We are blessed to around a great group of gun fans along with several amazing experts.

Many threads ask about your EDC, the best weapon in light of recent riots, etc. etc. etc.

What I'd like to know is how many folks here (excluding LEO and military experiences) have actually had to pull their weapon of choice out, to defend themselves, or perhaps to protect their families?

Doug

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I only take a knee for God

I'm guessing a very very small group.

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John

I'm guessing none. But if this thread was over on the CC&SD sub forum it would get lots of attention.

My guess would be very few and I am thankful for that. That said ... be prepared.

In my case. Never. So far.

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Expect the unexpected

My EDC has never left my pocket in anger. Although I went for it on two occasions, and the thugs took off before it could be used!

Ivan

Thankfully, I've never had to use my EDC and hope that continues. But I still train, just in case I do....

Just last week, as a matter of fact! I was walking my dog (12 year old Weimaraner that isn't as tough as she used to be) around the back yard, and along the little 10 ft. or so hill coming from the neighbor's yard some groundhog came running up as if to say hi. Apparently it didn't see us because they always run to the woods. Just as I drew a bead on it, and Daisy with her hair up & ready, it stood up, turned and ran back down after seeing us. A thousand thoughts went through my head in that split second, with every answer being don't shoot yet. My LEO friend said I would've been justified if it kept coming. Maybe a few years ago I would've let the dog have at it, but they can rip a dog's face up with her being close to the "rainbow bridge." I don't know if that counts? They frown on gunfire in the city, though.

Twice. No shots fired.
First was a case of mistaken identity, I think.
2nd saved me from serious bodily harm.
I retired that .380 Colt to the safe, assuming it was bad luck. So far (20 years since), I've been correct.

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Because of the metric system?

One time, over 50 years ago. I didn't need to shoot, just the sight of the gun was enough. The full story would take up too much space, but it was scary.

Then there was the time my wife used a 12 gauge on a rattlesnake in the back yard. It took three shots (first two missed).

Two times. Both in middle-Georgia. Both involving a wild-dog pack while deer hunting. Once with my deer rifle and second time with a S&W M-686 pistol. I have tinnitus as a result of firing the 686 (.357mag) at an advancing dog without ear-protection .

Don

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Laus Deo! <><

I once held my J Frame behind my leg as a guy ran toward me across a parking lot at 3 AM. He changed direction quickly and it was thankfully over. I happened to be in that situation when my wife was rushed to the local hospital ER several yrs ago, and that turned out okay too.

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Old Cop
LEO (Ret.)

Never. I'm grateful that situational awareness and common sense have spared me. However, my daughter in law used my son's Kel Tec to deter two guys attempting to break in to their apartment through a bedroom window. Display of the firearm ended the threat. No shots fired.

Twice. Thankfully, both situations abated immediately upon unholstering, and no shots were fired.

Does using my EDC (KelTec P-10 at the time) to dispatch a couple of armadillos count?

Pounding on my front door at 2 AM and my dog sounding like she was ready to eat somebody alive, sent me around the corner from the bedroom with Model 10 in hand. Turned out to be a friend whose motorcycle broke down.

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Super Snooper

Once, to run off a peeping Tom. Another time, a lockblade knife deterred three thugs about to accost me and my then very young daughter.

My brother had to shoot a neighbor's vicious dog. In Mother's front yard...

I suggest this topic is too controversial and should be locked soon.

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Old paratrooper in NC

Two times. Once during a failed gas station robbery (I wasn't the robber) and the second a road rage incident (I wasn't the out of control madman).

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That's gonna leave a mark.

Yes. There are 2 incidents I'll discuss: One involves an aggressive mountain lion & another an aggressive rattlesnake. There's another I won't go into detail but I have an "interesting" knife scar on my hand. My wife stopped an aggressive dog w/ 1 shot when she & our son were out for a walk (son was 2 @ the time & couldn't escape an attacking dog).

My ex-father-in-law was accosted by a guy with a knife through the open window of his car while stuck in traffic one night; the thug demanded his wallet. This was back in the 70s when there were no shall-issue CHL’s in Oregon.

