"Flash" mobs in downtown Chicago

[Mr. Fife]

 

Haha. Warning shots. Isn't that every bullet you fire at a target that misses the mark? I 'warn' my paper targets all the time.

In the video he fires two shots over the guys head from point blank range. He wasn't trying to hit a target.

[Odinson]

 

Haha. Warning shots. Isn't that every bullet you fire at a target that misses the mark? I 'warn' my paper targets all the time.

In the video he fires two shots over the guys head from point blank range. He wasn't trying to hit a target.

 

OK just watched it. He still is acting like a lunatic with a gun. Maybe the lava was rolling down the road he was shooting on - lava would make an excellent backstop.

[Mr. Fife]

Now he's going to be a backstop for Bubba in prison, lol.

[dsa1115]

I live just a 5 minute walk to Water Tower Place and I’ve witnessed large groups of young troublemakers lately. When school is out and the weather is warm, these troublemakers take the Red Line and get off at the Chicago Avenue L-Stop. When I see a large group of these individuals, I keep my distance. Best to avoid these clowns....cross the street or walk the other way. But just in case, I’m armed with a Glock 17 with 2 additional magazines. The most important thing is, situational awareness. I’m amazed at the number of people walking down the sidewalk with earpods on steering at their smartphone, totally oblivious to their surroundings.

[Odinson]

I live just a 5 minute walk to Water Tower Place and I’ve witnessed large groups of young troublemakers lately. When school is out and the weather is warm, these troublemakers take the Red Line and get off at the Chicago Avenue L-Stop. When I see a large group of these individuals, I keep my distance. Best to avoid these clowns....cross the street or walk the other way. But just in case, I’m armed with a Glock 17 with 2 additional magazines. The most important thing is, situational awareness. I’m amazed at the number of people walking down the sidewalk with earpods on steering at their smartphone, totally oblivious to their surroundings.

CPS High School is not done until 18Jun. I think we will see much more nonsense after that. Spring break this year was pretty tough on my bicycle commute through the west side - belligerence and verbal harassment at least once on each ride. Of course once I stared them down, they scattered. Hopefully everyone will get summer jobs that will keep them busy - too tired to turn purple on for that last bit.

[Raw Power]

 

 

I don't have "what if" scenarios; I have "what actually was" scenarios.

I lived in the same area (Roscoe and Damen) before moving to the suburbs this year. I was out at the same times, frequented the same streets you mentioned, encountered the same people, but never had the same types of interactions. Despite the fact that robberies and shootings were happening in my area.

 

2 things I can say.

 

First, many people mistake the strategy of the gray man's attire to blend in with society VS blending in with his surroundings. I don't know how old you are, but it might help to dress younger. Wear hoodies or other more "street style" outerwear where appropriate. Baggie pants actually help conceal more comfortably. Late at night put your hood up.

 

Second there is nothing that says printing is against the law in Illinois as long as you make a reasonable effort to conceal. I pocket carried a double stack 9mm with the frame sticking out of my pocket covered with a baggie shirt or outerwear (in a holster). Winter time I carried in a breast pocket of my jacket. It wasn't obvious to anyone that would never carry, but it was enough bulge to make a thug question if I was packing. People make way too big of a deal about "printing" and concealing enough not to offend antis. Trust me, the only people that notice printing are those that also carry.

 

Stare people approaching you down and give them a friendly "what's up" when they walk by. It's something you'll notice police officers, even retired or off duty ones do out of habit to both gain and exude better situational awareness.

 

It's your right to defend yourself, so I won't be critical of having to draw, I understand what it's like to live in Chicago. But clearly something you're doing is attracting attention.

 

It's been a running bad joke from people who know me that something no one can figure out has made me a magnet for belligerent idiots my entire life, despite never having been the physical instigator of any altercation I've been in. When I was younger (I'm in my later 40s now), I would be walking down the street in areas like Wrigleyville and I literally had some clown I'd never seen before step out of the Cubby Bear, take a look at me, and then run at me with a cocked fist—and right behind me about 10 feet away was a cop car parked at the curb. That was an absurdly common occurrence up until about half a dozen years ago. The fight-magnetism seemed to have petered out around then, for whatever reason, and there was a few years where I was left alone, until right about the beginning of 2015, when the first defensive display incident I wrote about above occurred.

 

The funny thing is that I haven't changed what I do the entire time. The way I dress one of my friends calls "tactical metrosexual" has been the same for the past 20 years and more, and since 2006 I've walked with a cane/walking stick due to nerve damage in one of my legs making it lock up at inopportune moments, so the VA prescribed a "walking aid."

 

I have carried firearms, either for work, or in "FOID transport" mode (2013-2014), or since January 2015 I've had my CCW, for years, and that doesn't seem to have made any difference. Although, during 2013-2014, I was FOID transporting and didn't have any conflicts or altercations whatsoever, even going back to 2012. That was a good, quiet time, and if I could figure out exactly what seemed to make me "invisible" during that time, I'd replicate that in a heartbeat.

 

But, I've been dealing with being an aggressive jerk magnet since I was a kid in early grade school, and as a consequence I've been in a ridiculous amount of fights since age 6, none of which did I throw the first punch (or kick or takedown or whatever), which is right about the time I started training in fighting styles like boxing, wrestling, and other martial arts.

 

The only exception to all that above is when I've been on the job, either in the military or doing security work/package protection. Then, I make a conscious effort to blend in and nobody seems to take notice of me. I can blend into a crowd like nobody's business, and even people who know me personally very well have missed me when I am working.

