# Why Alcohol and Guns Do Not Mix



## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

Jean and I are back from our travels.
I return to you with a cautionary tale from my own very recent experience.

As I noted before we left, our visit to Providence, RI, was to include really good BBQ from a restaurant very near to where our son and his family live (actually in Pawtucket).
To our dismay, we discovered that the really good BBQ place had closed, and the chef had moved to a new location in Greater Downtown Providence. ("Greater downtown..." — that's a joke, son.)
So we made a point of trying his new venue. I'm happy to note that the BBQ in the new place, although there are fewer choices on the menu, is even better than it was in the old place. Also, we could dine outside, in the warmth of the summer evening.

In case you don't know it, I am not a drinker. Well, rather, I'm a cheap drunk who can get totally plastered on a glass of wine, so I tend not to.
But in this case, there was Tennessee Lemonade on the menu, which I just cannot resist. So I had one, thinking that a full rack of really fine baby back ribs should dilute the Jack Daniels' sufficiently to keep my behavior socially acceptable.

About halfway through that luscious rack, our son noticed that a stranger was trying very hard to get into the driver's-side door of his car.
He and I both jumped up from the table and headed for the car, but he was a few steps behind me because he had stopped to wipe his hands clean on a napkin, while I had been licking mine as I went along through the rack of yummy ribs.

Now, just about nobody is licensed to carry a concealed pistol in Providence. This is especially true of out-of-state visitors like me. Also, our son is a peaceful psychiatrist-to-be, and he professes to love everybody, even cockroaches.
But I keep a good-size Buck folding knife at his house, which I (legally) wear in a belt case while we're visiting. On my way to the car and the stranger, I got it into my head that it would be a good idea to get that knife out, "just in case." So I did.

As I was advancing on the stranger, my knife at the side of my leg and my most intimidating expression knitting my brow, the man called out something about mistaking our car for his, and walked away and got into a nearby duplicate of our son's own blue econo-box.
Well, what do you think of that? He hadn't been trying to break into our son's car, after all! And there I was with a knife bared at my side.

I quickly put the knife away and went back to the mess of ribs getting cold at the table. Nobody had seen my knife—not even our son.
But, good pre-psychiatrist that he is, he did say that he could tell that the stranger wasn't really trying to break into the car at all, because he had been smiling as he walked up to it, his mind obviously occupied with thoughts other than burglary.

But there I had been, addled with residual alcohol, and in full, thoughtless attack mode that had been based upon no real observational information at all.
That was very bad tactics. Very bad tactics indeed. Never, ever, rush headlong into confrontation. First observe, second plan, and then action must come a very distant third.
But the small amount of alcohol in my head erased all of my training and most of my logical faculty, and, in the moment, I had acted very stupidly.

The lesson? Alcohol and weapons do not mix. A little alcohol can overcome training, experience, and intelligence.
Lesson learned!


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## SouthernBoy (Jun 27, 2007)

Ah but the real culprit is water. Mix it with some Black Jack and something mystical happens to the water.... it becomes intoxicating. Same for a jigger or two of scotch. The damned water is to blame. And the more you dilute it the more potent it becomes.

So don't add any water to your whiskey, bourbon, or scotch. Nightmarish things can come out of nowhere to ruin your day.


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## rustygun (Apr 8, 2013)

I agree it is the water.


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

rustygun said:


> I agree it is the water.


Well, considering that your gun is rusty, of course you'd blame the water! :smt083

Truly, I think that it was the lemon juice, not the water.
When I was a kid, my mother would let me have a sip of her whiskey sour. Then I would act silly.
So, what's the main ingredient in both a whiskey sour and a Tennessee lemonade? Lemon juice, that's what.
QED


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## rustygun (Apr 8, 2013)

Thanks for sharing your story. If you had actually had to use a gun or knife in that situation it would not matter if you were right. The only thing that would matter is that you had been drinking. The head lines would read "Man under the influence goes on rampage". Alcohol does impair judgment, many people can attest to that. It is definitely something to think about. Welcome back from vacation.


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## GCBHM (Mar 24, 2014)

I think it is safe to say alcohol and conflict to not mix, no matter the tool.


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## pic (Nov 14, 2009)

The knife was never exposed in plain view, ,,also you did approach with an intimidating fearless look. Very good psyche.:numbchuck:
Sounds like a perfect executed unknown situation on your part..
I do not think you were under the influence of excess alcohol especially after eating half your dinner.
Well done.


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## GCBHM (Mar 24, 2014)

I would tend to agree with pic.


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## Bisley (Aug 24, 2008)

SouthernBoy said:


> So don't add any water to your whiskey, bourbon, or scotch. Nightmarish things can come out of nowhere to ruin your day.


My sentiments exactly. It ruins the drink and helps you lose track of your intake. Take it neat and you always know your 'limits' (although it is still possible to exceed them when in the spirit of the moment :mrgreen.

Steve,

You didn't brandish and apparently didn't seriously alarm the innocent 'offender,' so you were still marginally in control of your excellent mental faculties. Your training was probably influencing you more than you think. No harm, no foul.


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