I have always had the thinking that anyone further from me than a distance that a handgun could reach was of no danger to me and should never be shot at but i am young sand i hear people talk about rifles fitting a defensive need although i dont see it,could you give me scenarios where CITIZENS NOT POLICE would need a rifle for a defensive need??
I am certain there are these scenarios and i am overlooking
Also what caliber rifle is idea for a defensive need?
Thanks
Sometimes in life you end up in situations where the police are not there and won't be there until after an event has taken place. It is how you act and what you can do that may make the difference in these situations. Remember that the police are a great convenience, but they can't be everywhere at once and very few violent acts are going to last long enough for the police to get there. I can give you an example from a personal experience. I don't really like talking about this, but I will since you want a good example.
I was working at a night club in Seattle. I wasn't a bouncer, btw. I was in the parking lot, having a smoke when I saw everyone in the lot running toward the building. It was a really spooky sight. Walking behind the fleeing crowd was a young man dressed in gangster attire with a Mac-11. The crowd couldn't go any farther and ended up being a group of 30+ people gathered together at the front of the building. The man pointed the machinepistol at the crowd and started speaking angrily at them. Apparently there were some Bloods in the crowd and this man was a Cryp(sp?).
I saw the man crossing the parking lot, so I took cover next to a minivan and drew my Sig P220 .45acp. The axel of the minivan was between me and the shooter, and I could see him over the hood of the car. He was about 20 yards away. He didn't see me, and I had the drop on him. However, there were several factors that kept me from taking the shot. First of all, there was an SUV full of people behind me that would most likely be killed if I got into a fire fight with the shooter. Second, I wasn't confident with my weapon being able to get the immediate stopping shot that I would need to get at that range. If I didn't neutralize the shooter with one shot, he could open up on the crowd or the SUV behind me. Thirdly, the shooter had 5 friends behind him, with good cover. If they were armed too, I would have been in a really bad situation, since I only had 7+1 in the gun and 7 more in my spare mag. 15 rounds goes by fast. There were a million other things going through my head, like the busy street behind the shooter, but the above three reasons were the main ones.
Typing this right now is making me very uncomfortable. This is a really tough memory for me to deal with, because every time I replay this scenario in my head, I try to think what I could have done differently, or what would have happened if he had started shooting. How would I have dealt with knowing that people died that wouldn't have if I had acted? Would I have gotten killed in a shootout? Would I have gotten the people in the SUV killed? It haunts me to this day and I shivver just thinking about it.
Anyway, the man decided not to shoot anyone and ran away. I am glad that it turned out that way, naturally, but it's haunting to think what would have happened if he didn't. I know for a fact that if I had a rifle in my car at the time, this would have ended much worse for the shooter. This is the kind of situation where a rifle in your car can mean the difference between the life or death of innocent people. I'm not a cop and I don't try to pretend to be one, but I'll do what I can to try to protect the people around me. Having a rifle of any caliber is good planning. Hopefully you will never need it and always feel silly for having it. But if you do need it, you will really need it. This isn't a story from a movie or one of Jack Bauer's adventures. This is a story of a real life event that I witnessed, and I'm just a normal guy. You could very well witness the same kind of thing, and when you do you will truely understand the value of a rifle. Hopefully you will have one.
I hope that this story helps to answer your question. I really don't like talking about this because it stirs up those old feelings and fears, but it's worth it if it convinces you of the value of having the right tools to protect yourself.