How many people here have had a gun pointed at them?

First, a little background: When I was younger I was fascinated by guns, which helped to endear me to my father who was a competitive pistol shooter & skeet shooter. He taught me well: guns were not and never were to be considered toys. He had nothing but contempt for the people he called "hillbillies" who thought firepower was a substitute for skill. Under his influence & with his approval, I began pistol shooting in high school & continued into college. While I enjoyed it, I was never the best - but I was never the worst either.

When I was about 20, I got into a scuffle with another guy who most people considered to be a "freak". I'd know him most of my life. I knew his family and was a classmate of his brother. Before the incident, my girlfriend & I were at a party when we bumped into this guy. He proceeded to follow us around making lewd comments to me and my friend and generally acting like a jerk. Finally I had had enough & punched him in the face. He went down, so I kicked him in his ass. Caused a great deal commotion & much enjoyment with the other guests. He was more embarrassed than hurt, and the host kicked him out.

A few days later he showed up at my doorstep with his fathers' handgun, which scared the hell out of me. I wasn't familiar with the weapon, but the way he held it I guessed he wasn't either. After many "fuck you"s and "I'll kill you"s from him, he left. The Sheriff was called. The weapon was found by his father to be missing (it was not loaded). An arrest was made, and after much discussion apologies were made by both sides (the deputy insisted). And the matter was allowed to rest.

Second incident: A few years later (still in college - on the 6-yr plan) I was at work. It was a small retail store and I was the asst manager. At that time of the day it was just me & the owners' son working. I was at the register, the son was in the stock room. An older man walked in asked for me by name. I told him who I was and he immediately lunged at me. He was screaming and cursing at me to the affect that I had somehow abused his son. The counter was between us and I was 40 yrs younger than him, but that didn't stop him. Now, I didn't know who the fuck this guy was, or who his son was for that matter. I tried several times to get him to TALK to me and tell me what his problem was, & explain to him that there was obviously some misunderstanding and that he was mistaken. Of course he wouldn't listen to me. He screamed at me for a few more minutes and took a couple more swipes at me, then left. The owners' son was on the ball, heard everything and called the police. They showed up about 25 min later and took a report. That was the end of it. Never saw the guy before or since, never heard from the cops.

Now, being a young & arrogant college student at the time, with the small amount of skill I possessed - there is no question in my mind that, if I had access to my pistol I would have killed both of these guys. I was being threatened both times, even though neither of them really posed any danger to me - the first was a stereotypical "troubled youth" and the second was a man apparently trying to protect his family. The "hillbillies" - along with the law - would have said I was right.

But my father would have disowned me.

edit to clarify poll options

by plain clothes cops who smashed down the door because of my roommate. It wasn't scary, I just didn't know what the fuck was going on. There's a loud crash and some buff asshole is pointing a gun at my screaming PUT YOUR HANDS ON YOUR FUCKING HEAD

what?

PUT YOUR FUCKING HANDS ON YOUR FUCKING HEAD?

why?

I SAID etc etc

did it.

:(

Any maybe kill a couple.... Army VN :(

(Unless one is doing it in self-defence.) Had one pointed at me from a moving car while walking in my neighborhood.

but it never made me feel like I needed a gun.

But if I had had a gun..... well, I'd be speaking from a different place.

point. Had a woman chase me with a butcher knife in her hand. She was wearing high heels so it wasn't very hard to outrun her. I was laughing so hard I could hardly run. Luckily some guys seeing my plight, slowed down beside me and offered a ride in their car. The car was a VW convertible. I just jumped in head first. That ride turned into quite an adventure.

Had guns pointed at me 3 times, got shot at once.

Had a guy in Eritrea try to kill me with a sling. He came close to hitting me on the back of the head. It would have killed me. That was the day that RFK got murdered. I will never forget that day.


A guy tried to strangle me to death. I grabbed his balls and gave a might squeeze. He yelled "no fair." No fair? The fucker was trying to kill me.

