OK, Seriously, How Many Have Been There?

[nova512]

i have had to pull my gun twice,was fully intending to use it the other people backed down.i have been around very close to shoot outs drive byes all kinds of crazy crap.just being in the neighborhood where i work is very dangerous.

 

[Armed Eastsider]

i have had to pull my gun twice,was fully intending to use it the other people backed down.i have been around very close to shoot outs drive byes all kinds of crazy crap.just being in the neighborhood where i work is very dangerous.

I see you live on the west side so Im going to guess Haughville

 

[Chow40cal]

In combat...

Nearly every instance I would consider the firefight to be entirely defensive. With most ROE, you're rarely allowed to shoot on sight, or without being directly threatened. Each time I used a weapon, I had been first engaged.

There were a few instances when we were given the green light in our ROE, if so and so is wearing this, or so and so is doing this, you may engage. That, however, was a rare occurrence.

 

[nova512]

I see you live on the west side so Im going to guess Haughville

i use to live very close to haughville but i work by riverside park

 

[Wabatuckian]

This is my choice too.

Somehow, I thought your original question was serious. I should have known better..

What is the 3 foot pole all about? How does that change anything in your wild imagining scenerio>

sloughfoot,

This is not a "wild imaginings scenario". It's based on something that actually happened.

The problem with using this one is that the person in question was charged with protecting the place, i.e., security.

That being the case, he called the police, and gave foot pursuit.

As he rounded a corner, he slid on some ice. That saved his life. The "stick" was an old ratty single barreled single shot shotgun. When the robber fired and missed, he used that opportunity to light out.

The bungling hero had drawn as he saw the gun, but since he slipped, he was unable to bring his weapon to bear.

He got up and tried pursue further, but the perpetrator had disappeared.

So yes, this one was real enough. I'm only telling you what really happened right now because you called the scenario into doubt, and that being such, I don't think it would be effective as an exercise from here on out.

The security guy went on to learn from his mistakes only because he was very, very lucky. He was young, 21 if I remember correctly, and doing this to make it through college.

So no, sloughfoot, it is not a wild imagining, but an example of how simple things can go very wrong very fast, especially if you have preconceived notions as to what to expect (that is not to say, don't receive training. DO!). Every situation is very different. That's why they call it "the elephant."

Josh

 

[Miner]

No, I have never had to use it.

If it is ever pointed a someone, the trigger will likely be pulled. A gun is used in self defense and will be pulled if I fear for my life.

 

[ShelbyCo.]

I have not and hope that I never will.

 

[finity]

So, I get to work, someone seems to have broken in and is leaving on foot in a direction away from me? Sit back in the vehicle and call the cops.

+1

If he's running at me, I take defensive action appropriate to the situation.

 

[jbombelli]

The "used your gun..." part doesn't apply to me. I've been shot at twice, but neither time did I have a gun. Brief recap:

Both times it happened I was a bouncer at a strip club, in the late 80's. I worked with another guy (a 1%'er named Max). One night we threw a guy out for being drunk and grabbing at the girls, and part of my job was to go outside as well and make sure people actually LEFT when we threw them out. Can't have them standing around in the shadows, waiting for the girls to get off work, you know. This guy goes walking down the street, gets in his car, pulls a u-turn and drives back up toward me. He shoved his arm out the window and started popping rounds off at me, as I dove behind Max's car (it was raining, so no bike). He hit the car, not me. Max was not too happy.

The second time, Max started wrestling with this guy across the bar, and I started over that way to help him out. This guy was bigger than Max, and Max was having a hard time with him. When I was about halfway there, the guy pulled a snubby Smith .357 and shot a couple rounds past my head as I was coming. I got really angry, and since I didn't go down, I said "f*** that guy" to myself and kept going. When I got there, as Max was forcing his hand up, and rounds were going into the ceiling, I pulled my blackjack and smashed him in the head. He went down. Then Max and I stomped him good before we called the police.

 

[ghille45]

yep

 

[ghille45]

oh and Fayettenam is such a fun place... it's calmed down alot though.

 

[runandgun44]

I've never been in a shootout, but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express once....

 

[billt]

I just missed being in one by a couple of minutes last year when I was working nights. I was coming home early one Sunday morning and I usually stop off at the local Quick Trip, (Mini Mart), by my house which is in a very good area, to pick up a Sunday paper on the way home. When I got there the parking lot was full of squad cars with their gumball lights all blazing. A cop chick was closing off the whole place with yellow police tape, and she motioned for me to not turn into the place.

