Random rant: Why you might want to draw a gun in public

Okay, I shouldn’t be reading blogs. But I was, and I found this at Lowering the Bar. Read it; I’ll wait.

Yeah…I wasn’t there, so I don’t know anything about the specifics. But it illustrates a problem I’ve thought about fairly often (in the context of writing crime fiction of course), which can easily arise if you’re carrying a gun and some genius wants to start a fight.

If you pull out your gun, bystanders get upset. But you have some degree of control over what happens next…unless a cop or nearby samaritan shoots you, of course.

If you don’t draw your gun, you’re taking the chance that the other guy/gal will draw it for you. Judgment may not be operating too effectively, especially if there’s been hair-pulling or similar esoteric behavior. And do you want to trust your life to the judgment of the person who just punched you?

(Esoteric, I said. Not that other thing you were thinking.)

So it’s a situation in which drawing the gun may in fact be the safer option, for all parties involved.

Bottom line? Don’t go punching people on a casual basis. And don’t let people easily pull you into a fight either.

Behave.

Okay, now I’m going back to work.