mark edward marchiafava
Banned
imported post
While motorcycling down a very rural Mississippi backroad in Amite County late Saturday afternoon, I came across appx. 15 vehicles lined on both sides of this narrow, sparsely travelled road. My curiosity as to the reason for this was suddenly replaced with other thoughts when one of the individuals standing by a truck abruptly stepped into my path, causing me to brake to avoid hitting him. What I had stumbled into was a drug/alcohol party. The guy blocking my path was more than obviously high and bore a very striking resemblance to Charles Manson, but with a baseball cap and missing a tooth. For what seemed an eternity, he just stood there, laughing but not speaking. I tried to keep a visual on everyone front, both sides and behind me as I assessed the situation. After easing the bike into neutral, I slide my left hand to my right hip where my S&W model 586 rested. Just as I unsnapped the holster, this Manson lookalike stepped aside. The "attendees" on my right all seemed to notice the 357 as I eased away. During this time span of less than 60 seconds, lots of thoughts ran through my mind. If I have to fire on anyone, will I be indicted? Do I wait for THEM to make a move? I've got 6 shots, there's about 15 or so of them..........do the math. Let's just say it's not a good feeling to have to make such a possibly life-altering decision in a matter of seconds. All in all, it WAS better to have been armed than emptyhanded.
While motorcycling down a very rural Mississippi backroad in Amite County late Saturday afternoon, I came across appx. 15 vehicles lined on both sides of this narrow, sparsely travelled road. My curiosity as to the reason for this was suddenly replaced with other thoughts when one of the individuals standing by a truck abruptly stepped into my path, causing me to brake to avoid hitting him. What I had stumbled into was a drug/alcohol party. The guy blocking my path was more than obviously high and bore a very striking resemblance to Charles Manson, but with a baseball cap and missing a tooth. For what seemed an eternity, he just stood there, laughing but not speaking. I tried to keep a visual on everyone front, both sides and behind me as I assessed the situation. After easing the bike into neutral, I slide my left hand to my right hip where my S&W model 586 rested. Just as I unsnapped the holster, this Manson lookalike stepped aside. The "attendees" on my right all seemed to notice the 357 as I eased away. During this time span of less than 60 seconds, lots of thoughts ran through my mind. If I have to fire on anyone, will I be indicted? Do I wait for THEM to make a move? I've got 6 shots, there's about 15 or so of them..........do the math. Let's just say it's not a good feeling to have to make such a possibly life-altering decision in a matter of seconds. All in all, it WAS better to have been armed than emptyhanded.