When have you come the closest to shooting someone?

[Graves]

Good call - I killed a man in Reno, just to watch him die.

[Bailey Guns]

How about, "When have you come the closest to NEVER shooting someone?"

My two partners and I had just finished the judgmental training part of a CO concealed handgun class a month or so ago. When we're "shooting" on the simulator our guns are locked in the safe - safety reasons and all that.

Here we are, the 3 of us, certified, professional firearms instructors teaching people how to be prepared, avoid conflict, always be ready, blah, blah, blah...

We come out of the classroom after the last student left, it's dark, and there's some shifty looking transient-type hanging out in the shadows in front of our class. Guy was "out there", too. He starts quickly walking right towards the 3 of us without saying a word...like he's on a mission.

My partner quietly asks, "You got your gun?".

"Uh, no. It's in the safe. Do you have yours?", I asked.

"No. It's in the safe."

In about a 1/4 second I'd already visualized the headlines in the paper the next day:

3 Concealed Firearm Instructors Robbed in Front of Shooting School - None Armed!

Luckily the kid was just curious what we were doing and wandered away after a few innocent questions.

I felt stupid.

[BigBear]

Well, my one story already has a thread. But I do have another one that's kind of simple and funny.

My brother is a hardcore liberal... he wasn't until he got married (go figure). Anyways, grandpa (rest in peace), dad, and I always go (went) shooting and talked about guns, etc. So they are no stranger to my family. One day John (my brother) is spending the night at my place. It was a long day for me and I was tired, so I "forgot" John was spending the night traveling through to go back home. Middle of the night I wake up and hear some noises in the kitchen. Get out of bed, go to the closet and pull out the 12 ga. I walk into the kitchen and yell, "What the @$#^ you doing mother @#$^?!" at the top of my lungs while racking the slide and leveling the barrel.... John screams like the woman he is and sprays milk everywhere. I realize it's him and apologize profusely... "Not used to having others in the house" I say. This was before I was married.

To this day he rarely talks to me and hates guns.....

[Irving]

To this day he rarely talks to me and hates guns.....

Well does he still drink milk?

[BigBear]

HA, you know... I'm not sure!

[cowboykjohnson]

I was driving to lunch on a nice warm weekday here in longmont when a group of gangbanger wannabe kids pull out in front of me. They start to brake check me and are a laughing about it. Luckily they get in the left lane to turn at the next light which happens to turn red before we get there. They start shouting obsenities from thier car at the stop light, and are attempting to turn it into a fight, which I want no part of. They guy in the passenger seat starts digging around on the floor boards and acting suspicious, so I grab my G20 sitting next to me and put it just below the window frame with my right hand. The passenger finds what he's looking for and starts to swing his arm out the window like he had a gun. I brought the glock up above the window just before he finished putting his arm out. As i had thought he did indeed have a weapon and i was ready to fire... but he was lucky i had noticed it was a clear airsoft gun and not a threat. When He realized mine was real they took a hard left turn through a red light.

I got their plate numbers, and reported them to the local authorities.

[wyzardd]

Back in the pre-CCW days, must have been about '95, I'd been married around a year, had already quit drinking (or this would have turned out different, I'm sure) and was heading home from a friends house. After 10:00 on a weeknight because I was working weird hours. Anyway, driving down in the DU area when this blue Taurus cuts me off out of nowhere. I honk at the SOB while narrowly missing him, and he decides to play with me. Slowing down, switching lanes, you know the routine.
After a couple blocks of this I slow down and pull over a bit hoping he'll get bored driving 10mph in the bike lane and just go away. Didn't work. He hits the brakes and I figure he wants to get out and fight, so I punch it and try to go around.
That didn't work either, he starts smashing into my Bonneville with the Taurus. This is a new one to me, I'd never seen a road rager that would damage his own car, so I figure now this guy has gone over the line. I'm also right beside him and can see that he's got several friends in the car with him. I figure now all the criteria have been met so I pull my 1911 from wherever it was legal for it to be at the time and try to anticipate his next move.
His next move was apparently to listen to one of his buddies that had a better view of me and took off like a bat out of hell.

I pulled over at the police substation that was a block or so away and eventually got someone to listen (I had to find a pay phone and call it in, the chick behind the desk wouldn't do anything unless her dispatcher told her or something). The cop that finally arrived was a good guy, I sat in the passenger seat of his car while he tracked down the plate number I gave him. Kind of funny listening to the owner answering the phone all pissed off that someone's calling that late (nearing midnight by this time, I think). "Yeah that's my car, why? Whadda mean do I know where my car is? It's parked in my fu.... MY F'ING CAR IS GONE!!"

