Here’s something that happened to me today. On my way home I was running the scenario over in my mind trying to decide if I acted correctly and what I should have done. Give it a read and tell me what you think.

My wife had homework that she has to get done today so I decided to take the kids and leave the house. With all of us gone she would have a quiet house with few distractions and could get everything (hopefully) done and ready to turn in to her professor.

I loaded the three kids into the truck along with my new camera and headed to town. My plan was to let the kids play while I tried out the new camera taking pictures of them playing. They get to have fun and I finally get to spend some time figuring out this camera I got for Christmas!

We got to the park and headed to this play ground area with a cool all in jungle gym thing. The girls were having a blast playing on the thing as I took pictures of them climbing, crawling through tubes and going down the slides. Of course because it was a beautiful weekend day there were several other parents with their own kids for my girls to play with.

We had been there for 10 to 15 minutes when this guy walks up between me sitting on the picnic bench and the play ground equipment on which all the kids are playing. He asks “Are those your kids?” I answer and tell them a few of them are mine and ask why. He tells me he doesn’t want me taking pictures of his daughter.

There must be 10 -15 kids playing on this play ground equipment so I blow the guy off and snap shots of my girls playing. He renews his objection and tells me again he doesn’t want me taking pictures of his daughter.

My response to this guy, who is still standing facing me with his back to these kids, is that I am taking pictures of MY children. If he doesn’t want his daughter in the pictures that I am taking of my children then he can just leave.

This guy stands there, still with his back to his kid, and just stares at me for several minutes. He fidgets with his phone every once in awhile but mostly just stares.

I try to ignore this guy but he is standing in the way of some of the shots I want to take of my youngest climbing the steps to get to the slide. My temper starts to build and I finally ask the guy “What, what are you going to do.”

He walks up to within arm’s length of me and tells me I shouldn’t make the mistake of making assumptions about people. He tells me he has spent 10 years in prison and has put people like me in the ground and has no problem with doing it again.

Here are my two questions. How would you respond? What would be the correct response?

Step back and dial 911.

Ditto!


And grab your kids, and lock 'em in the truck, you too, ASAP!


This could send him back to prison:

3 for 3 agree on this one. Him being a smart ass is not worth the confrontation. Besides any place around kids is the last place you want to do something like that.

I would have told him to get his kid out of a public park where it is free to take pictures for anyone there.

agreed. step back while dialing, and have your weapon hand free. that's kinda spooky...

I have to agree with stepping back and dialing 911 to start. I would have also moved in a direction that would have moved the kids out of the background.

The above responses are the CORRECT ones. Personally I HOPE I could be calm enough to do the right thing. I have two young daughters and dont see a problem with pictures, I actually take alot of pictures of them at the park myself and I am sure there are some other kids in the background of some of them??? Anyway good for you for not going off on him!

The fact that youre here posting this means you did the right thing. Carrying a weapon is a huge responsibility and maintaining a level head is of utmost importance. I can see where this guy would have pushed many to a violent confrontation. The weapon is your last resort to protect yourself and your family. A phone call and retreat(with your kids of course) was the correct answer in my opinion.

+1

Well I guess he just told us how he ended up in prison and proved prison didn't cure stupidity.

How you handle that really depends on you really not the con with his fear tactics. He right there told you, that you were in control of that situation not him because you are obviously smarter than he is. Only a fool would tell someone they are a con and then threaten them.

Now what you do specifically, I can't tell you since I was not there, could not sum the guy up, know whether that's a park in your neighborhood you daughters will be in all the time, nor evaluate whether I think this guy will be a future problem.

In general, confrontations with strangers I will never see again is a waste of time. A real man knows he's a man and doesn't have to prove it to anyone least of all himself. I'd been told that all my life but still took quite a few hits to the head for it to sink in.

I will tell you the immediate flip out the phone probably would have gotten you a hit up side the head so he could snatch his kid then leave before the cops showed up. Yes, I've met my share of cons.

If I had nothing to gain from taking this con down right then and there, then I'd probably just grab the kids and leave then decide whether to call 911 and hang around for my part of the fun. You don't need a battle in front of the kids. Whether I called 911 would depend on how I judged him as a potential future threat.

There are circumstances, I could see myself standing my ground right there and then but I didn't get a hint of that in your posted question. Escalating the situation where you have shoot someone in front of your children and his child is not a good option and would have tried to avoid that even if I knew I had a very good chance of getting away with it legally.

I will tell you at no point, whether I was or not, would I either show fear or nervousness. Nothing scares a bad guy more than a guy with calm demeanor and nothing encourages them more than someone who is not. Keep in mind, the tough guy act either from you or them, is a sign of fear. This guy feared you. I've learned in life, though taking an idiot down can be quite gratifying at the time, they still remain an idiot and at the end of the day, you still end up sore the next morning.

As for now, I'd let this roll over me like water over a falls and even get a good laugh out of it. No matter what you did if there was no fight, your children not involved, and this guy gone then it was happy ending. He was the fool not you and fools are great subject matter for amusement.

Tj

I thought this would be a good discussion topic. I will let it run for awhile longer before I spill the beans.

I guess I may be a little bit of a contrarian on this.

I probably would have honored his first request by making sure I didn't take any pictures of his kid. That would have kept things from escalating.

How would you feel if some stranger started taking pictures of your kids?

I'd probably take the path of least resistance in the situation. Gun or no gun. As a civilian, there are some people you just don't fuzz with. This guy might be one of 'em. And it's not like he or his request severely impinge on your rights. Not really.

It sounds like you two managed to reach an understanding.

I was taking pictures when he walked up. Plus, I wasn't taking pictures of his kid. Perhaps she was in a shot I took of my girls, but at no time did I take a picture with the intent of getting a picture of her.

you shot him didnt you , you just couldn't contain yourself.... lol j/k

i agree with every1 else about retreating and calling 911. but you should also verbalize what you are doing so "WITNESSES" hear what is going on.

If the guy did indeed do time in prison, I would imagine it didn't exactly renew his faith in human nature. He might even have know a child rapist or murderer or two. Trust may not be his strong suit. Like I said, a bit of a contrarian on this one.

That's a good answer for sure but then in context to the question that decision was already made for us.

The correct response would be to have stepped back and called the police, unless he produces a weapon or has a large size advantage on you and lays a hand on you first.

When I took my CCW course the instructor told us that you can not pull or flash your gun when you feel threatened, you have a responsibility to retreat from the situation first, unless the aggressor pulls a weapon first or lays hands on you.

So if it were me I would have gathered my children and called the police from the safety of my locked car and let them sort the mess out.

The best way to handle trouble if at all possible is to avoid it. So I agree with the others. Get your kids behind you and back out while calling 911. Unless you are cornered or otherwise can not retreat any further and are under threat of bodily harm, distance is always your friend. Shots fired on a playground with children present even being totally in the right would be extremely hard to explain, and probably lead to some pretty expensive legal bills.

+10, I might have said a few choice words or so (to myself) while calling the cops

Okay spill the beans.....

I don't know why not. Every answer in the thread is the same just some with more clarification than others.

Its good to see we don't have a bunch of Rambo's on this site.