Have you ever used your gun?

[U201491]

Have you ever used your gun? .

Every time I fire it.

 

[TwinStick]

While living in alaska I did have to put down a moose that had been hit by a car.

Grew up in AK. Up in the mountains. Hit a few moose as a passenger and dodged dozens and dozens more. Been there, seen and done that too. Moose and even a bear once. Other than wildlife, never had to draw or fire in 12 yrs of CC.

 

[DeadEyeMcGoo]

Twice. And thank god I've never had to pull the trigger. The first time I was spending the night with a girlfriend and someone broke in. He was high as a kite and aggressive as hell. Having the gun allowed me to walk him outside and hold him until the cops arrived. There absolutely would have been blood had I been unarmed.

The second time was an attempted assault by another druggie. My then-wife and I were walking our big dogs at 10:00 at night in a good neighborhood. The guy is driving and swerving down the middle of the road and stops to yell at us for "shining the flashlight in his eyes." He didn't like my apology and when we tried to walk off he got out of his car and came at us. Fortunately, I was armed. Unfortunately, I'd forgotten my cell phone. I unholstered, pointed and indexed and the whole world slowed down. There was a moment of complete clarity where I knew if he took one more step I'd pull the trigger. He was huge and wanted to hurt someone. Instead he got back in his car and drove off, only to turn around and try to run us over 3-4 times.

I absolutely did not want to kill this guy. My focus was on protecting my girl. I was also carrying without a permit and didn't want the lawsuits and trauma that would follow. Hiding in the bushes waiting for him to get bored felt cowardly but I learned some great lessons:

1) If you're going to carry, be serious about it. Get a permit and train appropriately. Training is now a part of my monthly budget.
2) Carry your effing cell phone!
3) Share your plan: My girl was unarmed and was completely unprepared for this. The only things she did made the situation worse. I should have discussed "what-if" scenarios with her before hand.
4) Escalating use of force: I didn't want to kill him but was sure he could take me unarmed. And who knows what he would have done to her. Pepper spray would have changed the entire outcome.

I always carry and will use it if its ever truly warranted. On both of these occasions having a gun meant all the difference and gave me options I wouldn't have had otherwise. I'm still thankful I've never had to end someone's life.

 

[RedneckRampage]

I was at home one night, alone, about 15 years old when somebody knocked on the door. I figured it was a friend, so I opened the door (security screen door locked). It was a guy asking to use the phone. I told him no, ask somebody else, he can't come in. He didn't like that and kicked the door and asked again. I said ok, wait here, I'll get it. I went to my room and got my newly inherited Colt .357 mag, brought it to the door and told him with some choice words to leave.

Second time I was working up in Bremerton, WA on the railroad and came up on a deer that had been hit by the train the night before. I thought she was dead, but when I got out to look, she tried to get up. Only thing to do was kill her, so I pulled out my Kimber TLE II and put two in her head.

 

[BigBull 301]

Yes. I shot and killed a very large German Shepard that thought he should try to attack my son who was 12 years old at the time.
Six rounds of 44 Mag took the fight right out of him!

 

[tacticalgunner]

I will chime in on this one, about 3 years ago, I was living in Tigard, off hall blvd, it was around 2330, in bed, dreaming about something and I heard some heavy knocking at my door, so I got up, in my boxers, white t-shirt and my USP, opened the door, no one, so as I walked back to the bedroom, heavy knocking on my door leading to the garage, now I was concerned because in my slumber, how is someone in the darn garage? So I take position on the door, open it quickly, and next thing I know, I am drawing down on a Washington county deputy, so of coarse he pulls on me, he is then yelling for me to lower my weapon and he's a sherriff's deputy, I am yelling at him that it's my dang house,so we had a bit of a standoff, so in the longest 10 sec of my life, we convince each other to lower. Come to find out, I left my garage door open and he was try to let me know, we agreed it was pretty stupid of him to enter my garage, but it was a poop in the draws night for both of us. Cool part was he hung around and shot the crap about guns and shooting for like 45 min.

 

[BAMCIS]

Yes. I shot and killed a very large German Shepard that thought he should try to attack my son who was 12 years old at the time.
Six rounds of 44 Mag took the fight right out of him!

Hell, I don't guess I'll even consider a .44mag. Especially if it took six rounds to stop a German Shepard.

 

[tacticalgunner]

Hell, I don't guess I'll even consider a .44mag. Especially if it took six rounds to stop a German Shepard.

German shepards are known for their PCP use................

 

[mkwerx]

Yes - a couple times having the gun made a big difference in situational outcomes. No shots fired in either case.

#1 - about two months after I purchased my first handgun. My wife and step daughter were in the car. Driving through Beaverton on the way home from visiting family(lived in Tigard then), we get onto the on-ramp for 217 @ Beaverton Hillsdale Hwy, this jackwagon in a crappy old pickup comes bombing up the shoulder and almost hits me. I honk the horn as a "WTF are you doing, there's a car here!" message. Guy cuts us off and slams on his brakes. Then he puts it in reverse and stomps on the gas. I have cars beside and behind me now, with no where to go. The guy hits his brakes and stops within a foot or so of my car. Then he drives forward a bit, and I'm trying to get out of his path, he backs up again. When he slams on the brakes this time, I grab the pistol from the glove box and make it visible. He realizes his behavior is not appropriate in polite society, and speeds off up the ramp, cutting off more cars. We find a Beaverton cop and give him the low down (I didn't have a cell phone back then). Never heard anything more about it.

