Today, I’d like to tell you about pistol courses… profanity… and what they have to do with keeping you out of jail.
You see, this past Saturday I held a CCA Defensive Pistol course. It was a beautiful spring day and there’s just something special about shooting on an outdoor pistol range surrounded by the (small) mountains of West Virginia. We had a great class and it’s always amazing to see how much improvement folks make in such a short period of time.
I could tell you all about what we did at the course and how they became such better shooters, but instead, strangely enough, I want to tell you about one thing that I didn’t do during class and that I didn’t hear any of, and that is foul language.
Stay with me on this one because this is an important lesson…
At my pistol courses you will never hear any profanity coming out of my mouth. I don’t believe in foul language and try to never say it. Personally, I don’t think it’s professional. However, some of my friends who are top instructors let the F-word fly like crazy, so obviously to each his own.
However, in addition to religious or professional beliefs about the use of profanity, I think there is an important reason not to use foul language that most people over look. Instead of trying to explain it, let me give you an example.
Let’s say you cuss all the time and it’s become a habit and the F-word is no big deal to you. You’re walking away from the ATM one day and a man comes at you with what you believe is a knife. You quickly draw your gun and you shout “You Mother F*****” as you fire a few rounds. He falls backwards and you again shout, “Don’t you F***** move.”
Well, the cops arrive and it turns out the “knife” was really a shiny key and the guy was asking you to jump his car. And there happens to be a few witnesses around that you didn’t see. These witnesses tell the cops that you were an angry man and called the guy a “Mother F*****” and were cussing frighteningly at him. How do you think that’s going to look when you have 4 witnesses testifying against you?
I realize this is far-fetched…
But my point is, if you’re confronted with a deadly force situation you don’t want witnesses who’ll say something like “I heard him scream “I’ll blow your f****** head off.’” You don’t want to sound like the aggressor and have it look bad for you by using language that people expect criminals to use.
You also don’t want to let this language slip when the cops are talking to you either. You don’t want a cop on the stand reading his notes saying, “When I interviewed Mr. Johnson he said ‘yes, I shot the mother f***** because he was going to kill me.’”
And if you’re really having trouble breaking your language habit you can do what my mother used to do to me growing up when I used bad language. Let’s just say a bar of soap doesn’t taste very good.
Excellent point! Perception can sometimes be reality, especially if you ever were to find yourself in a case trying to defend your stand-your-ground rights. Morality notwithstanding (I cuss like a sailor in certain company so I’m far from judging such language), it’s very hard in “mixed” society for anyone to take anyone else seriously with a string of profanity coming out of their mouths. Most will immediately jump to opinions tending toward the “criminal” or at least “ignorant” and “low-brow”. While most of the time I’d not care, when you’re in court and the judge knows nothing of you except your choice of phrase under pressure, I’d rather it be more PG than R rated myself.
What a great article! I will be sharing this as I hold the same beliefs but never saw the benefit before as you so adequately explained. Nicely done. If your attitude is that now that you are an adult you can say whatever you want, then you never really did grow up. With age comes more responsibility and the need to be a better example. Maturity is defined as doing right when no else is around. I am friends with a lot of law enforcement officers and judges. Many would take advantage of that and speed thinking “I wont get a ticket with my connections.” But I believe I should never put my friends in a position where they have to “look the other way” or “do me a favor.” I should be a good example of a model citizen and hold myself to a higher standard.
I agree! Mostly because I am a Christian and detest vulgar language. I also agree it is unprofessional and shows up as a character flaw. I have heard police refer to profanity as “combative language.” No matter whether you agree or not about the indecency of foul language, you would be wise to refrain from it as a CWC. It most certainly will be used against you when you are characterized by police and the average citizen. It’s a good point, I hope people will see this article as the useful message it is.
To me, it’s what is said, not how. I find that people who worry more about how something is said are more into controlling people than I am, that’s for sure.
I don’t go around cursing all the time, but I don’t get offended by it either. May be it’s a cultural thing too. Being from NY, the f word is like hi, how are you doing. It’s no big deal.
I really appreciate your stand on this issue. I am a pastor, a CHL instructor and also a pistol instructor. I try to attend classes to stay current and also team teach a CHL class regularly.
