Living in condition Yellow

No I don’t like to have the clutch pressed for that long in the old truck. Especially leaning out the window to get the money out of the atm.

Copy that. My thought was when you saw a potential threat approaching, you could have put it in gear. Just a thought for next time. Glad you’re safe.

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South Bend IN myself when my MIL was still alive; two people not of my race asked for a cigarette while I was pumping gas with wife and MIL in car. “Sure… menthol or non menthol” (my wife’s cigarettes were also in my pocket) Were they sizing me up and decided not to do anything since I was friendly or just in need of a smoke. I’ll never know but something about it still bugs me 4 -5 years later. Having had to fly there I was unarmed (and for whatever reason the airport decided to test me for explosive residue on my hands when departing)? What if I’d been to the firing range with my brother in law the day before…

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Yup! And it wouldn’t hurt the paint or body any! All steel and no plastic! Ha! That old ford roll into my newer 95 ford work truck and knocked the rear bumper off the 95! I thought, crap I gona have to replace at least a head light, but no damage at all to the 65!

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I had a mid-70s Jeep CJ5 some years back that was a wrecking ball! :rofl:

Coincidentally, it got just as good of gas mileage as a brand new compact pickup truck in the early 2000s, but it was made of solid steel with a heavy frame, 6 cyl, and 4WD with oversized off-road tires. Through no fault of my own, I crashed it into the rear quarter panel of a Lincoln Navigator at about 30 mph (each) avoiding a head-on collision on a narrow mountain road. It bent my bumper just a tad and I had to replace the left front turn signal. Used a come-along to straighten the bumper. The Navigator had to be towed away from the scene on a flat bed wrecker because the whole back end was busted up and the rear axle was snapped. :astonished:

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I just bought a 2020 Wrangler Sahara which I love. I went to a Funeral the other day and to my surprise they could not find a steel surface to put the little magnetic procession flag on! :roll_eyes: :roll_eyes:

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First I’m surprised you have a CCW in CA, one of the lucky few. It happens no matter how hard we try to stay alert. Chalk it up to experience and learn from it. No harm, no foul.

As a retired pilot who traveled the world every month, I always carried a “throw-away” wallet on layovers. It’s a good idea. Now I keep most of my cash in a money clip and would throw that first to distract and save the wallet. Replacing all the ID’s and cards is a real pain.

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Fortunately I don’t live in CA, unfortunately that means my 2A rights are violated when I am visiting or working there. No CA CCW for me. I only had my pocket knife and pepper spray in that situation which fortunately were unneeded.

I don’t know how many people have CCW licenses in CA but if you look at a map of counties that will actually issue permits to CA residents you would be surprised how much of the state is actually gun friendly. It is just the urban areas where most of the people and their elected corrupticrats live that have their rights denied.

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If you haven’t read The Gift of Fear by Gavin Debecker, you should. He addresses our ability to pick up things with our subconscious mind. Several others have stated this.

I had two encounters. One was years ago at Hershey Park (amusement park). Had a guy come up and ask for directions. Noticed part way through the conversation he stopped paying attention to me. He stopped making eye contact and got a glazed over look. It then occurred to me there could be an accomplice pick pocket. I walked away and rejoined my family. He didn’t seem to notice I left.

A second encounter occurred in Kenya in a very rural part of the country at a convenience store. Two nationals walked up. One put his hands all over me. Again, thought he was pick picketing. They both finally walked away. As they did, I observed that the one guy appeared to be mentally limited. I think he was just enamored with “muzungu” (their word for white man.) I was probably the only one they’d seen in person.

Both encounters were harmless but were also wake up calls to be more alert. (Not that you can entirely avoid this kind of thing in a place like Kenya.)

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@Russ

Nor-Cal has 2A-friendly sheriffs, including in the belly of the beast, Sacramento.
We had a scare when a current Dem assemblyman ran and narrowly lost. His assembly term ends next year and he’s eyeing the sheriff’s position again. He could win this time. :flushed:

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Steve,
Nobody lives in condition yellow 24/7, it isn’t possible. Sooner of later you will need to read the menu and now you can’t actually watch everything else around you. Just like when you go to pump gas and have to input your card and number, that’s 5 seconds and a lot can happen in five seconds. We can only do what we can do. Sound like you were fairly prepared. The mere fact you are second guessing your actions means you are a lot better off than some people. Learn from it and more on.

But here’s something for you to consider. Can you take a folding chair and card table to the range? Then you can practice how you respond from a seated position. Maybe you could do this in your garage while dry firing. One reason I carry in the 4 o’clock under a light cover garment is I can draw while seated.

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Difficult to be in CY and pump gas at the same time. Get out, open gas filler door, look a pump, insert card in pump, enter ZIP code in pump, remove handle, select grade, insert nozzle in tank. Then look around and see what’s up. At any time during the procedure, some homeless wonk or panhandler can “jump” you for money. Usually that’s all it is but it scares hell out of you when you don’t expect it. Funny story. About 20 years ago, when I had a CA CCW, I was at a gas station in Wilmington, CA. Wilmington is sort of a working class Hispanic town. One time I was pumping gas and some guy came striding towards me with his arms open, big smile like he was going to give me the mother of all bear hugs. I gave him the internationally recognized palm to the face, yelled “stop do not approach me” and threw back my garment with my hand on my firearm. His expression changed in a nanosecond. He stopped, did a circle behind the station itself and left from a different direction. It was worth the price of admission! :rofl:

I had a CA CCW in the mid-nineties. I lived in San Bernardino County and the sheriff, Gary Penrod was very accommodating to honest citizens, unlike the dirt bag in LA County. This county makes the application ridiculously complicated. You must first apply to the LA Chief of Police and when you’re turned down by them. you can apply to the Sheriff who will simply deny your permit. There are a number of counties in CA which will issue permits but you can bet they are not located in populated areas on the coast.

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Yes, it takes a bit of extra thought. Mostly when I’m in an urban/suburban area I use extra caution by previewing/profiling the area prior to getting out of the truck.

I give myself some extra distance between the vehicle and the pump, I leave my truck door open, and glance around the pump a few extra times while credit carding it.

I saw my very first “on point” gas pumping person yesterday. I teach folks to stand about 5 feet away from one of the points/corners of your vehicle while the gas is being dispensed. You can use the vehicle as cover/concealment, and you have a better view of your entire area of defense. I really felt like approaching him and asking him where he trained.

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If possible, look around first for a minute, before you even get out of the car. One time I saw a weird guy approaching every customer at the gas station. I didn’t even exit my car and went on to the next station.
If I was not armed, I would not leave. If he approached, I’d tell him off. If he became aggressive, I’d handle him. But with a gun on me, I did not want any chance of a confrontation.

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On point is right! Very good post. It’s very rare, indeed, to see someone else who behaves like this routinely without drawing a bunch of attention in the process.

Of course, that’s good advice, look before you leap. The problem in gas stations with several banks of pumps is that your assailant could be two banks over, hassling someone else. You don’t see anything, dismount and start to pump and the guy is right there. You’re right that you want to diffuse any situation if you’re carrying. These days in San Pedro, CA at least, you never know if you’re going to run into a mental case who will take a swipe at you out of anger if you refuse him money.

This :point_up:t4:
The best chance of winning a confrontation is not being involved in one.

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Also don’t forget, I’ve mentioned this once before in a post…
The gas pump dispenser itself is a short ranged weapon.

I had to take it out of the gas tank and just hold and point it casually in the direction of a close quarters aggressor. He looked at it, thought about it, called me a name, turned and left me alone.

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