I'm sitting here trying to focus my thoughts into words, but I feel so emotionally and physically drained. This was the first time in nearly five years of carrying that I have even come close to presenting my gun. I have always enjoyed guns and the safety blanket that my carry piece has given me, but never expected that I would realistically need it.This all started when I was hanging out at my aunt's house earlier this evening. I was playing cards in the garage with my aunt and her oldest son (23) while the youngest one (6) was riding her scooter around in the driveway and just having a good time. Her middle daughter (15) had gone to the nearby park to play basketball with three of her friends, who are all 14-16 year old females. The mood was lighthearted until my aunt received a text from her 15 y.o. that two men were watching them at the park and being creepy. My aunt didn't think too much of it, as they live in a fairly safe suburban area, but it immediately got my hackles up as being in the CCW community has taught me that our little safety bubble isn't always so safe.I got up and grabbed my hoodie and told my 23 y.o. cousin to come with me. He was also on alert after seeing me become concerned. He ran inside and grabbed his own hoodie and we immediately left to go to the park while I told my aunt to text the 15 y.o. to immediately gather her friends and start heading home along the main road as fast as they could (there is another path along a walking trail that leads through some woods).My cousin and her friends are all pretty athletic, so they basically jogged along the sidewalk and we met up with them within a few minutes. I should note that we are still within the suburban neighborhood, so there are tons of cars parked on each side of the street. This is not unusual, but I noticed a stereotypical white kidnapper van parked along our side of the street against the direction of traffic, a little further ahead of us but also perfectly positioned to exit the neighborhood through the main exit, which was right next to it and leads straight to the freeway.What also got my attention were the two figures also jogging about 50 yards behind the group of girls. The girls stopped when they met up with us, but the two guys didn't notice us until they were about 20 yards away. At this point, I handed my flashlight to my cousin and told him to look out for anyone else. That's when I noticed that he had also brought along his full-size Ka-Bar. He was in the Marines, and although he never saw combat, I figured he probably had some idea how to use it, so I was a bit relieved to have him there. He is also the only person in my entire family who knows that I even own guns. I had also very subtly moved my Glock 19 and extra mag to my front hoodie pocket (teenagers have zero situational awareness), where I was gripping it with my finger on the TLR-1 switch.The guys had slowed down to a walk and were still coming closer when I shouted at them asking if I could help them. One of them mumbled something and reached his hand into his pocket while still coming closer. It took every ounce of self-control to not pull my gun at that point, but instead I moved my body to get myself between the men and the group of girls. I yelled again saying that they were close enough, and at this point the other guy had his hand behind his back like he was trying to hide something, all while still coming closer.Every instinct I had was telling me to present the gun. My heart was racing and it was like they were walking towards me in slow motion. But neither of them had shown any weapons yet. In my state, displaying a weapon is a valid use of force. But I didn't want these two guys to be able to tell the cops that some crazy man on the sidewalk yelled at them and pointed a gun, so I restrained myself.My cousin, meanwhile, had decided that it was time to rock and roll. He had been keeping his knife at his side in an icepick grip, and it had a black blade so they hadn't seen it. He stepped forward a bit into the streetlight and raised it up, where they could clearly see it. The lead guy's eyes opened up wide and he put his hands up, shouting that they were just lost. I was keeping my eye on the other guy, as my view of him was partially obscured by the front one. They both turned around and started to jog away, and I yelled at them to go get lost somewhere else. To no surprise, they jumped into the white van and sped off. I walked home behind the rest of the group and used that chance to discreetly reholster my gun and switch my mag back into its dedicated pocket.I called the police non-emergency line when we were safely back at the house, but no officers came out. My aunt, female cousin, and her friends don't seem to understand the gravity of what just happened. They all just kind of shrugged it off. I am beside myself with concern knowing that they aren't taking it seriously at all, as I won't always be there to protect them, and no one else in my family even owns a gun. I've tried discussing it in the past with my Marine cousin, but he's more interested in smoking weed and playing Xbox than taking an active role in keeping his family safe (no, I am not exaggerating).Anyways, I think I handled it well, but just needed to get this off my chest and tell someone who understands. My own family would probably freak out at me if they knew that I had even had a gun in that moment, let alone was seconds away from pulling it out. via /r/CCW https://ift.tt/2U8AiNH
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