One thing I find excessive, unnecessary, unprofessional, and discourteous, is the use of profanity in these “educational” venues. Now I am not a prude nor do I expect the non-Christian world to respond as I do, but I do expect professionalism if I am paying for a course. Did I mention that I am also a lifelong educator? Try using profanity in the classroom and see how far that gets you.
Frankly, I don’t buy into the argument that this is the only way to deal with the “bad guys” because it’s the only thing they understand. If you have your pistol trained on that “bad guy” you can bet that he is more concerned with what’s coming out of the muzzle than what is coming out of your mouth. And consider police training. While there are certainly real life situations where profanities may slip out, it is NOT the policy of any police training that I am aware of, to actively encourage and train officers in the use of profanity, I wonder why?
One thing is very clear. If the attitudes and language often used in these instructinal environments were used in office staff meetings or board meetings, pink slips would be readily handed out.
Just my 2 cents.
I to am a firearms instructor,and do not believe in profanity when teaching,your correct,it is “Unprofessional”. And like you I teach that it is not a good idea to profanity in a self defence situation,it brings the concept of “Malice” into the investigation. And that might what turn a “good shoot” into jail time. Unlike you,in my “real life” I cuss like someone who spent 10 years in a Ranger BN.
When I hear Concealed Carry opponents voice their opinions I respond:In Florida one in seventeen
people are permitted to carry. They walk past you every day. They are the polite ones.
Thanks. I live in Florida, I (usually) carry, and I try to be polite. As a flawed human, I sometimes fail, but I do agree with the author and the other respondents here.
My personal feeling is that one of the primary things learned in any defense course it to remain non-confrontational. I see no point in inflaming the situation with the use of language designed to anger or intimidate. Keep it professional and civil in your dealings with others, and there is a smaller chance of needing to defend yourself. “Aggressive” language may be OK with some, but civility is appreciated by all.
I teach people that there are witnessess/cameras everywherre, do they want to look and sound like one of the good guys, or a suspect. I teach them to keep their commands simple, and to mentally rehearse and practice while shooting. If you don’t do the practice, you never no what might erupt from your mouth under stress and pressure.
I see the point you’re trying to make, and it couldn’t hurt, but I’ve been around enough cops on duty to know that they don’t use pretty language when dealing with people who aren’t doing what they should. I don’t think most would hold it against you. However, it only takes one.
After 30 years of being a police officer/ firearms instructor/rangemaster, I have heard any and everything that could be said on the range. A point I always made to those taking my classes. With the camera phones and other ways things always end up on the news. I can all but guarantee that if someone is video’d in a shooting situation. If they use profanity against the other party. The reason, justification or anything that shows the shooting was proper and needed to keep the shooter safe, WILL BE Dismissed, in favor of showing them cussing the target. In a liberally biased newsworld, all that would be shown of the shooting is repeats of the shooter cussing. (even if it had to be edited to that)
Any good instructor also knows that what you do in practice is what you will do in reality, good or bad. If you cuss on the range, you will cuss in an actual shooting.
As a retired LEO I agree completely.
Currsing is getting so everyday in the last couple of year that your the odd man out , it’s refreshing to read your thoughts!
I wonder how much of the seemingly increased acceptability of profanity can be traced back to “entertainment” (i.e., movies, TV, etc)? The media does influence culture and can come out in one’s daily life.
IN A STRESSFULL SITUATION YOU MY BE NERVOUS AN CONFUSED AN MAY NOT BE THINKING AS CLEARLY AS YOU SHOULD, SO ITS POSSIBLE TO SAY THINGS AT THAT POINT IN TIME , WHERE IN A MORE NORMAL ARENNA YOU WOULD NOT CUSS.
I think that may be a possibility, but I think you will find what you practice will be what you do. If this language isn’t practiced in your everyday life you more than likely will not use it even in a stressful situation. Because it’s not in your heart to say it.
[ Mt.12:34…For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.]
That’s why for concealed carriers practice is so important, because it is thru routine and practice that we yield the result of that practice. So if we practice profanity, even if we try, it is most likely going to come out in a stressful situation when there is limited time to think of what to say. The same is true if we don’t practice it, it is not likely to come out at an inopportune time. What we practice becomes very important.
Profanity has a very limited usefulness for any type of conversation, (unless your goal is to offend people, or make yourself sound ignorant). There are very limited occasions when a colorful adjective can be more descriptive but it serves no purpose in any type of training, teaching, or learning capacity. In general profanity decreases your credibility, and causes people to view you as a coarse, uneducated individual. I believe that people willing to pollute conversation are one reason the moral standards in our country are deteriorating.
