And a LOT of the replies, talked about, I carry more for the two legged problems, humans, etc.
So it got me to wondering, with all the mention of carrying a handgun for protection from low-lifes, would be thieves, or just plain bad people, just how many of you have had to actually use your handgun when confronted by another person while you were out hunting?
Maybe it is just something that we say, because I guess I would say the same thing, that I carry my handgun because you never know when you may encounter the wrong person, or situation, and yet I have never had to use mine. But some of you talk as if you actually have had to use yours.
So if you have ever been out hunting, and ended up having to defend yourself in some way, would you mind sharing, what happened, how it happened, what the result was, etc. You never know, it may help someone here, either to avoid a similar situation, or how to react if they do encounter something similar.
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would have hit her with pepper spray if I had it.
I had a situation at work years ago where 2 innocent people died and I believe theres a good chance a better outcome would have happened if I had been armed.
I have used a sidearm different times while on hunting trips for misc things. Shooting small game, killing animals hit by vehicles, ridding camp of a pack rat, insurance when chasing off a bear inspecting camp or stepping out to see who is pulling into my camp at 3 AM, etc.
I had a "bear" right outside the tent one year. It was obvious by the breathing and amount of noise that it had to be a bear. We hadn't cleaned up dinner because we were exhausted. I pulled on some boots, grabbed my flashlight and pistol and unzipped the tent to confront him. Turns out it was a big angus cow finishing off the spaghetti noodles .
I have a buddy who pulled a gun on a home intruder years ago. The intruder was so high on meth he didn't even know where he was. He thought he walked into a different house that he should have been at.
I believe that actually in the circumstances, my buddy would have been completely legal to shoot and kill the intruder. Dark hallway, couldn't see his hands, feared for his life and his wife's. . .
I've always been glad my friend didn't have to fire his weapon. I don't think he could have ever gotten over it. . .
Bake
I am glad your buddy didn't have to shoot that guy. In KY you only have to feel threatened to be justified to defend yourself with force. Granted....it will more than likely come down to a jury trial. I personally know a juror who was part of a trial where a guy was charged with murder for shooting a man, who was threatening him, through the front door of his residence. They acquitted him in about 15 minutes of deliberation.
Not me, thank goodness. As posted above, I would not post had I used the gun on another person.
"But some of you talk as if you actually have had to use yours."
Interesting. I did not get that from the other thread.
Normally, after shooting and tracking a wild hog, every other pig in the vicinity will quickly run until the next zip code. Not this time.
For some reason, a dominate boar began to stalk me - and anyone that has hunting wild hogs, knows how dangerous a pissed off dominate boar can be.
I nocked another arrow as the boar closed the distance to about 12 yards (I could see him and his cutters). He was facing me when I released the arrow, hoping to hit his chest or skull - I think I missed both.
That's when I decided to pull out my piece-of-crap .380 and pulled the slide back, only to have the gun jam, rendering it useless.
Big boar turned (maybe the arrow hit) left and walked away. Soon after I upgraded to a Glock 21SF .45
We hunted that sow for at least a year after that on several occasions, ( and I'm talking corn piles and night vision ), and my buddy finally killed her one night about midnight.
Other than popping a pissed-off 175 lb. boar charging me in the trap, I've not had to shoot at a critter to defend my life and limb. But at the time, he looked as big as a grizzly and twice as mean !
Of course, the only wild grizz I've ever seen was in Yellowstone !
The perp was screaming bloody murder and the police were quiet until he was hauled to the hospital.
The lead investigator asked what had happened, and just shook his head at learning "he" didn't want to kill the guy, just disable him. The LEO told him he should have shot to kill, as he was well within his rights...and that the perp would probably sue him.
Which he did...and won. I don't know the entire outcome, but it's a sad statement on our society that a citizen was acting in self defense in his own home, chose to spare a life by not using deadly force, and in so doing was financially penalized.
I really sympathize with him...living with myself would be tough if I was forced to use deadly force in self preservation. I pray I'm NEVER in the position. That said, to protect my family...yeah...no brainer.
