Saturday was my monthly outing to interact with people. Always a stressful thing for me.
Part of that stress was aggravated because I couldn’t find the holster for my preferred firearm for “polite company that isn’t Gun People.” Which meant that I was carrying a 1911 instead of a Sig. That Sig is so small it doesn’t print at all.
So I’m speaking with some friends, but move on to introduce myself to the man my wife is talking to. He introduces himself and I do a threat assessment.
Not enough information.
He appears to be from the Middle East and talks with an accent that matches. threat += 1
We banter about not having met before. He claims to have been going to these events for multiple years. This is the first time I’ve seen him. threat += 2.
When I ask about his accent, he tells me he is Egyptian. threat += 0
I say something to like, “Oh, I thought you were from the Middle East.”
“No, I’m from Egypt. Egypt is not part of the Middle East.” threat += 1
He then explains to me that Egypt is part of Northern Africa, not the Middle East. Ok. This is a true statement. I’ll accept this on face value for now. He is attempting to distance his country from the Middle East. threat -= 2
He then tells me that the Middle East consists of the following countries: Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Yemen, and Oman. Basically, everything west of the Red Sea but nothing on the continent of Africa. threat += 5
There is no country of “Palestine”.
We are in polite company, I’m not interested in him anymore. The threat level has hit 7.
He had not done anything to suggest ill intent on his part. But the entire conversation left me feeling uncomfortable.
The numbers I’m using are made up. They are in this article for illustrative purposes only.
A different example of a threat assessment: Older adult male, white, heavy smoker, day labor/handy man. The threat assessment was so high that he was never and would never be invited into my home. The sort of person who if I were to sell him a firearm, I would do it through an FFL, regardless of what he said about his background.
A different example, a number of dark skin females wearing head coverings. No increase in threat level. An angry black man with a skull cap comes out and starts speaking in angry tones to the women. Threat assessment goes high enough that I reposition myself and make sure he is under observation at all times. Verified egress path.
We all do threat assessments. If you can’t do a good assessment rapidly and then trust yourself you need to practice more.
The thing to note that more people have been injured or killed trying to avoid offending people than have been from avoiding people and situations that raise that threat assessment.
This has been a difficult article. None of us want to be racists. We would rather not judge people by the color of their skin or the culture they come from. We would rather not appear to be the sort of people who do judge people by their outward appearance.
But we are judged by what we look like. We do judge people by what they look like. When people see me, they will make assumptions about my past. Typically, they are mistaken. Some of that is because of how I present. I have three favorite hats I wear. A woodland camo Boonie Hat. A military issue watch cap.
And a black and white knit cap made from the yarn I spun from raw wool. My wife dyed the wool before I spun it. I had a friend make the cap.
If I’m wearing any of them, people assume. That’s fine with me. The only issue is when somebody thanks me for my service and I have to say, “I didn’t serve.”
Are you part of that paranoid group, like I am? Do you walk into a place and immediately find all the exits? Even exits that are not assessable to the public? Do you look for the seat where you can watch the people and there are few or no people behind you? Do you give every person who enters the once over?
Do you blade yourself to keep your firearm that much further from “them?”
Or is that just my paranoia?
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