Have you ever used your sidearm in self defense?

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No, thank god, and I hope that it remains that way until the day I die. That having been said, I still carry every day and will continue to do exactly that until the day I die.
 
Roadkinglarry... Can we hear more to the story than one short sentence? What year? Outcome? Number of gang members, cops involved?
 
Closest I came was 2 years ago around 11:45pm on a weekday, I awoke to hearing the sound of squealing tires outside my house. I looked out the window to see a Ford Bronco sitting across the road at the pull-off to my neighbors lane. Knowing that he was gone on a work trip and his wife and 11 year old son were the only ones home, I couldn't imagine that these people sitting in their driveway were up to any good. I watched as they pulled out, went down the road and after 5 minutes returned and squealed the wheels again before entering the pull-off, This happened two more times.

There was two males and a female sitting in the Bronco drinking beer and smoking cigarettes and the driver was urinating outside his door and facing my house. I figured that was enough and I'd go out and tell them to leave because I know my neighbor would not want this going on while he was away, or while he's there for that matter (he's the wifes cousin)....

I got on pants and a jacket and slipped on my shoes but not before putting my G17 in my waist band before heading out the door. As I approached the road to cross it, I heard startled whispers in the Bronco and swearing from the driver as he stepped out of the vehicle. He was no more then in his early twenties but a "big" boy. I said "time to go!" He say "is this your property?" I said "No, but its my neighbors and I know he wouldn't appreciate you trespassing!" He puffs up and says "what are you going to do if we just sit here?"....Keeping my head from spinning and spraying green pee soup I calmy lifted my jacket to show the butt of the pistol and said "I will hold you here till my wife calls the cops, and you can explain to them why your trespassing and exposing yourself to my family and me!" And like that and without a word he was jumping in the Bronco giving me the finger and peeling out into the night. I didn't get a license number do to the fact that my adrenaline was at an all time high but I never seen them or heard from them again.My neighbor told me he appreciated that I would watch out like that for him, I told him I wasn't watching out for him I was just mad it was a work night and my beauty
sleep was rudley interupted!!:D


Sorry that was such a long and boring story but thats all I have.
 
"I'm now 28 6'8 and 260 pounds; I've adopted the term 'happy warrior'".

I'll bet you just about dread going clothes shopping!!
 
I have never used my gun in self defense. I once seen a woman getting the hell beat out of her ( I mean brutally beat ) by her drunk boyfriend. It was in a bar parking lot. I stopped my car in the street and ran over and grabbed the guy to get him off her. He turned and swung at me and missed and I landed one that knocked him senseless. I was so PO'ed ( I hate men beating women ) I smashed the guy a few more times, once in the mouth which cut my knuckles and another along the side of the guys head. It KO'ed him.

The cops came and so did the ambulance and took them both away. The Cop's took all my information and said " you probably saved the woman's life ".
She took a bad beating from this coward.

What is weird is that I was in such a hurry to get to this woman that I left my sidearm in the glove box. Thankfully the guy wasn't armed. It just never occurred to me that I should bring my gun.

And another strange factor, I used to box ( amateur ) and never scored a KO.......LOL

The guy later copped a plea and I didn't have to testify. Actually, it was the last fight I ever was in. I sure had my share though when I was in the Marine Corps. :)

Chris
 
I did want to relate an incident that a very close friend of mine had in Detroit.
He was robbed one night inside his bar by two motorcycle gang members. They got the jump on him and took his 45 from him and beat him senseless with it but they didn't see his 38 snub.

In the meantime the other guy who had his 45 was struggling with it trying to get it loaded. My buddy carried it with the chamber empty.

He grabbed his 38 from his waist and pulled it and the guy without a gun grabbed the top of the gun and they wrestled with it. My buddy was losing his grip and discovered he had his hand over the end of the barrel. He knew he had to shoot the guy or die himself with his own weapon so he shot the guy three times........right through his own hand which was over the end of the barrel.

The other guy took off and he called the Police. The guy he shot died there at the scene. The police exonerated him but he was later sued by the family for wrongful death and his insurance company paid them off - $ 16,000.

He later locked his guns up in his safe and never picked up a gun again after that. He said he still has nightmares over killing the guy and while he knows what he did was right, he cannot bring himself to touch a gun anymore.

