SD/HD Experiences

[javacodeman]

I was just wondering...

Of all of us that have firearms for our protection, how many of us have ever had to use one? How many of us have been in a situation where a firearm (lethal force) would have been appropriate (legal), but didn't have a firearm with us?

If you've been in a SD/HD situation, will you briefly describe what happened and share any lessons that the rest of us can learn from? This is, of course, if you are comfortable sharing.

Thanks,

java

edit: I've enabled multiple choice for those "lucky" few of us that have had more than one type of SD/HD encounter.

 

[C-grunt]

I was robbed by a man with a kitchen knife the day before I got my first handgun. Thats not the reason I got the handgun, it just happened to be the day before I got it.

edit: I owned rifles at the time.

 

[MountainBear]

I had a pistol pulled on me by a drunk driver on a college campus. I was walking on a sidewalk and he swerved off the road and onto the sidewalk to try to hit me. I dove out of the way, and then promptly waved at him (I might not have used all my fingers). He slammed on the brakes, backed up, rolled down his window and started saying something about not flipping people off. He was obviously drunk, so I replied he ought not try to run people over. He then said "well, why don't you tell that to my gun?" He pulled what looked like a Beretta 9mm (I was close enough to see a real barrel, otherwise I would have thought airsoft or something). I started backing off as I was on a college campus (posession, even by a CCW, is prohibited) and was not packing. I got away, called the state police (they were the armed response on campus), and was told they'd look into it and never heard a thing about it.

Now had I had a gun, it would have done me very little good in this case. First, He had the drop on me. I never expected to have the gun pulled on me. Second, the castle doctrine in the state I was in is not such that deadly force would have been justified as I had an avenue of escape (which I used). Third, a firefight that close to a student dorm complex would have been a nightmare. There was no cover to speak of, and the liability of where the bullets could have gone was scary.

So, the lessons learned? First, I would still have been happier armed. Second, even when you are carrying, you need to run through a mental checklist on the justifications and reality of pulling your own weapon. It would have done me more harm than good. I was lucky to have law enforcement training that helped me evaluate the situation, but a really good CCW class (perhaps an advanced CCW class) could help people develop the same thing.

I hope this was helpful for those reading it...

 

[bouis]

I woke up one afternoon (I was in college) to some loud noises coming from outside the apartment. I knew my roommate had already gone to work but I figured he was back for lunch or something, so I got up to, uh, ask him to keep it down.

Outside the apartment was a small completely privacy-fenced (6') yard with no gate. The only way in or out of the yard was through a sliding glass door in the living room.

So I walk into the living room in my underwear and I see a black male, maybe 5'10", 180lbs, holding a club (I later found out it was a shovel handle... the son of a bitch broke my shovel!) and trying to pry open the door with a screwdriver.

Not having a phone in the apartment, I ran back into my room, dove under the bed and grabbed my Walther P99, slammed a high cap into it, racked the slide and decocked it into double action. I yanked off my socks (didn't want to slip on the laminate floor) and ran into the hallway adjacent to the living room and peered around. He's still trying to get the door open, so I think:

A) Legal shoot? Yes -- he's in the curtilage of the house, in the process of committing a felony on it. He's armed.

B) Safe shoot? Probably not -- he's behind a safety glass door and directly behind him, maybe 40 feet distance, is a house that may be occupied. It's brick but I'm shooting 9mm +P.

C) Moral shoot? Probably not -- I can see both of his hands and he doesn't have a ranged weapon, just a screwdriver and a club. For the time being I'm safe behind the door.

So I hold the pistol behind my back and step out and challenge him, "What the hell are you doing?" He looks at my nearly naked, pasty self and shouts "Where Ricky at? That nigga owes me ten thousand dollars."

Ricky's my next door neighbor who lives on the other side of the duplex with his girlfriend and her (their?) two kids. I tell him I've never heard of any Ricky and that he needs to get the hell out of here. He looks completely unafraid of me, so I let the pistol fall to my side, at which point he runs away and jumps over the fence.

I never actually called the cops because my roommate didn't come back until 3 AM, and I didn't want to leave the apartment (at the time I was convinced he'd come back for the gun as soon as I left). I didn't have my contacts in so I couldn't describe the guy (plus, I was looking at his hands, not his face..), and I didn't want to get my neighbor in (more) trouble.

This is why I have no problem believing there are a lot more SDs than are reported every year.

 

[1911JMB]

I was walking my dog, and I got charged by a very large and vicious dog which sprang from its yard and tried to attack us for no reason. It came real fast, and it was going after my dogs throat. I drew my ASP, and hit it on the back. It didn't seem to notice, and I hit it on the head. I didn't have time to think about it, I just did it. Looking back on it I did the right thing, because it was about a foot away from my dogs throat. It ran off wimpering but survived. This all happened in a period of about 5 seconds, maybe less.

That is the only real world self defense situation I have experienced so far. I have had many instances where people wanted to fight me and I talked my way out, but no real serious people going to the hospital types of fights, and I've been involved in nothing whatsoever involving the use of force with guns.

 

[10-Ring]

\It was when my son was still very young and he & I had just moved into our house.

 

[Handgun Midas]

Bouis,

Why wasn't your gun loaded in the first place and where were your glasses?

And your phone. No cell phone even?
Also I would have opted for SA over DA.

Sorry to MMQB this, but so much you describe could happen at any time right where I'm sitting... so I gots to thinking.

 

[bouis]

Well I wasn't describing what I consider to be an ideal response, just what I happened to do at the time. I had no phone and no glasses because I didn't have any money. Well, that's not true -- I had bad priorities: contacts and I'd borrow my roommate's phone when I needed one. It never occurred to me that I'd need one for an emergency.

The gun wasn't loaded because "OMG! You keep that thing loaded?" Suffice to say that I've changed my tune on that one. I'm glad I kept a magazine loaded at least.

DA because I didn't want to accidentially shoot the guy. Plus, this is how I was taught to confront a BG. I'd probably do the same thing if it happened again (and all I had was the 9mm -- the shotgun doesn't have a DA option).

Sometimes the only way to learn is the hard way. Hell, I never even used to lock that sliding door when I was home. I'm glad my roommate locked it before he left or it would have been a really lousy day.

 

[jeepmor]

Before a gun, I had a good dog

I had two home invaders deterred by a good shepherd type mix dog in college. Once n college, and once shortly after. I never saw the perp's eye to eye, but one was attempting to come in through a screened window on a hot summer night.

After she passed at 14 years of age, it really set in that her replacement did not possess the same protection and then I started purchasing guns. First for home defense, then for a hobby.


jeepmor

 

[the naked prophet]

I used to work at Kroger and a couple of drunks wanted to buy booze (can't legally sell to intoxicated customers) and they got angry about it and said they were going to kill me. That was the closest I ever came to drawing outside my home, although technically it wasn't a SD issue yet.

One night around 4:30 AM someone broke into my house, I grabbed my nightstand gun and loudly told the 911 operator I had a loaded gun. The intruders left, locking the door behind themselves with they key they had to the apartment. The landlord changed the locks in the morning and the police didn't believe anybody had been in the house at all.