Everyday Carry
By Robb Manning
A Tale of Caution
It’s human nature to play out situations in our head, in which we are forced to defend ourselves. We will always wonder, “How will I react?” “What will I do?” The truth is, we can never know until we’re in that situation. And I can tell you from experience, things don’t always play out as you might think they will.
Take my situation as an example. About five years ago -- back when the state of Wisconsin still infringed upon our right to protect ourselves -- I was a landlord of a four unit apartment building. A tenant had just left a month ago, and I had almost finished remodeling the apartment for a new tenant. I was in the backyard, rinsing some paint brushes, when I was approached by a twenty-something young man.
“Excuse me sir, “ he said, “I live right over in an apartment two buildings down, and my sister is looking for a place to rent. I see there’s a sign in front showing a vacancy. Are you the owner?”
“Yes, I am,” I said. This was my first mistake. “Here’s my card, have her call me to fill out the application.” He grabbed the card, we exchanged niceties, and he went towards the building he said he lived in. I went about my business, then returned to work inside the unit. About an hour later, I heard a knock on the back sliding door. I looked to see another man, in his thirties, standing there. I opened the door.
“Hi, I saw the sign out front, is this place for rent?”
“Yes, it is.” I replied.
“Can I take a look at it?”
“Sure,” I said. I showed him the kitchen, the bathroom, the back bedroom. He commented how nice it was.
“Here’s the second bedroom,” I said, as I pointed down the hall. He walked into the bedroom and I followed. He turned around and faced me.
“Go stand over in that corner over there,” He said as he pointed. I wasn’t sure what he meant.
“Uhhh...what for?” He then pointed his stainless Bersa .380 at my face. Not sure why I remember the Bersa, but I do. He then asked me to empty my pockets, which I did, he then threw my car keys into another room so I couldn’t easily get to them, and ran.
I have faced guns before, and I have been shot at before (most notably by a Somali sniper, who missed my head by one inch); but I have never been in a situation where I did not have a firearm to shoot back. Never before have I felt so helpless. What kept playing through my mind, was my two year old son, and my wife, three weeks from being due with my second son. I have vowed to never be victim again, because I don’t like it. It’s not for me.
Since it happened, I have played it over in my head again and again, probably over a thousand times. I’ve often wondered what I could have done different. The primary thing that I do differently now is to better prevent something like that from happening again. I wouldn’t tell someone I’m the owner of the building (I realized after it happened that the first guy that talked to me was the set-up guy). To many, being an apartment building owner equates to having money (to those of us who own apartment buildings, we know it’s a money pit that sucks the money from you). I would also not answer the door without an appointment to see the apartment. If I was showing an apartment, I would watch a little more closely, the person I’m showing it to.
I’ve often thought about how things would have been different had I a concealed carry firearm. The guy obviously had the drop on me and the element of surprise -- the gun was already pointed at my face before I could have drawn my gun. No matter how fast you think you are, no one is a faster draw than the one who already has the gun pointed at your face.
After my run in, I had several people tell me, “statistically, if someone robs you, you should just give them what they want, they won’t kill you, they just want your stuff.” Yeah, well, my story doesn’t end with the bad guy making off with my stuff. A week later, on a monday, I left my house -- about a mile away from the apartment building -- to take my son to daycare. I returned half an hour later, and my house had an attempted break in. Fortunately I had an alarm system. They guys who held me up got all of my personal info off of my phone. It gets worse. Approximately a year after my run in, a tenant witnessed two men who met the description of the ones who robbed me, in an alley behind my apartment, held up a man at gun point. After they took all of his stuff, they shot and killed him for no reason. That could have been me. That could have been you.
Why am I telling you this? As a tale of caution. The most important thing that I learned from this is to be aware of your surroundings. Never let your guard down, and always be mentally present and aware of all that goes on around you. Be vigilant, and don’t believe that there won’t be those so-called wolves out who wish to do harm to others. I let myself get complacent in my apartment building, and complacent around a person I never met. I should have been watching him, and not let him get in a position he could dictate. If I had a gun, it might or might not have helped; because I had already made several mistakes for it to get to the point that it did. My mistakes could have cost me my life.
The best thing you can do is to train, and prepare for as many different situations as you can. I recommend taking some self-defense pistol courses, and some combat handgun courses. There are a few courses in our area you can take. There’s a lot of knowledge out there, you just have to find it and learn from it. I have, and now I’m more prepared for the next situation that I pray never happens.