I have heard anyone who does shoot and kill someone goes through mental torture. Even when they shoot a bad guy. Even the cops who have killed someone gets messed up in the head sometimes and needs counseling. My buddy is no different and like he told me, " I hope for your sake you never have to use your gun like I did and kill someone. You will never be the same again. It will change you forever ".

Chris
 
Not me, but my middle son has. He is a police officer, and a week ago, he was one-on-one against a low-life firing on him with a semi-auto .223 rifle. He returned 11 shots through his windshield, hitting the guy twice, but not killing him. He has glass cuts and hearing problems to show for the ordeal.
 
"Once when I was working mall security a local gang tried to take over the arcade...."

Is your real name Paul Blart?
 
"I have heard anyone who does shoot and kill someone goes through mental torture. Even when they shoot a bad guy. Even the cops who have killed someone gets messed up in the head sometimes and needs counseling. My buddy is no different and like he told me, " I hope for your sake you never have to use your gun like I did and kill someone. You will never be the same again. It will change you forever ".

I think it has a lot to do with your state of mind going into it. If you know in your mind that you did the right thing then you won't be spend'n the rest of your life beat'n yourself up over it.
 
Sounds good and true Buck Snort. I still really hope I never have to shoot someone (and none of you all either), even in an emergency.

Still, if you know you won't do it unless it's truly necessary to save life or limb, that thought hopefully helps keeps you sane.

Fortunately most thugs run away on seeing a good guy (not necessarily but including cops) with a firearm ready to defend themselves.
 
It may sound good and true but far from it. There are just too many differences in people to give a blanket statement like that. Thankfully, I've never had to fire a gun at anyone and pray that I don't. I have put hours of thought on the subject before I started carrying and I feel in my heart of hearts that I would not be troubled by killing a human that threatened my life or those of my loved ones. But when it comes down to it, I can say anything I like about it without ever experiencing it but who knows how it will affect me if it ever does?

Ask some of the thousands of soldiers coming home from war with PTSD what their thoughts about killing were when they enlisted.
 
I so far have never had to fire in anger and God-willing I never will. There is one incident which suddenly crystallized for me exactly WHY CCW is necessary, that there ARE bad people in the world, and you have to stay alert.

It was April 1995 I think and I was driving back from San Diego to Ohio with my future father-in-law. His daughter and I had tent-camped our way across the country and she was staying in San Diego for a while with her mother who had flown out with her father. We both had to be at work so we drove straight back to Ohio together (did it in 48 hours).
We took I-8 then cut north to Phoenix and Flagstaff then east on I-40. We had just crossed over into New Mexico from Arizona, probably somewhere near Gallup.

This was well before CCW was legal and since we were tent camping our way all over the country I had packed a Colt King Cobra 4" .357 Magnum loaded with Hydra-Shok 158-gr loads. I kept it rolled up in the middle of my sleeping bag in the trunk when we were driving. I know I probably broke a lot of laws but didn't care.

Anyway we had made good time so we stopped at the rest area to eat some sandwiches and take a stretch. We went looking around this dry arroyo for fossils or anything cool and I took some pictures of the landscape. There were kids playing and RVs and stuff there.

Well, when we got there there were these two jokers who came up to us and tried the usual sob story about how they were almost out of gas and could we spare a few bucks. Well, we didn't honestly have much more than enough gas money to get us home at the time so we politely said no, but offered them a sandwich (which they refused).

Fast forward an hour or so, and I realized that the last RV was pulling out, and other than our car, there was no other car in the lot, and these two guys were still there looking at us. One guy had a hunting knife and was carving on the table top. My F-I-L looked at me and said it would be a good time to leave, he reckoned.

So we packed our stuff, and these guys watched us and talked together quietly the whole time. I took the first load of stuff back to the car and while the trunk was open put that Colt in my waistband. My future F-I-L picked up the big cooler with the drinks and lunchmeat and stuff (took both hands) and started towards the car and those two guys started walking towards us, splitting apart to flank us.

They kept asking for gas money, I told them I didn't see a car nearby, and then they started asking for a ride instead. The one had his hand on his knife, not waving it around, but he made sure you had seen it. They tried to cut my F-I-L off from the car, and were now not asking but instead TELLING us we were giving them a ride and some gas money.

