I had a gun pointed at me!

[twoblink]

So I've taken quite a few vacations this month, and one of them was to a small island off the coast of Taiwan.

At the edge of the cliffs, there was a beautiful lighthouse, with a small army base in front, and the sun was setting behind it, and so I thought, what a great photo-op..

So I walked up in front of the base, and raised my camera..

the guard at the front gate raised his M16...

(Roughly translated) "You press that shutter button and I'll convert you to Mystery Meat..."

So, I raised (very high) my shutter trigger finger, to show him, ok, no pictures..

The distance was about 50 yards... Let me say a few observations about having a gun pointed at you with possible intent to use it against you..

First, my eyesight is not the greatest.. But when a gun is pointed at you, you have superman sights... I'm not joking here.. I can tell he was wearing a bulletproof vest under his camo's, he was carrying an M16, had 2 extra mags in the pouch in front, but more importantly, I can see his trigger finger, which I didn't think I could from that distance..

Second, when I lowered my camera, I heard the soft "click" of the safety going back on again. That's when I realized that the gun that was pointed at me was hot.. eeek! So when a gun is pointed at you, you gain super eyesight as well as super hearing, and time slows down a bit..

So... don't take pics of military bases.. Had I taken a pic, I doubt he would have shot me, but I wasn't going to take chances.. and I have seen how the military "takes care of those camera problems"..a la running it over with the parked HUM-V..

 

[Sisco]

"All your base are belong to us" probably would've been the wrong thing to say at the time.

A bunch of us got chased through a rice paddy by a couple of armed South Korean base guards once. Wasn't actually looking down the barrel at the time though, it was probably pointed at my back.
Scary.

 

[DorGunR]

The Taiwan gov. is very sensitive about photo's of their bases.
Back in the 60's I took one of my R&Rs in Taipei.....as out plane was preparing to land at Taipei we were told to close the curtains on all the windows and to not take any pictures until we were off the airfield....and there was armed guards there to enforce this rule.

 

[Werewolf]

Time Dilation in a Hyper-Situation

RE: Time Slowing Down...

On at least three occasions during my 51 years I've been in situations where my subconcious or concious or GOD or whatever decided that my earthly existence might come to a screeching halt in the next few moments if corrective action wasn't taken immediately. During each of those occasions the switch was flipped and time seemed to slow down to a turtle's pace. I had what seemed to me a great deal of time to evaluate and take action to keep my life from ending right then and there.

What's weird is that in non life threatening situations that I would consider equally stressful the switch isn't thrown. (On second thought I guess that's not so weird after all.)

Time dilation in a hyper-situation is for me at least - very real. It'd be a very useful ability to be able to consciously turn it on and off at will. I've never figured out how - maybe some oriental monk types in Tibet know the secret.

 

[El Tejon]

Glad you are without additional holes, two.

 

[Gary H]

I was staying at the Hotel International in Managua during the war. The hotel was next to Samosa's bunkers and some folks managed to lob some morters into the bunkers from the hotel. Howard Hughes spent his last days in the same hotel some years before. Anyway, it is pyramid shaped and you can post soldiers on the balconies. One day, I opened my window to find the barrel of a gun adorning my forehead. I don't really remember much more..that was the late 70's. I'm pretty sure that they didn't squeeze the trigger.

 

[gun-fucious]

Just because your camera had film
doesn't mean every camera pointed at a guard has film
someday, one might be a 9mm camera

taking a picture of something
with a conventional camera
appears to the wary
as an aggressive act

you sight the target
raise the viewfinder
focus
wait until you have a good shot
squeeze the trigger
and steal a soul

 

[zahc]

All your base are belong to us

Reminds me of a quote from Final Fantasy VII.
Fond memories.

 

[shooten]

I wonder how they're going to enforce cell phone cameras. "Put the cell phone down very slowly"

Scott

 

[4v50 Gary]

One of those autofocus cameras held at the waist works well for discrete photography. Still, better to use zoom lens than risk being shot for a spy. Smert Shipanov (death to spies) should not be applied towards innocent American tourists.

 

[son of a gun]

You would think your in communist China, not Democratic Taiwan.

 

[BerettaNut92]

When I went over to try to meet that girl, I wanted to take a picture of my skunk in front of the Korean SWAT facility but the two guys with the Daewoos weren't gonna have any of it

 

[Sunray]

"... I doubt he would have shot me..." Yes, he would. Taiwan is not the States. You must obey the laws of where you are. US law and civil rights do NOT apply outside of the US. He'd have shot you and diddly would have happened to him. A diplomatic apology might have been sent to your next of kin, but you'd be just as dead.

 

[BerettaNut92]

It didn't help that Twoblink has one of those evil black assault cameras with threaded lenses, hotshoe flash lug, selective fire, and detachable battery grip stock. They have no other purpose other than child pr0nography

 

[labgrade]

"But when a gun is pointed at you, you have superman sights... I'm not joking here.. I can tell he was wearing a bulletproof vest under his camo's, he was carrying an M16, had 2 extra mags in the pouch in front, but more importantly, I can see his trigger finger, which I didn't think I could from that distance.. "

Funny, I'd guess, but when my own latest "pistol at chest-point" experience, I focussed purely on the size of the hole in the barrel. Maybe a strange obsession on my own part - couldn't disagree though.

I really couldn't tell you whether the pointee was a woman/man, black/white or human. I would guess though that the hole was about .40 cal - thereabouts. LookedBIG, but not "that big," if you catch my drift.

My main goal was to not be shot to death - at the time.

Jeepers! & that it was a couple LEOs didn't make me feel any the more fuzzy.

I've shot with a few in IPSC & they suck all told = gun-handling skills, etc.

