Situation last night in Harrisburg.. READ

[psnyder]

As many of you know there has been a major rise in crime in Harrisburg as of lately, with gang violence and all. I had my first semi run in EVER last night.

As a side note, I have had a LTCF for many years now, and routinely carry. Especially since I work in Harrisburg, and the crime has just started to go through the ceiling with all these wannabe thugs roaming the streets.

Last night I went out with my pregnant Wife, my best friend, and another female friend of mine. After we ate a really nice dinner at El Sol, we decided to take a walk on Front Street. As we walked down by the hotel there by Shipoke, we decided to walk down right along side of the river on the walkway that spans the entire length of Front Street. We were walking and nothing was even around, except for the geese and ducks that live there. Later down the walkway, we all were walking forward talking, and my friend had his head down as he was walking forward. There were these two not so friendly looking individuals walking towards us, and I noticed they were looking at us, and saying things to each other. They started walking right towards my friend, once he looked up and made eye contact with them, they immediately made almost a 90 degree turn to the left and tried to play it off. As we walked further down the walkway, I noticed they were right behind us, about 5-8 paces back. Weird, they were walking the opposite direction, now are right behind us. Up on the right there was a staircase, that led up to Front Street, so I suggested that we go up to Front Street and figure out what we want to do the rest of the evening. I let the ladies go in front of us, and I was the last to go up the steps. These guys are now walking up the steps behind us, probably 2 steps back. The steps were pretty steep, and as we were walking up them, I heard the one guy say "gun" to the other guy. I turned over my shoulder and they were now walking down the steps in the opposite direction.

Please excuse me if I'm a little all over the place in this story, because I'm still pretty pissed off over the whole thing. I've never been in a situation like that. What the hell is it with people? Has anyone been in a similar situation before?

Harrisburg has became so bad in the past year that I don't want to ever go into the city.

To clarify, I have an Uncle Mike's sidekick for summer carry, and was carrying in the pants in the small of the back.

[CHEMICAL]

As many of you know there has been a major rise in crime in Harrisburg as of lately, with gang violence and all. I had my first semi run in EVER last night.

As a side note, I have had a LTCF for many years now, and routinely carry. Especially since I work in Harrisburg, and the crime has just started to go through the ceiling with all these wannabe thugs roaming the streets.

Last night I went out with my pregnant Wife, my best friend, and another female friend of mine. After we ate a really nice dinner at El Sol, we decided to take a walk on Front Street. As we walked down by the hotel there by Shipoke, we decided to walk down right along side of the river on the walkway that spans the entire length of Front Street. We were walking and nothing was even around, except for the geese and ducks that live there. Later down the walkway, we all were walking forward talking, and my friend had his head down as he was walking forward. There were these two not so friendly looking individuals walking towards us, and I noticed they were looking at us, and saying things to each other. They started walking right towards my friend, once he looked up and made eye contact with them, they immediately made almost a 90 degree turn to the left and tried to play it off. As we walked further down the walkway, I noticed they were right behind us, about 5-8 paces back. Weird, they were walking the opposite direction, now are right behind us. Up on the right there was a staircase, that led up to Front Street, so I suggested that we go up to Front Street and figure out what we want to do the rest of the evening. I let the ladies go in front of us, and I was the last to go up the steps. These guys are now walking up the steps behind us, probably 2 steps back. The steps were pretty steep, and as we were walking up them, I heard the one guy say "gun" to the other guy. I turned over my shoulder and they were now walking down the steps in the opposite direction.

Please excuse me if I'm a little all over the place in this story, because I'm still pretty pissed off over the whole thing. I've never been in a situation like that. What the hell is it with people? Has anyone been in a similar situation before?

Harrisburg has became so bad in the past year that I don't want to ever go into the city.

To clarify, I have an Uncle Mike's sidekick for summer carry, and was carrying in the pants in the small of the back.

congratulations, you may have very well just saved someone else from this scenario from these two because now they may think twice, since you dont always know who does or who doesnt have a gun, and you definitely spared your party from aggrivation and possible harm by simply exercising your rights.

it's not just the cities or Harrisburg, these rampant wanna-be thugs are a problem all over this country, the poconos too are riddled with them and the unwanted side-effects of their presence.

i just had the gun conversation with a friend of mine the other night since he brought up a question and stated that he was thinking about getting a gun for self and home defense. He has been shooting before but has never owned a pistol and i told him i would be more than happy to take him to the range and instruct him on proper gun safety and handling.

the less we exercise our rights, whether oc, cc or simply owning a gun in general, the more shit like this is going to get out of control. when we become an unarmed society we will become a society of victims to criminals, therefore being a complete society of victims since our own government already victimizes us by trying to take away our rights and hard earned income.

good job at your subtle approach and awareness to your situation, i believe that ended perfectly.only thing i would have suggested.(if you didnt do it) would be to alert the authorities of suspicious persons, and tell them what happened and where. hopefully these guys didnt proceed to hurt someone else that evening.

[dc dalton]

Sounds to me like once again just carrying deterred some thugs from trying something .... good work, you kept your cool and thought logically and yes more than likely your holstered gun probably saved you, your wife and your friend from a bad encounter.

[tommy610]

So, you were CCing, and they noticed the gun? Good thing, otherwise you may have had to show them the gun. I guess it was a lot more noticeable since they were walking up the stairs directly behind you... it would be staring them in the face.

[bullet]

good for you you didnt get mugged! wtf is wrong with people dont they realize thas a great way to get a bullet in the head? good thing you had it in the back and that they say it,saved you from having to use it.

[ems]

Glad the incident didn't turn for the worst. Glad you and everybody made it home unscathed.

If your not packin', your slackin'! Can't remember where I heard or read that recently, but really makes sense.

[jack76590]

Call it a mistake that turned out good. You really don't want your gun showing. The guy could have grabbed it and used it against you. And not too wise to let suspicious people continue behind you for a distance especially when you are going up the stairs. They could have pulled you backwards down the stairs. It may have been better to stop and let them pass and at same time let them know you were aware of them and on guard.

[Adam-12]

Call it a mistake that turned out good. You really don't want your gun showing. The guy could have grabbed it and used it against you.

+1

This isn't against OC; it's about letting the threat come up behind you while carrying SOB without retention. If they'd had the nerve to try a gun grab, things could have ended badly. Some combination of holster retention, better concealment and/or 3 o'clock carry might have lessened that risk.

That said, it did end well, and the OP showed excellent situational awareness. I'm not entirely sure what the best approach is when you're not crazy about who's walking behind you. You can always stop on some pretext and let them pass you, but if they're interested in you, they'll just play cat and mouse anyway.

[psnyder]

I wasn't outside carrying, it just happened that the pitch of the steps, that they could see something back there. My Wife even commented that the steps were extremely steep. As far as letting them follow behind me, the first opportunity we had to get out of there we did.

[PocketProtector]

Once again, concrete proof that guns should be banned. I mean, the thuggets probably went home and mommy had to empty out their baggy drawers. WTF were you thinking ???