I live in a rv in a rv park. At sometime around 5AM a sound woke me up. I thought it was the dog wanting to go out since I hadn't taken her (a20 lb pug) out the evening before. I turned on the light and the dog was standing on the bed looking at the door. I was sitting up wondering what had woken me up when the bedroom door opened up.
A young man (about 6' 3", I am 70 and about 5' 10") was standing there looking at me and weaving back and forth. I said "Who are you and what the h### are you doing here." He said "How did I get here?" I then opened my night stand took out my pistol, put the magazine in and chambered a round. My second and third mistakes, get to the first in a minute. He started to back up and I followed, the dog was raising a ruckus but wasn't about to get off the bed. The guy was obviously drunk or on something, staggering around and bumping into things. I told him to get out and he did but wanted to know where his boots were. I told him I didn't know but if I found them I would put them out by the road after daylight. He left.
The first mistake I made was not latching my door. I was having trouble with it and just decided not to lock it. Of course you know what the others were. Not having a magazine in the gun and not having a cartridge up the tube. I was not prepared to put it mildly!
The young man came by later in the afternoon and knocked on the side of a motorcycle trailer about 20' away from my door and apologized very humbly. I told him he had come very close to dieing that morning. I would have shot him if he had taken even one step toward me when he was in my house.
I learned several lessons from this and I hope he did also. This could have had several horrible outcomes. The first was he had time to dismember me easily before I got my pistol ready. He could have been killed from being too drunk to know where he lived. I would have felt very bad if I had shot him, but I am sure he would have felt much worse! A unloaded gun used for self protection is no more the a very short club! I think God was with both of us .
A young man (about 6' 3", I am 70 and about 5' 10") was standing there looking at me and weaving back and forth. I said "Who are you and what the h### are you doing here." He said "How did I get here?" I then opened my night stand took out my pistol, put the magazine in and chambered a round. My second and third mistakes, get to the first in a minute. He started to back up and I followed, the dog was raising a ruckus but wasn't about to get off the bed. The guy was obviously drunk or on something, staggering around and bumping into things. I told him to get out and he did but wanted to know where his boots were. I told him I didn't know but if I found them I would put them out by the road after daylight. He left.The first mistake I made was not latching my door. I was having trouble with it and just decided not to lock it. Of course you know what the others were. Not having a magazine in the gun and not having a cartridge up the tube. I was not prepared to put it mildly!
The young man came by later in the afternoon and knocked on the side of a motorcycle trailer about 20' away from my door and apologized very humbly. I told him he had come very close to dieing that morning. I would have shot him if he had taken even one step toward me when he was in my house.
I learned several lessons from this and I hope he did also. This could have had several horrible outcomes. The first was he had time to dismember me easily before I got my pistol ready. He could have been killed from being too drunk to know where he lived. I would have felt very bad if I had shot him, but I am sure he would have felt much worse! A unloaded gun used for self protection is no more the a very short club! I think God was with both of us .
Regardless of the legality, I would have felt pretty bad about shooting somebody for drunkenly entering the wrong house.