Shermr; I can agree with you to a point. I rarely use the F…. word, but when I do you can bet that I mean what I am saying. I do not relate to this word as profanity, although most of our society does. It is one of the few words that can be used with any inflection and mean so many different things. If the word is used every time you express yourself, that would make a lot of people nervous, but if used with its various inflections, it will give you the meaning of the utterance right now. So, come at me in a manner that I interpret as threatening, you will hear this word and it will mean “Stop and review what you are about to do! You, the guy in front of me.” In the Marines, the firing of the M1 at an unseen target, garnered that word many times, giving extra power and finesse to the bullet as it sped towards its target. So, I sorta believe I should not use the word in the presence of any loaded handgun, as someone is likely to get shot, however, I can respond to a situation without using the F word and it will not carry the meaning of the situation, and I am probably the one going to get hurt.
My question is how did cuss words receive there meanings, confused people?
The high priest of firearms training ( Jeff Cooper ) did not believe in using curse words in his training . He stated that in an article or verbally, I forgot got which . Larry Berry
NRA Basic Pistol? No use of the government’s 7 words by me or any students.
Advanced Combat Pistol with 6 hard-charging young men as students? I still don’t curse, but they certainly may and do. When I was a cop, many of my peers were former military and many of them cursed frequently. I typically was able to dig down deep and find better and more descriptive words to get my point across. Good point, thanks.
That’s great to not hear profanity!. I’ve got friends that own bars and neighbors who are construction workers. They think every other word begins with “F” and is how the rest of the world speaks. I’ve flat out asked them to please knock it off. Most people forget they are even using bad language. They have all been respectful of my reminders.
Good for you! It’s sad, but the vulgar language that is becoming more and more the norm in this country is a sign of our lack of respect and character. There was a time when such language was consider at the least rude and band mannered behavior. Men who used such language would never think of doing so in front of a lady or children or in a place of business. I think we would do well a a country to return to such manners and values.
As an English teacher, I have always been impressed at the overall attitude shooting people have toward language, but at the end of any day, it always comes down to anyone’s personal standards that only they can (and will) set for themselves and maintain, and from that, I’ve heard a share of lower standard talk as has anyone else.
I did hear a comment some years ago that, teacher I am, I filed away for that right time in the future which, for the matter, seems appropriate now.
“If we hear those words from you, sooner or later, we’ll hear them of you.”
I am guilty of this practice from time to time and I always hate myself afterwards. I use the excuse of too much time in the military but that is really not an excuse. So, I keep working on the fault. You are right on with your scenarios , not to mention that it takes more intelligence to use correct language than profanity. Thus if you want folks to have a good impression of your inteligence level, leave the potty mouth out of your conversation.
I pray about it a lot, too, even though I am not always successful. Any other ideas of how to curb the practice out there?
Bob in Illinois
I agree with PastorT, & to reach that goal I would recommend spending more time In places & situations with people who don’t use that kind of language, like a good Bible believing church & church functions. You can find people there who like to shoot, fish etc. Best of all. if you get “saved” the Holy Spirit will help you to fix that problem, as well as the other sins in your life. You sound sincere & your efforts are commendable, so In the meantime don’t beat yourself up too badly, or hate yourself when you slip, but keep trying to do better. I don’t know what your situation is, but even though you pray, there is much scripture indicating that God is more willing to answer the prayers of His obedient children than disobedient ones, or others who are not His children. I think most fathers feel the same way. Brad
I say you are to be commended.. There’s a reason why those type of words are “bleeped” out on many television shows etc. It is not “adult” language, it’s “dirty” language, & it’s offensive to a lot of people.
I’m an avid salt water angler, but I also am a Christian man, & God’s Word says that we’re not to let corrupt communication proceed out of our mouth (Eph 4:29).
I don’t talk that way & I absolutely will not give my hard earned money to a charter captain, guide, firearms instructor etc. who has a filthy mouth, & I won’t associate with or befriend someone, male or female, who does.
Using the Lord’s name as a swear word is even worse than the “F” word, & there’s lots of people who feel the same way that I do.
By the way, I wasn’t “raised in a bubble” either, I did 3 yrs active duty in the Marine Corps, including a combat tour as an infantryman (0311) and later on, in the Army, fought on 2 Army boxing teams.
