Brown, who was smart enough to sit his pistol on the ground and move away from it, answered that the gun was his and that he had a concealed carry permit.

Huffman’s response, uttered in the heat of the moment, was priceless. “Where’d you get a concealed carry license from? Kmart? … Warning shots? We don’t fire warning shots.”

Not just going to stand there

The scene secured, Huffman and other officers started asking questions. Officer S.A. Strange testified that Brown told him that “he saw two black guys ganging up on the white dude’” and that “I’ve been told if I saw anything going on, I could use lethal force.”

Brown also told police that he wasn’t just going to stand there and watch somebody get beat up.

Nevertheless, police seized Brown’s gun, the “three or four” knives he had on him, too, and charged him with a pair of misdemeanors — assault by pointing a gun and discharging a firearm within city limits. He was found guilty in District Court, but appealed his conviction. Hence, last week’s jury trial in Forsyth Superior Court.