Civilian Armed Self Defense Stories

[papajohn428]

Always date the sherrifs daughter (just kidding there)

Actually, there's some truth there. I was married to a deputy's daughter way back when and we were both being threatened by local thugs over a guy we were scheduled to testify against. I had talked to my FIL about the situation, and he lent me a pistol and a sap in case the bad guys showed up. Sure enough, late one Sunday night I saw someone skulking around outside our apartment building, and told my wife to call the cavalry. I sneaked out the side door, hid behind a dumpster, and waited, watching the back of the building. Sure enough, the BG came around back, looked all around, knelt down, then started prying on the door jamb with a huge screwdriver. I sneaked around the dumpster bin, tiptoed up behind him and smacked him in the head with a sap, and as soon as I pinned him down, I could hear the squad cars coming at full gallop. There was a lot of tire screeching, yelling, stomping of feet, and four of them rounded the corner of the building with guns drawn. The BG was quickly cuffed, a 32 revolver was found in his front waistband along with a folding knife. They stacked about a dozen felony charges on him and he rolled over on everybody involved, but he still got 15 years.

I found out as I was writing my statement that my wife had called the Sheriff's Dept, her Dad was working the desk that night, he sent EVERYBODY, and one deputy said he was doing 130+ heading into town, because he knew about the situation, and the call was put out as a possible Attempt Homicide in progress. Given the knife and the gun they took off him, that might have been the correct call!

My FIL chastised me for the way I handled it, but I didn't want to shoot him in the back, and I didn't want him to get away, either. I thought it went down quite well, myself! And it only took about three days before I stopped shaking.

 

[Ironhand]

When I was in my early twenties I was a young husband and father whose in-laws were a crazy bunch of people. My (now ex-wife, thank God)wife's mom was living with an abusive alcoholic who terrorized everyone in the family, but she wouldn't leave him for any reason. She would always testify for him whenever he was hauled off to jail for something he did while drunk, and it caused a lot of friction within my own family.

One night she appeared on our doorstep, hysterical with fright about his latest drunken rage, her two-year old son and 6 month-old daughter in her arms. We took her in and she and my wife hid in a back bedroom, while I retrieved my Ruger Blackhawk .357 and waited for the inevitable. Sure enough, the S.O.B. appeared at my front door and began roaring that he knew his woman and child were inside, and that he was going to kick in the door, beat me to death, and take them back.

WHAM!!

My front door flew open with the force of his kick and he appeared at the threshold, high on booze and adrenaline. I sat in my Laz-Boy and calmly raised the gun into my field of vision, cocking the hammer as I did. I never said a word as I placed my finger on the trigger, but I centered the front sight on his face. He stood there, breathing very loudly until I guess he realized what was about to happen, before turning and vanishing into the darkness. While I sat in my chair one of the women called the police, who showed up about 20 or 30 minutes afterward. They took my statement, stated off the record that it would have been a favor to them if I'd gone ahead and shot the man, as he was a known problem with them before.

The next day I paid to have the door fixed, my landlord asked me to move out, my mother-in-law had her man bailed out of jail, also refusing to press charges against him. He got probation(again) for smashing my door, which was plead down to some kind of drunk and disorderly charge. Within a year or so I was divorced from my wife, and took my son away from the madhouse that was that family.

Would I have shot him if he'd stepped through the door? Absolutely. As I saw it I was protecting my wife and child, and if killing him was the way to do that, then so be it.

 

[xray97]

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

IMO this is a VERY important point that many do not consider or plan for. Every cop who has worked the street for any length of time knows that there are some dumb ****s who will walk right at someone who has them at gunpoint daring them to shoot him/her. Everyone needs to be aware that these people exist and plan for how you would react. Some situations make an acceptable response obvious others are not as clear cut. It is imperative that you understand the law where you live and plan for the unexpected.
Please don't misunderstand my point, I understand and agree "better judged by twelve than carried by six". I just think it's important to realize not everyone will respond as expected when you point a gun at them.

 

[Protected One]

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

Hehehe. I love this story!

 

[Protected One]

Long ago I was visiting a friend and it was getting late so I went home but stopped at an icehouse to get a pack of smokes. I noticed a guy with silver paint on his face at a payphone by the corner of the store. I went in and got my smokes.

When I exited the guy started talking to me while standing by the phone. I ignored him as I got in my truck. He walked over and tried to open my passenger door but it was locked. I yelled at him to get away from my truck but he kept wrestling with the door handle yelling let me in. It's obvious he's high as a kite and never dawned on him that the door is locked but he kept wrestling with it.

I reached over my glove box and pulled out my 1873 Calvary replica chambered for 357. I tapped on the window with it and he looked up. his eyes got big and he stumbled back then walked away.

You "sobbered him up"!

 

[Old TexMex]

Many years ago, I worked for a ships agent in New Orleans. I'm the guy that got to drive down to the Orange Street wharf and that sort of spot at all hours of the night. Lots of times I was meeting a ship to deliver payroll. Merchant marines like to be paid in cash, when they hit the Big Easy.
I carried a sawed off 12ga double barrel and a 1911.

I devised a method, that I'll share with you. A heavy paper shopping bag with a hole in the bottom corner allowed me to hold the shotgun by the pistol grip (it had been sawed off just behind that, and the bag basically concealed the old Stevens).

