Yessir it has. I posted my misadventure here a long time ago back when I was a much newer member. The short version (and lessons I learned) are these:

1. Situational awareness is key. I would never have found myself in a position to have to pull my gun had I been paying attention to what was going on around me in the first place.

2. An empty gun is only as useful as the bad guys are stupid. I had emptied my gun at work ("end of the night blowout" as we used to call a little target practice after the customers were gone). I suspect the BG thought the sound of my pulling my gun from the kydex holster it was in was the sound of me racking the slide. Thank goodness he was not the sharpest tool in the shed.

3. I could, given the right set of circumstances, take another person's life. It should be noted here that halfway home I had to pull over, get out of the car and spend about 15 minutes on my knees puking my guts up once this realization hit me.

So ... there you have it ... I had an empty gun and I was extremely naive (when I am not feeling so generously towards myself I will freely admit that that night was a litany of stupid errors on my part). My brand spanking new LEO husband was trying to raise me up right but I was a bit stubborn. Not anymore ... My LOADED gun goes everywhere with me and I could care less what is playing on the radio at a stoplight ... LOL

 

I believe several times... I used to work late in the City of Tampa, and several times after work I was stopped (between 11pm and 6 am) at taffic lights and was approached by $hitbags asking for money.. I always gave them verbal commands to get away from my car..When they refused I pointed my .45 glock-in-spiel in their faces, at which time they they backed away from my vehicle. Yes, I believe it did save my life, but I really don't know for sure..

 

Yep and no I will not.

 

I can't say whether or not it "saved my life" but it definitely prevented it from getting to that point.
When the Rodney King riots started I was working about a mile and a half from "Ground Zero". When things started burning and otherwise going to he!!, the company (Northrop Aircraft) sent everyone home. My car pool buddy Mike and I "knew" there would be problems whatever the verdict and had prepped for that eventuality. As we got in the car to go home, we had an folding stock 870 with an extended mag loaded with #4 Buck & slugs, along with some other measures for "insurance".
We had to stop at a red light due to heavy crosstraffic and as we were sitting there in the LH lane, we were rapidly being approached from our right by a group of a bout 12+ large, black gangsta types.
There was no where to go and so Mike stuck the 870 out of the passenger side window in their direction and all of them just froze
After what seemed like forever, the light finally changed, traffic stopped and I nailed the gas and booked it for the freeway. We made it home w/o further incident but I'm glad we had thought ahead and it never had to get to the next level. :thumb:

Also when we were allowed to come back to work days later, the NG had both ends of the street to the plant blocked off w/ some company flat bed semi trailers and some .50 BMG sandbagged "nests" along w/ Jersey barriers. That gave most employees a warm feeling! :

 

Good story...When rioting broke out down here in 1996, I stayed the hell away from St. Pete....

 

I will say it may have....

Carrying a firearm is a massive responsibility. You must remember that for the rest of your life, EVERY SINGLE disagreement or situation you are in will have a gun it in( at least 1 ). I had a situation with some gang looking punks not to long ago who did something improper ( Not going to get into details ). In my younger days I would have shot my mouth off and gotten into it with them. A situation that could have gotten me killed ( sometimes they have guns too ). I chose to take the high road because I just didn't want to have to shoot at them and I felt if I escalated that may have been the outcome. I shut my mouth and walked away from the situation.

Did a firearm save my life? Possibly. Or maybe, it was more my mental training than my firearm training. Thinking smart may be what saved me.

Either way, once you start to carry you assume a much bigger responsibility and have to learn to turn the other cheek. You MUST let the petty things roll right off you or you're headed down a path that no good can come from.

 

Not me but a friend of mine has used his to shoot a would be assailant at gunpoint.

http://www.deloc.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=770

Short version.

Coming home from work two assailants tried to rob him at gunpoint with the gun in his ribs. Instead of getting his wallet he pulled his own gun and fired, hitting one of them. They ran off and no charges were ever brought on the one that went to the hospital for a gunshot wound.