I stepped between the knife guy and the car (giving my F-I-L a clear shot at the car) and told him we didn't have any room in the car for him, the cooler goes in the back seat. And I hiked my shirt back and started to pull that Colt out just far enough. He got the message, raised his hands and started talking about not wanting trouble. His buddy hadn't seen the gun and when I took a step back and a half turn he saw it too, and they both went back to their table talking about how they didn't want trouble.

Stopped at the next exit and used the pay phone to call it in to the sheriff- like it mattered.

That one incident is what changed me from a sheep to a sheepdog. Not because the gun was a "magic wand", but because I saw that wolves really do exist and not just as something you read about in the papers- and the best defense is being able to protect yourself. I know for sure that if they had tried anything I would have shot them.


A year or two later I heard a commotion outside my 2nd floor apartment. Te lady below me had her jealous, drunk boyfriend trying to kick in her doors or break her windows screaming stuff like "B***h let me in or else" kind of thing. I was going to call the police however my room-mate had carried off our only phone (a cordless) and it was nowhere to be found. The guy had a tire iron and was screaming how he was going to kill her and smashing on her door trying to break in.

So I took that same Colt King Cobra and walked out onto my landing with the Colt down behind my leg and told the fella I'd called the cops, they were on the way, and he ought to leave. He started to advance on me up the stairs. I let my arm swing down so the Colt was now laying against my leg (still pointing down) and thumbed back the hammer. He thought about it then left and he burnt rubber out of there.

Later she thanked me, he had been her boyfriend, they worked together, she had broken it off and he had started stalking her. She called the cops and they never even came up to talk to me.



There's been others. I had a guy try to ambush me with a hammer as I was showing his son a car he wanted to buy. I am sure it was planned and they wanted to steal my truck, the car, and whatever cash I had. Luckily I had a Glock 21 at the time and when he saw the pistol he backed off and put the hammer down, made a lame excuse, and left.


Had a tweaker break my windshield with a chunk of brick because he thought I was some guy who owed him money (never seen the guy before in my life) and then try to threaten me with a gun when I stopped to ask him what the hell was going on. He kept reaching for his back pocket but he was doing it so I would be sure to see him reaching for something- probably didn't have a gun- but I had a Sig 220. He never pulled anything- then ran down an alley when I pulled out my cell phone and dialed 911. The cops never showed up.
 
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"I have heard anyone who does shoot and kill someone goes through mental torture. Even when they shoot a bad guy. Even the cops who have killed someone gets messed up in the head sometimes and needs counseling. My buddy is no different and like he told me, " I hope for your sake you never have to use your gun like I did and kill someone. You will never be the same again. It will change you forever ".

I think it has a lot to do with your state of mind going into it. If you know in your mind that you did the right thing then you won't be spend'n the rest of your life beat'n yourself up over it.

I think a lot of the people who have problems are people are not sure regarding the morality of taking a life. Everyone needs to take some time to think really hard on the topic and not just if they want to get a CCW. Everybody should know where they stand on the issue because you never know when you will confronted with violence.
 
I was always taught not to draw unless you have to shoot. There seems to be a lot of gun flahing in this thread. Is this the right way to handle things now?
 
I was always taught not to draw unless you have to shoot. There seems to be a lot of gun flahing in this thread. Is this the right way to handle things now?

Do not draw unless you are PREPARED to shoot. There is a slight, but drastic difference.
 
I have had a few incidents over the past year or so that i have been living with my girlfriend, one of which was prolly one of the more serious of the two...

had a party there one night for a friends bday, long story short the neighboors were being very rude and stupid and some aquantances of mine got into it with a couple of the guys...next morning all of the neighbors vehicles were smashed, tires slashed, windows broken. I used the words aquantance because the guys from the party that obviously did this arent CLOSE friends of mine...for that reason. Anyway, that morning about the time they walked outside and saw their cars they figured the people who did it were still across the street at my house. I wake up in my upstairs bedroom to an EXTREMELY loud banging sound, which i soon realized was someone trying to kick the downstairs front door in, all i hear is "ill kill you, ill freaking kill you blah blah"

I had just woken up so i didnt realize what was going on or who was banging on the door (the complex we live in has had problems with break ins) so i leap up in my boxers, grab my mossberg 500, flip open the folding stock as im walking downstairs to see what the heck is going on, as get to foot of the stairs, im still hearing the pounding so i take cover and rack a shell home, loudly yell "is there a *#$*#$* problem?", 3 seconds later i hear the person run down the steps, by the time i open the door our friendly neighbor" is already hauling but across the street running back to his house...

worked out fine
 
pizza drivers can have it rough.

reading this thread i thought id share. working at a pizza delivery place that stops taking orders at 3am you see all kinds of things.

