My friend and coworker invited me over to watch the Oscars with some folks last Sunday and on the way to his house I was "held up" by a kid trying to rob me. It was in a very dense and wealthy area of Chicago at around 8 p.m., but it's also an area that is popular for tourists and I imagine the kid was hoping that I was a tourist or someone who'd just hand everything over without any trouble.Long story short, I ended up getting out of the situation without being robbed and without getting into a fight or getting shot. The kid (couldn't have been older than 16-17) was wearing a hoodie and popped out a bank's ATM vestibule area and approached me from behind and had his hands in his hoodie pocket and pretended to have a gun in his hoodie pointing at me. We kept walking and I was just talking to him, keeping an eye on him the entire time. He kept rushing me to give him whatever I had in my pockets, but I remained calm and just kept walking and talking to him. Just seconds later we approached an intersection and a large group turned the corner and started walking towards us, and he immediately ran off in the other direction.I've been living in the city (in the city, not suburbs) for 13 years and this is the first time that something like this has happened. A few months back, I had another really, really frightening road rage experience, so after having these two situations pop up in recent months, I've been seriously considering getting a concealed carry permit and some small firearm. After the road rage incident (around November) I ended up applying for a FOID card and got a 12 gauge pump shotgun for my house because I was so paranoid and frightened about what happened and was concerned for my safety at home. But in the last week, I've started looking into a CCW license and have been doing research on guns.My only really major concern, and something I've been really trying to grapple with is the ethics of carrying a gun and potentially killing someone. I ended up getting really lucky in my situation last week where it was just some nervous kid trying to rip off unsuspecting targets, but I just don't know how I'd react in a similar situation where I was armed. I guess I'm just trying to figure out what kind of questions I should be asking myself and what kinds of things I should be thinking about. I'm also just nervous about carrying a gun and having it used against me if I'm unwilling/unable to shoot/disarm the offender. I've thought that something like a .22lr or .22 Magnum revolver would satisfy my desire to feel protected but would also allow me to defend myself without having to mortally wound someone.Anyways, I appreciate your reading this and providing serious feedback and consideration.edit: typos via /r/CCW http://ift.tt/2mu8Jh4
No comments:
Post a Comment