This is a nice post...

While I tend to carry my handgun concealed, I must admit that a potentially unpleasant situation where an irrate neighbor (who was upset with the landowner...I was merely a tenent) was determined to play baseball with my head (he had already pulled out the bat) was diffused when I stepped away from my Jeep revealing the holstered .45 auto on my hip, there is one point I must contest...

In each of these situations, it is assumed that the criminal / thug is rational and thinking.

That is not always the case. About a year ago, we had an armed robber enter a local bank determined to make an unscheduled withdrawl. He rushed through the double glass doors, brandishing his revolver, yelling "This is a stickup!"

That bank had went out of business the previous year, and had been converted into the county sheriff's office. The poor criminal also had the bad luck to enact his plan during a shift change, when nearly two dozen deputies were in attendance.

In a later news interview, he even admitted to not seeing the five foot tall "Sheriff's Office" sign outside the door or the nice glass-engraved "Sheriff's Office" sign on the door.