Civilian Armed Self Defense Stories

[BCDWYO]

This topic may have been covered but I don't see it on any recent threads. I'd be quite interested to hear real life first hand stories from fellow civilian forum members of times when they feel their carry weapon saved them or helped them avoid a more serious conflict. I have carried almost religiously for almost 10 years and I can honestly say I've never even felt like I was "close" to a situation where I would have to pull it. This is probably typical for most civilians, but I'm sure some of you have experiences that differ. Please share your stories...not just gun fights (though that would be interesting), but maybe times when you feel that the presence of a gun helped you out of a situation. Please share how you felt, including if you felt the typical tunnel vision, adrenealine rush, auditory exclusion etc that are so often described. I think others experiences help those of us who are not experienced plan and prepare. Thanks in advance for your candid responses. BCD

 

[Knightrider03m]

You may not get a lot of gun fighting stories...... those seem to be taboo around these parts.

I had to pull my weapon out on a man that thought that he could chase me after a road rage problem. I let it go, turned down a street just to get him down the road and away from me, he turned around, came down the street that I was on and tried to run after me until he saw the barrel pointing towards him. I seen him driving like a bat out of hell a few times before that night (at 2am in the morning, you tend to see the same cars driving around). After that happen, I never seen him again, or at least not driving that car. I couldn't get a plate number so all I could do was tell the police what happen and give them the make and model of the car.

 

[cmort666]

Back in '84, a friend and I were driving from Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis, MO to Ft. Knox. A guy tried for force us off the road, probably for a carjacking. The sight of a loaded HK93 pointed at him caused him to remember a pressing engagement elsewhere.

 

[Big Cholla]

Many years ago I lived about 20 miles outside of Denver in a very rural area and worked in Denver. My wife called and asked me to stop and get bread and milk before coming home. A small town lay just off the freeway that I didn't normally drive thru going home. The main street had four lanes for about 1/4 mile then closed rather abruptly down to two lanes. I came off the freeway and then moved left to the remaining lane. A low rider came up out of nowhere doing about 30 over the speed limit. I inadvertently cut him off. Much blowing of horn and working of mouth, etc., I was driving a new to me Cadillac furnished by my company. It had California plates. I pulled into a 7-11. The low rider pulled in behind me and blocked any movement by me. I watched in the rear view mirrors as the young male passenger got out with a tire iron in his right hand. I watched the young male driver get out and promptly put his right hand in his bomber jacket pocket. I rolled my window down and waited. When the driver who was working his mouth to an extreme got close I motioned him to step closer. I then aimed my Colt 1911 .45acp at his midsection and told him to freeze. He yelled to his passenger who was at the right rear quarter of my car, "He's got a gun!". I told him, "Freeze or die."., I then told him to tell his passenger to throw the tire iron out in the parking lot to where I could hear it land as I didn't dare turn to watch him. The passenger did just that. I then told him to tell the passenger to get back in the car and to slam the door hard enough for me to hear it. The passenger did that. I then told the driver to remove his right hand from the jacket pocket and if his hand didn't come out empty I would shoot him dead. He pulled out his empty hand. I then told him to twist the jacket around and to put his left hand in the jacket pocket. He did that. I then told him to remove the weapon from that pocket with two fingers. He pulled out old fashioned brass knuckles. I told him to drop it. He did. I then apologized for cutting him off, but he was coming so fast that I did not see him coming. I then told him to get back in his car. The driver then proceeded to tell me of all the things he as going to do to me the next time he saw me. I told him to shut up that I was tired of him. I told him that if I ever saw him looking at me from another car I would shoot him, did he understand? He very quietly said yes. I then told him that if I ever saw him walking down the street near me, I would shoot him, did he understand? He said yes. I then told him to get in his car and leave and to forget that he ever saw me. He left with more verbalization. In all this time no one else came by. I went in and bought the milk and bread and drove home via an indirect route. I got my Colorado plates in a couple of days. I didn't even report the incident to the local police. I kept the brass knuckles.

According to NRA statistics, 93% of the time a good person draws and shows a weapon to a bad guy engaged in a felony, no shots were required to be fired. I am very pleased to be in that 93%. ............ Big Cholla

 

[BCDWYO]

Thanks for sharing those guys. Like I said Marcus, I wasn't really looking for gunfight stories necessarily (especially if they are taboo!) but just real personal accounts of when having a defensive weapon was directly beneficial in successfully resolving a situation, whether shots were fired or not.

