Reply #36: The part I quoted, of course.

[Atypical Liberal]

"F*** you and your high powered rifle! I'm gonna kill you motherf***ers!"

My instructor warned us, and I have heard other accounts of this in the past, that some people, when they see someone with a weapon, will try and "push" to see if they can provoke a response. They will take the presence of the weapon as a challenge, and rather than retreat, they will escalate the situation, playing "tough guy". I can see this especially being the case when there is an audience and the possibility of losing face.

The guy in this article did just that. Now in this case obviously the attackers were probably already bent on assault. But the same kind of false bravado in response to being confronted with an armed victim is what I'm talking about.