Never felt the need to own a gun. Quite the opposite in fact

the first time in the Soviet Union. scary.

once, being arrested, without charges, for playing piano in Nola for mardi gras. (the police are MAJOR music critics there)
another time, after I put up a political sign for an indie candidate, my front window was shot out about 2 minutes later.

had a gun on me but i kept cool and when I had a chance, got away. I could have shot the guy but that wasn't my focus, just surviving was, and i knew if i pulled my gun i had a 80% chance of getting shot myself...

I guess he thought it would make the traffic move faster.

one night when I had come home kinda late. He was stark nekked, and had a loaded AR-15 pointed at my head. I looked behind me at the wall to see if my brains were splattered on the wall. that was over 20 years ago and I remember it like it was yesterday. I laughed at the time, but I was an itchy trigger finger away from being seriously dead. the gun was sold the next day.

just reinforced my thinking that there are just too goddam many fuckin' guns in this country.

that's also when i decided i needed to go back to school.

And I am still here.

I have both been shot and done my share of shooting.

And I have been robbed twice at gunpoint. If I would have been armed at either time, I would have gleefully killed both of the bastards.

the right forearm in Panama.

wrong place- wrong time

I was in a parking garage when the cops chased some guy in and for a moment one had his gun on me as he darted around the corner. I took the day off and had a few drinks, lol.

1. Walking down a street in our nations capital while on business
2. Looking at a building site that was for sale (the gun owner was crazed and high on prescription meds)
3. As a tourist in Panama City my sister and I were caught in crossfire in a hotel lobby. I never knew what that was about. Technically the guns were pointed at other people but we could have been killed.

And I don't get out much really. I avoid shopping centers and public places whenever possible. And I resent that so much.

My sister-in-law was robbed at gunpoint after driving up into her driveway in Florida with 2 kids in the back seat. She went hysterical, threw everything she had on the ground which they took and ran off. She has never really gotten over it.

My SO has witnessed a random sniper shooting from an office window which left 4 dead.

You will more than likely go through two trials:

1. The criminal trial...and if you are found "innocent"...

2. The civil trial...where the burden of proof is much less.

Just like OJ, you can be found criminally "innocent", but "liable" for $$$$$ in a civil case. I'm not knocking self-defense, but just remember these things if you ever carry a handgun.

The casual look on the guy's face was terrible.

It wasn't the only reason, just the last straw.

Working a graveyard shift at a convenience store. I was the assistant manager, and part of our job description was to work graveyards when our night clerk was on vacation, had quit, was fired, etc. Night clerks tend not to stay long. Anyway, some underage tweaker walked in about 3am, wanted cigarettes, and I refused to sell without ID. He freaked, went to his car, got a gun from it, and came back to demand cigarettes. As he was getting them, the cops showed up (just that time of the morning when they came for coffee), and somehow it didn't turn deadly.

Another assistant who had been promoted about the same time as me was working a graveyard in a nearby store, and she had a guy put an unloaded gun in her mouth and start pulling the trigger. Of course she didn't know it wasn't loaded until he'd clicked it off several times. Then he pistol whipped her.

The chain for which we worked denied her a hardship leave so she could get therapy for PTSD. She sued and lost. She's a total basket case now.

quite a few times. Mostly at night. A few times when I was there during the day, but no guns were involved when I was there. It's a dangerous job.

Never in a hostile manner, but plenty scary.

Those experiences are one of the reasons I go out of my way to train people, especially kids, to handle firearms safely.

It was about 11pm and three guys came in with stocking masks over their faces.
Two couples were sitting at the bar and I was sitting at the back table reading a newspaper as I did not have any more customers.
The robbers were waving their guns and told them bar customers to remove their wallets and jewelry and then they had the bartender remove the contents from the cash register.

Then, they noticed me sitting in the back. One said, "Get that white bitch in the back", and I was frozen stiff with fear. Fear does odd things to you, and I pretended not to notice the robbery and kept looking at the newspaper. They left me alone, but it was quite a frigtening ordeal.

