Run ins with criminals? Bar fights?

[Brody]

Have you been in any fights out in the real world?

Here's my scariest incident:
When I was in college, a group of Asians passed by me on the highway, and I think I sped up in quasi "drag race" fashion.  They took this as a challenge and cut me off.  Then proceeded to slow way down. When I tried to pass, they sped up and cut me off. I slowed down and they slowed down. Repeat for several minutes. They finally turn their car sideways and block me from going anywhere. Mind you this is during the morning rush hour so lots of cars are having to pull into the gravel on the side to pass these guys. I finally manage to get behind a van that is passing them and sneak by. They in turn race up ahead of me and stop again in front of me on an off ramp. Now I'm thinking that I'm going to have to pop the trunk and grab the tire iron to defend myself. The guys jump out of their car screaming. I open up my door say something like "I was just trying to drive to school" and hop back in and drive at them with my car. They have no choice but to watch me as I race away. 

[WOTR]

I was a doorman for a number of years (several in a mining town with a population of around 50 000 and 20 000 in the camps...)  On an average night I was probably involved in two bar fights- yet I never threw a punch (I preferred choking them out or putting them to the ground.)

The "best" one was where we kicked three of four middle aged guys out (I think it was four) and they went to their truck and grabbed tools.  A shovel, a sledge hammer, and other implements (again, I cannot recall exactly what else.)  I do remember that they took out the knee of a customer with the hammer before we got them to the ground and held them for the RCMP.  We also had on customer break a beer bottle on a table, walk up behind another and take his eye out.  The recipient of that action apparently owed somebody for drugs.

It kind of goes on and on- most far less violent, but still an interesting time in my life...

[NXOEED]

Yeah, totally. I find myself in one or two situations a week where I'm having to answer for some crazy dude's bad day.

I promote shows and other things, and a lot of my time is spent taping posters to telephone poles. This is what I love doing more than anything. I make a thirty mile loop around the city on my bicycle every night, just to make sure my posters are still on their poles (or to hang new ones).  I drop posters at pretty much every bar with live music in the county. I spend a lot of time in bad neighborhoods or on the train. There's at least one drunk or  belligerent fucktard getting in my shit every night. Some  of those turn into fights.

My bike lock is a thick chain. I've attached a handle to it so that I can swing it if I have to. This isn't terribly practical, though. Just swinging it adds a whole other level of scary to the situation, because you know you could do some serious damage with it. You don't want to hurt anybody. The vast majority of these situations are punch and go. You really just want to do what you have to do and GTFO. I've got a box cutter hanging from my handlebars too, but this is not terribly practical either. You don't want to cut a dude just because he shoved you. You're not the Highlander.

You know how you'll see dudes walking around in public, proudly displaying firearms on their hips like like they're cowboys or something?, You'll think, "That dude has no idea what he'd actually do if shit were to go down." and most of them don't. I'm not opposed to firearms at all, but I'm always wondering what a guy with a gun thinks is gonna happen if shit ever hits the fan. You're not gonna shoot anybody. That's insane.

Brass knuckles are great, but they're also illegal in Arizona. So I've got a stun baton, and it's fucking wonderful. My model is literally called the "Stun Master Badass". It's heavy enough that you could swing it if it were to run out of battery power, and it has teeth on the side, mostly for intimidation purposes. It claims to deliver something like 9 million volts (not sure I totally buy that). And so far (knock on wood), pretty much every altercation ends with the push of a button. It used to be that I'd be sitting at the train station, waiting for my ride, and some fuckhead would walk up and start talking shit. I'd talk my own shit back, knowing it could end a couple different ways. I'd brace myself for the worst and get ready. Now whenever a sketchy dude walks up with a mouthful of shit, I pull out my baton, aim it at the sky, press the button and say "Leave.". They back the fuck up. You almost never actually need to stun anybody with it. Just pressing the button and letting it make the noise is enough. I use it 3-4 times a week.


I recommend it.

[FightTheFuture]

More than I care to talk about. Probably (actually, not probably, but is) a miracle I`m not rotting in a swamp or a shallow grave. I`ve been stabbed a couple a times, cut up, hit with ball bats, bottles, etc (shot at -- never hit -- just grazed). Got the slop beat out of me one night by 6 massive Samoans in Hawaii and knocked on death`s door (long story). And on and on and on.

The GOOD news is, I survived and was saved by the divine mercy of Jesus Christ; the Prince of Peace. Hallelujah

[nooryisawesome]

More than I care to talk about. Probably (actually, not probably, but is) a miracle I`m not rotting in a swamp or a shallow grave. I`ve been stabbed a couple a times, cut up, hit with ball bats, bottles, etc (shot at -- never hit -- just grazed). Got the slop beat out of me one night by 6 massive Samoans in Hawaii and knocked on death`s door (long story). And on and on and on.

The GOOD news is, I survived and was saved by the divine mercy of Jesus Christ; the Prince of Peace. Hallelujah

Didn't take you for the confrontational sort.

[FightTheFuture]

Didn't take you for the confrontational sort.

I`m not....these days.