As the saying goes, I'd rather be judged by 12 than carried by 6.
Then again, I'd hate to have my fate in the hands of 12 people not smart enough to get out of jury duty :^)
My one time was when i had a tag in Arizona .
But it wasn't in Arizona.... it was in Barstow,Ca at a Motel 6 at one in the morning on my way home..... and luckily I didn't have to pull the trigger on those 3 punks...." Crackers packing!!" ....and they got the heck out of there.
It was the evening golden hour and a small black bear came walking in to get a drink. After quenching his thirst the bear decided to walk up the trail that leads to a dug out ground blind where we all sit. My buddy stood up, waived his arms, shouted “HEY BEAR” and the bear stopped. It looked at him, slowly turned around and made his way back up the drainage till he was out of sight. This is a common occurrence as there are a TON of bear in this area, so my buddy dismissed it and sat back down waiting for Mr. Wapiti.
Fast forward a couple of minutes…this bear is coming full sprint down the trail and up towards him in the blind with a MUCH different demeanor. My buddy drew his .44 and made the decision that if the boar crossed an aspen which was fallen across the trail about 10 yards in front of him he was going to let him have it. The bear came skidding to a stop landing his paws on top of this aspen and proceeded to slam the tree, popping his jaw repeatedly. My buddy had the hammer cocked and slack taken out of the trigger with a bead on his snout, yelling “HEY BEAR, GET OUTTA HERE!” After some tense long moments the bear finally turned around and reluctantly left, stopping repeatedly to look over its shoulder at him. My buddy waited a few minutes, threw his gear in his pack and started the nervous hike out on a different trail with his hand on his pistol. Fortunately nothing else happened.
When he got back to camp and told me the story I said he should have given it to him square in the face. But looking at the situation all in all, his was probably the right decision. I suspect Fish and Game still would have given him a hard time about it. Oddly enough, a couple years later I was driving up a two track in a canyon close to that one and we saw a sign posted by the national forest service that there was a problem bear in the area and campers should hang their food, drive a Subaru, co-exist, vote Obama, blah, blah, blah. Makes you wonder…I can’t imagine they’d post a sign like that unless there was an incident.
Wild1, any chance the pig you shot was a sow? If so, she very well could have been in heat and you weren't what the boar was stalking. We had a big boar try to climb into a pick-up truck bed once to get at a sow in heat we had shot.
The guy who taught my carry permit class.... First thing he said after he had inroduced himself to the room was that if anyone ever had to use a gun against another person, the first phone call should be to a good shrink. Because no matter how bad the other guy "deserved" it, it is one of those things that will really screw you up.
Retired PO and Nam vet. Figured he probably knows what he's talking about.
There's a bear in the drainage we hunt. More than one, it seems, but at least one is really bold and will raid a food pack in broad daylight with 2 hunters in camp. Sucker owes my brother a good tent. He's black. But there was a cinnamon higher up the hill that stalked in one day while my brother was out, solo, and cow-calling. Brother waved him off at about 35 yards....
There's also a female lion that lives up there, and she's got a boyfriend... often enough, anyway. And the occasional cranky bull moose. Other places have feral dogs; around here it's a few brazen coyotes and some human-tolerant bears. Just glad we don't seem to have a lot of issues with growers or meth labs.
Just a hunch: you hit a bear or lion with a solid frontal shot using a 4" barrel, and I'd bet a CO would give you the benefit of the doubt unless you gave him a good reason to not to....
Anyway, I don't stand in judgement of those who choose to carry. I'm not quite there yet, myself, given all the crap&hassle, but if they're going to require me to have a carry permit in order to so much as take a handgun to the range....
You may be on to something, it was, in fact a sow - and the entire episode was very strange, and that would make a lot of sense.
That boar has been my nemesis for over five years, the closest I came to shooting him was when he was running with another sow that I ended up whacking. I'm fairly certain he would show up just to breed and then disappear again.
My wife says the same about me.
It was all in SLOOOOOW motion. The instant his rifle shifted towards my chest and I reached for my handgun this thought came immediately to my mind. I don't want to HAVE to shoot you. At fear for my life and moving laterally, I avoided getting shot.
