Has anyone ever had to USE their gun?

[fredeee]

Must say, I've been enjoying this forum, been heading to the range every few weeks, and love shooting my 1911s and Sig 9mm for over 2 years. Heading out tomorrow to get a carry pistol because I think I'd like to exercise my right to conceal a handgun and protect myself and my family if I need too. I then asked myself, who actually uses these things? You hear a lot of people talking about ballistics, stopping power, some folks with back up guns, knifes, etc. Apparently, many of us feel there's a threat or else we wouldn't be taking the conversation beyond shooting paper targets at a range and I wouldn't be heading out tomorrow to buy a new gun.

Like many others, I read the news and I grew up in a crappy neighborhood in NYC, been mugged twice as a kid, had a gun pulled on me three times in my life, my brother-in-law go shot a few months ago (although he lives in a very very very bad hood in Brooklyn, kinda place no one would ever go unless you had to), etc... so I get it. But now that I'm all grown up and considering walking around with one of these things, I'd like to know. 1. what do you know that convinces you there's a threat (not THINK there's a threat, guns are fun and cool, but what's the real risk here since we're putting ourselves in the position of actually taking someone's life) and 2. have you or someone you know ever used their gun to protect themselves?

Have done some reading online about this, there's lots of discussion and studies, but it seems someone is always trying to prove their agenda either for or against gun control. This was a rather helpful quick read:

http://www.justfacts.com/guncontrol.asp

Sorry if this sounds linda killjoy, but I think it's an important question and would like other people's thoughts on it. Thanks!

[mete]

Take the time and effort to take the best SD course you can find !! It will cover legal and ethical points , and when to shoot and when not to shoot.It will be worth every penny !

You should be aware of your surroundings at all times and do the best to avoid problems. Living in NYC is good training for that even for someone like myself who was never mugged there.
Yes I know a number of people who have used a gun [ passively or actively] to protect themselves. It's not a happy experienced but a relief to have a gun when needed.

[Deja vu]

I have only had a single incident where I every thought I may have to use a gun... fortunately for me It worked out well and I did not need a gun because this was before I owned a ccw weapon.

some bad people (druggies) moved in next door to me (I lived in a good town in Idaho so this is pretty rare) and one evening one of them is drunk and/or high and gets between me and the door to my home as I get home from work (I don't have a garage) and threatens me saying I need to give him my wallet or he will kill me and my family. Lucky for me my neighbor on the other side of me heard the commotion and came out side and backed me up he told the bad guy he was going back in to get his shot gun and the druggie left yelling threats as he went back to his home.

Needless to say we called the police and the druggie got arrested and his room mates moved out shortly after. Now a sweet young couple lives in that home and the neighborhood is much better.

For several months after that I thought about what would of become of me if things had gone bad I finally decided to get a CCW permit and my first hand gun (s&W 640-1)

before this I did hunt and owned several rifles and shot guns but not even a single hand gun. Now I own 3 hand guns and the 640 I still carry any where I am allowed by law.

[sixgun67]

In 1986 my sister and I were out visiting a few friends, it was late evening and dark. As we were heading to my car parked on the side of the road at the end of their driveway(rural area), a car pulled up and four guys got out. Two guys I recognized as having had gone to school with years earlier, and two I didn't recognize. One guy, that I knew by name, walked up and didn't say anything but put his hand on my neck/shoulder area and pushed me down backwards onto my car hood. I heard one of his buddies say 'oh yeah, one on one'. At that instant, as I wasn't yet fully flat of my back on the hood, I was able to reach behind me into my beltline and draw my 4" Taurus 66. As I was pushing it towards his nose, he backed off, I stood up. He backed off about 5 feet, with me aiming between his eyes. Then, he got brave. He took a step forward, and I quickly elevated an inch or two above his head and fired. The muzzle blast from those .357 mag handloads sorta stunned him, he ducked and backed off for good, then simply threatened 'I'll be looking for you', then they all got in their car and left, screaming and cursing.

