Originally Posted by
009jim
Needs clarification.........Are you claiming that if someone makes it clear he is going to harm you and you pull a gun and the offender stops and runs back to his pickup then high-tails it to the nearest police station and says "there was this guy on the road on a bike and he would not get out of my way so I cut him off and then got out of my truck and was running back towards him, and honest I was just going to invite him to a party, but then he pulled a gun and, yes officer, he brandished it" - the police will then take his word at face value and track down this supposedly violent cyclist and charge him with "brandishing"? Bollocks.
Yes. That is exactly what I am saying, you can claim "bollocks" all you want. If you are carrying a weapon, and you feel threatened enough to pull it, you had better use it. If you pull it and point it at another person, in my state that is a felony. And yes, they will find you as the person does not have to do much more than call law enforcement and say where you are. Being a responsible owner means that you are not yelling at a driver when you are cut off in traffic to the point that it seems you are trying to start trouble.
At this point I am going to bow out of this discussion. You seem to see a weapon as a magical item that imbues you with power and are creating hypothetical situations where you can use it... I do not have time for that type of discussion....I can come up with all manner of "what if" type scenarios as well.
As to running with dignity at 70? The key is not to put yourself in that situation by looking for trouble.