 

[papajohn428]

I've had four instances in the last several years where criminal predators were suddenly and unexpectedly faced with my gun pointed at their head. Three of the four became eminently polite, and they all remembered other places to be......rather urgently. Three were disarmed, the other one fled.

One wanted my car, two others were just apparently random street robberies, the last was work related. The most surprising thing was WHEN they happened........most were in broad daylight!

 

[Yiogo]

Big Cholla, I read your account. Glad all went ok without shots being fired. But what amazes me is you pointed a loaded pistol pointing at this guy and he's still chirping at you. I would think most people would get "polite" really fast. papajohn428, I have a ccp but don't always carry during the day. You made me think. Yiogo

 

[photoman]

My stories are all rather boring... Perp walks up, commences with "interview", my hand goes in pocket, perp knows what that means, perp politely leaves scene.

Sorry for the lack of drama but that's exactly the way I like it to go.

 

[elm_creek_smith]

Back in the old days before I started locking every door behind me, I was driving to a gun shop in Louisville (Loo-Ah-Vul), KY, in my 1970 Chevelle station wagon. At a stop sign, a rather large gentleman opened my passenger door, got in, scowled at me, and said, "You gonna give me a ride!" I very politely responded, "We don't think so." There was a "snick" sound, his eyes got very large, and he said, "I'm sorry, sir. I thought you were someone else." He climbed out of the Chevelle, locked the door, and closed it behind him. Since it was my turn to go, I drove on through the intersection, re-engaged the safety on my M1927 Argentine .45 ACP, and had to ask the gun shop owner if I could use his restroom when I got there.

This incident is why I started locking all the doors in my vehicles all the time. Was the guy armed? I don't know. Was he expecting me to be armed? Apparently not. Was he going to argue with a cocked .45 auto? Turned out he was smarter than that.

ECS

 

[andrewb70]

I just posted a link to a study that was conducted by the Cato Institute. The authors of the study compiled 8 years worth of stories where civilians used firearms in self defense. Here is a link to my post:

http://smith-wessonforum.com/showthread.php?t=231130

Andrew

 

[ogilvyspecial]

Here's something that happened to me back in the late 70's.

Because I worked & spent a lot of time in some very shady parts of town I routinely carried, among other "things" an AR-180, which I always kept the folding stock either folded, or removed altogether.

One night I pulled up to a red light where there were a few, "ladies of the evening" hanging out on the corner. One immediately came over to my passenger window and while making "her pitch" reached in and started messing with a jacket I had on the front seat that covered up my 180.

Before I could reach over to stop her she saw what was underneath and ran away screaming her fool head off, which was contagious and the others did the same.

The light turned green so I headed on down the street when I noticed a big, flashy Caddy quickly coming up from behind in the lane to my left. The guy driving it was right out of central casting in his 1970's pimp outfit & ride.

He pulled alongside & since I was in a 1965 Chevy pickup I could easily see down into his car where I noticed that he had a small, blued j frame type of gun in his right hand, but not pointed directly at me. Instead he had his hand laying on his passenger seat (white interior) with the gun barrel pointed in my general direction, which left no doubt that he wanted me to know that he meant business.

Somehow I figured that this was going to happen when I saw him coming up from behind so I had slid the AR-180 over onto my lap and had the end of the barrel leaning against the inside of the door, just below the driver's window with my hand on the pistolgrip.

We were both going about 20 mph looking at each other when I slid the barrel of the 180 up over the edge and out of the window opening, while at the same time bringing the rear of the gun up so the barrel was pointing right down at him.

As soon as he seen what was going on he dropped his snubby onto the passenger seat, which I took as a sign that he was through "talking business", and quickly turned left onto a side street. Thoughout this whole, brief, encounter neither one of us said a word to the other.

I'm sure that when he talked to his "employees" and the one told him what she had seen that he didn't doubt her one bit.

 

[Double-O-Dave]

When I was a poor college student, I used to visit a gun store run by kind of an odd duck. Okay, he was a real redneck kind of guy. "Gene" wasn't a bad guy, just very, uh, opinionated. His store was kind of out of the way, and I decided to stop by one afternoon. Gene and I were the only ones in the store, and he was getting ready to close for the evening when a customer suddenly walked into the store. The customer appeared very surprised to see someone else in the store, and immediately said he needed to use the restroom. I don't know why, but the hair on the back of my neck went up, and I had the taste of old pennies in my mouth. I asked Gene if he was carrying his pistol, and he said yes. I then asked him if I could see it, and though he gave me an odd look, he handed me his holstered Browning Hi-Power. I took the piece and assumed a cover position on the bathroom door and told Gene that he probably wanted to arm himself, and he quickly grabbed a Remington 870 and hunkered down behind the counter. I racked the slide on the Browning and the round made a loud noise when it hit the floor. A minute later the customer started hollering that he was "coming out". He walked out of the bathroom with his hands high and smiling broadly. Nobody stopped him as he walked out of the store, but Gene was quick to lock the door. When we went into the bathroom we found a loaded RG .22 revolver stuffed down into the trash can. Neither of us doubted that the customer intended on robbing and killing Gene, and the presence of another customer - me - completely flummoxed him. Gene thanked me profusely, and I always got a great deal on guns and reloading supplies from Gene afterwards.