My ex-FIL pulled out the Model 15 he kept between the seats.

The would-be robber jumped back several feet and exclaimed “That’s illegal!”

End of story. My ex-FIL got a lot of mileage out of that story. But my ex-wife, who was in the passenger seat, did confirm to me that it did indeed happen just like that, and that the guy stumbled and almost fell on his butt when he jumped back.

In all the decades I've carried I never once actually cleared leather but:
.One night at Walmart I had a couple of seedy looking punks following me from aisle to aisle. Makin' eye contact etc. I rounded the corner and turned to wait for them. When they rounded the corner I lifted my shirt tail just enough to let them get a peek at my Glock 36. The look on their faces went from intimidating to "please don't shoot me sir." They turned and ran back around the corner.

.Another time a guy was acting like he was going to go for it. He started walking up on me and I asked him to stop. He took one more step and I moved my right hand into position to draw. His eyes went down to my right hip and I guess he figured it out. I was wearing the Glock 36 that time too. He turned around and walked away.

We evacuated for Hurricane Katrina and I did have my 1911 .45 on the seat next to me and had my hand on it twice as I thought I was going to have to use it to keep from getting run off the road.

I really don't want to shoot anyone. I don't want to draw either because if I draw I will shoot.

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Real men love cats!

Pulled three times. Fired twice. All for dog attacks. Pulled once in my apartment. Turned out to be a fire fighter let in by the manager without bothering to ring my doorbell while I was asleep. I tore him a new one, but didn't shoot him. Target identification is important.

Happily none.

I have carried firearms for about 33 years now and I have yet to even unholster one. The one time I think my sidearm got me out of trouble was over 30 years ago. I was open carrying at night, walking with a friend in my neighborhood. A car filled with known trouble makers rolled up, I turned towards them and when they saw that big revolver on my hip, they mashed the gas and left.

I'm hoping that is the closest encounter I will ever have. I try my best to avoid situations in which I might have to draw my firearm.

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VCDL, GOA, NRA

If you are doing it right, the gun never comes out. Pay attention to your surroundings. Develope a verbal judo to deal with morons. The gun comes out as a last resort, not as a threat or so called deterrent.

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NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

Never and I’ve been carrying for 45 years.
One time though my daughter and granddaughter my wife and I were out for dinner. Some vagrant, undesirable started inching their way towards us in the parking lot. All I did was start reaching into my jacket behind my back and said person disappeared! I was just scratching my back! I guess he thought otherwise?
But no I have never needed to draw my handgun.

Once. Sitting at my campfire, I was the only person in the state park (late season). Flashed my flashlight around and caught a some eyeshine... looked like about 5-6" between the eyes, low to the ground, head was swinging back and forth like it was hunting. I was up out of my chair and had my pistol out in a flash, but it detoured around my camp without giving me a second look. Never did ID what it was, and never saw more than the eyeshine.

Once. It was a road rage incident. The presence of my 1911 changed the attitude of the aggressor who was wielding a baseball bat and a very bad temper. I am thankful that reason dominated and no shots had to be fired.

Two guys tried to rob me one night.

Several times while clearing buildings.

I was checking an Electrical Substation one night and realized there was a very large animal just a few feet away from me. I threw down and realized it was a cow.

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Retired Career Security Guard

Those who have never seen the elephant shouldn't presume to describe it to those who have

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Retired Career Security Guard

I completely disagree.

There are unlimited conversations on this site specific to concealed carry, open carry, calibers of hand guns, shot guns, etc.

If so many people on this site feel the need to carry, there must be a reason .... You know, personal safety and so forth but it's equally as important to know how often a person actually needed to protect themselves with their carry item of choice.

Too "controversial" is a nonsense comment pertaining to what certainly appears to be a real issue.

Doug

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I only take a knee for God

And one more thing, try doing a search under "EDC" and you'll see that plenty of people have an interest in this area.

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I only take a knee for God

I've been fortunate enough to never have to draw my weapon.

