Had an interesting Saturday night. I was coming home from the local bar where I had been shooting in a pool turny all night, and decided to stop at the 7-11 right around the corner from my apartment complex for some smokes, munchies, and a couple of 2 liters of Pepsi. Right next door to the 7-11 is a hip hop club. It's very popular with the brothers in the area so they are always hanging out in front of the place and raising hell in the parking lot. The police patrol the area heavily when the club is open for the obvious reasons.
Anyway I walked into the 7-11 past a bunch of gang bangers, get my stuff and walk back out to my truck. Mind you I'm a white guy wearing a cowboy hat, boots, and a t-shirt that has the "Cowboy Up" logo on the back of it. Well three of the brother start giving me a bunch of crap about the way I'm dressed. I ignore them and continue on to my truck and they start to follow me. I get in my truck and one of them walks around behind my truck and stands there so I can't move, while the other two come up to the drivers side window and start giving me a bunch of crap. I asked them why they are being so racist towards me and they get really pissed off and start telling me they are going to kick my arse.
Game on. I open the center console of my truck where I had my Taurus PT99 9mm pistol and pull it out and set it up on the dash where they can see it. One of them yells "He's got a gun" and they all run off. I start my truck and drive around the corner to my apartment complex, pull in and park and sit there for a minute looking around to see if they are trying to follow me. I can see the club from where I'm parked and I see the three of them standing there watching me so I figure I'll wait until they leave so they don't see what apartment I live in.
Within a couple of minutes a police cruiser pulls into the parking lot and comes right up behind my truck and stops. Two officers get out and tell me to get out of my truck. I do as I'm told and one of them comes up to me while the other stands back behind the cruiser watching me. The first officer asks me if I have a gun in my truck and I tell him yes I do and that I also have a valid CCW in my wallet along with my ID if he would like to see it. I hand him my CCW, ID, and tell him my pistol is in the center console and that he may get it out if he wants and look through my truck.
He checks everything out, calls in my ID and CCW info, comes back clean and in order, then he asks me what happened. I told him what went down, and that's when he informed me that the guys giving me all the crap where the ones who called the police. I looked over and they were still standing there on their cell phones. I pointed them out to the police, and they told me they would go over and have a little chat with them. They gave me back my CCW, and ID told me to have a nice evening and left. I stayed there leaning against my truck and watched as the officers went over and started questioning the three guys, and had to laugh when the officers both drew their firearms and told them to get on the ground. One of them had a gun on him at that point, and he was arrested. The other had a bag of "something" in his pocket and he was arrested, and the third guy ended up getting arrested for something, not sure what, but they had anouther cruiser show up with two more officers to take him away.
That was the closest I've come to atually pulling the trigger. I was SURE they were about to start breaking windows on my truck to try and get me out and beat the crap out of me. All for wearing western clothing, driving a truck, and being white. I didn't say anything to them going into the store or coming out to provoke that kind of response from them. They were just a bunch of racists thugs looking for an excuse to stir up trouble and then got pissed when I called them on it.
I honestly believe that if I didn't have my pistol with me I might not have made it home Saturday night, and I can see the store from my bedroom window. At least I didn't become a victim and I never will. Not without a fight anyway.