 

Yup....years back when we were building our house one of the contractors that I had working here hired some drifter that he felt sorry for. The guy hadn't been in town for a week. (small town less than 1000 people...every one knows you) Any way turns out this guy is a meth head and tweeking real hard. On the 2nd day he goes looney ....scary freaked out going to be violent kind of looney....and I need to get him off the property. I try to be nice and get him to go but....I see him go to his truck and open the door and grab what turns out to be a crow bar....glad it wasn't a gun. But as I saw this happening I had already grabbed my Glock from my truck. Even the sight of the Glock and several stern verbal warnings weren't enough to deter his advance....there were only 2 of us here and he was a fairly big guy, high on meth wielding a crow bar....so I put one in the chamber and fired off a round a few feet to his side. Thankfully that worked. He stopped, yelled some expletives a few time, headed back for his truck where he started searching around for something else. Thought for sure he was looking for a gun but it never materialized. Yet all the way I just followed him with my gun trained telling him to leave. He did in fairly short order.

I immediately went to town and reported the guy...the police chief is a friend....but no one ever saw the guy in town again. Seems he just moved on. Not sure he knew the gig was up here or if he was so fried that he would ever remember but he came VERY close to dying. Like within 2 steps. And I would have felt no regret or remorse.

 

Rifle. Bear. Me between bear and food supply in small cabin. Dead bear. Me here to tell the tale.

 

Had a bum/drug addict ask for spare change said I didn't have any walked 30Ft or so to my car started to unlock it he got mad started calling me names "racist pecker head"

I got the door open by this time he was coming at me with his fists clenched (from the front of the vehicle) used the door as a block and pulled my gun (galco fanny pack) S&W 6904 kicked the safety off!

I never pointed the gun at him and He never actually saw the gun, I looked him dead in the eyes and he stopped, looked at the door and then back at my eyes and took off running like a little girl bitch slapped on the playground.

 

Yep -

1) Age 18, walking home from work and a guy jumped out with a knife. Maybe I could have handed him my wallet, but given that he still charged me after I pulled out the gun and I did shoot him in the hip (was a really bad shot back then and quite scared), I believe I was under life threat.

2) Sitting in a pickup truck trapped in the right lane, had a guy getting out of his car with a knife and tell me he was going to cut me if I didn't give him money. I showed him my gun and he said something about just messing with me and left.

3) My store being robbed - had my two kids (little at the time) there.

You never know for sure that a gun has saved your life because you don't know for sure that they other guy would have killed you. But any time someone pulls a weapon, I take for granted he plans to use it. Therefore, if I pull the gun and I stay alive, I consider that it saved my life.

 

In April of 2009, a Mexican guy ran up on me shortly after I had pulled into my driveway and had stepped out of my truck. He wasn't very stealthy about it and I heard him coming as he ran up behind me, and being around 10:30 at night, I drew my gun and he came to a sliding stop in front of me, yelled for me not to shoot him, and he turned and ran off. I never saw a weapon, and it happened very quickly. I can only assume he wanted my truck or wallet.

 

yes, three times.

1.) While working as a 24hr/service locksmith, I was sitting at a traffic light at 1am. A vehicle pulled up beside me on the left, in the turn lane. I heard their car door open, and looked in my sideview mirror to see a man get out of the car with a gun in his hand and approach my driver side door. I laid gun on the window sill, pointed directly at him. He dove into the other car's rolled down window screaming "go! Go! he's gotta gun!" The car peeled out through the red light and disappeared with legs hanging out of the passenger side window.

2.) While working the same job, I got a call to a bar at 2am for a customer who had locked her keys in her car. I removed her keys, and had them in my hand while writing her ticket up.. it was then that I saw two very large gentlemen come from behind the dumpster and tell her not to worry about the bill, they'll take care of me. They approached my vehicle and demanded that I give them the keys or they were going to "drag me out of that van and beat me to death"... I stayed in the van, but drew the same pistol and asked them to step away from my van. They apologized profusely, and backed away with their hands up, and left the parking lot. I got paid, customer got her keys, and I went home safe.... and two big gorillas learned a lesson about size vs. firepower. (I'm 5'2" and around 150lbs.. they were 6ft+ and about 250lbs each)

3.) I was living in San Diego while in the Marine Corps I heard breaking glass outside my bedroom window and went outside to investigate. I found a man sitting in my car with all of my personal belongings from my glovebox in his hands, including my kabar. When he saw me coming around the corner of the car, he removed the knife from it's sheath and stood up from the car. I raised a ruger .44 with an 8" barrel at him. He dropped the knife and everything else and fled the scene screaming. (I'll count that as civilian since I was off duty).