To this day, I have no idea what happened that night. What those guys wanted, is a mystery to me, maybe a robbery/mugging. The boy who actually charged me, I knew where he lived, knew his family/history, and had seen him several times since in the next couple of years, and he acted like nothing had happened. His family was known well as being heavy drug users. He's never spoken or even looked my way since.

My sister was almost in shock that night of what had happened and how fast it happened. Scared the daylights out of me, too. Also, why I decided to fire a warning shot, instead of firing for effect, I can't answer. Nowadays, I'd not take the chance.

[Edward429451]

I use my gun everyday for the last 26+ years to protect myself. That I have never shot anyone either shows that I use it wisely, or have been lucky, or a combination of wisdom and luck.

One does not have to actually have been in a shootout in order to know that there is a threat. All one has to do is to pay attention to life. This is one dangerous planet and whoever doesn't think so is in denial! I call it the White Picket Fence Syndrome, lol.

Have you ever read the police blotter? Listened to the police scanner? A lot goes on that never makes the news. I've turned away muggers and thugs by either taking a drawing grip thus telegraphing my defensibility, or drawing to low ready once when the threat was real but unclear, and once I actually shot in the grass in front of an attacking dog to turn him away. In all of these cases, which admittadly do not sound like much, I would have had a much worse day if I had not had a pistol with me. What can I say? Safety is boring. I like it that way myself...

This is interesting read...http://www.killology.org/sheep_dog.htm and says it better than I can.

[l98ster]

Hey Sixgun67:

That must be the ballsiest BG I have heard. He didnt really even back down when you shot over his head? (hopefully that backdrop was safe to do that).

Thats the kind of situation I would be most afraid of. I would hope just the sight of a drawn pistol would scare most away. What do you do if that doesnt work. In your case, the perp didnt have a weapon, so would have shooting him been illegal?

This is interesting...
-George

[csmsss]

If I ever did face that situation, I certainly wouldn't talk about it on a public forum.

[sixgun67]

That was 24 years ago, and I have no fear of discussing it. I've told very few of this. I feel that I've done nothing to cause worry about discussing on a public forum.
Few weeks later, I spoke with a deputy (my friend's dad was the sheriff, so they knew us all and we knew them) and he said that 'you've probably taught them a pretty good lesson'. I don't brag, nor am I proud, but what happened, happened. Water under the bridge.

I98ster, yes, it was safe there. Very rural area with big hills and not many houses. An area where we used to do an awful lot of rifle shooting. Also, I do not have an answer as to if it would be illegal to have shot him. Maybe? The way I see it, only one guy had his hands on me, but there were four of them--who knows what they may have had in their car. To me, that spells greivous danger.
sixgun

[Microgunner]

My brother shot a guy w/ his Colt Government .45 from about 50'. Tried to hit him in the chest but hit his leg instead. Even though the BG's leg was broken he still ran like a deer leaving a blood trail. The BG was arrested about an hour later at the hospital. He was released from prison 7 years later and stopped by to thank Mike for turning his life around. That was a weird meeting.


A guy I work with shot and killed a home intruder about a month ago with his S&W .38 snub. One round under the rib cage and the BG dropped dead on the spot. Didn't even hardly bleed.

[Daryl]

Yeah, I've used a firearm to get me out of a tight spot or two. I've never had to discharge it in the process.

It was years ago, and I like to think I've lived and learned a few things since then. Looking back, there are things I'd likely do different now, but I did what I had to do, and I'm still safe.

In the end, that's what counts.

Daryl

[SPEMack618]

Well, there was the whole 12 months in the A-Stan in which my M-4A1 got quite the workout, but I digress.

I daily carry, except while physically in class, and even then the Glock is comfortably sitting under the seat of my pick-up.

The closet I've ever come to using my daily piece was about two weeks after I had gotten home, and I was sitting at a red light with my then girlfriend, and a bum comes up from behind the truck, and knocks on my window, scared the **** out of me, and the next thing I knew I had cleared leather and was shifting in my seat to get my position of fire before I realized it was a zero threat situation. Took a deep breath, sorta smiled at the poor guy, and went on my way.

