The "knockout game" has become a nationwide menace in which roaming mobs randomly select victims and without warning hit them as hard as they can in an attempt to knock them out.

But there's a new twist now, with attackers checking their victims first to find out whether they are armed.

The Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville reported a witness called police claiming she saw a male juvenile punch a man in the face, "apparently without provocation."

The victim, who told police he believed the boys were playing the knockout game, said one of the boys approached him and asked if he had a "Glock." The man was punched after admitting he was unarmed, the paper said.

TRENDING: Undercover journalist turns the tables, sues Planned Parenthood for defamation

Four juveniles were arrested.

Black mobs routinely terrorize cities across the country, but the media and government are silent. Read the detailed account of rampant racial crime in "White Girl Bleed A Lot: The Return of Racial Violence to America and How the Media Ignore It."

But the report said the victim wised up quickly.

"Fearing that the boy would continue to hit him until he was unconscious, the man grabbed at a folding knife that he had tucked into his waistband and pretended to have a gun. The boys fled, and the man enlisted the help of his neighbor to search for the boys."

The knockout game was first brought to light in Colin Flaherty's book "'White Girl Bleed A Lot': The Return of Racial Violence to America and How the Media Ignore It."

"If black mob violence and the knockout game are two of the most under reported stories in America today, how people defend themselves with weapons is surely in third," he told WND, referring to the Florida case.

"It happens a lot, but the stories rarely rise to national attention unless someone is being arrested. There are lots of examples of this in 'White Girl Bleed a Lot,' from teenagers home alone to grandmothers collecting rents," he said.

"My favorite is the story of Marvell Weaver. He used a Taser to attack a father waiting for his daughter at a school bus stop. Only one thing: The Taser misfired. While his friends waited in the getaway car nearby, the father pulled out a .40 caliber Smith and Wesson and shot Weaver two times. He did a year in prison and admitted he had played the knockout game several other times.

"So to hear that the people involved in the knockout game are starting to worry about whether their victims can defend themselves is good news. Because once more people do, they won't be victims anymore."

The Guns Save Lives blog commented: "We have already documented one story where a potential victim has turned the tables on 'Knockout Game' players by pulling a gun. It looks like those incidents have instilled a fear in at least some of these 'players.'"

See a trailer for "White Girl Bleed a Lot":