It turns out 2 separate cars pulled in with rival gang bangers. They started making signs to one another, then pulled out guns and started blasting. Some poor guy who just stopped in to get a paper got caught up in the crossfire, and was killed. I saw what turned out to be his body on the pavement with a yellow tarp over most of it. His feet were sticking out of one end. If I had gotten there just a few minutes sooner it could have easily been me. The funny thing is that was the one time I had to wait for a train at a crossing that I've never had to wait at before! I had plenty of time to drive around the gates, but for some reason didn't. Had I done so, I might not be here typing this. Bill T.

 

[jeremy]

What does being a mechanic have to do with anything, BTW?

It is an Army thing...

Has to do with being Combat Arms and POG...

 

[Frank_N_Stein]

Never been in a "shootout", had rounds fired over my head though. Fired one shot in defense of myself and a non-leo.

 

[Kirk Freeman]

No and I hope I never will.

Had my pistol out once as a LEO and it was a misbehaving Rottweiler. Fortunately a Buick Park Avenue stopped it so I did not have to.

Which holster for Park Avenue?

 

[gunwh]

I have been in the situation more than once where I had to draw my weapon in responce to a situation. I was lucky in the fact i did not have to engage or discharge my weapon. I can say though you are right most senarios are set up in un realilistic time frames most of the time but who would ever go to a practical shoot or IDPA style if you never got to get a shot off to try to home your skills. Senarios are set up to try to help train and prepare you for what might happen in the R L (Real Life) and to get the basic consept of your weapon handeling in order to improve your performence. So yes they give you more time i the Senarios but only to give you time to improve. Our Practical shoots are set up for you to run at your own pace. If you can run the senario in 7 sec then great if not make your shots count and run it in 30 sec till you get the skills to run it faster.

 

[down3green]

there are no absolutes in a human confrontation.

.

Everybody's got to remember this when you're playing the "what if" scenarios . . .



.

 

[wolfman]

Just so it's clear from the get-go, I'm fortunate to be on the "no" side.

I think many of the "unrealistic" answers are because we would like to have a ideal plan of action. If we don't have time/ability/opportunity for the ideal plan, then we'll start removing the parts we can't do. Hopefully what's left of the plan keeps us alive.

No one wants to plan, "I'm walking through the grocery store parking lot with my wife one night, and some punk steps up with a knife, so I get stabbed in the neck because I didn't have time to draw my gun." That would be a downright awful mindset to have.

But I do think you raise a great point. It is definitely worthwhile for us to consider how to defend ourselves/our families in a given situation with a particular handicap on yourself. We won't be able to think through every possible situation, of course, but we also don't want to go into life expecting only ideal conditions without ever trying to think of alternatives.

I am also, thankfully, a NO, and agree with CampingJosh that just having a plan, can make all of the difference in the world when it actually comes to action.
I was a truck driver for over 20yrs, and 2,000,000 + miles, and for the first couple of years, every time I saw a car on a cross road, approaching the one I was on, I would imagine what I would do if they pulled out in front of me. I would pick a spot in the road and as I passed it, I would imagine that at that instant, they had pulled out in front of me, and as I imagined their progress out into my path, I would make a choice on where I would go, then as I passed by the spot, look at the path I had chosen, depth of the ditch, trees, etc, and see if it was a good choice. I would play this game in good weather and bad, day light, dark of night, loaded and empty, and as I practiced, my split second decisions appeared to get better. I don't have enought room or patience to share tlhem all, but in the 4 times, that car actually did pull out in front of me, I missed it, and didn't wreck the truck I was driving.
Did the planning help? I would like to think so. Did I do things exactally as I had planned? Not sure, they all happened so fast that everything I did was instinctive. The one thing I can say for sure, is I don't remember ever reacting out of fear, it always seemed like I knew exactaly what to do.
I still play the mind games, when a noise wakes me up in the middle of the night, when I am sitting with the family watching tv and the dog goes nuts at one of the squirrels in the back yard, standing in line at the bank. Maybe some day it will make a difference, maybe it won't, but either way, I have a plan.

 

[esrice]

No way! If I'm in a gunfight, something has gone seriously wrong.

But it never hurts to prepare, right?