Joyriders, never caught them as far as I know. And the wife was pissed that I was out so late (pre-cell phone)

[SU405]

I don't really have any good stories as of yet. But my father told me one that had me shaking. Dad has been in constuction for the better part of his life since he was like 16 (left home at 13). Anyway he was woking at the channel/tower 31 jobsite. I can't remember if he was the super on that job or not, but he and another guy were having heated differences of opinions all day long. So lunch time rolls around and Dad is sitting there having his lunch when the guy that he's been at it all day with comes to sit down next to my Dad. The guy sits down, opens his lunch box and pulls out a 44 mag, puts it square between my dads eyes and pulls the hammer back. At this time one of the other guys finished with his lunch sees whats going on grabs a shovel and proceeds to sneak up behind 44 mag dude. Taking notice of this my Dad keeps the guys attention focused on him. My dad says many words were exchanged. But my Dad basically told him if he pulls the trigger "my problems will be over and yours will be just beginning". The guy lowers his weapon, gets rushed and the weapon taken from him. The proper authorities alerted and he never seen or heard from the guy again. My dad has many crazy stories of the trouble he and his 7 brothers were always into. I don't even know how he's still alive to this day.

[theGinsue]

I don't really have any good stories as of yet. But my father told me one that had me shaking. Dad has been in constuction for the better part of his life since he was like 16 (left home at 13). Anyway he was woking at the channel/tower 31 jobsite. I can't remember if he was the super on that job or not, but he and another guy were having heated differences of opinions all day long. So lunch time rolls around and Dad is sitting there having his lunch when the guy that he's been at it all day with comes to sit down next to my Dad. The guy sits down, opens his lunch box and pulls out a 44 mag, puts it square between my dads eyes and pulls the hammer back. At this time one of the other guys finished with his lunch sees whats going on grabs a shovel and proceeds to sneak up behind 44 mag dude. Taking notice of this my Dad keeps the guys attention focused on him. My dad says many words were exchanged. But my Dad basically told him if he pulls the trigger "my problems will be over and yours will be just beginning". The guy lowers his weapon, gets rushed and the weapon taken from him. The proper authorities alerted and he never seen or heard from the guy again. My dad has many crazy stories of the trouble he and his 7 brothers were always into. I don't even know how he's still alive to this day.

I had something similar happen to me.

I was at a graduation party for my High School graduation. I went to HS in a podunk town in Missouri so, as you can imagine, the party was held in a barn out in the middle of nowhere. I walked a friend to his car as he was leaving. When I started walking back to the party some guy I didn't know (turns out this guy graduated 3 years earlier) calls me over to his car. When I got up to him he pulled out a .357 and put it up to the side of my head. I don't remember what sort of crap he was saying, but about a minute later I turned my head to the side of the gun as he pulled the trigger. The gun fired right next to my left ear. I had ringing in that ear for some time. Of course, the shot drew others over there and he threw the gun in his car and took off. I never did figure out what his problem was.

[gnihcraes]

Ok, bring this thread alive again.

Another story: Tuesday 7/6/2010 - Taking my kids to summer camp. Stopped at the summer camp location, noticed a teenage girl in the parking area, near a car, looking at it and acting a little strange. Left my son (12) in the car while I check in the daughter to her school. Came back out and noticed the same girl in another strange area, taking pictures of the parking lot. Asked my son what he thought, he said she was taking pictures of the cars and other things.

She then proceeded to hang around the fence and gate at the school. I watched her for a few moments as I drove away.

It got to me, so I backed up and put the window down, asking her if she was dropping someone off or waiting for someone. "No". Ok do you work here? "No". "I went here, but I'm too old now." Ok, well you need to leave the premise. "Well, don't worry, I'm not going to kill anyone". She starts to walk away. Seems a little strange for you to be here. "That's what they always say..." ???? huh?

Ok, so I'm dialing LPD to have them check this suspicious subject out. So I follow her for several blocks until she stops at a local bus stop on a major route. I park and wait to see if LPD is going to show up.

Finally I flag an officer down and point her out. I tell my story, officer talks to the girl... Officer comes back and talks to me, apparently she's a "little slow" according to the officer, and she's "Afraid of me" ? Huh, I've done nothing but make minor contact and call 911 because she's talking about "not killing people" at a childrens summer camp that she has no business being around.

Anyway, all is good, I got them to contact her and make record of her being somewhere she probably shouldn't.

Ya just never know when or where you'll need to defend yourself or family.

(I was not ccw at the time, but it was reasonably accessible) Yeah yeah, I know, I should have been carrying.