[Lashlarue]

Twice, once to capture a carjacker who thought pointing to the revolver in his waistband would convince me to give up my car keys.This was in broad daylight in a Kroger parking lot.The Harris county sheriff who answered the call, couldn't stop laughing.The second time I fired a warning shot at a doped up loser who was charging me with a pocket knife. It was my bug a 22m derringer, i was holding it my pocket, otherwise I would had pulled my Firestar45 which was in its holster inside my waistband.It was quite an attitude changer, from an attacking punk to a blubbering idiot begging for his life.

[won-a-glock]

For me it would depend upon the definition of "USE", and this wasn't a handgun. It was mid-day during the week in May, public school was still in session.
There had been several burglaries in the area, so people were on the lookout. I had graduated from college the week before and was at my parents house when my dad and I saw 2 junior-high-sized schoolers walking down the alley. They turned into our driveway, and got to our open garage. I walked by the window, we saw each other and they turned around. Then they walked into our neighbors' backyard where they tried to open the back door. My dad called the cops. I grabbed the 12 gauge, and walked over. When I arrived, they were focused on opening the sliding glass door with a screwdriver and didn't see me.

I announced myself and suggested they quickly lay down spread out on the ground. They were startled, then both immediately said they were looking for "Bob", was I Bob, etc. (w/ screwdriver stuck in the door)

The less genius of them walked toward me and tried to put one hand on the Remington. Bad move. I whipped the end of the barrel literally against and covering his nose pushing him backwards. He froze. I suggested to his buddy he get on the ground and tell his friend goodbye. I popped the safety off, (must have been deafening with the bone conduction) and I've never seen eyes get that big before (from both of them). The smarter delinquent quickly complied, then talked his buddy's IQ up a couple of points. The smart one followed instructions to crawl on his belly to the side yard where the cops could see him out front when they arrived, while I covered the other. The less genius one had a little trouble complying, I think he wet his pants but ultimately managed to move as directed.

Cops finally arrived, the dumb one said he wanted to press charges. The officer started belly laughing and suggested he should be thankful he was still alive or not severely battered and beaten.

Ironically, a problem had prevented shells from being loaded into the 'club' for some time, but they didn't know that. That got fixed some time later.

Maybe that was right, maybe wrong, still not sure but seemed like burglaries dropped in the area.

Hopefully they determined school wasn't such a bad deal and are leading productive lives now.

[grubbylabs]

My brother and I were wading down a fairly fast moving stream and had only been in the water about 20 yards, it was the only foreseeable entry point aside from where the dogs were. This is the type of stream that you want to move slowly in because of the rocks and speed of water. As we came closer the German Shepard became highly agitated barking and passing the bank, without wagging his tail but rather the hair on his neck and back was upright indicating to me he was not happy we were there. The other two dogs did not care we were there. Both were labs and one was in the water with us. The male owner was busy trying to get the lab in the water out of it while intermittently telling us that the aggressive dog is not going to bite us or any thing, and that he sees the owner in waders all the time. He for some reason was more concerned about getting the non problem dog out of the water. I had a smith and wesson 44 in the front pocket of my waders which I had removed and was holding at my side so that if I stood right the dog owner could not tell I was holding it. My brother and I stood side by side and told the owner that the dog was being aggressive and we wanted him to remove the dog. At one point he noticed the gun and asked what it was for, I pointed at his dog and said "that" meaning his dog. Never at any time did I point my weapon at him or his dog. He again said his dog was not going to bite us, but we were in a position where we could not go any where safely so we stood our ground and waited for the owner to get his dog in his car. I am absolutely certain that if we had tried to continue on up or down stream the dog would have come in the water at us. We did try to back up towards the other side of the stream and the dog became even more aggressive in his charging and barking. We never yelled at the dog owner but remained calm but firm. He eventually got all his dogs in the SUV and left and we continued fishing and had a good time.

[oboe]

Every time I drive my car, I expect (really!) not to have an accident. But JUST IN CASE, I wear my seat belt and carry auto insurance.

