Sounds to me like that woman was simply beside herself with fright and probably couldn't say what the day was at the time. Sounds like she was about to ask you what the number to "9-1-1" was
. I don't think an even barely cogent person would call up a teacher from a class five years ago in an emergency; she panicked, fixated on the gun, was confused in her addled state, and sought help along those lines.
While having a gun is certainly not the same as being able to use a gun, neither is "being prepared the same as being able to act" and some people simply cannot function under duress. I've never been in a truly life-threatening situation, but I've been freaked out badly enough times in my life to know I'm about 1/2 to 1/3 as intelligent as I normally am (and that's not saying much
). I don't "think on my feet" as well as I'd like to, so I plan accordingly: plans, so I don't have to think as hard if things go bad in an expected manner. Not as good as being born clearheaded, but better than randomly paging through my contacts list
Glad to hear things worked out well for her, and hopefully the incident taught her she needs to have a plan in place for
using that gun
TCB