I know and I know that the lone sheepdog, doing as you suggest would have been there alone and unarmed while the sheep bleated in fear all around. That's still not a situation I would feel comfortable dealing with, especially with a wife still fragile from cancer standing beside me. In which case this is the only way to go....
Thats about one of the only things I could think of that would excuse inaction. That said, as to the feel comfortable thing.
Who would? There are more important things than comfort sometimes and I doubt well dressed college punks would do more than run screaming when seriously confronted, mob or not. They are cowards by training and by nature.
Blacks got to their position by threats, not action, most talk crap and nothing else. Some do. Gang bangers. These were not them in Manhattan. GBs can be dealt with in other ways.