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I wanted to point out the first and mos timportant thing was said in your first post. It was handled correctly and a win since everyone of the good guys (and even the bad guy) went home with no problems.

I also want to second everything Excaliber said. He beat me to most of it and added points I would not have (I usually don't remember to add the warning of the distraction though it is an important point).

I would probably have drawn my weapon after the first time I yelled stop and he kept coming. And, since I do not bluff with weapons, I would probably have fired the pistol after he refused to stop when I pointed the gun at him. Just my way, and I truly am not sure if it is legal in this case. As was pointed out, there is nothing in Chapter 9 that justifies the use of force against someone asking for a ride home. I would have pointed out that my fear was that he was attempting to commit a crime by his persistence and refusal to move away, but the law really does require the commission or attempt at the crime and not the fear of it. I think most cops, D.A.'s, and Texas juries would agree with me, but I have to recognize the wording of the law.

And, as an observation on CHL's in general, we really do need to practice calling 911 more often. When we get into a situation, our mind shuts down and we react. If we are confident and experienced in handling problems,w e do so. If we are with someone we trust to handle problems, we wait while they do (which is why the women did not call, but helped free his hands so he could handle the situation). But those of us who handle problems for a living are trained to call for help. Sometimes the training does not take, but we really do emphasize it in training. CHL's need to practice that also and have the person with them calling 911 while the incident is being handled. Probably the best example of this in practice is the current CPR training (we have all had it, right?). When you verify the emergency, the first thing you do is point to a specific person and tell them to call 911. In practice, we get confident and know we know what to do and they ofund people not calling 911. So, they have added it as the first step in rescuing people for that reason. We need to practice the same thing as a CHL.