A San Diego man with a Donald Trump yard sign in front of his house confronted a group of would-be vandals with a rifle on Wednesday evening. The vandals panicked and dialed 911. Police questioned the resident, Taren Meacham, but did not arrest him.

Local ABC News affiliate 10 News reports:

At around 10 p.m., a neighbor reportedly witnessed a group of four friends who had been walking down a sidewalk in the 100 block of West Juniper Street meddling with the campaign sign. The friends appeared to have been drinking. Witnesses told San Diego police, the neighbor allegedly exited his home with a rifle and threatened the group using profanity. At one point he allegedly told them, “I’ve been waiting to use this.”

One of the people attempting to vandalize the sign recalled the event from her perspective:

Ashton Ferejan says she panicked when he pointed the gun at her, her husband and friends, “I kind of just screamed ‘get back, get back,’ some of us yelled, my husband was like ‘are you serious, put down the weapon, this is ridiculous,'” Ferejan said.

Neighbors reportedly know Meacham, who owns a tattoo shop named “Love and Terror,” as a calm person. Evidently, however, he was prepared to defend his political preferences and his property.

Meacham was recently featured by the San Diego Union-Tribune in a photo gallery of local Trump supporters:

Vandalism of Trump yard signs is not new in Southern California. Recently, Breitbart News noted a case in which a Trump sign in Oceanside had been defaced with the words “f*** you a-hole,” with the message signed, “a Mexican.”

Criminal charges are unlikely against Meacham, who did not actually fire his rifle in the incident.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. His new book, See No Evil: 19 Hard Truths the Left Can’t Handle, will be published by Regnery on July 25 and is available for pre-order through Amazon. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.