Have you ever had the need to brandish/draw/shoot?

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I've never had to use a firearm in a defensive situation in any manner and I hope it stays that way.

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The closest I have come was 2-3 years ago and involved a very aggressive Chevy Suburban driver with a car full of early 20s somethings who from some unknown reason targeted me. The SUV was driving very erratically, cutting me off, slowing down, speeding up, brake checking, yelling, swerving towards my vehicle, making obscene gestures, etc. at me on a fairly empty rural interstate. After making reasonable efforts (ie without grossly violating the law or safety by like driving 100+ mph) to either get ahead or behind them without success over about 15-20 miles as they were determined to harass me (and no, I don't know why as when they merged on the interstate ahead of me I signaled, changed lanes and with cruise control still on passed them normally on the left and as I did the driver honked at me, flipped me off and yelled obscenities for unknown reasons), I had finally determined that they were very dangerous and I was done waiting to see if they were actually going to do something that could injure or kill me.

My t-tops were out, my sidearm was on the my passenger seat under a jacket, and after they sped up significantly, short-passed me and brake checked yet again, I fell back, put the jacket on the floor board, hit "resume" on the cruise control and passed them normally on the left yet again. As I came around this time I again saw the finger fly up, heard the cursing and then heard something like, "Holy f--- he has a gun" and then I heard the tire chirping of ABS locking up the wheels as they came to a nearly dead stop in their lane and I continued on my way never seeing them again. I never once touched my sidearm and having it on my seat like that was completely legal.

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oilfieldtrash11 wrote:

One time actually, very recently, I had to draw my S&W .38 Special out of my jacket while pulling over to pickup my girlfriend in the middle of the night for, well..we will leave that out. Out of nowhere 2 guys approached my Jeep from the back and tried to open my driver side door. I already had my hand inside my carhart ,(which is my favorite jacket while concealing a firearm because of the sweet little velcro pocket on the inside left) and I pulled it out of the pocket, but still concealed within my jacket to see what they were doing. I realized they did not have good intentions so I decided it was time to "show" one of the assailants how clean the inside of my barrel was. It was perfect timing because he actually had a "gun" in his hand which ended up being a bb pistol and I made him drop it. They thought they were tough at first and one of those tough guys was crying while I was calling the police, holding these 2 at gunpoint. The officer said nothing to me about having a loaded firearm in my jeep, on me, or the fact that I had pulled it out to stop these two. You should have seen my girlfriend's face when she walked outside and saw me holding 2 people on the ground at gunpoint, and her dad's face when he came out front to the lights, wondering what I was doing out front in the middle of the night. haha. goodtimes, but that is why I never leave the house without a firearm.

EDIT: in all seriousness ,i may seem to think that this is funny, and that it was fun, because i just couldnt believe the situation and it was funny to watch these two wannabe tough guys break down and cry because they messed with the wrong person. at the time it was not a fun situation, and I am very fortunate that nothing worse happened and that i did not get arrested for concealing a loaded weapon. it is now a funny story.

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Those Carhart jackets are very sweet indeed. I carry with mine, too.

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Pamiam wrote:

Have you ever had the need to brandish/draw/shoot?

What were the circumstances? What were the results?

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I posted this in the Montana section on here but I'll re-post it here since the topic came up!

It’s been quite some time since this incident happened, I believethe year was 2004 or 2005, I know it was November,but the details still sit in the back of my mind like it was yesterday!

My sister and I were living together in a condo on 11[suP]th[/suP] Ave. & 3[suP]rd[/suP] St. W. Well, we called it a condo to make it sound more glorified. It was a nice looking duplex. At about 2300hrs she and I decided to walk to a nearby gas station so we could get something to drink, then walk uptown for a little while that night. We lived on the west side of Main Street and the gas station was on the east side. After leaving there and getting our drinks we crossed back over to the left-hand (west) side of Main and started walking north. We crossed 12[suP]th[/suP] Street, then 11[suP]th[/suP]. We were nearing courthouse loop (a place where the northbound lanes of the highway and the southbound split to go around the old courthouse), when a car came screaming southbound. There was no traffic on the road and this car was taking full advantage of it.

When the car hit the southbound end of Courthouse Loop the driver immediately grabbed the e-brake and pulled a u-turn right in the middle of the road, causing him to face north in the southbound lane. After sitting there for a second or two, he whipped his car around again and proceeded to head south. My sister and I (both having kinda’ big mouths) hollered at him to slow down and knock off the stupid driving. The driver and his two passengers all hollered “F*** you!” I thought by that reaction that we’d heard and seen the last of them! We continued walking up the road when we heard the distinct sound of tires squealing again! I stopped and my sister continued walking a few more steps before she stopped, which put her about 10-feet in front of me. We both turned around, putting her behind me. When we turned, the car that had performed it’s professional driving techniques for us had pulled another e-brake turn and came up on the sidewalk behind us.

