Have you ever NEEDED your handgun?

[jennybird]

Way to go Annie!

Instructed the old guy to get my panty hose off to use to hog tie him

I bet the old guy hadn't had an offer like that in his entire life!

Jakal (my husband) had to pull his weapon on someone twice.

Once was a simple case of road rage gone bad... showing the weapon calmed what appeared to be a car full of obnoxious illegals, right down.

The second was a bit scarier. Hubby was sitting in a parking lot waiting to meet up with a friend of his and a large vehicle pulled in behind his, blocking him in (clue #1). A young black man got out and and proceded to try to sell him some electronic equipment out of the back of his van. (Clue #2) Jackal told him no thanks, several times, but the vendor became more aggressive. He was almost in a hysterical state demanding that Jackal purchase his wares (Clue #3). Jackal knew he was in a baaaaad situation, the guy was getting closer to his window and more and more aggressive/agitated, and he was still blocked by the other vehicle... so he did what he had to do. He drew his gun and pointed, told the MFer to back away and move his vehicle NOW. Funny thing is, the guy didn't exactly back off like you would expect. He just started yelling crap like "I can't believe you would disrespect me like this bro" "I can't believe you would pull a gun on ME" and "I've lost all respect for you man" blah blah blah. Jakal told him again to back the F off and remove his vehicle, he would not warn him again. He finally backed away and moved the van, but the entire time yelling crap at him "I thought you was my friend" "I got no respect for you now MFer" etc.

The guy obviously wasn't playing with a full deck. First of all, he didn't appear to be frightened of the gun in any way. Secondly, what kind of moron pegs a large truck with vet plates and hunting stickers in the windows???

Jakal is very good at doing what he has to do in the heat of the moment. Army training and nerves of steel I suppose. It's AFTERWARDS that he gets the shakes.

 

[rhino]

On occasions when a gun would have been really handy, I was not armed (like when I lived in California).

I've had some "false alarms" that were real enough to me at first. Once was when I was at a Shell station, having just returned to the seat of my truck after pumping gas. I don't remember the time, but it was dark. The windows were up and the doors were locked. I was writing the mileage on my receipt, when someone slammed against the passenger side window with their upper body, face, and hands. The next thing I knew I had my pistola in my hand starting or orient it on the threat ... when the threat started laughing. It was the kid brother of a (former) friend of mine from high school that thought it would be funny to scare me. He scared me all right. His eyes bugged out when he saw the gun, then he started laughing again. He's not very bright.

The second incident was when I was driving after dark, about a block north of that same gas station. Someone in a car approached from the rear really fast. All I saw were headlights approaching rapidly, then the vehicle matched my speed. Then it suddenly pulled out and around me on the left. Then what I could see was a Camaro pulled in front of me and cut me off. This was on a little side street in a small town, so things like this don't happen often. I didn't know anyone who drove a Camaro, so I thought (this could be trouble). I drew and oriented on the threat, but kept my hands/gun below the dash. Then a guy got out of the Camaro and came running at me. I started to raise my pistol to eye level . . . and you won't believe this . . . it was the same stupid guy from the other incident.

I have no idea why during that period of his life he thought it would be a good idea to try to scare me like that once, much less twice. The first time was almost forgiveable, but he almost died and caused me a lot of potentially time-consuming legal issues the second time. The phrase "douch bag" was invented for people like that, and perhaps candidacy for a Darwin Award as well.

People that don't know me usually leave me alone. The last time I had a potentially troublesome encounter was in downtown Lafayette. A guy came at me from accross the street when I leaving City News with the "feel" of an aggressive panhandler. I did the trusty "I CAN'T HELP YOU!" with my hand raised (which I learned from John Farnam and his assistants) and it worked great. The tone of voice, posture, and attitude were all it took. The guy backed off and went back across the street and disappeared quickly. I probably had my hand on the grip of a pistol at the time, but I don't remember.

 

[singlestacksig]

In my short time carrying a handgun (14 years), I have only had to use it in self defense once.


Anyone here ever have to use your gun?
Share your story if you want to.

I have carried Since 1989.
I have twice stopped attempeted break in in my house, no shots fired. Once been attacked but a pack of dogs, fired shots then.
Once when I lived in a row house in downtown Indy, a couple of guys ( I did not know them) were on my back porch fireing a gun into the air for new years.. I opened the door pointed my gun and took theirs.. GF was calling the cops..
Police came and took the gun..never saw the guys around again..

Once I was involed in a very violent incident at a large night club in Broadripple and did NOT have my gun on me.. I had locked it in the office because I had intended to be off & drink that night..
I was saved by a co worker who was a very large gentleman and wound up breaking the guys jaw & choking him to submittion..
being in a bad Situation and reaching & finding an empty holster is not an event I will ever like to be in again..

 

[SavageEagle]

Rhino remind me never to try and suprise you! LOL Shame too. I was gonna give you a nice big suprise B-Day party, but knowing you'd draw down on the crowd full of kids probably wouldn't go very well... LOL J/K

And why do we say draw down? Since you're raising your pistol, wouldn't it be draw up? Never seen anyone, even in the movies, put the gun up then bring it down to aim...