This is a nice neighborhood. That said, some perps had cased one of the condos and found out when the husband would not be home. They forced open the door, and in the presence of the scared [color=#FF0000]█[/color][color=#FF0000]█[/color][color=#FF0000]█[/color][color=#FF0000]█[/color][color=#FF0000]█[/color][color=#FF0000]█[/color]less woman, took what they wanted and left. In response to that, many of us installed a device on our doors making it virtually impossible to pry open one of these doors . . . or at least a lot more difficult.

About four miles north from this neighborhood, a person had stopped at a convenience store. As he left, he was confronted by young men with guns who clearly indicated they intended to harm him and rob him. He jumped into his car and fled. They chased him down and shot him to death. The victim was not armed.

About four miles to the south of this nice neighborhood, a gunman tried to rob a convenience store. While demanding money, he fired his pistol obviously to intimidate the clerk. At that point, the clerk obtained a pistol he kept under the counter and shot the perpetrator in the stomach - no actual aiming was apparent from the video I saw. The perp doubled over and in that posture exited the store. When LE eventually arrived, the perp was found dead outside the door in the parking area.

Forty or so years ago (ya, I'm older than dirt) a convicted felon held me responsible for his incarceration. I'm pleased to say that his perception was not inaccurate. When he escaped from confinement, my boys in blue called to let me know. I carried a pistol and kept it on the night stand until he was recaptured. Same felon, happened twice. Years later, he found religion and was let out on parole, not without the loud protestations of those who might be affected by it. The good news: I never had to use that pistol on him, and now at long last he's passed on.

A few years ago before we moved to Florida, in my very nice community as I was driving home one afternoon, I saw many police, police tape, ambulances and so on at the elementary school which my son had attended in prior years. A perp had "borrowed" a gun from an acquaintance and used it trying to kill his ex-girl friend, who was a teacher at that school. He failed, but he managed to kill others whose family I knew. Unfortunately, firearms are not permitted in the school, and so none of the good guys was carrying one. The children and adults in that school were at the mercy of that murderous piece of excrement. Had any of the adults had a firearm available, the perpetrator might have been stopped.

At the schools here - a very, very different environment - there are armed police officers for the entire school day. More than one. And on the occasions when I work at one of those schools, I am happy that they are there. I'd feel even better if I were allowed to carry my own self defensive weapon in concealment.

When a person really examines the facts and considers the reasonable alternatives, the person may be far more likely to support - hey, perhaps even require - law abiding citizens to receive sound self defense training including the proper use of concealed firearms.

The low life who obtains a firearm to use in commission of a crime does not use legal channels and cares not about legal requirements or prohibitions. Those people always will be able to arm themselves. I demand that I, a competent law abiding person, be allowed the capacity to defend myself.

[housedad]

Four times I've had to use a gun, but only one incident did I fire it. I won't talk about the specifics on these incidents. One of those 'too weird to be true' type things.

[BODAME]

Twice, but did not have to use Deadly Force.
Heavy Gauge Zip Ties make wonderful Cuffs.

[rodfac]

Parking with a girl friend while home on leave from the Air Force in the late 60's, a car pulled up behind us. I'd not noticed it, due to events in my own car taking a decidedly amorous turn, but I did hear it...and it had approached with its light out.

Figuring it was just another couple, my GF and I went back to the matters at hand when the passenger door was jerked open and two guys grabbed at my GF's legs, apparently trying to pull her out of the car. We were semi-reclining across the seats at that moment, and my head was intermittently bumping against the steering wheel...if you get my drift.

I managed to reach under the seat where I'd stuffed my holstered (and unloaded) Ruger .357 BH earlier that day after a gravel pit target session. When the guys had jerked open the door, the overhead light had come on and the Ruger was now plainly in sight as I tried to untangle myself from the car, our clothes, and the gun from it's holster.

The guys yelled, "he's got a gun", beat it back to their car and departed in a flurry of gravel and dust.

I didn't have to shoot thank the Lord, but the sight of the gun even unloaded, prevented what could have been a much more serious situation. I've carried some sort of gun ever since when traveling and especially when family are present while camping or hiking.