With my sister behind me I knew I’d be the first person hit by the car. In the span of about 2-seconds (although it seemed like 2-hours) the car had come up on the sidewalk at us and closed nearly the ¾ of a block distance between us. When I saw the headlights bearing down on us I ripped open my coat and pulled my pistol.

Okay, this is the point where I get to do a little bit of bragging. I carried a pistol that wasn’t anything really special at the time, a Springfield XD-40. I bought a Surefire X-200 light and mounted that on the rail of the pistol. Since I was doing this shortly after the X-200 hit the market, there wasn’t a damn thing in the way of concealment holsters available for it so I had a Pancake holster custom made for it. That was expensive!!

I don’t even remember pulling the pistol, but I did. I pulled the pistol and aimed it right where I figured the driver’s head was at. Right at that point I activated the light that was mounted on the pistol, possibly temporarily blinding the driver. I think it surprised the hell out of him to see that light, but to see his intended victim in a Weaver Stance with a pistol attached to that light was what I’m bargaining as a bigger surprise! I was half-way through a trigger pull on the very first round in the chamber when the driver turned through a vacant lot, down an alley and took off! The car didn’t even have a license plate on it and only had one taillight! Two feet versus four wheels don’t really compensate

After it all happened I called the cops, but to no avail. They weren’t able to find the car or any sign of it after it happened. When an officer responded to the scene one of the questions was: “Are you sure he came up on the sidewalk at you?” I gave him a dirty look and headed straight for the two trees the car had to go between. On the sidewalk near those trees was a skid mark from the car tires. He looked at me and said something to the effect of how I was lucky! He said had I fired at the car it would more than likely have been ruled as justifiable and no charges would have been filed. Easy to say coming from a cop. One of the first questions a Prosecutor would have asked would be: “Why didn’t you step out of the way?” It’s tough to move in that kind of situation!

Suffice it to say, I think the presence of not only the light, but the weapon itself more than likely saved my life! I know this isn’t quite an Open Carry Story, but it’s a Carry Story nonetheless! I’ll never in my life be caught without a pistol on my belt!

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Once, I know it was the difference between walking away and not walking away. One other time it most likely kept my store from being robbed, and yet another time, it was the difference between whether I was comfortable standing my ground or not.

The time I actually pulled it out and was taking up trigger slack, the BG realized he was about to have a mild case of lead poisoning, and ran away--screaming to his accomplice that "c'mon, man, he's got a gun".

I didn't get jittery at all until about 15 minutes after it was over--and the implications of what I was about to do hit me. Oddly enough, I remember mostly feeling guilty about NOT feeling guilty about what I was wiling to do to protect myself. Those of you who've been there understand what I mean, and those who haven't--well, I can't explain it, but I pray that you never HAVE to understand it.

The other two times I mentioned, frankly the whole incidents played out as nothing more than "problem solved" and going back about my business.

I was about to write the stories, but I realized that I can't do that in this forum without either writing a novel, or sounding like a cold-hearted trigger-happy loon...neither of which would be appropriate.:shock:

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cbunt1 wrote:

...SNIP

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I didn't get jittery at all until about 15 minutes after it was over--and the implications of what I was about to do hit me. Oddly enough, I remember mostly feeling guilty about NOT feeling guilty about what I was wiling to do to protect myself. Those of you who've been there understand what I mean, and those who haven't--well, I can't explain it, but I pray that you never HAVE to understand it.

SNIP...

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What you experienced is perfectly normal. Each person reacts differently to these incidents, but most who have prepared mentally before hand will act coolly and deliberately when they see the elephant for the first time.

The infusion of adrenaline will first get you focused and aware, so much so that you can actually lose situational awareness if you are not careful. This is why training is so important. When this physical reaction occurs, your mind and body will revert to your training. Muscle memory will take over, sight picture, draw and a lot of small details will just happen if you train correctly. Later that same adrenaline can cause you to crash in a weak kneed heap when the incident is over. Better living through chemistry I guess. But in any case it represents a few million years of evolution coming to the surface. Sorry to say it gets easier each time you have one of these incidents.

But you are quite right that people who never experience this will not understand it. Some hunters experience an almost debilitating form of this known as "buck fever". But Buck Fever manifests itself differently. With experience these reactions diminish in intensity, and can be controlled.

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These are great learning stories for everyone - open carry, concealed carry, and anti-gun.

Keep 'em coming.

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I have never had to brandish a firearm, but I have three stories from relatives that have, and once when I thought I would have to use mine.

First is from my Father in-law. When my wife and her sister were little girls, their dad took them fishing up at Carmen Smith reservoir. it has a loong narrow floating pier that extends way out into the lake, and my father-in law and his daughters were all out near the end fishing. He was openly carrying a pistol in a belt holster.