I will say this, as someone who is gravely concerned about the moral direction this country is going. The comments posted by people on this particular subject gives me hope! You sound like people of character!
99% of the time, I’d agree, but I think there is a time and place for everything including belting out “GET THE F___ BACK”. I don’t think profanity should be part of normal life anymore than killing people should be, but on the grand scale of things if you are going to put hot lead in a human being, mixing a four letter word into the verbal command just doesn’t seem like a big deal. If hedging witnesses to your side (and possibly actually deterring the incident) is your goal, having 4 witnesses say they heard somebody scream get the eff back then heard gun shots, that paints a pretty clear picture of what happened. If you replaced “You Mother F*****” with “you meany head” and said witness thought you were the aggressor, the best dropping the f word from the vernacular might get you is an insanity plea 😉 .
I wholeheartedly agree with this message.
I’m a teacher in a high school and I think it is sad that there are movies and television shows that my students watch whose very titles would get the students in trouble for mentioning. I don’t get why “shock” language is considered socially acceptable anymore.
Sadder still, is that the worst language I hear in the hallways come from the young women in the school and not the young men. *shakes head* I don’t get it and I applaud you for your efforts in keeping your firearms classes free of unprofessional scatological expressions.
It always is a let down when I go to my range and the folks next to me have to use such language after every shot. It makes the sportsman’s club I belong to less appealing.
Support your Second Amendment Rights! Vote George Zimmerman for Congress, 2012!
No, and inappropriate for this topic which is profanity.
Does the name Brady mean anything to you? The more out-spoken group to come
along is the Brady Campaign to end gun violence. This has fanned the flames of
control more than any event to come down since the mass-murder at schools and
the Rep. Gifford’s attacks and murders. This is not only an action that we all
are going to be judged on but an action that may very well have profound
effects on our rights. Nevertheless, life was lost. There is not a place in the
South-Eastern United States that has a jury pool big enough for the trial to
come.
All of those acts of which you speak were committed by nutbars most of whom had no business possessing a firearm. In this case the person does not appear to be a nutbar, but he may have suffered a lapse in judgment due partly to frustration with a police dept. unable to stop a rash of burglaries in his gated community. He was probably overzealous in his actions and may be guilty of manslaughter, but we will have to wait and see if he gets a fair trial which I believe to be impossible at this time.
Anyway back to the first subject. I have found in my experience that when a dangerous situation arises and loud and aggressive tones and language are used, it is the calm and deliberate voice that stands out and gets attention. In my job I often must take controlled and deliberate steps to restore stability to an unstable situation. People respond to that type of calm leadership, even the bad guy.
Presence of command, command presence, an air of authority.
Profanity is the language of the lowest class of people, and if you use it too often that is where you will find yourself.
If you want a good job and to be respected by society, then don’t use profanity.
I’m a retired law enforcement officer now after nearly 30 years in the business. Growing up in the heart of New York City, cursing became something we all got accustomed to I’m afraid. However, I absolutely agree that when the red flag goes up and you have to confront a dangerous problem the “less” said of any kind of language, the better. If you do need to give out commands the simpler and professional you keep things the better. Sometimes in dealing with certain criminals there’s unfortunately only one language they understand and respond to it seems. However, Jason makes a great point in that we should always strive to keep things as short, direct and professional as possible. Great article as usual Jason.
Carried a concealed firearm most of my life, with it being drawn in self defense (It’s ‘impression’ stopped the attack with few words said) only one time. I also worked in contact with the general public 24-7, all of my productive life. My income and livelihood was based on Repeat customers. If ‘any’ word had the potential of discouraging a ‘repeat customer’ it was exhibiting far better ‘intelligence’ to leave it unsaid. When your success and prosperity in life, depends on your vocalizations, you had better think before immaturely ‘firing off a round’. Sign in the late ‘Morrie Gauger’s first little barn motorcycle shop,… “Be Sure Brain is in Gear, before Engaging Mouth”, impressed me as a kid. I Never forgot it.. RIP Morrie.
“Profanity is the effort of a feeble brain to express itself forcibly.”
It is certainly an issue that we should carefully address on a personal and professional basis.
Although I frequently slip up I have been tring to improve my language so as to not sound like one of the so called lib comics like Bill Mahr or Chris Rock, Al Franken, etc.