However, the reason why I finally decided that I needed a firearm was due to a number of threats against myself and my family which have persisted. I took these threats seriously, and I continue to take them seriously. These threats range from wild predatory animals which have started showing up with increasing frequency over the past few years to dangerous people who live within the same general area, both of which are equally unpredictable, so I may have to draw my weapon today or I may never have to draw it in my entire life. I hope for the latter, but prepare for the former.

Prior to carrying a firearm, I was in a few situations which despite managing to get out of them safely, convinced me that I needed one, because despite being fortunate enough to remain unscathed, once you've been in a few close calls that were too close for comfort, you just don't keep walking around without any means of defending yourself.

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Shooting Comfort is bilateral.

I've put My hand on mine twice. On both occasions the reason left.

The need to draw my firearm in my personal life has occured three times.

In all three instances, the incidents ended with the offending party backing down rather quickly.

Similar to JH1951, one incident was Road Rage. A young man pulled his pickup infront of my car when I parked. He exited his drivers side door with a baseball bat yelling incoherently about my driving while coming toward me. As soon as my P220 cleared it's holster he dropped the bat, jumped into his truck and sped away. I was relieved that the incident did not go farther

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"Acta non verba"

Once when I turned and encountered a mugger with knife who trailed me from the ATM. My left hand went out to control his knife hand and my right went to my hip to lift my jacket and draw. As soon as the hand went the hip he turned and ran.

The anti gunners like to say that good guys with guns rarely stop bad guys. The problem is statistics. Probably 90-95% of encounters where a gun stops an assault, so so before the assault actually happens, because people don't like to get shot. Consequently it ends before the gun is fired, or even drawn, and most of those instances go unreported.

Twice.
First time while I was still living with my folks we discovered a guy up on the roof trying to get into my sisters bedroom. When he realized he’d been found out, he bolted.
I grabbed my Mod 60 and took off after him, bare footed, in my boxer shorts but I lost him. Found out later it was a drunken friend of hers. What he wanted, I can only guess.
Second time my wife woke me saying she heard something downstairs. I grabbed my 870 went to the stairs and called down and jacked the action and loaded one up the spout. I got no answer, but when I got downstairs the back door was open.
Luckily neither time did I have to draw down on anybody.

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I told you not to use Lifebuoy

I'm 67 & couldn't escape an attacking dog.

Years ago I was doing photography early one morning at the beach and I noticed a car suddenly slow and turn into a parking lot near me. They parked quickly and two guys got out and started toward me, since I had noticed them I was already going to my car. Before they got to me I got to my car and popped my trunk and reached in while looking at them and they came to a dead stop. They stared at me while kept a watch on them as I got into my car and left. Scared the **** out of me, I didn't have anything in the trunk or the car and I started sweating profusely once I got away from the area. I'm VERY lucky!

So far the word is never, and hope it remains that way.

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I Cor. 10:13 "1611KJV"

When my dad was very young. This had to be in the 1930s. My grand mother was home with him and his brother. There had been reports of a peeping Tom in the area. It was evening and she heard a knock on the door of their second floor apartment. She asked who it was several times but never got a response, only more knocking. She took Grandads 32 Savage Pistol and shot through the door. She heard running down the stairs and reports of the peeping Tom ended. This was told to me when I was young. No one involved is alive today but, the Savage 32 is still in the family.

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Two Handguns every day

Over 40 years ago, in the "peaceful" little town of Tierra Amarilla, NM. I have described the encounter several times, both here and on other forums. Fortunately no shots were fired, but it was a close run thing.

Another time, I pulled the same Browning Hi-Power out of the pistol rug from under my seat, and let a couple of motorcycle gang members get a good look at it. They, one in the other lane and another on the shoulder, along with the rest of the gang behind my car and trailer, decided that they would find a different, defenseless victim that day. That was almost exactly 40 years ago when I was moving my family from El Paso to Ft. Knox, KY. We were on US 285 between Roswell and Vaughn after visiting the wife's aunt and uncle in Carlsbad, NM. Trust me, the Ford LTD and the U-Haul trailer would have become weapons before having to use the pistol, but that was all unnecessary.

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Only a cold warrior