Nearly had to use my CCW last night.

Live in a state that does not have stand your ground laws. Was out with a few buddies getting food late night. They were drinking a few beers with their wings. I was sober and drove everyone there. The area is a pretty nice town square on a Main Street in the suburbs. There are various restaurants, pubs, and a couple bars that are more so night clubs. I parked in the large community parking lot right under a bright streetlight, closer to the pub we were grubbing ar.I ran out to my truck to grab something and noticed a scuffle on other side of the lot closer to the night club entrance. Come to find out one guy was getting beat by 5 or 6 dudes for apparently touching a woman inappropriately. I kept to the far side of the lot walking towards my truck and minded my business. Apparently the dude the got beat up was on some type of drug because he got up and walked away fine after getting what appeared to be the shit kicked out of him.The guys let him go just about the same time as i got to my truck. He jogged towards his van that was of course in the same section of the lot as me. I’m thinking he’s going to hop in and take off and I just watched thinking drunk people doing drunk things. All of a sudden he swings the side of his van open and pulls out a 3 foot axe. I thought damn he’s going to go back at those guys.Nope, he looks me in the eyes about 30 yards away and yells “are you the guy that tried to kill me!” I tried yelling “no man I saw what happened to you I’m sorry that happened.” His drug and alcohol filled body went full braveheart and started charging at me. I kept backing up pleading with him and had one hand up. The other on my G43 that I was pocket carrying. He was screaming and coming at me like a banshee. Thankfully, when he was 15 yards away the original guys he fought thought he was still talking shit to them so they started yelling at him egging him on. He immediately back tracked and took off after them. I slipped off around a corner and called the cops. The other guys ran away. The axe man started smashing in 4 cars in parking lot. Hopped in his van and drove off 30 seconds before the cops showed up.Told my story and description of van to cops. Felt thankful and went back to enjoying some buffalo bleu wings. I felt pretty good about what I did. While I think i could have been justified to draw and shoot when he was 15-20 yards away, but it seemed pointless to me. Felt confident once he got within 10 yards I would have been able to draw and get shots on before he was within axe striking distance. If those guys didn’t egg him on that is most definitely how the story would have ended based off the action I planned on taking. My question is being that I have a duty to retreat, would I have been fine using my CCW once he closed the distance? I felt like I was in danger and tried to back away. I feel like I shouldn’t have to be struck by an axe first before attempting to protect with my CCW. via /r/CCW https://ift.tt/2V1s8tl