T H told some personal stories, and that reminded me of the one time I felt the need to be armed. But first let me tell you how to sober up a drunk. Like T H I've been armed for years, sometimes in places where it was totally illegal, and at 75 I've never been in trouble for anything but speeding tickets. I'm 6'2" and most of my life, my size has kept me out of trouble. In Oregon, menacing with a gun or knife is a rather serious crime, which I totally agree with. People should not point guns at other people. If a person feels the need to pull a gun, then the need better be bad enough that the shooting commences, otherwise talk your way out of it, or leave, because you could be in more trouble than the bad guy simply because you were threatening with the gun. Years ago when the bank owned the ranch and I worked my
off to make the payments, a car stopped on the county road and a drunk guy got out. He was fighting with a woman still in the car, and they were hollering at each other. I guess the reason they stopped was because he had to P, because that's what he was doing when she drove off. This was probably 1AM, I'd just got to bed after working swing shift at the mill, so was awake and watching out the window when I heard the hollering. In those days there was no death penalty in Oregon, and it was totally against the law to use deadly physical force to protect your property unless the perp. was inside your house, otherwise you were up a creek, firearms were illegal to protect property. I knew that at the time, and didn't want to kill the guy anyhow. In those days my wife and I never took the keys out of our cars, and I figured that was the drunks next move. So there was an 30-06 and a double twelve gauge in the closet, so I decided if he started to steal the car, I was going to use the 12 to scare the crap out of him as he was driving off, so grabbed the gun and stuffed a couple of bird shot into it. The drunk staggered past the cars with a definite port list, and came to the door, I had the gun in my hand already, so what the heck. The door was unlocked, so I turned on the lights, and stood back. He knocked, I said "come in." He opens the door only to see a guy at port arms with a double 12. It's remarkable how fast that will sober a person up. He said, "May I please borrow your phone?" I said sure. Looking back I think it's funny, and it's just the way it worked out, if I hadn't already had the gun in hand, I would have answered the door without a gun. That's not the time I felt threatened. The next time I was actually a bit worried. One of the things that happens to old men is water problems, and I have to take water pills. When the pills are fresh, I usually can't go more that an hour before needing to relieve myself. I had business in California, and was legally armed in Oregon, but had I been caught in California I don't know what they would have done, life in prison maybe, I don't know, don't care, I've carried in California a lot and nothing has come of it. Anyhow, I got off to an early start after a couple of cups of coffee. By the time I got to the rest stop north of Grants Pass, my eyeballs were yellow. I pulled in, and way down the other end of the parking lot there was one car with the hood up and a guy standing by it. There were no other cars, and I saw no other people, and it was probably 3:AM. The looks of everything really boogered me, it didn't look good at all. So I walked into the head, but before going through the door, my 1911 was in my hand, pointing down at my side, kind of keeping it close and under cover so to speak. I was alone in there, so with my gun in one hand and the pistol in the other, took care of the necessaries. While doing that, steps were heard coming down the walk, and this guy from the car walks in. Keep in mind the guy and his car were far enough off that I had no idea what nationality he was, but it worked out that he was of a different race, with lots of tattoos, looking every bit to an old country boy like a gang member. Quite frankly I don't know if he was a gang member or a good guy with tattoos, we made eye contact and he left. When I left the head he was back at his car, and actually I feel bad if he was truly broken down and needing help. I don't live where there are gangs, but I see pictures of gang members on the news, and I feel I did the right thing, even if I technically broke the law, because just showing a gun is legally called menacing, and looking like a gang member isn't against the law or legally considered menacing, although I think it is, but my ideas don't usually count. The facts are, just the presence of a gun stops a lot of crimes before they start. If any California cops are reading this, you don't have to be on the lookout for me any more, my relatives down there are all gone, so I'll keep my guns north of the border. Even though I was raised down there, and spent about a fourth of my life in California, that's another place I won't go because of all the hen house laws they have, and I'm sure they don't care, they have too many people anyhow.