I was car-jacked in Northeast DC and I was Robbed at gunpoint by Col Brooks Tavern again in Northeast DC. I dont live in DC anymore.
Moving seemed to increase my life expectancy by a lot

My husband and I were returning from family visits on Christmas Eve. Before I realized what was happening the robber walked up the driveway and pointed a gun a me and demanded our purse and wallet. I handed him my purse and he ran down the driveway. My husband was already on the porch unlocking the door and did not realize what was happening until it was almost over - he didn't give the robber his wallet. We spent several hours canceling credit cards and notifying the bank etc. I lost a sense of safety that I have never regained. The loss of possessions does not bother me but feeling vulnerable because of a gun does.

Also escaped my mothers suicide attempts twice.

6 months work/interning and it was my sophomore year and second week on the job and we got held up at gun point and i was never so scared in my life, handed over the money and then i think i threw up. That was it for me, i got an unpaid internship at an accounting firm on state street.

of course

I have never had a gun pointed at me and I hope I never do.

BTW, I would never own a gun. I have a temper and I'm afraid that I would use the gun in anger, not in self-defense.

I wouldn't own a gun. Just not something I think I need or want around me.

me. It's a funny story that involves shooting at targets. When my target had fallen off (after I shot at it I hit a nail on which it was hanging), I was send to hang it back up, while other students had their guns pointed at me. Thankfully they did not shoot while I was hanging it up.

After they finished hunting they went into the kid's bedroom. They THOUGHT both guns were unloaded and the friend pointed his gun at my friend's son and pulled the trigger...just 'messing around' :eyes: and killed him. These were kids who were RAISED WITH GUNS, Had shooting lessons and gun safety classes. That did a lot of good.:(

The ambush of the convoy I ran (convoy officer .. ha!) from Nha Trang to Cam Rahn Bay NAF qualifies, no? Then there were the big guns on the Ho Chi Mihn Trail (12.5 mm, 37 mm, 57 mm, 75 mm, SAMS, etc). Does that count?


DemoTex at Cam Rahn Bay NAF
Ca. 1970

In peace,

Radio Lady in Oregon

... I get the sense that the OPs forget there are veterans on DU who've been in combat.

I guess it must just be my imagination. :shrug:

:patriot:

Clueless.

BTW: Love that Barbara Jordon. Did I tell you that I met her and flew her in the LearJet 55 in the early 80s? She was a great patriot.

Mac

:shrug:

This time.

It's pretty clear that a civil context is presumed. (I really can read.) At the same time, I get the sense/implication that a combat experience "doesn't count" ... and there're a couple of ways to take that. Again ... there are several threads with a similar theme and all seem have a similar presumption.

I just think that's interesting. That's all. :shrug:

and I always appreciated and was in awe of what he saw/did.

I guess I feel fortunate that I was too young to serve in Vietnam and am too old now. I can't imagine it and I feel such gratitude towards our soldiers for what they have done for me.

I assumed others have & will post about THEIR own experiences. If they don't because some others don't care/don't approve/don't think they "count" - or only if they think they do - we are all poorer for it. Don't you think?

police department. They had received a threat that someone in a green van with out of state plates was after them. I was riding in a green van with Oregon plates. Let me tell you, it scared the shit out of me.

About 10 years ago on the 4th of July in DC. I was drunk and started talking shit to an off duty cop working the door at a strip joint. He started acting like he wanted to fight me, then he just stood up off of his stool and pulled out his gun.

I stopped running once I got about 2 blocks away.

The first time, I was so terrified that I nearly shit myself, literally. A drug-related home invasion. The second time, same thing, both circumstance-wise and reaction-wise.

The third time, I got robbed in an alley in Pittsburgh. Still utterly terrified. I had my grandfather's gold pocket watch taken from me. It meant more than my life to me. It was then that I resolved to never let myself be intimidated or victimized in the future.

The fourth time was over a woman at a bar. I stopped being afraid, I'm not quite sure why, it certainly wasn't due to any real sense of bravado. But I realized then and there that I would NEVER be intimidated by somebody who wished to do me harm ever again.

To this very day, I'm not afraid of death at the hands of someone who is waving a gun in my face. God willing, I never will be, ever again (hopefully, the situation won't arise in the first place). I totally understand how and why people are utterly scared of death at the hands of a madman. But not me... not anymore.

I've resolved that I will NOT live in fear of death, nor of my fellow man. Foolhardy? Yes.

