"I Have a Forty-five"

At my ripe old age, I consider myself lucky that I've never had to touch a firearm in fear. I also consider myself unlucky that I never got into IPSC and 3-Gun until my late 30s. Now consider the case of "Harry" (not his real name); before his 18th birthday, he'd already had instruction in marksmanship and "gun games," even participating in practical shooting matches using borrowed firearms. When he turned 18, he got what some of us would consider a dream job at a gun store/shooting range. Store policy requires him to wear a handgun, but his age and state law prevents him from enjoying the right to Open Carry (outside the store) like the rest of us Arizonans, so his Mom bought him a .45 (on which the store cut them a sweet deal) which he carries to work unloaded.

With that background, here is "Harry's" story (edited for clarity):

It was after work one Wednesday night and I was walking to the bus stop. I stopped in the convenience store to break a twenty as usual, and while getting my change back, this kid who couldn't be much older than I am walked in and gave me a Look.

From that point on, I decided to keep an eye on him. I sat down at the bus stop and saw him coming towards me with his hands in his pockets. About this time, I got a feeling that something was going to happen, so I loaded the gun I had in my backpack and waited for him. He came up to me and said " Hey man, how you doin?"

I replied "Fine, and yourself?"

He asked me if I lived on this side of town; when I said "No, I just work here," he moved to "Alright then, this is how it's gonna be...I have a gun in my pocket. You either give me everything in your pockets or I am going to shoot you."

I said, "Fine," and started to unload my pockets. I didn't give him the biggest part of my cash (I keep that elsewhere). When he asked me what I had in the backpack, I thought, "[Expletive Deleted], if he doesn't have a gun now, then he will if he gets my bag.... Okay, if he wants to play, then we will play."

He tried to wrestle the backpack from me and, when I wouldn't give it to him, he said, "Give me the [Ex.Del.] bag or I'm going to deck you!" At that point, I assumed that he didn't have a gun; if he did, he would have used that as the threat instead of punching me. I gave him my soda, my cell phone, and a few other random things in my bag.

"It's still heavy! What else do you have in there?"

As I took the gun out of my bag and out of the holster, I replied, "I have a Forty-five." His eyes got intensely wide and he started apologizing. Because of the side of town we were in, I wanted to get him and myself out of there as quickly as possible! I told him, "Give me all my stuff back and get the hell out of here."

He threw everything back into my backpack and ran off. I called my Manager, who came and gave me a ride home.

"Harry" reported the incident to the police, who used surveillance video tape from the convenience store to identify the creep. How cool is that? I almost titled this post "A Boy and his Gun," but he's definitely a man now. In fact, he is The Man!