It was a life changing moment and nothing to brag, boast or discuss openly on any public site.
While on the property and the woods about an hour after sun up I heard what I thought was a deer hauling butt towards me. Sure enough a big doe ran past me not 25 feet away from me, and couldn't have cared less that I was there. Almost immediately I heard the sounds of more large animals running through the woods coming from the same direction as the doe, closing on me extremely fast.
I had a pretty good idea what was coming and sure enough with in seconds three large very nasty looking feral dogs showed up and once they were about 20 yards from me, spotted me and slammed on the brakes. All three dogs started growling, barking and acting extremely aggressive towards me.
Unfortunately the only weapon I had on me at that moment was my 3" folding knife. Quick as I could I grabbed up a large fallen branch and attacked the nearest dog, thankfully they scattered, but I had to charge them four more times to finally drive them away for good.
But what really scared me is often while I scout my boys go off "exploring" on their own while I scout. It was a terrifying "what if?" thought if my boys hand been with ages 9 and 11 at that time and had run into these dogs without me?
Now without exception when EVER I enter the woods for any reason I carry my 5" XD tactile that holds 14 rounds of .45acp and my boys will from now on carry a .22 rifle.
At least 75-80% of the time I usually every where I go, and I don't know why that day I wasn't, but it wont happen again.
But I must say, though I have never hurt another person, I don't believe it would bother me to take the life from some low-life trying to hurt me or my family. I do believe what would bother me greatly would be the trauma of the actual experience that led to such an event. Hopefully I will never have to either.
But like I was saying, I was just curious, with all the discussion of basically, "I carry to protect myself against people," if anyone had actually had to use it to ward off a problem. I hope all this mumbling makes sense.
That was the instructor's point: it's easy to believe that it wouldn't bother you because you don't want to think otherwise. We've all pretty much been raised to want to believe that we're capable of being the Good Guy who saves the day and walks away with a clean conscience. Just doesn't usually work out that way...
But if it's a serious choice between messed up or dead, or between being messed up because you shot somebody vs. messed up because you allowed some Evil to befall a loved one, most of us think we're willing to take our chances... and pray that we never find out.
Anyway me and a friend drove up in my wife's car to scout for Turkey in the same area we encountered the mountain lions so I made sure my new handgun was on my hip. After roosting some birds we started to walk back to the car when we heard 2 four wheelers in a small gravel parking lot doing donuts. We could see them from the top of the ridge intentionally spraying gravel all over the cars below. My wife didn’t come from a very wealthy family so this was her first new car after she put herself through college. That is all I could think about as I walked down the ridge towards the parking lot. It took us about 15 minutes to reach the parking lot all while they were still spraying the cars with gravel. I told myself I would have a few heated words with them and then leave. When we confronted them it was a father (in his 50s) and his son (in his 20s). With a few choice words we asked why they would do this to someone’s car. They didn’t have any remorse about what they did and didn’t care that they weren’t supposed to be riding four wheelers there in the first place. Knowing that nothing good would come from this I told my buddy to get in the car and leave. My buddy was still 30 yards away from the car and in between them. The son bowed up and started to walk towards my friend. I could see that he had a 10-12 inch knife on his belt and all I could think is this is going to end very badly if he pulls that knife. Once the son got about 10 yards from my buddy a group of teenagers in a jeep came up with their music blasting asking when the road was going to open having no idea what was going on. We all kinda looked at them wondering where the hell they came from. After that I was able to get my buddy into the car and we left.
I often think back on that moment and thank the lord those kids drove up inadvertently diffusing the situation. Like some guys have said above even if you use force to save someone’s life it would still be hard to live with.
all this talk about what you might feel afterward don't mean $hit compared to being dead. Just make sure that's the real choice and I will bet you'll do just fine.
Shoot someone you could have avoided shooting and it should bother you....because it will likely bankrupt you and put you in jail as well.
So far I have only put down a few deer hit by cars with my carry gun.
He said you only want one story being told. that story being yours. He said that dead people don't testify.
