Another shooting in my neighborhood

I shoot at the range in Dorchester one or two nights a week. Sometimes I swing back to JP Licks on Centre St. to get my wife an ice cream.

Two days ago, at about 7:30 at night, a couple of thugs decided to have a shootout at the pizzeria across the street from there. Three of them have died, and one innocent person was shot in the leg, probably by a ricochet. There's no word yet about whether they were all properly licensed, but I'll venture a guess that they were not.

This all happened less than a half mile away from my house. It really drove the point home that there are bad guys out there, and a lot of them are armed. I don't want to the only sucker caught up in a bad situation without a gun.

It is scary how little control I would have in a situation like that. I'm across the street, my Ruger SP-101 tucked in my IWB holster, ten extra rounds of Speer Gold Dot 125 grain .357 hollowpoints in my left jacket pocket, coming out of the store with my ice cream, then all hell breaks loose. The only thing I could do is go for hard cover. The thugs are blasting away at each other with tunnel vision, without any care as to what's behind their target. Ideally I would run my ass out of there, and for thirty seconds be the fastest man alive. But then again, do I really want give up my cover when there are bullets flying?

There's nothing I can do here except wait it out behind the thick concrete planters by the sidewalk, hoping the gunfight doesn't come my way. But what if the shooters do come my way? At what point would I unholster my revolver? At what point can I use lethal force to protect myself against grave injury?

I have to admit here that I don't know. I really need to take a concealed carry course at GOAL, or maybe splurge on one of Massad Ayoob's courses. The possibility of me being caught near a gunfight is real, and I have to know what to do to survive. This isn't hypothetical stuff, it's real life in the city.

Or maybe it's time to get the hell out and move to New Hampshire.