A car pulled up in the parking area and three hispanic guys got out, and started walking out on the pier. No fishing poles or gear, and not really dressed like they're enjoying the great outdoors. One of them was even on crutches! They seemed to my father-in-law to be intent on them, for what reason he had no idea. While they were still several yards away, he stepped in between the girls and the approaching trio, turned his body so the handgun on his side was clearly visible, and stared at them. All three abruptly stopped, turned around, and high-tailed it off the dock, got in their car and left in a hurry.

Second and third were from my own Mom. Before I was born, she was home alone at night with my brother and sister when she heard someone making noise outside in their carport. She got her pistol and looked out the window to see some guy standing in her carport! The guy just looked at her, grinned, and started walking towards her door. When she held up the pistol, the guy stopped, turned, and ran.

My mom was also being harrassed by someone on Interstate 5 in Oregon. She was driving alone at night, and simply passed a car. The other driver apperantly didn't like it, because they flipped on their high beams and started riding right on her rear end. She tried speeding up to put some distance between them, they stayed right there. She slowed way down so they'd go around her, they stayed right there. She held up her pistol so it was plainly visible to the other driver -they lowered their high beams and dropped back significantly.



Idid have my pistol out once because I thought I had an intruder in my home.About 9years ago on December 30th, We were up at about 10 PM visiting with a visiting friend, when I thought i heard some noise in the kitchen andwent out to investigate andcheck the doors for the night. I was suprised to find the kitchen window was open. That started alarm bells ringing in my head right away.I ran and told my wife, got my pistol from the bedroom, and started creeping out into the kitchen to investigate with the pistol at "low ready". I then spotted the front door was wide open, so I yelled to my wife "Someone's in the house, call 911!" and I racked a round into my pistol.

Just then I hear a wavery female voice coming from around the corner, "do-o-on't Sho-o-o-ot! It's j-u-u-ust me-e-e-e!" "Who is it!? Who's there!?" I barked. "It's Yo-o-our S-i-i-iste-e-er!"

My wife had startled her sister the night before by showing up and banging on her door when she wasn't expecting it (her sister is kinda jumpy) and thought my wife scared her on purpose.The sister told their mom, who suggested she scare my wife back, so she thought it would be great fun to sneak over to our house, sneak in through the kitchen window, and cause some havoc, but it was her that got the bigger suprise, forgetting I have a gun. When she heard me rack the slide she realized she'd better say something before I came around the corner. She likes to tell the story that I had the gun pointed at her head before I knew it was her, but it was never pointed anywhere NEAR her direction (I make sure of my target before aiming at it).

The two sisters then went over to their mom's house and scared her so bad that the cops got called on them, but that's another story :quirky

...Orygunner...

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Years ago (early 80's) when I was young, dumb and completely ignorant of gun laws, I was driving south along I-95. I was stationed at NAS Brunswick, ME, and was being sent down to Orlando, FL for a school.

My bride and our little boy (about 6 months old) was making the trip with me. Her grandparents lived in Florida, and they had not seen their newest grandchild yet. She would stay with her grandparents while I was attending school. Also along for the trip, was my .357 revolver. I was already carrying on a fairly regular basis in Maine, which I don't believe had any laws against it at that time. As I said before, I was completely ignorant that other states had different laws on such things.

Anyway, it was late at night and we were approaching New York City on I-95. Being a country boy, I had no idea that the New York metropolitan area encompassed so much territory. I was getting low on fuel, but thought if I waited until I was on the outbound side, I could find cheaper gas prices.

Needless to say, at 2am I'm somewhere in the bronx, crusing for an all night gas station. We had already passed cars on the interstate, stripped and burned. We ended up in a really seedy area of town where the 'attendent' remained behind a bullet-proof glass partition. As I pulled up (with out of state plates) a group of thugs were sitting on what appeared to be a disabled vehicle, and they were eyeing us like fresh meat.

My wife was freaking out and I'm thinking their going to kill me, rape my wife, and sell my son. As I stepped out of my car and two of them got up and started toward me. I reached under the seat and pulled out the pistol. I made a point of starring right at them as I tucked the pistol into my front waistband. They did an about face and returned to their group. They just sat there and watched us while I filled up.

It was only later that I learned that I had been caught with that pistol in New York, that would have meant an automatic trip to the slammer.Although not legal, I believe to this day, the mere possession of that pistolmade a difference.

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Pamiam wrote:

Have you ever had the need to brandish/draw/shoot?

What were the circumstances? What were the results?

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Yep and Yep and Yep!

Actually my wife brandished on a trip once when someone tried to force her off the rd. I was asleep and reclined so the BG couldn't see me. I woke up to see the BG take off like is ass was on fire.

