It is IMPERATIVE that you call "911" preferably BEFORE engaging the perpetrator. Use your CPL training: call out for help, yell to the perpetrator to "go away," "leave me/us alone," "STOP!" In times like this, politeness is NOT a virtue. It is entirely appropriate to use VERY strong language to warn the perpetrator away. Make a scene. Hopefully, in this way, you will NEVER have to use your gun.

However, if the perpetrator does not heed your AGGRESSIVE warnings, LOUDLY, continue to warn them, and tell the perpetrator(s) that you have a gun, that you are trained to use it, and that you will use it to defend yourself.

You should narrate out loud what is happening and what you are about to do. If anyone is listening, and/or if you have 911 on your phone, you are making a record that you have given ample warning to the perpetrator BEFORE you use any form of force in your self-defense.

REMEMBER: Brandishing is the display of your firearm and the communication of a threat that you will use it, whether that threat is communicated verbally or by your actions and conduct. IF YOU POINT YOUR FIREARM at the perpetrator, you are committing a FELONIOUS ASSAULT, and prosecutors and judges often treat this on par with, and with the same seriousness as if you had fired your weapon. IF YOU PULL THE TRIGGER, you are using DEADLY FORCE! DO NOT "fire for effect" or "fire a warning shot!"Not only is this dangerous to both you and any witnesses nearby, but bullets fired into the air come down and can injure innocents far away from the event. Ricochets can also cause unintended harm.

In the event you have had to take action to defend yourself, if you haven't already, CALL 911! It is my experience in handling self-defense cases that as often as not, the perpetrator will call 911 if he/she can, and do their very best to make YOU out to be the assailant. The wrongdoer will make all sorts of false claims that YOU were the perpetrator, that YOU started the altercation, that they were just innocent passersby, that they were minding their own business when you went crazy. FOR THIS REASON, it is imperative that you call 911 in any self-defense situation. Remember, however, that in calling 911, anything you say CAN AND WILL BE USED AGAINST YOU!!