Anyone actually own a pistol [fired] in [civilian] self defense?

I can't speak for any of my used guns; they could have been used in a defensive shooting or offensive shooting and I'd never know. My 18 inch H&R Topper 12 gauge was probably used in a fight or two since it came from a PD confiscation depot; definitely a gang gun at one time in the late 1900s.

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I have reached for a gun a time or three when I perceived trouble but either the trouble faded or I made a safe getaway in my car so, nope, none of my guns has been in my hands for a defensive shooting.

A friend of mine used a Colt .380 to defend himself after he was sucker punched in a bar and the hitter threatened to kill him. He fired once, I believe, hit the hitter in the leg, and then got out of there.

It's always been hard for me to believe that a .380 bullet to the leg could stop anyone, ever. We all know these stories of .380 performance are make believe, right? :D
 
I am an irredeemable buyer of police evidence guns, so maybe....

I've had two police handguns that did the deed, because I know the guys that did it. A Twin Falls PD Model 10 and a Blackfeet Indian reservation 5906. I still have the Model 10, but I traded off the 5906.
 
I don't, but a guy in the neighborhood, retired from NYPD in 1988, just a few months ago got back a pistol he used to shoot an armed robber before he retired.

Earlier this year he got a phone call from the property clerk, that the DA had released the gun, asked him if he wanted it back. He had forgotten all about it, due to the numerous appeals (all denied) that the robber was making, over the years which kept the pistol tied up in evidence.

He took it out to range last month to check operation. Runs fine.
 
Biggfoot44 said:
Re my above post -

Recoved merely stolen would potentially be returned , BUT :

The County PD evidence "room" has a backlog of 20k firearms . Usually they only put efforts into those involved with current prosecutions , and the rest just sit there more or less indefinitely . A cpl yrs ago, an LT assigned to Evidence for light duty took it upon himself to work on backlog , and Wife and I each got on back . After having sat in evidence 10 plus years.

Also , the PD doesn't simply return them. They hold a hearing to decide if ( either Ofc who took it into evidence, or head of Evidence if orig Ofc no longer there ) " feels comfortable " to give it back . Of course if you don't respond quickly enough to Registered letter to request the hearing, it is deemed forefitted . If you aren't on time for hearing deemed to be forfeited .

*************

The 75 years is for any Fatal Shooting . Dosen't matter if ruled Justified, or had been stolen inbetween .

But at least that isn't the usual melted down . Just be sure to mention it specifically by s/n in your Will , and eventually your gandkids can retrieve it .
Click to expand...


20,000 guns????
Did you mean to say 2,000 (which is still a Hell of a lot )?
 
Never fired but two - one of my old G17s and one of the two Benelli M1S90. Both involved a Turkish contractor who I wouldn't pay for poor performance. Neither aimed, just present. He fixed the work and we moved on.
 
I guess I do-

I shot a warning round at an armed bank robbery suspect that was running from us. ( We found his gun later in a creek that he ran through in the foot chase). I fired the round and he stopped and threw up. It was over! I never aimed even close to him. I had the perfect back stop to fire the round, which was authorized at the time of the incident.

The suspect was approximately 40 yards from me when I fired the round. He was on a steep, heavily vegetated slope at a golf driving range. There was no one around. The slope he was on was so steep and dangerous that we could not even deploy a K9 unit safely and he was too far away to deploy any less lethal rounds.

Once he stopped, I could see a shiny object in the small of his back. I yelled to every officer on scene that I could see something in his waist band.

At this point I transitioned to my AR-15 and put my laser on him so he could see the green dot. Using verbal commands, we ordered him down the slope. He had to crawl down the slope and a across a creek so that we could take him into custody. We surmise that sometime during this movement he was either able to dump the gun or it inadvertently fell into the creek and we just did not see it happen. We found the Stainless Sig Sauer -226 which was stolen, in the creek later.

During the subsequent investigation this suspect and gun was clearly visible in the video tapes of the robbery.

At the time I had a Les Baer Commanche, 45acp. The gun was taken from me for a few days while they conducted the use of force investigation. They determined that their was no violation of department policy or law, so the weapon was returned to me. I retired with it, and carry it to this day.

I know that warning shots are very controversial, but at the time I was the Chief of Police and I was willing to accept the liability that they created. But under certain circumstances they can be very effective. In this particular case there were three suspects that were taken into custody for the robbery. They had committed 6 takeover style bank robberies in neighboring cities. They were known gang members who had committed armed car jacks in order to get vehicles to commit the robberies.

They are all still in prison.
 
I truly feel I would have been assaulted by a tweaker at the gas station at 1 a.m. recently had I not had my J frame. I kept my hand on the gun and the gun in my pocket while ordering him to get away from me. I think we are both glad he didn't call my bluff - which wasn't a bluff.
 
In the 20 + years since my retirement there were two times when I readied my J frame b/c of what was going on at the time. I've never fired it (or pointed it), thank G-d, but was VERY glad to have it w/me. I continue to carry in retirement mostly b/c of my experiences during my 30 year LEO career.
 
Honestly I don't know the lineage of all my firearms so it's hard to say if they were used in self defense or not.

Only once in my life as a civilian have I leveled a gun on someone with intent to do harm and that was many years ago. It was a 1911 which I no longer own, no shots were fired.
 
I don't own one, but years ago a friend asked if I'd like to buy a S&W Model 12 Airweight. It was his mother-in-laws' and she wanted to sell it. The friend showed it to me and then said she's only shot two men with it.

The story goes his father-in-law was in the CIA and made sure she knew how to use a handgun. His MIL was from Thailand, so there's no telling where this took place. She, on a couple of occasions had to defend herself and used the Model 12.

Silly me, I wasn't into Airweights back then, so I declined.

Bill
 
If a dropping a charging pit bull counts, I still have the PA-63 that I used to stop him. One shot stop, two if counting the second shot to put him out of pain.

I also still have the 1849 pocket pistol I used to stop many attacking bunny rabbits, and squirrels, as a teenage lad.
 
Once upon a time I was in a fancy restaurant having breakfast with my wife, daughter, and Grandaughter. It was in a very fancy hotel. A very famous person and her entourage came into the place and were swiftly ushered to a private section. We had just seen the person the day before. I told my wife it seemed highly unusual that this person had no visible security with her either time. Jokingly, I said that's okay, I've got her covered. We left the restaurant after breakfast and got about twenty yards away. Suddenly I heard what sounded like an explosion and women screaming near the restaurant. I told the girls to hang tight and ran towards the noise. I had my trusty Kahr 9mm ready for action down by my side. When I got there, a little old lady in a scooter had run into a table and knocked a giant floral display in a huge ceramic pot over causing the "explosion" and chaos. I pocketed the pistol before anyone saw it and asked if she was ok. Hotel security showed up after a couple minutes. The lady sped away. That's about as close as I've come as a civilian. It's a funny story I share about the time I took down a hit and run scooter grandma.
 
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