I work corrections and “Hey Sir” will get you a 20x better response than “Hey A**hole”
Yep, 24 years of State, Fed and County work with folks from Admirals, Governors and the like, have given rise to my response to this issue. I would like to state that with a situation or two a very profound order has worked quite well. I do not like to get down and dirty but may well do so. It is also about not only a command presence but having a respected presence. Think?
As the saying goes, Profanity is ignorance made audible. Or as I once heard some reply after being exposed to a dose of filthy language, “and you eat with that mouth.”
I concur with the article. The negative consequences of using profanity far outweigh any positive benefit. Extra words cloud a command to back off or drop your weapon.
This
is a very sore point with me to be shure. Condoning the use of profanity is
wide spread. I remember a time listing the simple F*** would have made me very
mad. Now it is acceptable. The top reality shows that I would normally watch on
such channels as Discovery and TLC are off limits to me and my wife. Stooping to the level of casual F-that and
F-that is not acceptable and shows a very limited control of ones emotions.
Now, if I smash my finger in the door, hit my thumb with a hammer, I might and
may very well say shucks, shoot or fudges (No, I will let loose a barrage of
dirty words for sure and for certain) that does not mean while watching top
shots or some such program I will allow my wife or grandkids to listen. I have
as much contempt for a person using a religious cuss word as I do a vulgar one.
We just viewed a movie that bleeped every M/F word but used my Lord’s name in
vain. That to me is worse. But, then again, I am not tolerant. Off subject but
still offensive.
I always follow the rule: “If you’re gonna talk, talk. If you’re gonna shoot, shoot.” All this talking and shooting, whether you use profanity or not, is beside the point.
If someone doesn’t mind being seen as an uneducated, foul-mouthed lout whose mother didn’t raise him or her right, then that is their choice.
Profanity only comes out of my mouth when I’m with my friends at home or their house. I work in a funeral home- where there’s NEVER an excuse for it. I also have a three year old son. This article was a good reminder of how the times have changed and how we should carry ourselves if we expect anyone to respect us.
You only use profanity at home? You have a son and you use
the F-Word with him around? Now I know what is wrong with folks of this
generation and the next.
nice!
Bravo…I concur. Thanks Jason and the WV mountains are grand.
true, excellent
Good Point ! Hadn’t thought about that aspect !
I agree also, in a country where we are fighting to keep our constitutional rights to bear arms, we have to be on a higher plane than those who cherish guns to do evil.
Remember: An armed society is a polite society.
That being said, there is a place and time to tactically use profanity, albeit those times would be a very narrow set of circumstances.
You have to remember who you would be dealing with when you are confronted by a criminal. They’ve been raised to respect the bigger, louder barking dog (or wolf). In order to create a response to initiate their ‘pack mentality reflex’ you may have to use a couple of the “blue words”. The criminals are definitely going to use profanity to shock and startle us good people, so you had better be prepared to avoid the freeze reaction when you are told “Give me your f***ing keys now B***h!!”
I am definitely not advocating the use of profanity in training though. As stated above, I too will never use off color language or any other derogatory references and neither will my instructors. Just be aware that there may come a time and place that a bad word or two may achieve the desired result a lot faster.
We are professionals, we are role models, we are the Sheepdogs and we are expected to guide our students to be the best that any of us can be. Never forget that.
I think after shooting the guy at the ATM by mistake, the fact that you said anything would not really matter as do you really think our population is not used to the word?
What you should be saying if that happens, is damn, I am going to f****** jail, I am such a dumba**
I set and read a dozen or more comments and reflect back on a situation that i was involved in on the morning on April 14th 2012. After a very long day driving back from DineyLand in Southern California Easter afternoon, only being home10 minutes I receive a phone call from a tenant/Caretaker of some Agracultural land that I own and run livestock upon, “Don, I just had a neighbor of the Gerber property stop by and tell me there is a whole in the fence and your cows are out” Thinking Great another Dang car drove through my fence…!!! while in route to Sacramento (45 miles away) from my home in the foothills I receive another call, Damn-it those Mothers @!%* broke into my storage building, wait a minute the chain is cut on the gates, Oh my God your water truck is gone.
Now getting very upset that i now have taken a $25,000.00 lose on a water truck that is only used upon my property and never on the road, heck why do i need insurance…! get the picture..?