Also in the bag was a plastic bag with cash (sometimes in excess of 30,000) another plastic bag with any paperwork required for my errand to the ships master.

I would often shove a newspaper or three in the bag, and I also liked to have a bundle of celery sticking out the top. Nothing says "just groceries" like a bunch of celery sticking out of a paper sack being cradled in your arms.

You might think "Why?"... Well, the fact was that if you go walking around the wharves in NOLA at 3am wearing nice clothes and carrying a briefcase, you are beggin' to get jumped. This I knew from our companys prior experiences with the other office johnnies who'd been stuck with delivering payroll.

The most memorable (there were numerous) occasion was when two cats fronted me with the question "What's in the bag, a..hole?!"

I tipped the top of the bag towards him, and I have, to this day, never seen a man run backwards as fast as he did. No Shots Fired, (that night)Thank you.

 

[snubbyfan]

When we first moved out to small town West Virginia, things seemed pretty groovy. We left the terrorists, crackheads and bureaucrats of the Washington DC area behind.
Only to encounter a different kind of terrorist.
Apparently some of the locals don't approve of a White Italian woman being married to an American Indian male. Our house was vandalized, trash thown in our backyard, obscenities written on the windows of our vehicles and fires lit on our front porch. I've even had my life threatened by a white supremacist skinhead because I was born the "wrong color." We called the local police, who of course did nothing. So, my wife and I got our permits and carry concealed.
I was in our backyard grillin' meat and telling our neighbor about what's been going on. He of course had no idea about it. I told him that because of the hate crimes, we've gotten our carry permits and I don't go anywhere in town without my snubby. I pulled up my shirt and showed it to him.
After that, all of the problems stopped and people in town are so friendly to us now.

 

[Protected One]

Many years ago, I worked for a ships agent in New Orleans. I'm the guy that got to drive down to the Orange Street wharf and that sort of spot at all hours of the night. Lots of times I was meeting a ship to deliver payroll. Merchant marines like to be paid in cash, when they hit the Big Easy.
I carried a sawed off 12ga double barrel and a 1911.

I devised a method, that I'll share with you. A heavy paper shopping bag with a hole in the bottom corner allowed me to hold the shotgun by the pistol grip (it had been sawed off just behind that, and the bag basically concealed the old Stevens).

Also in the bag was a plastic bag with cash (sometimes in excess of 30,000) another plastic bag with any paperwork required for my errand to the ships master.

I would often shove a newspaper or three in the bag, and I also liked to have a bundle of celery sticking out the top. Nothing says "just groceries" like a bunch of celery sticking out of a paper sack being cradled in your arms.

You might think "Why?"... Well, the fact was that if you go walking around the wharves in NOLA at 3am wearing nice clothes and carrying a briefcase, you are beggin' to get jumped. This I knew from our companys prior experiences with the other office johnnies who'd been stuck with delivering payroll.

The most memorable (there were numerous) occasion was when two cats fronted me with the question "What's in the bag, a..hole?!"

I tipped the top of the bag towards him, and I have, to this day, never seen a man run backwards as fast as he did. No Shots Fired, (that night)Thank you.

Now, you KNOW you have to cough up more stories!

 

[Protected One]

When we first moved out to small town West Virginia, things seemed pretty groovy. We left the terrorists, crackheads and bureaucrats of the Washington DC area behind.
Only to encounter a different kind of terrorist.
Apparently some of the locals don't approve of a White Italian woman being married to an American Indian male. Our house was vandalized, trash thown in our backyard, obscenities written on the windows of our vehicles and fires lit on our front porch. I've even had my life threatened by a white supremacist skinhead because I was born the "wrong color." We called the local police, who of course did nothing. So, my wife and I got our permits and carry concealed.
I was in our backyard grillin' meat and telling our neighbor about what's been going on. He of course had no idea about it. I told him that because of the hate crimes, we've gotten our carry permits and I don't go anywhere in town without my snubby. I pulled up my shirt and showed it to him.
After that, all of the problems stopped and people in town are so friendly to us now.

As soon as you said "telling our neighbor about what's been goin on", I had a good idea where this was going. Love your solution!
(Moral of the story) Leave people alone!!! *don't start none, won't be none*

 

[snubbyfan]

A couple of years ago an Asian family about a block away was having a moving sale. I was checking out their stuff and talking with the owners. They told me that people were commiting the same hate crimes against them and that they were leaving because they feared for their safety. I told them what I did but they didn't like guns and chose to run away instead. They kept their house and yard neat and tidy. I told them it's too bad they're leaving and I hope the new owners kept the place neat.
Now the place is a dump with trash and junk mounded in the yard and on the porch.

 

[Old TexMex]

A trained, armed civilian (I'm not talking about Law Enforcement here) will be less likely to get into a jam, because they don't act like a potential target when being interviewed or observed by a predator. I believe this is another plus for being armed and confident with the weapon.
(This is a point that Kathy Jackson makes in her fine book "Cornered Cat")

 

[bunkshaner]

Louisville (Loo-Ah-Vul), KY,

lol...my wife is from kentucky and the first few year we were together she would always correct me how to say Louisville lol. 15+ years later and 5 kids together as always I learned to say it the way she "taught" me lol. and now we I hear people pronounce it as (Louie ville) I correct them...lol.