Thank you for the clarification. As this is a dreaded gun thread, one of our leading thread lockers, I fell a need to "button up" a bit, at least for this discussion.
I don't have time here at work to look for it, however, I seem to recall that the "aggressive stance" vs. the "tentative stance" was a topic of discussion in one of the self-defense classes - I do know that there was considerable discussion about the use of a "tactical" light on the shotgun as well as laser dots and their effectiveness & risks in close quarters. The thing I came away with was that if you pull a gun, it's not a talisman that will make everyone run away. In fact, it may enrage some attackers, and simply be ignored by others. The key word is DEFENSIVE - meaning that you are able to hold your ground safely where you are or retreat to a place where you can hold your ground. In both scenarios there is the possibility that holding your ground means stopping - by killing - your attacker, because they are encroaching on your safe zone.

Anyway....I think that we're in agreement, and that a CCW permit is not going to save you from anything...thanks again.