Thought I was a dead man.

Film at 11 .....

 

[twoblink]

I'm curious..

I'm a US citizen, but I understand chinese.. What if some tourist from florida who speaks no chinese was in that situation?

Of course, Muzzle pointed at you, seems like a universal language..

Skunky.. I don't think the Korean SWAT team are that fond of "unapproved" pics of them either...

But who knows, you'd probably enjoy getting roughed up by Grace Kim..

Son of a Gun...

Try that in front of most military camps around the world, and I'll bet you they'd probably do the same thing..

I had a muzzle shoved down my throat in North Korea before.. But that's a whole different story..

 

[dustind]

I have had many slow motion experiences. I can usually trigger it by jumping over or off of something for whatever reason. Motor vehicles combined with cliffs, culverts, or other obsticles have triggered it too. It is nothing special, just your brain working harder. It is like a slow motion camera taking hundreds of frames per second instead of thirty. I have done some pretty amazing things when my life depended on it.

 

[Browns Fan]

This kinda reminds me of when I was in Haiti. I was in a Humvee with some of my troops. We drove past a beach and we stopped to do some swimming. I stayed with the vehicle to guard it and the equipment. Three Haitians walked up to me (while sveryone else was in the water). I told them to stop and to back off, but they kept inching closer until I chambered a round in my M16. That's when they finally understood. Kinda like the same result you would get from racking the slide of a Rem 870.

 

[TexasVet]

Looking at what you just KNOW is a gun (cause you heard it rack) and seeing nothing but very large black hole... and being able to walk away is a very enlightning, life enrichening experience. At least it seems so long afterward. Just flat ruin your pants scary at the time, frankly.

Drove thru Dover, Del. the night MLK got killed, in a car with Oklahoma plates, full of young drunk white guys, in a town that had a brand new curfew after the riot. None of which newsworthy events we knew anything about because we were getting very drunk in Philly at a girlfriends house.
Still think those Dover cops gave us a LOT more slack than they could have when they just told us to get our young tails back to the base and escorted us out of town.

 

[twoblink]

They say, the racking of a pump shotgun is the most recognized sound in the world..

One of the stupid myths is that gun owners are "less scared" of guns when they are pointed at you.. ??

Where do these dump people get this myth?

When a gun is pointed at me with intent of use.. yeah, pass me the Depends, I'll need it! Nothin' funny about a .223 aimed at your chest.. and as a gun owner, I'm WELL AWARE of the potential.. if anything, I would have more respect than ignorant non-gun owners as I've shot quite a bit of .223 and know it's potentials (especially at about 50 yards)

 

[litman252]

Slo-mo in the brain. Sorta reminds me of seeing 4 headlights coming at me in very thick fog, 2 were on a milk truck in my lane at about 100'. Had a whole lot of time in those very few seconds, first thought was that a motorcycle was behind me
Tony

 

[BHPshooter]

Twoblink, I'm glad you got out of that one okay. Knowing me, I probably wouldn't have heard/understood, and would be looking up at the tulips.

Yes, the whole "being less afraid of guns" thing is crap. When I teach my friends to shoot my gun, I insist upon proper gunhandling, because I have seen a little bit of what 9mm can do, and I don't wanna see no more!

Wes

 

[Ryder]

We are all different.

I had a 38 snubby pointed at my face by a stranger who was threatening to kill me once. That didn't scare me into an altered state. I filter out small insignificant details in situations such as this. I'd make a lousy eye witness to such an incident. I prioritize a few pieces of very significant data. I just don't find myself focusing on things like "he has blue buttons".

I get ultra sensitive perception (USP?) in vehicle accidents/near misses. It's panic and it's not generally helpful in overcoming drastic situations. Assaults to myself have yet to cause this effect in me. I've been attacked with guns (assorted freaks), a tire iron (by a really huge relative), and a butcher knife (insane aquaintance of an aquaintance) so far. Who knows? Maybe a machete would do the trick? Haha.

I did quit hunting with my dad after he shot me in the head with a 12 gauge but that's not due to fear of what it's like to be shot. More of an intelligent decision. The guy is just plain kill hungry. I still hunt with other people. I respect guns, but I don't fear them.

 

[moa]

Had a machine gun pointed at me once. And in Great Britian of all places.

In 1989 was visiting England and we were in the Cottswold mountains outside of Hereford. The two English ladies my brother and I were with, used to live in that area and their father was stationed in the 1960s at a small, rather sleepy looking Royal Air Force base.

We decided to visit the base. I thought things were rather odd when we rolled up to the gate and we could hear automatic weapsons fire. Standing at the gate was a very attractive, unarmed female RAF type dressed in camis.

As we were being told that entrance for unauthorized visitors was not allowed I looked over and saw this bunker with a machine gun pointed right at us. I did not see the gunner.

For some reason, it did not spook me. Maybe because I was stupid. I think they were very edgy because recently a barracks had been bombed in England and number of soldiers killed and wounded. Work of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) if I remember correctly.

Found out later on from the locals that the base had been turned into an Special Air Service (SAS) training center.

 

[grampster]

Remember once walking into a huge fracas in a local outlaw bar back in the 60's. My partner had a pistol grip M-1 Carbine with with two 30 round magazines taped back to back. When it became apparent that two leo's were not going to have much influence on the rather ungenteel behavior that was being exhibited in that establishment, he racked a round into the chamber and a voice was heard to exclaim over the shouting and general rowdy crashing of bottles, chairs etc., "Mother (ahem cough cough) got a Machine Gun!!!!"

Suddenly, my partner and I, along with the bartender were the only people in attendance. (Poured a short draft, clicked glasses, down the hatch and off to fight crime in other areas)