By Winston Orwell
I spoke with a young friend today who related to me the tale of his first DGU, which happened just last night. He’s 26, a pizza delivery driver and a CCW holder who believes that he should never be unarmed unless he has to be. I’m proud that I was able to help him get his permit; he’s truly one of the good guys. It seems that last evening he had a minor disagreement with a co-worker . . .
It was a workplace tiff that he thought was both minor and over. Later that night he took a delivery to an apartment block and encountered the antagonist from work. He delivered his pizza, but as he was leaving the antagonist entered his path and mirrored his movements, blocking his way while uttering obscenities and eventually a death threat; “I’ll end you!” he said.
My friend was blocked from the parking lot where his vehicle waited and no amount of side-stepping or informing the fellow that he didn’t want trouble was working. Finally, he charged past the aggressor to one side, brushing past his shoulder. As he passed, the man turned and struck him in the side of the face with enough force to rapidly raise noticeable welt.
My friend said that his reaction was pure training and instinct. He dodged back throwing out his weak hand to create/maintain distance and drew his pistol, an XDs-9 from concealment, keeping it close to his body but visible to his attacker.
The attacker raised his hands as if in surrender, muttered, turned and left, allowing my friend to reach his vehicle and leave. He went back to the pizza shop, calling police along the way. They met him there. He states that the police had no issue with his drawing his gun, photographed his injuries and took his statement, then went looking for the attacker. A good DGU, no one got shot, an innocent man walked away with his life, his gun and his rights intact and the bad guy is a wanted man.
There is just one problem. This morning they fired my friend for carrying a firearm in violation of company policy. He knew that would happen, expected it, and would be fine with it, if only they had also fired the other employee who assaulted him. But they didn’t.
Their logic was that my friend’s carrying of a weapon was a greater violation of company policy than the other employee’s assault. My friend isn’t interested in working there anymore, but he is interested in the small justice that would be firing the other employee who both assaulted him and caused him to reveal his concealed carry, costing him his job.
My friend would rather not reveal the name of his employer at this time until the issue is fully resolved, but it’s a corporation with franchises and one that quite a few people may recognize. I’ll be the first to update on the eventual outcome of the incident. As it is, an innocent man is out of a job because he defended himself from a violent assault by a co-worker. Perhaps it’s time for a law preventing employers from discriminating based on armed status. Perhaps that’s too much. Either way, this good guy got a raw deal. At least he’s alive and in good enough shape to take another job. Carry on.