Not looking to justify fighting, but there are situations that you can not get away from. I was in Seattle at the Denver Seattle game (preseason) a few years ago and I was wearing my broncos hat. My buddy, a Seahawks fan and I decided to get a drink at a bar as we walked back towards the ferry. I ordered a beer and before it got there this guy, short bastard, grabbed my shoulder and said "I seen the way you been eye'n me". I did not even get a chance to respond and he punched me in the neck. It didn't really hurt but it caught me completely off guard. I could tell that he was drunk and was winding up for another shot so I squared up and hit him harder than I have ever hit a punching bag before. I think that it was the nerves but I am pretty sure I broke his jaw. I did not really have time to think or process the situation and it was a pure reflex. He was screaming and rolling around on the floor and my buddy and I just got the hell out of there. Had he been a more formidable opponent it could have been way worse.

I was not carrying for any of it, but I think of it now when I am carrying. It was still light outside, normal downtown area and there was no warning no time and no way out of it. It was a pretty nice bar too, not some run down place shady place. Just a drunk guy wanting to hit someone.

With all that said, I think that I have developed my situational awareness since then and I might have been able to see it coming a little sooner now than before. In a situation like that there is no time or justification for pulling your weapon. If you have time to think about pulling your gun, you have time to run out the door, call for help or get out of the situation. At no point should drawing your weapon even be a thought unless you are sure that you or someone else is going to die. It takes two to fight, and most people are in it to make you look inferior, and I am fine with looking inferior. I know who I am and what I want in life. I carry to save lives, not to save face.