The worst one ended w/ me drawing and unloading my sig 9mm. If i tried to give the play by play i would end up writing a book so ill basically say that i realized that the delivery was a setup when i got there and was charged by 3 highschool football players from around the house i was delivering to. I was carrying on my hip and immediately put my right hand on my holster and took up a draw stance. They broke from there run at a decent distance and proceeded to act like it was their delivery at first i wanted to believe them but as they talked to me and acted quiet odd trying to come up w/ the money for it i slowly backed myself to my car and tried to keep a pleasant conversation w/ them as i told them i had to leave since they couldnt come up w/ the money the first guy gave a verbal command to attack and started at me w/ a big smile on his face and started swinging at me. My senses were primed at that point but i was still trying to think of a way out of there while the guy directly was coming at me, i had already w/o thought put out my right hand to keep him at bay and he wasnt landing anything substantial when i was blindsided in the back of the head by one of the others and i suddenly didnt know what up or down was. I started screaming at the top of my lungs for help while i had apparently rolled off the front of the hood of my car that i had positioned at my back so i could keep them in front of me visually and was now on the ground moving franticly away from them while still sustaining constant blows. While i was screaming for help my thoughts about the entire situation were very clear and i knew they knew i was armed and still decided to attack me and that there was nobody around to heed my calls for help in time. At the point i decided to draw down on them i was on my right side with my pistol between me and the ground. I got my hand down to my pistol somehow and rolled off my gun pulled and shot, at first just to get them off me hoping them hearing the shots would garner a flight reaction from them. I probably shot at least 6 times before they stopped pummeling me and turned tail and ran to the car that was at the corner waiting for them. I fought myself back to my feet as soon as I could firing untill empty. The reports I have recieved have been hazy but from what I have heard from somone I know who turned out to know them I hit 1 of them 6 times and I would have never know it they all ran like able bodied unscathed people to the getaway car where I also was told the driver was knicked w/ a round. After they speed off I pulled out my phone and called 911 while on the phone w/ the operator a resident came outside w/ a shotgun inquiring what had just happened and i ID'd myself and he stayed w/ me pointing out another car riding by w/ the occupants trying to hide while passing by (crouching down in the back). That and the 911 operator saying something I cannot remember made me then walk to my car and reload from the spare mag i had in the center console.

Eventually city cops showed on the scene which was suprising because I was out in the county. And I was taken to the hospital. It was there as i was being treated for the ass beating I just recieved I learned that I had actually hit 1 of them and that he was under the knife and might not make it.

Now hopefully the details I have shared will make the points im about to make about what i learned make sense.

1)I now carry a .45 instead of the 9mm and that wont change. Accuracy helps yes I wont deny that, but in the storm while the boats rocking its rough and you might not know if you're gonna see another day. I fired several shots while still being hit and I now know some of them landed and didnt phase them at 1st and seeing them run full tilt like nothing was wrong I honestly didnt think I hit anything.

2) I carry a 2nd mag on me. I heard from my father once why this was a good idea but i took it in passing not as faith. The mag in the gun is for the threat. The 2nd is for the people still there afterward that dont appreciate your actions. You never know what might come of what and these guys were performing a gang initiation where u had to beat and rob someone to gain membership and the 2nd car was filled w/ the guys i just shot at buddies.

This is a very abbreviated account of the incident and ive already written alot, hope this sheds some light on people choices on how to protect themselves. Also im not Dorian, he linked me the thread knowing what ive been thru and i asked if i could post using his account, he (Dorian) also bought me the sig, the holster and the spare mag.
 
DORIAN'S POSTER - "I [now] carry a 2nd mag on me. I heard from my father once why this was a good idea but i took it in passing not as faith..."

Carrying a spare magazine, or a spare speed loader if one is carrying a revolver, is a darned good idea.

Glad you came out of your situation with no more than bruises and cuts. It could very easily have been much worse for you.

Thanks for the story.

L.W.
 