I confronted a burgler in my house when I was about 14- after a short struggle I ran to my room. grabbed my DBL 410 and confronted the BG, he started to threaten further, I raised to ready pull the trigger (on SAFE) DAMN. However this scared the guy so bad he ran away!

I was on our farm-- We had been having trouble with poachers, rustlers and vandals. A truck came barreling and me at a very fast speed like he was going to hit me. I took my "Woodmaster 742" a put five holes in is radiator then put 5 more in is tailgate to let him know not to come back.

Keep in mind; this was MS in the mid 70's and that's the way we did in "DIXIE"! YE HA!!

Pamiam said:

Have you ever had the need to brandish/draw/shoot?

What were the circumstances? What were the results?

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This is a dead topic but I think it should be brought back to life! So many good stories. Keep it up, people!

I have a few I'd like to tell, just not yet.
But yes, this certainly is a great thread!

Instead of creating a zombie thread, why not head over to http://forum.opencarry.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?136-True-Tales-of-Self-Defense and see what's been happening?

stay safe.

ixtow said:

Unholstered 3 times, pointed once.

That was all it took. Didn't have to pull the trigger. 4 crimes prevented, nobody got hurt. Statistics, where?

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That'll teach your mother-in-law ! lol

These stats are tossed in the garbage...

I've only had my permit since December, but a hair over a month ago now (IIRC) I was involved in a situation where I didn't have to draw, but the fact that I was OC'ing I believe prevented me from needing to do so.

I was jogging with my dog on DNR land (there is a sign there that I was unaware of - until after my talk with the DNR officer - that forbids pets). On my last lap a guy enters the trail area and starts immediately screaming at me concerning the presence of my dog. The gun is on my right hip and very visible. I kind of raised my eyebrows and just stayed silent.

Anyway to make a long story short (since this isn't a true brandishing/drawing/shooting story), I left to avoid confrontation, he follows me, makes multiple verbal threats to my safety/life, calls the cops on me, follows me home (he kept far enough back that I did not see him; and there are so few turns between the DNR land and home that he may have just gotten lucky and saw me standing outside talking to my father), then guns his engine when we go up to talk to him (he had stopped on the road and was just staring at us, on the phone, presumably with police).

I think he had some mental issues, and I'm very glad I was openly carrying as I firmly believe the fact that I was prevented a crime from being committed by this deranged individual.* Anyway I told the cops what happened, they ran my handgun & driver's license, waited for DNR officer to show up, I apologized for the trouble (just being polite, none of what happened was truly my fault), and said I wouldn't bring my dog there again since there was a rule posted.

Moreso though it is just to avoid this individual again. I am not so certain he is mentally stable enough that he wouldn't try to do something very stupid. A major part of the reason I open carry is to avoid ever having to shoot somebody. Sometimes that means avoiding problem areas, too. And it's not really any fun jogging without my dog anyway, so, there you go. I'd probably go back there with family sometime in the future - carrying, of course - but I've no plans to go there alone again.

Things never rose to the point where I had any reason to fear for life or limb, so I never drew. I never even brandished, any more than "OCing" is brandishing a gun. I would interpret that as meaning body language meant to convey "don't screw with me, I've got a gun." Never did that, either.

~

I don't live in a big city or a town, but I do carry everywhere I go (probably 80% OC, 20% CC, or thereabouts). Hopefully I'll never get in any situations like what are being described in this thread. However if I do I am mentally prepared to handle them.




*Technically he is guilty of misdemeanor assault from threatening my life/safety (and according to one of the officers he did admit to this, so it is not a situation of my word vs his), but I'm not interested in pressing charges at this juncture. I'm a fan of the "every dog gets one bite" philosophy. What I meant though was more along the lines of battery or worse.

skidmark said:

Instead of creating a zombie thread, why not head over to http://forum.opencarry.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?136-True-Tales-of-Self-Defense and see what's been happening?

stay safe.

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You mean like this- http://miami.cbslocal.com/2012/05/26/miami-police-confrontation-men-leaves-1-dead-1-hurt/

Logan 5 said:

You mean like this- http://miami.cbslocal.com/2012/05/26/miami-police-confrontation-men-leaves-1-dead-1-hurt/

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Well, yes.:lol: Except several people have beaten you to it.:banana:

stay safe.

Yeah, I noticed that. After the fact.

3 years ago I was at a traffic light. The guy behind me had been speeding up and slowing down. Basically riding my ass. I had my two kids in the car. The guy got out of his truck with a tire iron yelling something I couldn't hear. I cleared my holster with my xd45 and was bringing it up when he stopped coming towards my car and got back into his truck. To this day I have no idea what he was going on about or why he decided to turn around. But like a previous poster, about 15 minutes later I realized that I was fully prepared to shoot this man. I didn't really feel one way or the other about it.