Would you report using your gun.....?

No.

Two reasons:

1) Who wants the hassle?, and
2) Do you really think the cops will catch him?

If I pull my gun, shots WILL be fired

There is no reason for me to pull my pistol unless I feel that all other options are exhausted. And I promise you that I can fire before the bad guy can change his mind and turn to run. So, yeah, I'll report it.

I would not report it. Once the bad has left, the incident is over. I don't need the cops giving me a hard time and making a report which could revoke my permit.

I know of two people doing 3-5 for Ag Assault becuase they let the criminals make the first report. Don't mistake, a criminal who can make a false report to get YOU busted for defending yourself, WILL do so. They hate you, and will do anything to get you off the street, even if it means making you one of THEM! Make your reports, CYA.

armoredmans answer is a PRIME reason for reporting an incident. If an attempt is made on you, there is a high probability that the same hooligan(s) who tried you on for size have done it before, or will do it again. The "hassle" of reporting (inlcuding going to a line-up later to identify them if they are caught on subsequent tries) is worth the effort if it gets them off the street for at least a short while, and marks them in the records when they go up to bat the next time. How would you feel if you saw that familiar mug in the paper, next to an article about "Mugger arrested in murder of 60 Year Old Woman", and what do you do with the thought that your report MIGHT have prevented it. There are no guarantees, except that if you do nothing, nothing will result from it.

Report it. I did. Was a law student in bed asleep when the banging on the door started. 1:00 A.M. Since I lived alone, I got the gun (Smith 586 .357 Magnum w/6" barrel), went towards the front door, and got into an inprovised defensive stance, and hit the lights as the door flew open. Male, mid-twenties, flashlight in hand. He sees me, I aim center chest, he turns and runs. Problem solved...except it's 1:00 a.m., the door is broken, and I don't know where bad guy has gone, or if he plans on coming back. I called. Response time was fair (about 10 minutes). Held the gun until I saw the flashers, then set it on the table in front of me. Officers were pleasant enough, opened the cylander on the gun for safety and to make sure no shots had been fired, and didn't mention the gun further. They checked the area, no sign of bad guy. Actually helped me reapir the door enough for the night. Thanked them, they thanked me, one warned me that I should get 158 grn +p LSWHP for the gun instead of the Magnum hydrashoks, to avoid overpenetration.

Never saw the guy again, no one caught as far as I know. Was worth the trouble because (1) I had the report to show management, who repaired my door at no cost to me, (2) if the subject had come back, I'd have a non-biased, independent record for thefirst incident to support me if I'd had to fire, (3) I took the officer's advice, bought the LSWHP, and found it was (and is) my favorite HD load.

No

Any time you involve youself with the police, you suffer. I wouldn't do it unless it would keep me out of bigger trouble.

Report, no question. Flame proof suit on. Anyone who wouldn't report the incident isn't responsible enough to have a carry permit in the first place.

444...

"Any time you involve youself with the police, you suffer."

That may be true for YOU, but not for many others of us.

If you are legal to carry, and you end up pulling your gun (especially outside of your own home) you seriously need to think about being pre-emptive in your after-incident actions.

Suppose someone not involved in the incident sees you pull a gun on another person and, not knowing what is going on, reports you.

I would much rather be the one to report the incident and get my version on the record first.

Report, no question

Click to expand...

AMEN!

Always report. Any time you are in a confrontation with anyone, armed or not, you should get your story into the police before the other guy does. There is no telling what tales he will spin if he wants to.

I've had two face-to-face encounters on my property with potential wrong-doers and nothing more than words were exchanged. I reported both of them and the police investigated.

I also believe that reporting builds up a "good citizen" profile so that if you have to engage in more drastic action you have a clear and provable record that you are prudent and responsible in your management of potentially threatening situations.

Paul

I wouldn't report it unless there was some personal injury or property damage. Those of you with permission slips may be under other rules, however.

Well, I think there might be details that may change my mind... If it was right at my residence or place of work, I probably would report it. I have a 100% clean background and in Indiana, I just don't think that using a gun to protect myself would get me in much trouble here. While I would gladly use a gun to divert a crime rather than actually have to shoot it, if it was where I lived or where I worked, I would think that another incident might be coming and I'd want something on paper saying I had not resorted to shooting during a previous incident. I think that might look good in case a shooting actually happened.

Now, if it was somewhere, say a mall or a gas station that I rarely frequented, I would be more hesitant to report it.

This is California. If a cop is working, esp. in an urban area, then he's choosing to work for a sheriff or police chief who stink on the CCW issue and are *probably* acting illegally in the permit process.

