[headcase]

I have seen a trend here lately of people asking when is it ok to shoot someone. Is it ok when feel scared that my neighbor is going to punch me? Is it ok when the big guys down the hall keeps threatening to kick my ass and walks toward me in a menacing fashion? Is it ok when I see a guy bitch slapping a woman? Some of these people may need to rethink their decision to carry a firearm with no training or understanding of the responsibility attached to doing so.

Anyone who has read just about anything I have ever posted here, should know that I am rabid in encouraging and defending the exercise of the rights the 2nd Amendment guarantees us. What the 2nd Amendment doesn't do, is guarantee you the right to recklessly use deadly force out of unreasonable fear, or allow you to sit around just itching to tear holes in someone. Being in fear of losing your life and being in fear of taking an ass beating are two completely different things, or at least they should be, to a reasonable person.

Your firearm is a deadly weapon. D-E-A-D-L-Y Weapon. That means if you employ it in a manner consistent with it's design and intended use, you are more than likely to kill whatever you use it against. Not hurt. Not injure. Not make feel bad. Kill. As in dead, no longer alive. There are certainly situations that call for employing a weapon with this capability, that occur on a daily basis all over the world, but everyday pissing contests and simple altercations are not included in that list.

I do not, in any way, shape, or form, advocate restricting your right to carry a firearm. I do, though, strongly suggest, that if you are going to do so, you take a course of some kind in recognizing when you need to employ the use of deadly force. If you are an easily intimidated person, you may feel that carrying a firearm is an equalizer. It is NOT. It is stacking the deck against being pushed around. It does not make you equal to a bigger guy, it makes you able to kill the bigger guy. Not beat him in a fight, kill him. If you are not able to defend yourself against common everyday minor threats, a FIREARM IS NOT GOING TO SOLVE YOUR PROBLEM.

Get some non lethal personal protection devices. A taser. Some pepper spray. A telescoping metal rod. Buy a German shepard. Take some training in self defense. A firearm is a weapon of last resort, don't ever lose sight of that fact. Even well trained, very situationally aware people carry non lethal devices, because, well, they have the training and understanding to realize that not every confrontation needs to end with someone dead.

Specifically to the OP, invest in some good martial arts classes and buy some good quality pepper spray. Big drunk college kids are always going to be kicking sand in the face of smaller guys, but unless they take it from needing an ass whooping, to needing to die, use situationally appropriate responses.