In my younger days I spent a lot of times in bars, lounges, and concert halls.Its no secret that when you frequent places with dumb people who get drunk, sometimes things happen.Its even more true that in the drug and hatred fueled world we live in today, having good deescalation skills is vital even when you avoid such places. Truth is, you never know when some douche who’s looking for a fight, or is just out of their mind on drugs or mental illness, will try and snap at you.Once such instance happened last summer when I was out in the evening getting a meal with friends.The downtown area is filled with aggressive drug fueled panhandlers during the summer. Most of them wont mess with you to badly if you ignore them and/or you look like you can handle yourself. Some of them, however, are just nuts.We are sitting outside enjoying a meal when a homeless looking man starts walking real close to the patio seating area. He immediately pings my radar as being “off.”I glance at him looking at his hands and waist and see nothing but a pocket knife in his pocket. He starts yelling at one of the staff and they tell him to go away. He walks a bit closer to our table and I lock eye with him.What you do when you lock eyes with an aggressive person can often determine what happens next. If they are looking for an easy victim and you seem timid, they may decide you are a good “mark.”If they feel like you are challenging them, they could decide to go get aggressive with you.My defualt is to give a slight confident smile and a respectful head nod.I did so and he walked by further ignoring me. A few minutes he comes back and is again yelling at another member of the staff and is once again told to go away. I’m looking at him and he locks eyes again.“The fuck man? Problem?” Was his reply.Now im not the biggest, nor the baddest. I am 5’11 and 185lbs of muscle. I do have years of boxing and BJJ training. I was armed with a sig 365xl and a fixed blade knife. Anyone, no matter how badass, can be “got” but I knew that I likely could take this guy.However… that was my ego talking inside my head. The problem is when your ego starts talking through your mouth and/or controlling your actions. That’s when esclations occur and bad things happen.“Sorry bro, you look a lot like friend of mine who passed a long time ago. I meant no disrespect.”That was my reply. I’ve used variations of this reply for years and its almost always worked to defuse the situation.That said, if the person is completely out of their mind or determined to fight, you wont be able to deescalate things using this approach. But these situations are much more rare.He went on about his way and started arguing with someone else a few tables away. Eventually he left the area altogether.Problem avoided. Your firearm is a very handy tool but don’t allow it to be your only tool.Other variation I have used before:(When asked I’f I’m checking out “their” girl) “Oh hey my bad man, she looks JUST like my cousin and I was trying to see if it was her. They could be twins!”Just because you can probably pick a dude up and bash his head through a wall doesn’t men you should. Ignore the ego and deescalate if possible. And if its not possible, and they decide to press the attack, act like a scared little bitch right up until you launch your attack and catch them off guard. Hopefully you never have to resort to that.If you are new to concealed carry feel free to check out my other post on “10 Principals of Tactical Concealed Carry” https://ift.tt/8D6R9Wy via /r/CCW https://ift.tt/Ht90A8o