 

[Lakefield22]

Well, I have never pulled my CCW on anyone, sense I am still waiting on it to arrive in the mail. However, I have had a few incidents outside of concealed carry.

I have run into poachers on my parents farm and twice aimed my weapon at them. The first time, I waited for the deputy, who cuffed the guy and took him away (later found out all the deputy did was drive him home and give him a warning, prosecutor later gave him conditional probation). The second time, the individual ran as soon as I pulled out my cell phone, he did not reach for his weapon (a holstered revolver) and I did not fire because there was no threat. Another time, I was just exiting a logging road on our farm and walking up a hill in a small field when someone opened fire on me. The first shot sounded like branch cracking or thunder, I remember looking around, then I saw an impact from another shot and realized someone was shooting at me. I ran like hell into the woods, down a gully and around another hill before I stopped and called the cops. I just caught out of the corner of my eye the shooter standing on another hill about 150 or 200 yards away. Obviously, I did not return fire and instead just ran like hell.

Time I wished I had a gun on me...

Once in college, about 4:00AM, after a party had broken up at my off-campus house, 6 locals came in the backdoor and tried to steal our keg until we caught them and asked what they were doing. We called the cops almost immediatly but between the time we called and they arrived, the locals managed to beat the crap out of four of my friends. My Mossberg was in the safe, but the attackers were between me and it. Two of my friends went to the emergency room and there was a pool of blood in the back of my house. I remember watching one of my friends get head butted and blood spraying out of his nose and hitting the wall.

Now days, I am rarely out of reach of at least one firearm.

 

[rhino]

I was saved by a co worker who was a very large gentleman and wound up breaking the guys jaw & choking him to submittion..
being in a bad Situation and reaching & finding an empty holster is not an event I will ever like to be in again..

I'll bet I know who that was (the large gentleman). Will we see him at matches this spring? I miss him because he absorbs some of Teeny's "commentary" so I don't get it all!

 

[rhino]

Rhino remind me never to try and suprise you! LOL Shame too. I was gonna give you a nice big suprise B-Day party, but knowing you'd draw down on the crowd full of kids probably wouldn't go very well... LOL J/K

If you pop out of the cake, I think I'm obligated to fire!

This is also why I think those shows where they purposely scare people (like the one on SciFi network that had Shannen Doherty and then Tracy Morgan as hosts) are so incredibly stupid. What they heck are they going to do if they put someone in one of their pranks that is armed and they don't know it? A giant guy wearing a mask and covered in blood charging at you with an axe is justification in anyone's book to defend yourself with whatever means are available. It's always funny until someone loses and eye (or a liver, or a spleen, or their lungs, or their brain stem . . .).

 

[JosephR]

Has it been stated that what you did was a very mild felony? Pointing a loaded firearm at someone is the lowest possible felony while pointing an unloaded firearm is a very high misdemeanor.

I'm thankful for you that you did not have to shoot. Simply showing him the firearm was the right move IMHO. Pointing it, maybe not, but I doubt it was possible to show him and wait for a response before acting appropriately should you have actually needed to.

Tough call.

Yes, I've had to let someone know I was carrying once in order to get them out of my car after they climbed through the window. He didn't need to be shot but I guess you could have called it an attempted carjacking- something you ARE allowed to legally use deadly force to stop...

 

[Lakefield22]

For those of you who say you have uncovered your weapon to a preceived threat. Have you ever worried that sometime you could see someone approaching, assume they are threat, reveal your weapon to show you are not a victim, only to have the other person (who could also be a LTCH holder) assume you are threatening party and react in a defensive manner?

 

[Lakefield22]

Has it been stated that what you did was a very mild felony? Pointing a loaded firearm at someone is the lowest possible felony while pointing an unloaded firearm is a very high misdemeanor.
quote]

Simple, I precieved a threat to my life from the individual, they were armed, trespassing and did not back down when confronted, both times actually becoming verbally abusive and threatening.

 

[singlestacksig]

I'll bet I know who that was (the large gentleman). Will we see him at matches this spring? I miss him because he absorbs some of Teeny's "commentary" so I don't get it all!

Yes, You know who it was..
I don't know how often he will make it around.. He is busy killing things..

 

[JosephR]

I'll have to respectfully disagree with you. If you perceived a threat of great bodily injury or death, you would have fired or should have, by law.

You draw to shoot in this state, not break contact or deescalate a situation. That's just how it is.

ETA: At the very least, take that for what it is worth- know the law so that you don't say the wrong thing if it happens again. Theoretically you can say "hey, I was milliseconds from firing and he dropped his knife so I didn't". Just don't say "Hey, he came at me so I drew cuz I think it should be legal." They WILL hold that against you.

Has it been stated that what you did was a very mild felony? Pointing a loaded firearm at someone is the lowest possible felony while pointing an unloaded firearm is a very high misdemeanor.
quote]

Simple, I precieved a threat to my life from the individual, they were armed, trespassing and did not back down when confronted, both times actually becoming verbally abusive and threatening.

