARMY patches on it, kind of casual. She speaks out, "Do you know this man?? What the hell?"
The tall fellow responds, "Nah just met him. Don't mind her, this is my daughter." at this point nothing has changed, I swear to god this girl is tripping. "Oh my god, what are you doing? seriously?" Can't remember her words exactly, but I can imagine what she was thinking, "Is there some dude walking around Las Vegas with an OPEN GUN on his hip? Just like that?"
So around this time the light turns white, and we step out into the street, the dude tells me his name, and reaches for a shake, I look over, and shake his hand. He makes some remark, I can't quite remember, but it was to the general premise of "Glad we have the freedom to carry" kind of remark.
I did find it a bit strange that a chick with a frickin DCU jacket that said Army on it would be a little more keen on guns, but maybe it wasn't hers, and either way she might have had a mindset that couldn't fathom the idea that a mere civilian could carry a gun out in the open like that.
As I split right the girl is still shocked, and as I separate I can hear her giving him an earful. Overall I would say it was a positive experience.
Looking back on it a bit from a "tactical" perspective, I thought about a couple things. Firstly, when I stand I usually tuck my thumb into my front pocket, with my elbow draped back, with my forearm contacting the holster slightly while the upper end my my arm touches the grip. This way any movement to my weapon will be immediately noticed. I'm glad I do this, because in these close quarter situations its near impossible to have eyes-on all the people in your surrounding area. Situational awareness can only take you so far.
Now the part that got my heart beating a bit was when I went to shake his hand. The moment I did I realized one crucial thing. This man has the thing that brings everything together, my right hand. Without that hand, I don't have ****, and my little bit of inertia doesn't mean jack crap if at that point he wanted to pull me around. This was a non-issue, and he is like 99.9% of people and just wanted to give me a friendly gesture, but it became troubling at that time.
I do have a remedy for this, as when I OC I always carry my BUG (Back Up Gun) in my left pocket, so that were I to lose control of my right hand, the left was all ready to fire in the second it would take me to draw. This is pretty fool proof IMHO, except... for the first time ever.... I forgot my BUG. So while it was all fine and dandy, it taught a lesson that I should always carry a BUG when OC, were I come into a vulnerable position like that again. As a great man once said,
"Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet. "
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