When I was in High school we used to sneak out to the duck blinds along the bay in Union City. It was a pretty exclusive club but they almost never used it on a weekday eve...so we would go out for an hour before dark and duck hunt.
Well of course we weren't supposed to be there and one night as we were walking out there was a guy yelling out in the broccoli field where we parked the car to get out there. We knew we were in trouble so headed out to get yelled at. My buddies took the direct route and I snuck around the ponds and came around from behind.
Right when I'm sneaking in from behind in the bushes along the field I can just make out 2 guys screaming at my buddies. My buddy Pete says real loud,"Hey mister you shouldn't be pointing that shotgun at us like that!"
On cue, I yelled at them to point their guns in a safe direction and racked my pump gun about 30' away. Those guys just about jumped out of their skin....cussing a blue streak...yelling "Get out here kid"......
It was a big mess of a mexican standoff which could have turned out a lot worse......but Pete told them let us go and we will never be back......and they did....
--Bill
There's no doubt that most men worth their salt will make the decision to "...take the life from some low-life trying to hurt me or my family." And they'd be righteous for doing so.
But unless you have Antisocial Personality Disorder, it will "bother" you.
Humans are social animals. No matter how enraged we get, we are all disinclined to take the life of one of our own.
And there are ramifications to the psyche for doing so: You will get acutely anxious after the fact, shake, sweat, get sick and vomit, and have an acute sense of loss and regret that you've never felt before. The event will then follow you for the rest of your life and you'll live with regret even if you'd do the same thing again given the same situation. There's a good chance you will have nightmares about the event and suffer from PTSD for a time or indefinitely after the event. You may suffer from anxiety and depression.
Every man's got to do what he's got to do for himself, his family, and his country. But don't think for a second that you won't be disaffected and changed by taking the life of another man.
Another point of reference for me: A buddy of mine at work has a second job... As a cop. Did the whole Rangers/Airborne, too. Don't know anything about his combat experience because he never talks about it, which usually means that a guy has had his fill of it.
His chief talking point on all of this is that a gun raises the stakes just by being there. And the more people who know about it, the worse it gets. Always escalates things when the opposite is what's needed. So if carrying something doesn't make you feel MORE vulnerable; doesn't cause you to work at least twice as hard at avoiding any/every kind of a confrontation.... You probably shouldn't be doing it.
His POV; I'm just passing it along.
Truck or gun, its something you wont forget
Then one of them took a long neck beer bottle and broke it on the ground and was holding it by the neck and was still yelling at me when I pulled my hand gun out pointed it at him and asked him.... what the &^#$ you looking at. The tables were turned for sure!!
His buddy walked away and the guy with the bottle started to scream at me ...KILL ME, GO AHEAD AND KILL ME.... I started backing towards my truck not wanting to shot him but if he had attacked me there was no doubt in my mind I was going to shoot him.
I don't go anywhere without a firearm on me, especially in todays wacked out world. !!
I have been in multiple confrontational situations extreme in nature that thankfully I was able to basically flee my way out of. My weapon of choice to carry concealed is a S&W 9mm Shield in a Desantis pocket holster. Without exception during each confrontation I had one hand in my front pants pocket on my Shield as I began my exit.
After each of these situations I did two things #1 thanked all mighty God no one got heart and #2 thanked all mighty God a second time I was armed.
My biggest fear is of course the dreaded "what if" in what if in any of these situations I had not been alone and had one or all of my family members with and fleeing simply is not an option?
Unless in your home it is unrealistic to expect to shoot someone and not have a large if not enormous legal mess on your hands regardless how justifiable it was. You will likely at least be dealing with a civil law suit, especially if you have acquired a reasonable amount of valuable assets and this becomes known to the person you shot or in the case of a fatal shooting, their family, huge numbers of people in this country today it would seem regard lawsuits as an easy way to riches as a type litigated lottery.
So my advice is if at all possible to safely do so flee. But there in lies the quandary, as how does one know if they can safely escape or have to shoot before it's to late to do be able to do either?