 

[singlestacksig]

Has it been stated that what you did was a very mild felony? Pointing a loaded firearm at someone is the lowest possible felony while pointing an unloaded firearm is a very high misdemeanor.
...

It is a grey area of reasonable force..

IC 35-47-4-3
Pointing firearm at another person
Sec. 3. (a) This section does not apply to a law enforcement officer who is acting within the scope of the law enforcement officer's official duties or to a person who is justified in using reasonable force against another person under:
(1) IC 35-41-3-2; or
(2) IC 35-41-3-3.
(b) A person who knowingly or intentionally points a firearm at another person commits a Class D felony. However, the offense is a Class A misdemeanor if the firearm was not loaded.
As added by P.L.296-1995, SEC.2.

 

[indyjoe]

I'll have to respectfully disagree with you. If you perceived a threat of great bodily injury or death, you would have fired or should have, by law.

You draw to shoot in this state, not break contact or deescalate a situation. That's just how it is.

Someone having a knife out and approaching in a threatening manner is proportionate to me having a gun out an in low ready. They approach closer and it is proportionate to me pointing a gun at them.

IC 35-47-4-3
Pointing firearm at another person
Sec. 3. (a) This section does not apply to a law enforcement officer who is acting within the scope of the law enforcement officer's official duties or to a person who is justified in using reasonable force against another person under:
(1) IC 35-41-3-2; or
(2) IC 35-41-3-3.
(b) A person who knowingly or intentionally points a firearm at another person commits a Class D felony. However, the offense is a Class A misdemeanor if the firearm was not loaded.
As added by P.L.296-1995, SEC.2.

I don't buy into the argument that you have to draw only when you expect to shoot. I will draw before I expect to shoot, but when I am pretty darn sure that I might. A pistol in low ready is MUCH faster to get into the fight than a pistol in the holster. If someone looks like they are about to commit me or someone I love grave bodily harm, I will draw before I am ready to shoot them. I'm not going to wait until I have to shoot before drawing.

If drawing makes the guy with a knife at 20 feet stops coming towards me and backs away, this doesn't mean that the law says I have to shoot him because I drew. Now if you draw on someone that is unarmed or not about to put you in a situation to receive grave harm, then you are escalating force in a disproportionate manner and it will get you into trouble.

If showing my weapon or drawing my weapon a few seconds early keeps me from having to kill someone because I waited until I had to shoot them, I am perfectly fine with that outcome.

 

[JosephR]

Guess what? I fully and completely retract my statements. I never put that together with the two codes listed. I just recently memorized the numbers for those codes and now I know.

You were justified to use deadly force against deadly force and/or serious bodily injury so you are exempt.

Sorry about that.

It is a grey area of reasonable force..

IC 35-47-4-3
Pointing firearm at another person
Sec. 3. (a) This section does not apply to a law enforcement officer who is acting within the scope of the law enforcement officer's official duties or to a person who is justified in using reasonable force against another person under:
(1) IC 35-41-3-2; or
(2) IC 35-41-3-3.
(b) A person who knowingly or intentionally points a firearm at another person commits a Class D felony. However, the offense is a Class A misdemeanor if the firearm was not loaded.
As added by P.L.296-1995, SEC.2.

 

[Lakefield22]

Well, I wasn't in this state, I only recently moved here. I went through this all with the sheriff and prosecutor when I made my statement and they didn't have a problem with me...but I suppose part of that was because the dispatcher could here the man screaming threats and curses over the phone when I called.

I don't take pointing a weapon lightly. I was young at the time and scared out of my mind. I still get the shakes when I think about it.

 

[JosephR]

Hey, I wasn't judging you or didn't mean to be.

Once I relayed the story of a man who climbed into my car window. I yelled 6 time to GTFO and the last two were with me lifting my shirt and with the pistol halfway out, pointing down still. It finally worked. I was called out for acting "tough."

It's hard to relay these stories without some *******'s opinion. I didn't mean to be THAT ******* this time around.

Well, I wasn't in this state, I only recently moved here. I went through this all with the sheriff and prosecutor when I made my statement and they didn't have a problem with me...but I suppose part of that was because the dispatcher could here the man screaming threats and curses over the phone when I called.

I don't take pointing a weapon lightly. I was young at the time and scared out of my mind. I still get the shakes when I think about it.

 

[rhino]

To whom are you addressing the message below?

It's not a crime to point your weapon at someone if you believe at the time you're justified in using deadly force.

Has it been stated that what you did was a very mild felony? Pointing a loaded firearm at someone is the lowest possible felony while pointing an unloaded firearm is a very high misdemeanor.

I'm thankful for you that you did not have to shoot. Simply showing him the firearm was the right move IMHO. Pointing it, maybe not, but I doubt it was possible to show him and wait for a response before acting appropriately should you have actually needed to.

Tough call.

Yes, I've had to let someone know I was carrying once in order to get them out of my car after they climbed through the window. He didn't need to be shot but I guess you could have called it an attempted carjacking- something you ARE allowed to legally use deadly force to stop...

 

[JosephR]

 

[jeremy]

It is escalation of force that you are demonstrating.
Deadly force should be what you use last.