 

However, I can't and am not inclined to walk around on that kind of alert all the time. It's d@mned exhausting.

 

 

Wrigleyville is one of the most violent neighborhoods in Chicago. Not joking. I have seen tons of fights start over nothing, had dudes try to attack me, and had countless people swear at me or call me names for absolutely no reason while walking down Clark near Addison.

 

Steer clear of the area if you don't want to get into an altercation, especially at night.

[Raw Power]

He drew to threaten but is now charged with five counts of first-degree terroristic threatening and faces possible life in prison.

 

 

http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/38312549/police-arrest-pahoa-man-in-connection-with-shooting-incident-on-the-big-island

 

What an idiot. He deserves to be in jail. There's no excuse for that sort of behavior.

[vito]

Wearing a hoodie up at night seems to be the very opposite of being situationally aware.

[ChicagoRonin70]

 

 

I lived in the same area (Roscoe and Damen) before moving to the suburbs this year. I was out at the same times, frequented the same streets you mentioned, encountered the same people, but never had the same types of interactions. Despite the fact that robberies and shootings were happening in my area.

2 things I can say.

 

First, many people mistake the strategy of the gray man's attire to blend in with society VS blending in with his surroundings. I don't know how old you are, but it might help to dress younger. Wear hoodies or other more "street style" outerwear where appropriate. Baggie pants actually help conceal more comfortably. Late at night put your hood up.

 

Second there is nothing that says printing is against the law in Illinois as long as you make a reasonable effort to conceal. I pocket carried a double stack 9mm with the frame sticking out of my pocket covered with a baggie shirt or outerwear (in a holster). Winter time I carried in a breast pocket of my jacket. It wasn't obvious to anyone that would never carry, but it was enough bulge to make a thug question if I was packing. People make way too big of a deal about "printing" and concealing enough not to offend antis. Trust me, the only people that notice printing are those that also carry.

 

Stare people approaching you down and give them a friendly "what's up" when they walk by. It's something you'll notice police officers, even retired or off duty ones do out of habit to both gain and exude better situational awareness.

 

It's your right to defend yourself, so I won't be critical of having to draw, I understand what it's like to live in Chicago. But clearly something you're doing is attracting attention.

 

It's been a running bad joke from people who know me that something no one can figure out has made me a magnet for belligerent idiots my entire life, despite never having been the physical instigator of any altercation I've been in. When I was younger (I'm in my later 40s now), I would be walking down the street in areas like Wrigleyville and I literally had some clown I'd never seen before step out of the Cubby Bear, take a look at me, and then run at me with a cocked fist—and right behind me about 10 feet away was a cop car parked at the curb. That was an absurdly common occurrence up until about half a dozen years ago. The fight-magnetism seemed to have petered out around then, for whatever reason, and there was a few years where I was left alone, until right about the beginning of 2015, when the first defensive display incident I wrote about above occurred.

 

The funny thing is that I haven't changed what I do the entire time. The way I dress one of my friends calls "tactical metrosexual" has been the same for the past 20 years and more, and since 2006 I've walked with a cane/walking stick due to nerve damage in one of my legs making it lock up at inopportune moments, so the VA prescribed a "walking aid."

 

I have carried firearms, either for work, or in "FOID transport" mode (2013-2014), or since January 2015 I've had my CCW, for years, and that doesn't seem to have made any difference. Although, during 2013-2014, I was FOID transporting and didn't have any conflicts or altercations whatsoever, even going back to 2012. That was a good, quiet time, and if I could figure out exactly what seemed to make me "invisible" during that time, I'd replicate that in a heartbeat.

 

But, I've been dealing with being an aggressive jerk magnet since I was a kid in early grade school, and as a consequence I've been in a ridiculous amount of fights since age 6, none of which did I throw the first punch (or kick or takedown or whatever), which is right about the time I started training in fighting styles like boxing, wrestling, and other martial arts.

 

The only exception to all that above is when I've been on the job, either in the military or doing security work/package protection. Then, I make a conscious effort to blend in and nobody seems to take notice of me. I can blend into a crowd like nobody's business, and even people who know me personally very well have missed me when I am working.

 

However, I can't and am not inclined to walk around on that kind of alert all the time. It's d@mned exhausting.

 

 

Wrigleyville is one of the most violent neighborhoods in Chicago. Not joking. I have seen tons of fights start over nothing, had dudes try to attack me, and had countless people swear at me or call me names for absolutely no reason while walking down Clark near Addison.

 

Steer clear of the area if you don't want to get into an altercation, especially at night.

 

 

Unfortunately, if you live in that area, as I did for over fifteen years, sometimes being out and about late at night is unavoidable. I also have some personal and professional reasons for sometimes needing to be out into the wee hours, and in that neighborhood, which has been annoying to me over past couple of decades.

 

It was even worse when I used to do my fighting roadwork (think boxers/fighters out running, throwing punch combos as they run) up until about 2011. I had so many idiots trying to start **** with me until I finally had to stop.

 

The irony of that is that it would seem that the very last person you would want to try to step up and exchange blows with is the guy who is built like an MMA fighter (and who actually is one), wearing a U.S. Army tank-top and death's head tattoos, out at 1 a.m. in the morning, covered in sweat, throwing more punches during a run than most people throw in their entire lives. I have photos of my knuckles covered with blood, with broken pieces of teeth embedded in them.

 

 

 

These days, however, I'm like Roger Murtaugh.