TexasCHLforum.com

pedalman wrote:We would probably help ourselves not to resort to this by not watching so many movies and TV shows that depict the good guy as a testosterone-filled gunslinger. In my opinion, this is how the mindset is instilled in us. The boob tube turns out to be a nonstop training video, and we don't even realize it.

Ever since I received my CHL, I constantly remind myself that the real world is not what Hollywood says it is. I am not Dirty Harry, and the truth is that good guys are NOT to be of that mold. Particularly, legally-armed civilians. I have a huge responsibility riding on my hip or in my pocket, and I must be mindful of that at all times.

Excellent points, pedalman.

Law enforcement officers receive extensive classroom and field training on how to manage violent incidents, and they get to practice and critique their techniques in real crises many times each year. The learning curve to acceptable competence is steep but relatively short, especially in the more active jurisdictions.

On the other hand, the only places most civilians get to see confrontations between good guys and bad guys is on either the big screen or the little screen. It's easy to lose sight of the fact that, except for security camera clips, these are not real incidents and are staged for dramatic effect, not for training value. What you see in the movies and in TV shows is most definitely not what will bring you home safely from a real incident. The effect of movie gunshots on actors bears not even a distant relationship to the effect of real world gunshots on bad guys. The language and tactics shown will get you only arrested if you're lucky, and killed if you're not. However, since they're the only behavior patterns most folks have been exposed to, they are what folks who have not been trained otherwise may well default to without realizing it, and this may well be a factor in how the OP managed the incident he described.

Violent incident management is not learned through TV, instinct, or osmosis. Those who truly want to learn how to act responsibly and effectively will make the effort to read and take training from authors and teachers who have been there and have done their homework to deliver high quality information to their students. Massad Ayoob, Jeff Cooper (now deceased), Clint Smith, Louis Awerbuck, and others of their caliber are the folks to seek out for reliable literature and training on how to protect yourself and yours and conduct yourself responsibly while armed.

hankintexas wrote:Seems to me, you should have kept him under observation while calling the police instead of confronting him. I'm not saying you did anything wrong, but if he did not know you were watching him you may have been able to get the drop on him while he was in the act of committing a crime. Or, the LEO's could have caught him in the act.

Just my opinion.....

It sounds like this was a real bad guy about to do something he would have gone to jail for and g21sf was in the perfect position to help him get there. Unfortunately, he gave up his biggest advantage and a rare opportunity (being able to observe a developing crime in progress without his presence being known) and confronted the BG before he had done anything overt that he could be arrested for. When the police eventually stopped him, although he was carrying a knife and gloves, these items are not against the law. The only thing they might have held him on was the trespass order, but he wasn't in violation of that either when they found him.

Confronting people with gun in hand in a public area while unleashing a string of testosterone fueled profanities is inadvisable at best, and not in the best interests of the good guy. It sets up a situation that can get really messy in a hurry, and all that trash talk can make the homeowner look a lot less like a hero and a lot more like an aggressor or a mutual combatant to witnesses (they manage to pop up in the darnedest places, even when you think there aren't any). That's not advantageous when the police arrive. It also generally looks a lot worse by the time it gets to the grand jury.

Folks who lawfully possess firearms need to develop the habits of restraint, self control, thinking before action, and controlling their speech so they always act in a manner consistent with what a reasonable person who is not looking for a fight would do under the circumstances. Doing otherwise risks turning minor confrontations into major ones, and creating situations where the innocence and lawfulness of the would be good guy can readily be brought into question. Acting in this manner may not be as immediately satisfying as chest thumping, name calling tactics, but it brings better results in the long run and has a much better chance of keeping one from hearing the jail cell door clanging closed behind him. The calm demeanor of a strong man who knows what he's doing also usually leaves a better impression on significant others than does cursing and screaming.

The best response here would have been to call 911 and stay on the line while continuing to observe the subject and relay changes in the situation as they occurred. G21sf was already prepared to deal effectively with the possibility that the BG could have attempted a forcible entry before police arrived. The ending would likely have been much more satisfactory and would have been achieved with a great deal less risk to himself.