By A Guns Save Life Member, MD.
I’m an Illinois concealed carry permit holder. I carry every day. Well, most of the time.
I am also a physician. I work in a hospital – a statutory “gun free” zone in Illinois. I can’t bring my gun to work. I have to enter and exit the building unarmed, just like everyone else.
Like so many other evenings, I had to work late today – leaving a little before 8 PM. It was dark. I had just exited the building and was walking across the patient drop-off area in front of the hospital on my way to the parking lot.
I was unarmed – because the law forces me to be unarmed, walking across a deserted, poorly patrolled and poorly lit outdoor area. Just like every other day when I am forced to cross this area, I stayed vigilant and had my head on a swivel, looking for threats.
As I was walking along, a fairly disreputable-looking male jumped out from behind a pillar. He was within 15 feet of me when he first appeared. I had no warning. No time to think. I needed to act.
He started approaching me and said, “Hey man. You got a minute?”
This is where my training and practicing kicked in. I didn’t have a gun – but this guy didn’t know that.
I put out my hand a shouted, “Stop. Stay away.”
He kept coming. He said he just wanted to talk. I flipped my coat back and put my strong hand on my hip – where my gun should have been.
Looking like I was ready to draw, I again shouted, “Stop. Stay back.”
He kept coming, but moved off to my right a little. I think he was trying to see if I had a gun.
I turned to keep facing him and shouted a third time, “Stop. Stay back.”
After this, he said, “You bitch.” He then walked away.
As I watched him walk away, I realized that I had forgotten to look around and reassess for other threats. After reassessing, I quickly headed for my car.
Once locked in the car, I called hospital security, told them what had happened and described the guy.
What was the security officer’s response? He said, “Oh yeah. We know about this guy. We’ll get someone out there right away.”
Bottom line – my employer’s security team knew about this guy and he was still allowed to jump out from behind pillars and approach people. I can’t repeat what I wanted to say to this security knucklehead.
After going through this experience, I just wanted to take a minute and express my gratitude to GSL. The lessons and techniques I learned in GSL Defense Training pistol classes made the difference. I don’t know what this guy had in mind. Maybe he was just an aggressive panhandler. Thanks to my GSL training, he moved on and I’ll never know what he planned to do.
JBoch adds: Classic predatory and pre-attack indicators there. Thank goodness you recognized the incident for what it was and didn’t let Mr. Bad Guy any further into your personal space. He sure as hell wasn’t looking to sell you Girl Scout cookies.
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