Here's a tidbit about concealed carry..when applying for a concealed carry permit in Connecticut to allow me to transport a hand gun to the range for practice, I was finger printed twice and interviewed by the chief of police in our small town. Months later, when the permit finally arrived, they had my height at 7' 1" and the address was wrong! It all comes down to the politician and their lackey's trying to control us...call the police if you have the time...but depend on yourself to protect that which you hold dear.

Best Regards, Rodfac

[insolentshrew]

Thankfully I haven't had to pull a gun on anyone, but my stepmom almost had to shoot someone while at home. Story goes like this - I was living on the other side of the state at the time for college, but was home visiting for the weekend. I left that Sunday afternoon to get back to my apartment in time for a nights rest for classes Monday morning. Shortly after I left a friend called my dad up to see if he wanted to see a movie, which he opted to do. Alone by herself my step-mom was talking on the phone with her sister when 2 guys tried to force their way through the front door with a pry bar, in broad daylight. My step-mom let her sister know what was going on, hung up & called the police while getting her .38 revolver. There are glass panels on either side of the front door, and they could see her holding the gun & on the phone with the police and they still persisted to try and break in. Luckily her sister called their next door neighbor whom promptly grabbed his shotgun and ran out the door, by this time my step-mom set off their house alarm and this caused the 2 fellas to high tail it out of there.

It is instances like this that want me to have a firearm with me at all times. My dad & step-mom live in an upper middle class neighborhood on a street where all the neighbors know each other & look out for each other, and 2 guys tried to break into their house in the middle of the day, in the process they could see her on the phone & holding a gun and still tried to break in. I don't have the luxury of living in a nice neighborhood like them & the street I live off of has a lot of foot traffic from shady looking individuals. Who is to say some guy coked out of his mind needs money to buy more drugs & doesn't care that anyone is home if my house gets broken into again? The 2 guys that tried to break into my parents house didn't even care that she was pointing a loaded gun at them, waiting for them to break through the door. The only thing that caused them to run was the house alarm knowing that police and all our their neighbors were alerted to their presence. I only hope that if something like this happens to me that my girlfriend and her 2 year old kid aren't home without me to protect them.

[zombieslayer]

I use all of my guns. I use them to excersize my constiotutionally protected rights. And some I use for killing snakes and vermin!

[OldLincoln]

The aftermath of a shooting is very difficult as you the shooter become you the suspect. Be very sure you understand the difference between a good soot and a bad one. The consequences are very grave. I do not speak from personal experience but from reading many actual incidents and comments but those more expert than me. If you are interested I suggest you drop by the
defensivecarry.com site and read the "Carry and Defensive Scenarios" section.

[m&p45acp10+1]

I have used firearms in self defense against animals as far as the shooting part is concearned. I have had to pressent my handgun a couple of times. By God's grace, I never have had to, (and hopefuly never will) actualy shoot a person.

[Hard Ball]

Yes twice. It saved my life both times.

[Farnsworth]

I've had to draw my weapon once, and had reason to on two other occasions and did not. I will not re-tell the first story as I know the person I had to draw on, all I'll say is that he needed help. Thankfully he did get it. On the two occaisions that I did not, once was a fight where it looked like this tweeker (unfortunately all too common in my city) was going to beat a middle aged guy with a 2x4, luckily, the convinience store owner saw what was going on and stepped out with a 12ga. On the secong occaision, a guy in a truck was apparently suffering from road rage or thought I was somebody whom I wasn't and tried to ram my car, run me off the road during a chase of about 10 minutes. Luckily, he was in a truck and I was in a decently fast sports car and I was able to avoid his attempted rammings. Eventually, I lost him in a neighborhood and shortly heard sirens (a lot of them) and squealing tires. I assume he got what he had coming. To this day, I have no idea what sparked this incident. It did certainly change my mind about keeping a gun in the glove box though...

[Crankylove]

I have had to draw it once. The two idiots coming for me turned and ran like scalded dogs. There had been some thefts/vandalisms/assaults in the area that suddenly stopped after that incident......coincidence? That was about 4 months after I got my carry permit, and I have never had to use it or pull it again.........and I hope I never do.