And count me as one of the LTC persons who RARELY goes ANYWHERE unarmed, in short if I can carry there I carry.
Ammo was expensive and if the ruffed grouse cooperated I always head shot them rather than burn a 12 gauge round.
Now in AK I use the same gun for snowshoes.
He did say that the local PD was called by someone complaining that this guy in the store had a gun on him. He talked to them and they said that he was scaring people. His response was that he was only exercising his rights and that there are lots of others out there that scare him too. Of course, they didn't do anything and he was on his way.
People freak out when they see an armed person. If they would only know just how many of us have guns on us as a concealed carry.
It is actually surprising that, that incident doesn't haunt me to this day.
Other than that, I have never truly feared for my life in any situation. And I have always attempted to de-escalate a situation, because like many, I have a bad temper. Very easy going, and hard to set off, but when pushed far enough, I know I will do something stupid, with no heed of the consequences at that particular time - I think a lot of guys are like that.
I hope I never have to make that decision, and again, I was just really curious about stories like the property access, duck ponds, Mexicans, and a few others above. In those situations, it does seem that having and showing a handgun, possibly provided a better outcome, than otherwise.
Cnelk, I actually have a friend, that backed over a person on a job site - he was driving a dump truck. He tells me all the time that he struggles every day about that incident. I try to help him the best I can, with the best advice I can give, given the fact that I have never actually experienced what he did. Do you have any advice for dealing with this? You can PM me if you like.
Here is a situation that I went thru a number of years ago. I posted it a number of years ago, worth a repeat. It certainly was nothing I was "trained" for, but I wasn't unprepared.
Back in '92 a friend and I were stocking Clark's Creek,a trout stream in Pennsylvania. As we approached the end of our stretch, we were met by five, for lack of a better term, biker dudes. They asked if we planned on putting any fish at the bridge and I mentioned we had run out of fish about 50 yards back or so. Besides it wasn't really good water right at the bridge. The one guy responded "Oh so you only stock the areas you fish." I mentioned that "No, we hit the full stretch and stocked all the good water. 'Sides we normally don't fish this stretch the first day"
Apparently that was the wrong thing to say. I guess it was the "leader" that started with the threats of "just wait till you're out of the water. We're gonna f' you up real good." I stated look we just want to get to our truck for a cold drink, don't want any trouble. The threats continued. They we're going to kick our asses real good. As the five spread out, the leader was about ten yards away when I stopped walking, opened my jacket to expose my SW6906 and spare mag in a shoulder holster. I asked Mr. Big Mouth directly "Is there a problem?" His eyes about popped out. He raised his hands palms towards me, "No, no problem." I kept my hand on the grip until they left. Not sure what the outcome would have been, but Mr. Big Mouth was getting the first two center mass. I drew a proverbially line in the sand at approx. ten yards. If the line was crossed, my firearm would be drawn. Continue to advance at your own risk.
What really shook me up was the fact that I nearly left my weapon at home. I actually picked it up, spare mag. And laid it back down. I thought the last thing I need while stocking trout is a pistol, spare mag and a shoulder rig getting in the way. Ended up taking it anyway.
That was the first and only time I have been in a situation like that. I pray it was the last. One thing I did realize after the confrontation, there was UTTER CLARITY of what the next step would be. Pure focus on what needed to be done had it escalated. In my mind, I decided ten yards was as close as I would let them get. At ten yards, there was no hesitation on my part. My survival and that of my friend was my only concern. Hand on the grip, thumb under the safety. And a quiet simple question...."Is there a problem?"
That stated, it may have been the best course of action, all things considered. Only you can know for sure.
(VA has sucky laws, imo. It is a "shall issue state," that's good but we have no Castle Doctrine and No Stand Your Ground. Concealed carry classes are largely comprised of the million and one ways a guy will be sued if he shoots another. )
There was no place to retreat, odds are 5 against 2... The odds were pretty much in favor of getting an ass whooping or worse. I wasn't taking the chance. When I exposed my weapon, they were approximately 10 yards or 30 feet away. At 7 yards all bets are off. They pretty much had every intention of escalating the situation. I'm not waiting till I'm face down spitting blood and determine then that my life is at risk. No, I took control of the situation. The choice then became theirs, deescalate or not. Fortunately they made the right choice.
