1. A week ago, I was leaving a local bookstore, Anthology, when I was approached by an older gentleman. "Excuse me, son, what do you have there?"
"Um, it's a 1911."
"Colt? It doesn't look like any Colt I've ever seen."
"No, it's made by a company called Taurus."
"Oh. Does it shoot good for you?"
"Oh, yes. It's the best gun I've ever owned."
"That's good. I used to shoot my Colt all the time, but I've got the arthritis, so she sits in my desk now."
We talked for a few more minutes, about guns, and the law, and kids, then parted ways.
2. I was on my way out from the library, when a middle aged looking asian man stopped me. "Excuse me, but I have to ask: you can just carry that like that?"
"Yup."
"And that's perfectly legal?"
"Yup."
He paused, then smiled. "Wow, that is so cool!"
He then started asking me about the two guys, in NH and AZ, who carried at Presidential rallies, and how awesome he thought it was. He asked me a million and one questions, about the legal aspects of using deadly force in public and in the home, the political end of open carrying, licensing, and nearly every other possible question you could think of. His name was Hawaiian Al, by the way. During the course of our conversation, some other guy walked up and started to pipe in about how you couldn't always use deadly, even if you were getting stabbed.
"Even if the guy stabs you once, a judge might say you coulda just ran away! Another judge might let you go, but some judges can be real pricks."
"Uh, I don't think that's correct."
"I'm telling you, the only time you can shoot a guy is if he has a gun, and points it at you!"
"Buddy, if you have a knife, and you're walking towards me, you're gonna have a real bad day. If I tell you to drop it, and you don't, I'm gonna be in fear for my life. You drop it, or I'll drop you."
Hawaiian Al asked, "Is there like, a minimum distance for that kind of situation?"
"A lot of PDs go by the 21' rule. That is, 21' is the minimum safe distance when confronted by a guy with a weapon, other than a gun. Any closer than that is a lethal distance."
"So, if a guy is coming at me with a crowbar, or a knife and he's that close, I should shoot?"
"Well, I think I would, but that's just me."
"Hmm. What if you were like in a bank robbery? Would you try and stop them, or what?"
"I'm not a cop. If I saw them coming at me, I'll defend myself, but it's not my responsibility to save the bank's money. My responsibility is to get home alive."
"You ever thought about going into law enforcement?"
"Yeah, but I decided it wasn't worth it. The long hours, the bullshit, the danger..."
"You got kids?"
"Yeah."
"Oh, well I guess I wouldn't want to do it, either."
He apologized for holding me up, but I told him it was no problem. I rarely get to have nice conversations with strangers these days.
