Well, first, let me say that my reaction was a lot different than I thought it would be... And I've got my flame suit on. I did a lot better in some areas than I thought I would, and worse in some other areas... So, here's the story.
So, I had just picked up some Olive Garden for me and the wife, and was on the freeway driving home. I was going about 70, and all of a sudden, some idiots doing about 50 in the next lane over swerved into my lane a few yards in front of me. I locked up my breaks and hit my horn (hoping that they would swerve back into their lane).
Instead of doing that, as soon as I hit the horn, they break checked me. So I broke again, and switched lanes over, and started to speed up to get past the jerks.
As soon as I got over, and started to speed up, they swerved over again into my new lane while hitting the breaks, break checking me again.
So, I started slowing down even more to put some distance between the jerks. (my exit was coming up and I was now in the far right lane).
They then got over a lane to the left so I thought it was over, and started to speed back up (I were probably doing about 40-45 by this point).
As, I was passing them, they decided to match my speed and the idiot in the passenger seat decided to hang out of the window almost to his waist. One hand holding a silver handgun pointed at me, and the other hand pointing at his gun, telling me how he was going to "F" me up and kill me.
Now here is where I could have done better. As soon as I saw the idiot hanging out the window with his gun, I just smiled and flipped him off with my left hand. And without even realizing it or thinking about it, my right hand had my XD upholstered, sitting on my lap.
By then, I was on the exit, and they were exiting also. Noticing that they were exiting, I thought, "hmm, this might be a problem." but they went left off of the exit as I went right.
I thought about getting over behind them to get their licence plate number, but decided that it probably wasn't a good idea, so I just continued on my way home.
...So now for the critique...
Pros:
-I was a lot calmer than I thought I would be having a couple of wannabe gangsters point a gun at me.
-I didn't react the way they wanted me to react (getting pissed off, or acting like a scared little __)
-Other than flipping them off, I thought that I reacted pretty appropriately... as I was driving home, I was laughing to myself thinking "I bet the last thing they were expecting was for me to smile at them and flip them off when they had a gun pointed at me."
-Muscle memory or "instinct" or whatever you want to call it was good, without even thinking about it, I had my firearm in my hand in case I needed to use it.
-I didn't shoot the idiot hanging out of the window (or show him my gun). Even though he probably deserved it, and it might have knocked some sense into them having someone pointing a gun right back at them, or putting a few holes in them, it could have easily escalated the situation, and of course brought legal troubles.
-I didn't follow them to get their licence plate. Yes, it would have been nice to have them sprawled out in the ice covered ground and arrested, but there was a stop light coming up at their part of the exit... That could have just led to more trouble.
Cons:
-I flipped them off. Yeah, obviously not very smart, but it was just how I reacted without even thinking. I was pissed that they almost caused me to get in a wreck multiple times, that they were acting like ___, and that they had a gun pointed at me... But at the same time, I thought it humorous how insanely idiotically they reacted to having someone honk at them (when they were in the wrong, and I was simply trying to prevent an accident).
-I didn't get the license plate (See above, but I just didn't think it was worth the risk).
Alright... my flame suit is on, so I'm ready for the critiquing.
So, I had just picked up some Olive Garden for me and the wife, and was on the freeway driving home. I was going about 70, and all of a sudden, some idiots doing about 50 in the next lane over swerved into my lane a few yards in front of me. I locked up my breaks and hit my horn (hoping that they would swerve back into their lane).
Instead of doing that, as soon as I hit the horn, they break checked me. So I broke again, and switched lanes over, and started to speed up to get past the jerks.
As soon as I got over, and started to speed up, they swerved over again into my new lane while hitting the breaks, break checking me again.
So, I started slowing down even more to put some distance between the jerks. (my exit was coming up and I was now in the far right lane).
They then got over a lane to the left so I thought it was over, and started to speed back up (I were probably doing about 40-45 by this point).
As, I was passing them, they decided to match my speed and the idiot in the passenger seat decided to hang out of the window almost to his waist. One hand holding a silver handgun pointed at me, and the other hand pointing at his gun, telling me how he was going to "F" me up and kill me.
Now here is where I could have done better. As soon as I saw the idiot hanging out the window with his gun, I just smiled and flipped him off with my left hand. And without even realizing it or thinking about it, my right hand had my XD upholstered, sitting on my lap.
By then, I was on the exit, and they were exiting also. Noticing that they were exiting, I thought, "hmm, this might be a problem." but they went left off of the exit as I went right.
I thought about getting over behind them to get their licence plate number, but decided that it probably wasn't a good idea, so I just continued on my way home.
...So now for the critique...
Pros:
-I was a lot calmer than I thought I would be having a couple of wannabe gangsters point a gun at me.
-I didn't react the way they wanted me to react (getting pissed off, or acting like a scared little __)
-Other than flipping them off, I thought that I reacted pretty appropriately... as I was driving home, I was laughing to myself thinking "I bet the last thing they were expecting was for me to smile at them and flip them off when they had a gun pointed at me."
-Muscle memory or "instinct" or whatever you want to call it was good, without even thinking about it, I had my firearm in my hand in case I needed to use it.
-I didn't shoot the idiot hanging out of the window (or show him my gun). Even though he probably deserved it, and it might have knocked some sense into them having someone pointing a gun right back at them, or putting a few holes in them, it could have easily escalated the situation, and of course brought legal troubles.
-I didn't follow them to get their licence plate. Yes, it would have been nice to have them sprawled out in the ice covered ground and arrested, but there was a stop light coming up at their part of the exit... That could have just led to more trouble.
Cons:
-I flipped them off. Yeah, obviously not very smart, but it was just how I reacted without even thinking. I was pissed that they almost caused me to get in a wreck multiple times, that they were acting like ___, and that they had a gun pointed at me... But at the same time, I thought it humorous how insanely idiotically they reacted to having someone honk at them (when they were in the wrong, and I was simply trying to prevent an accident).
-I didn't get the license plate (See above, but I just didn't think it was worth the risk).
Alright... my flame suit is on, so I'm ready for the critiquing.