It's not his 'thoughts' that will get you, it is the brick in his hand that will crush your skull. If you make yourself out to be a target with the wrong impression that you are invincible because you are packin', you are gonna get it and unless you have the combat experience to set yourself up as a hardened target (that he/they do not know about) and bust his ambush, you are gonna get it.
Not one of the ccw classes I have had over the last 40 years has ever taught anything about defending yourself on the street or how to be aware of your surroundings or what to do if you think you might get into a tight spot. Everything I learned about ambushes and busting a ambush I learned in combat. I never follow another man's tracks and I always walk about 25-50m off a trail - that way you never trip any explosive triggers (trip wires) or walk into a ambush or a bad guy's lane of fire, and you catch him by coming up behind him. On the street it's different because you can usually spot a ambush being set up or one that is set up by being aware of your surroundings and watching how people behave and knowing what to look for or watch out for, but you are not invincible simply because you are packin'.
In the war it was our job to bust up ambushes before the other guy could spring them. It is not our job to do that on the street unless you are a cop. If you are carrying you have to be cautious not to take the offensive unless you are convinced you are about to be attacked. You really need to consider the use of 'avoidance movements', which take you out of harms way and allow you to alert the police to a possible ambush/potential attack. You only have that pistol with you to 'defend' yourself, not to go out busting up individuals or groups of people who look like muggers waiting to attack someone AND if you place yourself in the position where you have to defend yourself then you are liable to get it from both ends - the muggers and the courts later on.
Probably the best thing you can do these days, if you spot some suspicious activity that might indicate a potential ambush (like 2-3 or more 'guys' hanging around inside a parking garage or in the shadows of a mall/supermarket parking lot, or around the shadowed or closed storefront, a couple of younger girls hanging around the entrance to stores, movie theaters, etc.,) is call the cops. If the 911 operator asks you why you think someone is setting up a mugging or a attack on a innocent victim, tell her you saw a knife in one of their hands or that it looks like someone is trying to get a grip on a gun in his/her pocket. Don't bother trying to explain too much to a 911 operator, they really aren't very good at the details - just say what you have to say to get the cops there quickly so you don't have to pull a gun to defend yourself. imo.