SO, yes, there are possibly 3 times that a gun has saved my life as a civilian. Each time there were no shots fired, although I was ready to do so.
NOTE*** I probably would have had legal problems with situation #2 if I had shot them, because I was in my vehicle and probably COULD have just driven away and called the police and it was before Florida's castle doctrine. Glad I didn't find out.***

 

Reference you're number 2: You'd love Texas law on that point. There is no requirement in Texas to retreat. That requirement was changed some years ago. I am glad you didn't have to take a life, evidently we've bnoth had enough of that - just different branches

 

Was coming home from work one evening just before Christmas. It was Atlanta and fairly warm outside. I had stopped and picked up a few things at a local variety store. There was a van parked between my car and the store when I came out. Three men were meandering around the van. I put my stuff in the trunk and opened my door to get in the car. As I sat, one of the men pulled on the door and "asked" me to come with them. I said no thanks and tried to close the door. He repeated, "I said, why don't you come with us!"

I reached over and got my pistol that was under some papers in the front seat and pulled it out and pointed at him and said, "I said no thanks" and he backed off saying, "Oh sorry lady, we were just kidding".

Was he "just kidding"? I'll never know because I slammed my door and sped off as fast as I could!

 

My Tale

I had a gun save my life once, but not in the way you would expect.

One night I was walking home alone in the dark and I was approached by several unsavory characters. Then I heard a gunshot. For a few moments I thought for sure I was dead. Then there was a bunch of commotion a lot of "Oh my god, Oh my god!", and suddenly everyone was gone. Realizing someone had fired a gun into these guys I spent a good 30 minutes looking for the person who had just saved my life, but never did find them.

On the evening news the next day I heard that a gang member had gone to the hospital with a gunshot wound, police were looking for the culprit. A few days later a news update said that the gang member who had been shot had died, but they also indicated the wound was self inflicted.

It was reported that he had tried to get his gun out to "show it to someone" and in the process it had discharged and sent a bullet tearing through his femoral artery.

I've never had confirmation that these two events were related, but it seems to be too strong of a correlation to chalk up to mere coincidence.

It was right after that I decided to go through my states "Concealed Carry" education program (now optional). Because I would never want anything like what happened to that poor fella to happen to me.

I've also decided that I will never take a life in anger or out of retaliation, so I carry one of these, http://www.pyramydair.com/s/m/Webley_Alecto/2238 at all times.

It might seem silly, but just going open carry with it, has I believe, caused a significant drop in the number of people who approach me "uninvited". Also it's non-lethal but that doesn't mean it won't hurt like hell if you get shot with it, and this gun makes 660 FPS. That is enough take down power to kill a rabid dog. Most people react strongly to pain and that is enough to get them to back down. For the crack head strung out on PCP or whatever, it's not going to make much difference, then again neither will a .22 unless it's expertly placed.

For the record I'm ex-navy & received both marksman ribbons, so I'm not afraid to shoot. Just don't like the idea of playing grim reaper for someone.

 

YES!!!!!!!!!!! And law enforcement was no where to be found, thats all I need to say.

 

Yep...While living in Sacto, early 90's, heading to a trendy resturant on Broadway, not too seedy, just vagrants and some dopers, etc...

Hitting the bank atm across the street, was approached by bum #1 who "demanded," some cash, i politely told him to "fuch off" and noticed his buddy, bum #2 angling up on me, figured this was it, classic pincher move...