Regards,

Dave

 

[Springfeildkid585]

This topic may have been covered but I don't see it on any recent threads. I'd be quite interested to hear real life first hand stories from fellow civilian forum members of times when they feel their carry weapon saved them or helped them avoid a more serious conflict. I have carried almost religiously for almost 10 years and I can honestly say I've never even felt like I was "close" to a situation where I would have to pull it. This is probably typical for most civilians, but I'm sure some of you have experiences that differ. Please share your stories...not just gun fights (though that would be interesting), but maybe times when you feel that the presence of a gun helped you out of a situation. Please share how you felt, including if you felt the typical tunnel vision, adrenealine rush, auditory exclusion etc that are so often described. I think others experiences help those of us who are not experienced plan and prepare. Thanks in advance for your candid responses. BCD

May want to tread alittle more lightly, the only people I know who have killed people don't talk about it often, and when they do, they're generally at least three drinks down. I personally have drawn down on a perp with a knife. I would not have hesitated to kill him if he had not complied by dropping the knife. I puked my guts out after I was removed from the situation. It is not fun nor cool to hold a boy's (though law may dictate he was, he was not a man) life in your hand.

 

[BCDWYO]

May want to tread alittle more lightly, the only people I know who have killed people don't talk about it often, and when they do, they're generally at least three drinks down. I personally have drawn down on a perp with a knife. I would not have hesitated to kill him if he had not complied by dropping the knife. I puked my guts out after I was removed from the situation. It is not fun nor cool to hold a boy's (though law may dictate he was, he was not a man) life in your hand.

Excuse me if you feel the thread is inappropriate. I did NOT ask for stories of killing people, and I certainly didn't start the thread because I think killing is fun or cool. I don't think this is frivolous in any way and I hope to never have any of the experiences that people have shared. I do think it is natural (and probably prudent) for one who carries (ie me) to wonder how he would hold up if that day ever comes and to try to learn from others' experiences. That was/is the purpose of this thread...not to offend, and certainly not to celebrate killing.

Also thanks Andrew for sharing the Cato study...I read the intro and intend to read the whole thing.

 

[chud333]

Dave, that was very good example of "situational awareness".
You could tell by the perps actions and reactions something was'nt right and you took the appropriate actions to prevent yourself and friend from becoming a statistic. I hope if confronted with a similar
situation i'll be as prepared as you we're.


Chuck

 

[tomtheturner]

Too Many Times

On New Year's Eve of 1971 I was working late downtown Indianapolis, IN. I exited our building at about 7:30 through a side door that was next to an alley that led to the parking lot where I had my truck. Looking down the alley there were two "winos" that were walking down the center of the alley towards me.

I didn't pay too much attention to them, as at this time it was a fairly routine observence. When I looked up again the two guys had split off, and were at the outside edges of the alley, and had changed the position of their wine bottles to holding them around the necks where they could flip them upside down quickly, and use them for clubs.

I did not have a gun, or a LTCH at the time, but I stuck my hand quickly into my leather trenchcoat pocket, and pretended that I had a gun. When they saw me make that movement they immediately did an exit stage left. The next week I was the proud owner of a revolver that I could carry concealed, and applied for my LTCH.

Since I got my LTCH in early 1971 I have carried religiously, and have had thirteen different occassions where I have needed a gun. I have been attacked twice, three times I have been involved in carjackings, once at knife-point in my own driveway. I stopped my truck from being stolen by a guy with a wrecker, and he attacked me with a chain. Three times neighbors have come home to a burglar, and have come to my house for help. Once I caught a peeping tom, who I later found out had raped two children in the neighborhood. I have had three attemped home invasions. Once they got in with my wife, and children home.