I have never used my CCW. Many years ago while working part time and attending college I work at a Circle K. One night while alone two guys came in, one went to the book rack and one went to the beer cooler. Both were underage. As the guy from the beer cooler started to the counter with a case of beer, the guy at the book rack asked if I had a certain book, which distracted me long enough for the other guy to run out the front door. I grabbed my 3 iron golf club from under the counter and went in hot pursuit into the parking. As I went out the door I saw the flash and heard the report from a gun and I took immediate cover behind the first car I came to. Seems an off duty LEO saw the BG's casing the store and just waited. Results: 1 BG dead and 1 wounded and captured. I am just lucky that the LEO did not shoot me also. I never worked another day for Circle K

Somebody got shot for Yahooing beer!? That's a damn shame.

I sure hope these guys were armed and dangerous criminals because most of the time, kids that do this are underage and just trying to get a little alcohol.

I mean, shooting someone to protect yourself or others is ok... but shooting someone for stealing beer!??! That's insane.
 
About 9 years ago now I almost shot someone that I new. At the time there had been a couple of news reports of car jackings in Topeka. Concealed carry did not exist in Kansas at the time but I kept my beretta under the seat of my truck. I stopped at Best Buy in Topeka and was in the parking lot just me and my 3 to 4 month old son in his car seat. I had opened my door and was turned round undoing the buckle on the car seat getting ready to go in. A man approched my truck and I did not pay any attention to it until something was pressed against my shoulder. The man told me to get out the truck and give him the keys. I slowly started to turn towards him and dropped my keys on the floor board of the pickup. I said I am just getting my keys and reached down and grabbed my pistol. I spun quickly and shoved the gun into his gut and was wrapping my finger around the trigger when the man said my name. I looked up and it was a person I have been good friends with for years. Trying to pull some damn prank on me. I have never in my life punched someone that hard. I have run into him a few times over the last several years and he has even tried to call me a couple times. I cannont to this day look him in the eye for what he almost made me do. One stupid prank almost cost him his life and ruined mine. I am not sure that i will ever be able to forgive him for it. There is no question I would have killed him rather than let someone get into my truck with my new born son.

The whole thing shook me up pretty bad and there for a while it was hard to hold a gun without getting a little shakey.
 
I have never used my CCW. Many years ago while working part time and attending college I work at a Circle K. One night while alone two guys came in, one went to the book rack and one went to the beer cooler. Both were underage. As the guy from the beer cooler started to the counter with a case of beer, the guy at the book rack asked if I had a certain book, which distracted me long enough for the other guy to run out the front door. I grabbed my 3 iron golf club from under the counter and went in hot pursuit into the parking. As I went out the door I saw the flash and heard the report from a gun and I took immediate cover behind the first car I came to. Seems an off duty LEO saw the BG's casing the store and just waited. Results: 1 BG dead and 1 wounded and captured. I am just lucky that the LEO did not shoot me also. I never worked another day for Circle K
Somebody got shot for Yahooing beer!? That's a damn shame.

I sure hope these guys were armed and dangerous criminals because most of the time, kids that do this are underage and just trying to get a little alcohol.

I mean, shooting someone to protect yourself or others is ok... but shooting someone for stealing beer!??! That's insane.
It sure is a hard lesson, ain't it? Stealing was never a sport when I grew up.
 
About 9 years ago now I almost shot someone that I new. At the time there had been a couple of news reports of car jackings in Topeka. Concealed carry did not exist in Kansas at the time but I kept my beretta under the seat of my truck. I stopped at Best Buy in Topeka
A buddy owns a shop with a few employees. One of them became a sheriff's deputy and my buddy was driving a co. pickup and saw the fellow - directing traffic. He thought he was being funny and wiggled the truck as if to aim at the deputy.

The service weapon came out of his holster and was leveled at the buddy. He just couldn't figger why his little "joke" was taken so seriously. D'oh
 
Only once and it was a false alarm.

This was about 18 years ago when the only handgun I had was a Ruger .22LR Pistol. It was late at night, 01:00 or so, in the fall and I heard rustling leaves outside the house. Someone was circling the house close to it.

At this point I got up, grabbed the Ruger and loaded it. I had a loaded magazine but didn't keep it in the gun. At about the same time the front doorbell rang. Nobody who knows us uses the front door, much less at 01:00, so the pucker factor goes up.

I quickly put on some clothes and peek out the window. Turns out it was just a couple of the neighbor girls trying to find their cat. I had the pistol behind my back and quickly yelled to my wife to talk to them so I could hide the gun.

I didn't sleep much for the rest of the night.

- Spike
 
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