I carried a little .25 auto in a pocket holster, looked like a wallet, i drew it, cocked the hammer, held it low in my palm, off my leg, showed it to him/them....

they cursed, smiled at me and backed off....

So...don't really know if it saved my life, but prevented a mugging....

 

Someone attempted to break into my home. He changed his mind when 1911 smiled at him.

 

Yes. Three times. Once in a supermarket parking lot, two other times at home (I have since left that location, permanently).

Let's just say that sometimes there are worse things that can happen to a woman than getting killed.

Because I was armed and had rehearsed in my mind what I would do and how I would do it if I was ever in that position, it didn't happen to me and I wasn't physically hurt much past cuts and bruises.

 

Yes. Three times. Once in a supermarket parking lot, two other times at home (I have since left that location, permanently).

Let's just say that sometimes there are worse things that can happen to a woman than getting killed.

Because I was armed and had rehearsed in my mind what I would do and how I would do it if I was ever in that position, it didn't happen to me and I wasn't physically hurt much past cuts and bruises.

Good grief! Which part of KY did that happen in and when? That's not too far from me!

 

Don't know if a rifle saved my life, but it made a thief lie on the ground until another neighbor arrived. Thief knew I was serious when I shot out two tires of his unattended vehicle. I warned thief "Don't do something stupid" as I pointed a 30-30 at his chest.

 

It appears that the USA is a very dangerous country!

 

I live in the US and have for all my 38 years and can tell you that I've never had any reason to pull a gun. Only once was my life possibly in danger as a result of two people trying to persuade me to get into their car when I was 10 years old. However, it obviously does happen, but having a life-threatening experience is not the norm in most places of the US.

 

I would like to think so. Lived in some bad places in the past and didnt try to hide the fact I owned guns. Like to think that it was a deterant that prevented a life taking situation.

 

Sure. Was feelin' real depressed like.....thought about cashing in the chips.....then I looked at my 1911 and realized there was something to live for.... Saved my life. :

 

Not sure if it saved a life or not,but I'm sure one stopped some type of crime against my wife one night.
My wife and I had to go to the local Wal-Mart right before Christmas last year. She decided she needed to smoke a cigarette before going in. She doesn't smoke in the car,so she got out and walked around to the drivers side to talk to me while she finished her cigarette. Afterward,she went back to the passenger side to get her purse. While she was getting it,I noticed one of the local thugs quickly walking around the car parked next to us. He did a quick look around,then started toward my wife. He hadn't even seen me at that point. The way he was staring at my wife,I knew something was wrong. I pushed my coat back,and was on the way to drawing my 10mm Glock when he finally saw me. Punk stopped so fast his dreadlocks swung around his face and dang near blinded him. If I wasn't so primed on lighting him up with the C/T laser,and maybe sending a Cor-Bon slug his way,it would have been funny. After a few uh's and yo's,he asked for a cigarette,and a light. I saw no reason not to give him one,I'm sure he really did need one by that time. If I had a roll of toilet tissue handy,I would have given him that also. He sure looked like he needed it.

 

Did that happen in the daytime? Hope it wasn't anywhere near Indiana.

 

Happened close to midnight.
You're safe from that one. It happened down in SE Georgia. Punk should'a knew better,ain't nothing but us rednecks down here.:

 

My father managed to stay alive with a friends 50cal rifle and a night scope. He lives out in the woods, no electricity, phone etc. 3 drug traffickers came looking for him to exact revenge for an earlier incident. (My dad tried to teach the wrong guys a lesson). When my dad heard their car approach at night he hit the nearby tree line and waited. They searched his shack and then fanned out to search nearby. If it wasn't for the night scope he wouldn't have been able to evade them simultaneously during their search. The key was he could see them soon enough to move away with out being heard. They were armed and the stakes were really high. They brought flashlights but chose not to use them, they knew he was nearby and probably didn't want to make easy target of themselves. They eventually gave up and left. My dad made a report with the authorities which didn't lead to anything. My dad claimed that he saw one of the traffickers driving a county vehicle a week later!!

Technically It was the night vision scope that saved his life, not the gun.