TRH, I'm trying not to get jump all over yer azz over this deal, but your persistence in trying to justify your concern/alarm/actions/whatever just begs a good beating.
The ONLY thing you have said that I could agree with in any form is that you were not in Condition White in the grocery store. EVERYTHING you did after you noticed the guy with the gun was at least wrong, if not dumbphuck stupid.
But rather than just being mean, I'll offer you an alternative scenario based on your provisional setting.
Self: Wandering in produce section in Condition Yellow, notices gun on hip of tactically duded-out dude, in clear violation of FL law.
Self's brain: recognizes potential threat, kicks up to Condition Orange. Makes instantaneous decision that this is either a) a bona fide threat or b) not a threat (mall ninja, doofus cop in mufti who forgot he was wearing his gun). Decision: threat or no threat? Your brain knows, based on pattern recognition.
At this point your brain tells you which fork in the road to take. He's either a threat, or not a threat. THERE IS NO THIRD OPTION YOU CAN SAFELY EXPLORE.
If you decide THREAT, Self's brain, eyes, and ears are gonna be gathering and processing information while Self's feet move your sorry ass to a position of cover where you can observe the THREAT and if the situation escalates to Condition Red you can draw your sidearm and open fire.
However, if Self's brain decides NON-THREAT, you move on along about your business, maintaining the usual threat awareness of Condition Yellow.
That's it. Nothing more needs to be done. There are no other tactically viable options.
What YOU did was FAIL TO MAKE THE FIRST CRITICAL DECISION IN A POTENTIAL LIFE-THREATENING SITUATION. You compounded that failure by actually APPROACHING THE POTENTIAL THREAT!!! I cannot tell you how incredibly dumbphuckitudinal that was! If you were in my recruit class and had done that in a scenario you'd STILL be doing pushups today!!
You NEVER move closer to a potential threat unless you have the ability and opportunity to bring OVERWHELMING FORCE to bear before the threat can move against you.
I think you have some legitimate criticism and commentary, there, Doc. I never said I was anywhere near perfect. The only modification I'd make to your post is to say that when I first saw him, I assumed, as most there probably did, that he was a cop, and that once I got up close to him (he was in produce, and that's where I was going) I'd see his badge on display. Now I'm right there, and see that he doesn't have one. Take it from there, if you will.