Keep in mind that I am just an average Joe, live in a nice neighborhood, and do not look for trouble. I have been very very fortunate in all these situations. I have only had to shoot once, and I have not had to kill anyone. Each one of these situations is a story in and by itself, and I have been so glad that I was able to protect myself, and my family. Police were called in some of the situations, some they weren't. In general, having a gun, and letting the BG know that I had one was enough to defuse potentially very bad occasions.

Best Wishes,
Tom

 

[Double-O-Dave]

Dave, that was very good example of "situational awareness".
You could tell by the perps actions and reactions something was'nt right and you took the appropriate actions to prevent yourself and friend from becoming a statistic. I hope if confronted with a similar
situation i'll be as prepared as you we're.


Chuck

Thanks, Chuck. I probably lost 5 lbs. from shaking like a leaf after the incident!

There is an excellent book by Gavin DeBecker, "The Gift of Fear", where he talks about listening to your inner voice - the gift God gave us that DeBecker calls "fear", and others call "situational awareness", "radar", etc. I have purchased and given away countless copies of the book to others - it is an excellent read.

Best regards,

Dave

 

[BCDWYO]

On New Year's Eve of 1971 I was working late downtown Indianapolis, IN. I exited our building at about 7:30 through a side door that was next to an alley that led to the parking lot where I had my truck. Looking down the alley there were two "winos" that were walking down the center of the alley towards me.

I didn't pay too much attention to them, as at this time it was a fairly routine observence. When I looked up again the two guys had split off, and were at the outside edges of the alley, and had changed the position of their wine bottles to holding them around the necks where they could flip them upside down quickly, and use them for clubs.

I did not have a gun, or a LTCH at the time, but I stuck my hand quickly into my leather trenchcoat pocket, and pretended that I had a gun. When they saw me make that movement they immediately did an exit stage left. The next week I was the proud owner of a revolver that I could carry concealed, and applied for my LTCH.

Since I got my LTCH in early 1971 I have carried religiously, and have had thirteen different occassions where I have needed a gun. I have been attacked twice, three times I have been involved in carjackings, once at knife-point in my own driveway. I stopped my truck from being stolen by a guy with a wrecker, and he attacked me with a chain. Three times neighbors have come home to a burglar, and have come to my house for help. Once I caught a peeping tom, who I later found out had raped two children in the neighborhood. I have had three attemped home invasions. Once they got in with my wife, and children home.

Keep in mind that I am just an average Joe, live in a nice neighborhood, and do not look for trouble. I have been very very fortunate in all these situations. I have only had to shoot once, and I have not had to kill anyone. Each one of these situations is a story in and by itself, and I have been so glad that I was able to protect myself, and my family. Police were called in some of the situations, some they weren't. In general, having a gun, and letting the BG know that I had one was enough to defuse potentially very bad occasions.

Best Wishes,
Tom

Wow Tom...13 times..you are one unlucky dude! (or lucky to still be with us depending on your perspective!) I'm glad you were able to protect yourself...good thing you didn't live in Chicago!

 

[hsmith9491]

While preparing to unstrap my boat from tailer I noticed
a small truck pull up beside me. This was early morning and
I was the only one at the boat ramp. The passenger jumped out of the truck,
grabbed me from behind and tried to force me to the ground. I managed to throw him across the tongue on the trailer. The driver then got out and came at me but I had time to pull my 640 smith from a pocket holster.
They changed their minds when Me, Mr.Smith and Mr.Wesson turn the odds in my favor. I recieved a bad black eye but realize I was pretty lucky that day.

 

[Springfeildkid585]

Excuse me if you feel the thread is inappropriate. I did NOT ask for stories of killing people, and I certainly didn't start the thread because I think killing is fun or cool. I don't think this is frivolous in any way and I hope to never have any of the experiences that people have shared. I do think it is natural (and probably prudent) for one who carries (ie me) to wonder how he would hold up if that day ever comes and to try to learn from others' experiences. That was/is the purpose of this thread...not to offend, and certainly not to celebrate killing.

Also thanks Andrew for sharing the Cato study...I read the intro and intend to read the whole thing.

I would like to apologize for coming off rude. I recently was hearing a kid talking about open carrying for the fun of making people afraid of him and gave you some of the pent up lecture I wanted to give him. I remember before my above described situation, I used to have the whole "bada**" fantasy. I understand you're motive for the thread and wish I would have read such a thread beforehand. I regret nothing I did after drawing my weapon, though I wish I would have taken better steps to deescalate before hand. I didn't notice the tunnel vision at the time, but in my memory it plays out that way. My mind was racing. I replay it in my head pretty often. My point is that afterwards, you have a completely different mindset when carrying, or at least thats the way it happened in my case.