#2 happened when I was working. Was responding to a tow call one night up by Barnes Rd above St. Vincent. Another wonderful driver, this guy in a big red jacked up Ford truck, tried passing on the right, on the shoulder, got pissed when he couldn't get around me without hitting mailboxes. He stops, waits for my truck to pass, then blasts up the on-coming lane, then cuts back into my lane and stops cross-wise in the lane blocking the road. He jumps out of his truck, beet red, screaming at me, shoves his hand in his front pocket like he has a gun or something. I level my pistol at him through the door, trying to keep my composure and not say a word to the guy. I didn't want him seeing the gun yet, and escalating it in case he was bluffing. In mid-rant, the guy realizes he's not getting the reaction from me he was expecting or something - because he stopped screaming suddenly, and ran back to his truck and took off. I holstered up, and pulled off on the next side street and had to sit for about five minutes or so to calm the nerves down. The adrenaline had me shaking after that guy took off - because that was the closest I've ever come to having to pull the trigger on someone. I'd made the decision to shoot if he had anything that looked like a weapon in his hand when it left his pocket and "damned glad" doesn't begin to describe how I felt when he took off.

 

[BigBull 301]

Hell, I don't guess I'll even consider a .44mag. Especially if it took six rounds to stop a German Shepard.

The first round dropped him in his tracks, the last five were because he ticked me off.

 

[Sabertooth]

Yes, several times. Those who offended me took one look at my large colt with 6' barrel as it came out of the holster and decided they needed to be someplace else.
Size does matter.

 

[richardlpalmer]

I will chime in on this one, about 3 years ago, I was living in Tigard, off hall blvd, it was around 2330, in bed, dreaming about something and I heard some heavy knocking at my door, so I got up, in my boxers, white t-shirt and my USP, opened the door, no one, so as I walked back to the bedroom, heavy knocking on my door leading to the garage, now I was concerned because in my slumber, how is someone in the darn garage? So I take position on the door, open it quickly, and next thing I know, I am drawing down on a Washington county deputy, so of coarse he pulls on me, he is then yelling for me to lower my weapon and he's a sherriff's deputy, I am yelling at him that it's my dang house,so we had a bit of a standoff, so in the longest 10 sec of my life, we convince each other to lower. Come to find out, I left my garage door open and he was try to let me know, we agreed it was pretty stupid of him to enter my garage, but it was a poop in the draws night for both of us. Cool part was he hung around and shot the crap about guns and shooting for like 45 min.

Wow! Talk about the need for clean drawers...

 

[Modeler]

I used my gun once to shoot a mink that my dog had disabled but not killed.

A friend of mine drew his weapon when some tweaker in Rockwood attempted to mug him.

That's all I've got!

 

[chemist]

These stories are a blast - so I'll share one of my own. I can't say this even counts as "using" my CCW.

Last year at Saturday Market downtown there were two guys splitting up as they walked up on us under the Burnside Bridge (which was not a smart place for me to take my bride in the first place).

She notices them approaching, turns to me and asks in a hoarse whisper, "Do you have your gun?" I respond in the affirmative without taking my eyes off them or so much as parting my lips: "mm-HMM."

It was priceless - their shoulders fell simultaneously and they slunk away. I still don't think she knows how perfectly she played that moment, without even realizing it.

 

[NWGlockgal]

These stories are a blast - so I'll share one of my own. I can't say this even counts as "using" my CCW.

Last year at Saturday Market downtown there were two guys splitting up as they walked up on us under the Burnside Bridge (which was not a smart place for me to take my bride in the first place).

She notices them approaching, turns to me and asks in a hoarse whisper, "Do you have your gun?" I respond in the affirmative without taking my eyes off them or so much as parting my lips: "mm-HMM."

It was priceless - their shoulders fell simultaneously and they slunk away. I still don't think she knows how perfectly she played that moment, without even realizing it.

Your CHL prevented a dangerous situation from happening and served it's purpose,which is to protect you and others. So in that sense you very much "used" it.

 

[BAMCIS]

These stories are a blast - so I'll share one of my own. I can't say this even counts as "using" my CCW.

Last year at Saturday Market downtown there were two guys splitting up as they walked up on us under the Burnside Bridge (which was not a smart place for me to take my bride in the first place).

She notices them approaching, turns to me and asks in a hoarse whisper, "Do you have your gun?" I respond in the affirmative without taking my eyes off them or so much as parting my lips: "mm-HMM."

It was priceless - their shoulders fell simultaneously and they slunk away. I still don't think she knows how perfectly she played that moment, without even realizing it.

Not surprising. A gun not used where it's mere presence prevented a crime. For various reasons examples like this are never reported in the media. Mostly because it showed guns in a positive light.

 

[richardlpalmer]

Not surprising. A gun not used where it's mere presence prevented a crime. For various reasons examples like this are never reported in the media. Mostly because it showed guns in a positive light.

Bingo!

 

[chemist]

Not surprising. A gun not used where it's mere presence prevented a crime. For various reasons examples like this are never reported in the media. Mostly because it showed guns in a positive light.

And that's the rub with the huge discrepancy between Kleck's numbers of 4,000 defensive uses per day in the USA versus the "official" police stats of 80,000 per year. I read something similar on this forum not too long ago, by a member who was OC'ing at a gas station at night when a carload of bangers showed up, piled out of their hoopty-wagon, saw him, and promptly piled back in and split.

How do you collect statistics on the number of cats that didn't get caught in trees today? Maybe it doesn't matter; I'll let other people argue their case with the anti-2A crowd, and stick to doing my job as a sheepdog among the sheep. It only takes one or two of us in every flock to make the wolves stop and reconsider.

 

[Redcap]

Yes. More than once.

 

[mjbskwim]

Yes. More than once.

Along with the backhoe?
No response necessary.