As far as brandishing, VA has some pretty f'ed up laws. Can just imagine, 5 BAMF''s going to the police to claim they were intimidated by 2 people, one with a CCW that were just done stocking a 1 mile stretch of creek that wanted to get a cold drink. My guess is before the cuffs were slapped on, there just might be a few other questions asked.
Its worth taking a CQB class with your handgun too. Not only is it about the most fun you can have with a firearm, but it really dials you in on how good you are and what your limitations are.
Standing at the firing line sending rounds downrange is good for target practice...but not very helpful in a quick draw and shoot situation.
Once it was 3 drunk gangsters on the door step arguing over who was going to knock. I was on the other side of the door with a glock, and a skill set they would not have imagined. No one got stupid, and everyone stayed off the evening news...
All good in the hood :-)
The second time was at 2am inside my house. I heard some noises and went looking. As I came around the corner in the hall, I saw a tall man standing in my living room. The flashlight came on as my gun went up. It was my wives son, he had come by to get something and let himself in with the hidden key! He also Shitte himself! Fortunately I have enough training to know that you must properly identify your target and their intentions before engaging.
Hopefully it will never come down to taking another persons life. That would be a horrible burden to bare! I have a brother that is in law enforcement and he has had to use lethal force twice in 26 years as an officer. I know the burden and wreckage that it has taken on him. Both times it was in self defense while protecting others! that didn't make it any easier. Night mares, troubled marriage, insomnia.
Scar.
It was around midnight or half past and I was at a gas station calling home from a pay phone to let them know I was on my way. Phone is at the far end of the lot and I turn around to see a guy walking towards me. Baggy pants, sweatshirt, hat on crooked...........someone who has no business coming to talk to me. As he gets closer, I placed my hand on the grip as I had it in the small of my back under my shirt.
I hollered at him asking what he wanted before he got too close and he processes to ask me if I wanted to buy some coke to which I respond with a loud NO and to get out of there. Thankfully he quickly turned around and walked away.
There was a situation where I wish I had mine about 10yrs ago. A guy charged be on a 4-wheeler and was intent on running me over. After backing up very fast and him skidding to a halt after hitting me, he jumps off and starts shoving me, making death threats and yelling about how I chased his kid down who was riding a dirt bike. Now, it would have been foolish to chase someone of a bike when I'm on foot, so that didn't happen. But what did happen, is the kid was trespassing on his bike and he saw me on the hill and immediately spun around to head back the way he came. It was almost dark when his dad showed up and the confrontation ensued. I just kept backing up the whole time as this fella had a good 80lbs or more on me.
Once home, I called the police to see what my options were about pressing assault charges. The officers response was that he'd probably counter file charges against me since it was my word against his. So I did nothing and fortunately, have not had a direct run-in with him again. Though I'm pretty sure him or one of his family members trespassed this past season and stole my ladderstand.
I didn't really "need" to shoot him to defend myself, since he didn't even seem to be able recognize I was there, but the county where I lived in NC at the time was in the middle of a pretty serious rabies epidemic and he seemed to have it to me.
I was carrying a 9mm at the time and put one round in him and then all heck broke loose. The crazy little bugger went to making hideous noises, snapping his mouth, jumping up and down and started moving in my direction. He kind of looked like the Tasmanian devil in the old Loony Toons cartoons. It took a second shot, this one better placed, and he was down for good.
I called animal control and they said they were too busy to deal with another rabid coon, and that I should dig a 3' hole, get a stick and push him in, burn him, and bury him.
I think of some of the victims I have seen through the years more than the shooting...
As with joining the service, you know that one day, you may be called upon to make that decision...Never easy, nor something to be taken lightly...
Army, Navy, or Marines?
Good friend was a chopper pilot there flying the Cobra. 13th Combat Aviation Battalion....Shield of Mekong.
