Never been so scared!

**singlewedge** · 10-16-2009, 09:39 PM

So I work at a law office. Paralegal by trade and I man the front desk.

I am sitting at my desk after lunch and the attorney has a clear calendar so I am not expecting any one. This guy walks in shaking with papers in his hand and he is not a client.

I am alone and not happy at this point. Thank goodness I am also a mediator and have lots of practice and training at reading people and talking to people. We had a good conversation and while still alert that he was not "right" I managed to get him out the door happy and hopefully he will not be back.

Working downtown brings in the weird ones. I know that when I worked for a family law attorney she used to tell me horror stories of angry family members and people beating on her doors. This is why she had a mobile office, her car, and only met clients in public areas. I worked at her physical office and we got the stalkers cause someone would follow her back the physical office and start ranting and raving. She actually advised that if I went into family law that I get a gun and keep it at my desk. I'll stick with pepper spray. Something about shooting client's exes while at work is just weird.

**Bruno** · 10-17-2009, 12:44 PM

While a gun -might- be overkill, you should at least have a plan, and practise it a couple times. A friend of mine worked for a notary public, and there were a couple of times they had to call 911 because the 'happy couple' was at the verge of killing each other over divorce papers.

When dealing with family law, you can't help but be involved in human tragedy and peoplw who see their lives and hopes falling apart. People do not react rationally at such times, so I fully agree that you should prepare for such eventualities, and if possible design you office so that you can minimize the risk to yourself.

**majurey** · 10-17-2009, 02:44 PM

My wife has an inner city GP practice in London. I constantly worry about her wellbeing, since it's not unusual for complete nutters to come in off the street. Sometimes they are scary, sometimes they are creepy. But once they have a consultation in private inside her room, she's pretty much at their mercy if they decide to go nuts. She has a panic alarm wired direct to the local police station, but that won't be any good should someone decide to hurt her.

She recently had a patient who was very unbalanced and latched onto her as an obsession. As he got up to leave in his last consultation with her, he went to shake her hand, grabbed it instead and then brought it up to his mouth and licked it! I forced her to transfer that patient to one of the male GPs there.

**JimmyHAD** · 10-17-2009, 02:56 PM

Working in street tattoo shops , walk in, no appointment for twenty years I've seen my share of strange stuff. I keep a snub nose revolver in my pocket and a ball peen hammer at my tattoo station. I've never had to use either on anyone, thank God, but it is nice to have them available. The old saying about the parachute, you may never need it but if you do need it and you don't have it you'll never need it again.

**mhailey** · 10-17-2009, 03:38 PM

I really don't think that having a gun is overkill. I think having a gun on you at all times is a great idea. Check this out.

YouTube - Man shoots at his lawyer

**sarend** · 10-17-2009, 04:07 PM

Having a gun is a good and bad answer. It depends on your mindset and responsibility. Owning and carrying a firearm comes with a ton of responsibility. If you fire in self defense and miss, then you are responsible for every bullet that leaves your weapon, and that can come with horrible legal responsibilites.

Remember, the national law enforcement 'hit' average is 19-21%; that is to say they hit once out of every 5 rounds fired. And, these are trained LE officers.

If a person buys a gun, then they need to practice more than a few times per year. Most LE training officers and competitive shooters say the secret to being a great shot is dry firing practice. Everything is the same save for the boom and recoil.

I own a few firearms--pistols, revolvers and long guns--and I have my AZ CCW. Having been a peace officer, I have had a few threats against me and my family. I practice 3-4 days per week for around ten minutes. In that time, you can draw your weapon, present it, get our front sight picture and press the trigger around 2 dozen times. When I go to the range for live fire, I can see what this dry fire (with targets) has done to improve/maintain my skills. I had co-workers who never practice outside of our departmental training and their skills were horrible. The saying amongts me and the few who trained was, "I am more leary of so-and-so assisting me then I am of the felons."

Also, remember what the number one self defense skill is--it is a life-long dedication to recognition and avoidance. Read Col. Cooper's color code system.

Then again, Col. Cooper did say, "Violence is rarely the answer, but when it is, then extreme violence is the answer." You need to decide to be aggressive enough soon enough.

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