I was a senior in college in 1960. I had just purchased a new Ruger standard model .22 pistol, and enjoyed learning to shoot it properly. As a precaution, I often kept it in the glove compartment of my car, full magazine, no round in the chamber.
My girlfriend and I decided to drive out to the desert not far from campus to pitch a little woo. We were both sitting in the front seat when a truck with 3 or four yahoos in it roared up on my side, with the headlights lighting us up. Two of them spilled out of the truck and began walking to my car. I reached into the glove compartment, displayed the Ruger, and conspicuously jacked a round into the chamber.
"He's got a gun!" one of them yelled. They both ran back to the truck, and it backed up, then roared out in a cloud of dust.
I often think about what might have happened had I not been armed that night, and it taught me a lesson about being prepared for aggression.
John
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