Yesterday my wife and oldest daughter headed out to Butler beach in St. Augustine. This is a beach you can drive on (which is great).

The beach faces east and the driving is north to south. We park, walk across the drive area, set up on the beach, and are having a great day.

About 4:30PM a couple boys walk by, going south, carrying a pvc pole with two Trump 2024 flags on it. Like others, I chuckled and waved at them.

Sometime later I hear an engine revving and screaming coming from behind me. When I stood up and turned around there was a gold Yukon driving south with people hanging out the windows screaming "F-you you racist pigs", "I hope you drown", "Die M-fer", etc. This is very unusual for this area.

By now the boys are passing by me on the ocean side going back north. (So it goes road- people/beach- ocean. I am watching the Yukon speed south down the beach. At about 200 yards away it whips around and starts heading back north... Everything else I'm about to type happens very quickly.

As I realize the Yukon full of people are coming back for the boys I turned north and called out to them to get behind me. One of the boys said "their words don't hurt us". My wife, who is a Marine as well, looks at him and says "It's their fists we're worried about". I turned south to my daughter and told her to grab the boys and run if the people come out of the Yukon after us.

Now I am looking at the Yukon closing in to 100 yards and then I glance west at my truck parked across the road. Yes, all of my personal defense tools are in it and I can't make it to the truck and back before they are on us. So I resign myself to making due with what's at hand and continue to watch the Yukon close in. As it is passing a group of Jeeps parked together a man jumps out in front of the Yukon stopping it. Then all four doors fly open and male and females start piling out as people are popping out from the Jeeps. They all start fighting and it is straight up chaos for what seems like forever before the police arrive. (my wife and others around us called 911).

Wrapping it up- I told the boys they needed to have their head on a swivel if they are going to walk around with Trump flags like that. Clearly they did not think or understand that people would potentially physically attack them.

The fight between the Yukon group and the Jeep group started because of the Yukon speeding down the beach. The Jeep group yelled at them to slow down on the first pass and stopped them during the second (wrong way) pass.

In my opinion if the Jeep people hadn't fought the Yukon group, I was in for it. Clearly they were looking for a fight and had no problem throwing down. Thankfully only fists were used.

Afterwards a few guys walked up to me and said they saw what I saw and "had my back" if anything had gone down. Maybe they would have; however I don't count on other people, ever. I do have pics of the scene post fight; however there are thong bikinis and other stuff that isn't forum material. If you use your imagination you can picture the occupants of the Yukon. They even had a 1-2 year child with them...

The timing of all this is kind of interesting because it costs $10 to bring a vehicle onto the beach, but they stop charging after 5PM. After 5PM is when they rolled up. Another sign to me they were just out looking for trouble.

I haven't decided what I am going to change about my defensive carry while actually on the beach, if anything. It has never been an option because I can't secure it if I go into the ocean. I don't know if this event warrants carrying to the beach and then walking back and forth to the truck to secure and reacquire my tools after swimming.

One thing is for sure- it is crazy out there and I think it will get worse as the summer starts.

Smartcarry/belly band, small pistol inside of a sandwich bag. Or take a larger bag, cut it to size and shape, and use a lighter to seal the edges with the pistol inside.

In NE FL? That's crazy!

Something like a waterproof hip pouch might be like what you want. Although the fact that this one is transparent isn't very ideal, but just to give one an idea.

I carry everywhere when I'm not out of state. EVERYWHERE. Even on the ski slopes I'm carrying. So I think coming up with a solution for carrying on the beach would be a good idea.

By the way, I think the forum can handle seeing women in thong bikinis. Just saying.

The correct answer for $200 is:

always carry!

IMHO a glock might be the best tool, fanny pack on your waist, storage bag in a bag where you can get to it. Salt water and sand are tough on metal.

When we went to the beach last year, I put my G19 in a gallon ziplock, it stayed in the beach bag (towels, goggles, sunscreen etc)

Same same when we go to. The pool, no one bothers other people stuff. It’s refreshing.

Glad that didn't turn into something worse. Makes me think about all sorts of scenarios that I hadn't previously.

My youngest and I enjoy early morning romps along New Smyrna beach. We are usually there for sunrise and out by 9am. Yesterday she took out her new inflatable paddle board. The early morning walkers and joggers paid the "old man" with binoculars and baggy shirt no mind.

I had a p365 on my person.

Well, because of my executive protection training teaching me to objectively evaluate threats and mitigation methods, I think your 1st and most impactful change would be to leave those beaches before 5.

No different than avoiding a bad neighborhood, just avoiding the bad time.

Thong bikini's are forum approved, please post those pics!

I recently bought a reusable type of ziplock bag off Amazon. Much heavier and durable than grocery store ziplocks. I use mine mainly for waterproof storage for my Iphone. Be great for beach EDC. Search Amazon for "Gorilla Grip Reusable Bags".

quote:

Gorilla Grip Reusable Bags

I use these when I'm canoeing. Tough and waterproof.

Hard to believe these idiots would risk the health of their wives/girlfriends and a young child to make their point...which is wrong in my opinion.

Crazies everywhere!

The challenge is where do you put it when you go in the water?

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
The challenge is where do you put it when you go in the water?

You take it in the water with you...in a waterproof fanny pack or sling pack. Assuming such a thing exists that is reliable.

I can think of no better tool for the job.

I've never understood how some people could decide that some places are safe and some are dangerous. I've never met anyone who has the ability to predict when and where bad things happen.

Having said that, here's a waterproof gun bag:
https://www.amazon.com/VooDoo-...Pistol/dp/B017AIZI2O

You can plan for just about everything but crazy is a whole new dimension.

It’s unfortunate that there are so many mentally ill people in this country.

I've lived on or near the Florida beach for my entire life. I've had many a date that ended up on the beach, um, late at night, just me and my girl, and a few passing drunks and possibly losers or lowlifes. There are numerous reports from Texas shoreline all the way to Maine, of attacks at beaches. I ALWAYS carry. During the day when lots of people are around its usually safer, but I still have something in my beach bag. After dark I ALWAYS have a 1000 lumen flashlight and a pistol with a laser grip on it. Never had to pull the gun, but felt like it came close before. Blasting some idiot in the face with 1000 lumens, usually changes their victim selection process.