Such cops cannot be trusted on self defense issues.

Walk away if at all possible.

I'm not into self abuse, I would not report.

WOW

The differing opinions is VERY INTERESTING.

Demal...

"The differing opinions is VERY INTERESTING."

I believe that this stems from two influences.

First, your opinion of police in general.

Two, your experiences with police regarding citizen CCW and local LE opinions and treatment of citizen firearms owners.

In my case I have a good rapport with my local PD although in general many Massachusetts LE agencies (not necessarily all indivudal officers) are negative towards CCW.

Much of the difference has to do with where you live. Most of the rest of it can be how you present yourself to your local LEOs. I've lived all over the country, and USUALLY had no trouble establishing a good relationship. I had the advantage of managing large warehouses, which had the usual share of alarm breaks. I always started by offering a tour of the place, whenever convenient, to any one on the night shift, and always offered to go in with them on a break, as the floor layouts were always in a state of change. My only stipulation was that if I went in, I went in armed. Twice, I was "invited" to the local range - not asked to qualify or anything like that, but just a friendly invitation to shoot. Of course, that gave the opportunity to observe me and my gun handling. Once they were satisfied, everything went well. I inserted a big USUALLY up above. I lived and worked in one jurisdiction that was rotten - small force, drug payoffs, burglaries committed by LEOs, and the whole nine yards. The state came in on them like a ton of bricks, and cleaned the roster, from the chief on down plus a couple of local politicians. I moved before that happened, but one of the county officers warned me during my first week there that giving them the grand tour of a new warehouse was not a smart idea. I've had single officers respond, and refuse to go in at all, "I'll sit out here and you check the inside", and one apparently SWAT-oriented crew that told me to stay outside and out of their way. About five minutes later, when they couldn't find the master switches inside a dark, 350,000 sq. ft. room, they came back and asked me to turn on the lights. When they saw the place lit up, they backed off and sent for a K-9. The dog lived at home, with the kids, and he stopped at a section containing some 15,000 palletized cases of a flavored popcorn product, and wouldn't move unless he got his bribe. Cops can be fun

Yeah, I think the differences have a lot to do with where you live. Let's see, I live in Wyoming. Two firearms trainers for two different local law enforcement agencies are in our little IPSC club. I do business with the Sheriff's Office in my capacity as a volunteer fire chief and I have helped the SO with firearms training. I bought my house from the head guru for the local branch of the Division of Criminal Investigation and I have known him for 25 years. The lead investigator for the SO is a friend of mine. I shoot IPSC and IDPA with a Deputy County Attorney (soon to be DA)...

Man, I can't imagine living in a Gestapo infested county in the great state of Californicate.

I don't buy the argument about reporting him before he reports you. The reason being, that if I was the potential victim of a street crime (that is how I interpreted the question) I wouldn't know him and he wouldn't know me. The odds greatly favor no one on the street knowing either of us. By the time he reported me, I would be long gone, so go ahead and report me.
I also don't buy the idea that you were involved in an incident like this and you report it so if it happens again, you will be seen as a responsible citizen. I think it would have just the opposite effect. #1) if "they" looked into the matter, "they" would say, this isn't the first time this guy has got into a similar kind of incident. Out of all the people in this town that have a concealed carry permit, this guy has gotten himself into multiple incidents: Why ? Now I do agree that if you know the other person involved and have an incident with them, it would be a good idea to report it. For example, let's say your girlfriends ex-hustband threatens your life and you know who he is, why he threatened you, maybe you can even give his address etc then if it happened again you might have covered yourself by demonstating an on-going situation, but if it was just some thug on the street, then no.
Unlike some people, I have no issues with the police. I work side by side with the police frequently and have for over 20 years.

Nope. Wouldn't report it.

I have several friends and relatives who work in law enforcement. Uniformly they say "walk away." It ain't worth the hassle.

If there is no connection between you and the bad guy, 'Da Heat' will probably never know about the incident.

Verrry good thread. I hear good responses from both sides of the coin but have to give the nod in general to the walk away crowd. Realistically, it is a highly situational type of decision. If I was at home, I would *probably* go ahead and call it in.

If I were on the street...bye bye, almost certainly. The police are not here to help you and are not your friend. They are there to find violations and bring people in. Carrear kudos, let the courts decide, you've heard the speil. No disrespect intended to officers, but it's how they've been trained.

In Colorado, yes, I would report it. When I lived in the People's Republic of California, no, I sure didn't: too great a chance my firearm would end up in some crooked cop's personal collection.