I arive at the property only to find 34 head of cattle out on the neighbores property and several holes cut in my 5 year old Barb Wire with 48″ Field (Page wire) fencing what is going on here, we discover that another 4 trailers and an other tenants Jet Ski boat is also missing, no tempers are flareing to say the least. Remaining somewhat calm I notify Sacramento County Sheriff 911, officer arriver, you know the rest of that part of the story as we have all been there at some point in our life.
“Bobby” the caretaker can’t sleep so at 5:15am Monday April 9th goes to the property to check on things and everything is alright so he is now comforted and returns back to his home, “Mike” the other tenant and neighbor to Bobby drives by at 7:00 am on the way to work and finds the lock cut on the gate and now Bobby’s 18 foot Aluminum fishing boat and trailer are now missing again no insurance, again go through the routine of calling 911. That night Mike and a friend spend the night at the property to see what takes place, it all started at 8:30 pm that night with a suspisious vehicle and then a bicycle rideing by and shineing a flashlight upon the property,at 3:30 am it is observed that a vehicle drove off the roadway and was stuck in the ditch, then 5 min later a black in color Nissen pickup shows up and aids to pull out the white Toyota pickup and they leave, only 2 minutes later a subject is observed walking across the fiels from where the vehicle was stuck in the ditch and making a bee line right for the storage building, so i receive a call about this activity, at 4:10 am April 10th i receive a phone call that Sacramento SO is on scene with 18 patrol cars and 2 K-9 units are searching the property, while driving the 45 miles i realize why so many holes were cut into my fencing “escape routes” Sac SO doesn’t find any body so they leave, fast forward to 8:30 am, I am working upon some other property 5 miles away when Bobby shows up to inform me that my Cows are out again and Mike is trying to get them to the back of the field, SO here we go again back enroute to the property and now I’m Pissed to say the least, Cows co-operate again fix the fence, as we are approaching the interior fence gates we notice a subject around some storage containers that we do not recognize, so we go to investagate, both of us being armed we feel no fear…!Right…!!!
Mike finds the guy hiding in between the containers while i am driving around the front side and here they come, when i exited my vehicle i drew my gun to hold the suspect, the suspects mouth is just flowing foul language, trying to be Large and in Charge im yelling comands “Get on the Ground, Keep your Hands where i can see them (he continually is putting his hands in his Hoodie jacket, I continue to keep yelling comands and this guy just will not comply and continues to approach me, So here what would you do…? you need to really ask yourself this question…!!!
Finally after 10 minutes Bobby returns as observes what is going on and calls 911 from his cell phone, Oh Yeah here in Californis Cell Phone Calls go to Calif Highway Patrol then have to be routed to the proper agency, this all takes time, Finally connected to Sac SO, Bobby now standing off to my Left and 20 feet away discribing to the dispatcher what is taking place, I hear Bobby tell the operator Thats the Landowner yelling this Mother *#!* won’t comply get units here fast. “REMEMBER when your on a 911 call everything is being recorded”
while this is going on i notice the suspect has a large cut on his leg, so i make request through Bobby to request Medical Aid, the dispatcher (as i was told later) asked if someone was shot,, No not yet (OMG you didn’t tell them that) Units arrive and take the suspect into custody.
Come to find out he is (here in California a AB109 Early Release Parolee spending 7 months on a 5 year term and was released April 4th 2012, Welcome to the future of California, now the rest of the story, We not Law Enforcement, We found and recovered most all of our property 2 days later and called Sac So and CHP, one subject caught in the act of cutting up Bobby’s fishing boat for scrap metal, it ends up being a very large Burgulary Vehicle ring of all AB109 Early Release Parolee’s
Moral of the story, keep a cool head, you have many things to think about and decesions to make and they all have to be correct, Also Damn my 1911 45 acp is very heavy to hold at someone for 20 minutes and i never let any foul language leave my mouth and can be verifed by the 911 tape…!!! and yes I am a NRA Cert.Pistol CCW trainer.
Regards,
Sounds like you did a great job, especially with controlling your anger over the property damage, loss etc., & probably a lot better than I would have done. My hat’s off to you sir.
The situation with him approaching you, refusing to comply, & reaching in his pockets etc., though maybe you didn’t feel justified in shooting him, Seems as if you would have been fully justified in pepper spraying him & still maintain full control of your firearm? Or is pepper spray illegal in California?