That seems to be the down-side to pulling/brandishing a weapon that you're not IMMEDIATELY prepared to put into use.... Only a sociopath could want anything other than to avoid shooting someone, which (so I've heard) is how people end up shot with their own guns.
Overall, this is really serious shit. Makes me wanna look into a taser, in addition to pepper spray, and then MAYBE a firearm just in case I ever find myself in a Real Situation.
I can just about see myself Packing out there in the Bush, where in that million-to-one scenario where I might want a hand-cannon, at least it''d only be a bear or a lion.... but People are why I don't yet own a permit.
For the record in my 2 posts above.... I never had to point the firearm at either group to get the desired effect.
I have to ask you why after the FIRST time did not your wife call 911? let alone 8? I'm not trying to be disrespectful or overly critical, but is not the situation you described EXACTLY what the police are for?
My concern after that of my families well being would be that of other people. I can't speak for anyone else, but if I had a male who was obviously up to no good and IMHO posed a legitimate threat repeatedly coming to my home and trying to gain entry and didn't call 911, and he ended up doing great harm to someone else, especially one of my neighbor's, I would feel directly responsible and as such would weigh greatly on my mind likely for ever
Let's suppose you would have to have shot the person. I would assume you make it know to the police about the other eight times. I would expect the first question from the police would be why didn't you call. Not calling could lead them to believe you were being less than totally honest with. I know my CC carry instructor stressed that we always file a report as it would make our story more credible. No I have never had to draw mine, hope I never do but, I carry every where I can.
I have experienced threats from (sub)humans and in most cases was glad for both of us I didn't have a gun handy. Like PowellSix0 has basically said, pulling the trigger is a life-altering decision and should only be done to save a life or prevent serious injury. Anger, fear and pent-up frustration don't justify shooting someone, at least in the minds of a jury. There is always plenty of talk about shooting someone who is threatening you or has entered your home. I hope it never happens for me.
One time I was checking some trail cams. I always pack when I'm out in the woods near me, there are lots of black bears with no fear of humans, and that makes me nervous. Out of nowhere the brush came alive next to where I was walking and a giant black figure was crashing straight at me. I reached on my hip and drew. There I stood holding my little folding knife when an escaped black angus cow emerged just a few feet away. My pistol still in the holster. My instant conditioned reaction was to pull out my little utility knife which I use all the time and not the firearm which I never need to pull out. Made me realize that when things happen really fast, all the training or skill we think we have goes right out the window.
If Mr. Dirtbag calls ("Hey, cops! I was peacefully walking to church when some guy pointed a gun at me for absolutely no reason!") and you don't, your life could soon become very complicated!
I carry often and there is never a handgun too far from me. I thank the Good Lord that I have never been in a situation involving another human being where I have had to use one or even really felt like it might be needed.
However back in around 1990, I was shot at in a drive by shooting on the campus of Purdue University. Thankfully the punks missed me. A late model Camero style of car rolled up at a corner and as I looked over my shoulder I saw the muzzle flash and heard the bullet wiz past me. The tires spun and they raced away. They were never caught and I have no idea why I was a target of their drive by. All I know is that the Good Lord was looking over me that evening. The entire incident really didn't effect me in any way mentally. My roommates seemed to be more rattled by it than I was. I really viewed the incident as more of a pain in the ass with all of the police reports and interviews for several days, as it was interrupting with my school work.
If Mr. Dirtbag calls ("Hey, cops! I was peacefully walking to church when some guy pointed a gun at me for absolutely no reason!") and you don't, your life could soon become very complicated!"
Good point!!! In addition, when you make that call some of the first words out of your mouth need to be, "I was in fear of my (or whoever's) life." Be insistent on that point.
Only had to display it one time in (Over the Rhine) New Years day this year on a 2 legged vermin! Over the Rhine is where all the Cincinnati riots occurred in the 90's. They are revitalizing the area and against my wife and adult kids wishes I went down there for dinner.
He about shit himself, thank God that's the only time!!!!
I also carry in Ohio but for pigs incase they get to territorial
Oh, and I never did see " Mary ", but I've always suspected that they had a little spat and she was messing with his mind and I was just the lottery winner.