No draw methhead interaction.

Last night was one of the first times in my life where I legitimately was worried about needing to draw my firearm.I was working an after dark event in parking when I saw what looked to be people trying to get in with no ticket. I radioed from my gate asking if anyone had eyes on. I was told that the people I saw were grounds people with no vest and we had a security issue. A few minutes later a radio call came in that some of the parking staff were to go to the female gate attendant to protect her if need be.I asked if police had been called and was notified they had been. As the only person on the exit gate I could not leave and watched this guy move from her gate to mine. This man was staggering into traffic and I started flagging down oncoming traffic to protect him. I shined my flashlight in his direction to point him out to cars. He approached me mad that I had shined a flashlight on him. I maintained as much space as I could backing away from the gate and checking that everything was positioned for a clean one handed draw. While I was backing down I convinced him I had saved his life and after a few moments of stare down he continued just past the gate and then stopped and was picking at his waist. I took cover behind a thick tree till he moved on. Police showed up minutes later. After he moved on and I checked behind me the parking crew was behind me 25 yards away and wouldn’t have been any help for a few critical moments.I recognize I needed to keep better awareness of hands in future confrontation. And that when faced with a threat I was in a bit of analysis paralysis. I was also thinking over and over I don’t want to shoot this guy if I can help it!Moral of the story words can be effective and awareness buys time to react. I carry to protect not to take life and I am glad it was a peaceful encounter! via /r/CCW https://ift.tt/3A3lLnz