But so cathartic. When you've resigned yourself to your eventual fate, only then are you truly free.

I - by the way have had it happen twice to me. My brother found my Dad's gun that was hidden in the attic and was goofing around - and pointed it at me as a "joke." Several years later - I was in an armed robbery.

Not counting vets' experiences, we should be able to live in a society where having a gun pulled on you is extremely rare.
Times like this I really miss living in England. I felt a lot safer there.

went into his parents bedroom and came out with a hand gun that he was pointing at both of us and saying he was going to pull the trigger. We were scared to death and crying, we were begging him to put the gun down. I never forgot how that felt and it still scares me to this day when I think of it. When he accidentally dropped the gun, we both tackled him. He got in a lot of trouble with his parents. However, my parents never let me play at that house again.

I was 17 and working at the Convenient Deli in Meriden, CT when a member of the local biker gang whose name escapes me at the moment came in looking to rob us.

The cash register was in kind of an "L" position to the front door and I was talking to someone who was asking about a cigarette purchase when I turned my head and there it was. I have to say, it was a pretty big gun. Although, in reality, probably not so big.

I ended up giving him the contents of the register along with a roast beef sandwich (he didn't like how much mayo I put on it so he smeared it on the deli case :eyes:) and he left.

And, I'm staunchly and forever pro-gun control.

How sad.

(1)
In high school, my girlfriend's mom (who was drunk, and who hated me anyway) shot at me through the door of their apartment (.357 magnum bullpup)... she missed me by inches, and would have hit me at least a couple of times had i stayed on the sidewalk instead of cutting through the grass.

A couple of weeks later, my girlfriend gave me one of her mom's bullets (silver-tipped hollow-point), which i carried around with me for years as a sort of talisman of my adventure.
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(3)
Next door to me lived a middle-aged couple with a 4 yr old son. The dad had an alcohol problem.
On a Saturday night, i heard shouting and screaming outside, and opened the door to the sight of the guy chasing his wife around my front yard, swinging a garden hoe at her head. Their son was in the yard, too, crying and yelling at daddy to stop.

I ran down the hall, grabbed the first rifle that i could (my AK), loaded it, and dashed back to the door. I fired a couple of shots into the air (he stopped immediately and stared at me in drunken horror), then pointed it at him, and told his wife and son to come in the house while i called the cops.

He stomped off to their apartment, threatening to go and get his shotgun and kill me. I just stood guard in the doorway while she talked to police dispatch.

The cops arrived within about 2 minutes (4 squad cars, 7 officers total); half of them came over to my house to take care of the woman and child, the others went to the apartment to take the drunk bastard into custody.

I talked with the cops for about 1/2 hour. After they took my statement, they thanked me for being a good neighbor and left. I wasn't cited for discharging it in the city limits or anything like that, either. Amusingly, as they were departing, one of the younger officers asked me if he could hold my rifle; he claimed he had never seen an AK-47 up close.

Warning shots are almost always illegal. The cops could have put you away for a long time, so it's a good thing they were more rational.

And a .357 magnum bullpup? Bullpup is a name for a style of rifle where the receiver and magazine are behind the trigger.

and yeah, i know that 'warning shots' could have gotten me in deep, especially in the heart of a large city (or any urban area).

I guess the cops who showed up decided to give me a pass, given the seriousness of the original call.

When me and some friends have paintball battles using paintball guns.

but he pled guilty and did 7-12 yrs (it was his 5th offense)

the line up was excruciating.. I was the only witness, and I was so afraid i would pick the wrong guy. They had 6 guys up there who could have been brothers, but I picked the "right" one.

The DA told me (off the record), that I had his weight within 2 lbs, his exact height, 2/3 of the license plate & the color of his car, the fact that he was right handed and had a tattoo on his wrist.. Had his eye color & hair color.. but I still worried about the line up.:)

he looked like the "kid next door".. a nice looking young man who apparently went waaaay wrong somewhere..

I travel a lot in my work. I either fly or drive a van/box truck to shows all around America. I stay in hotels in cities all over the country. I usually work in whatever city I'm in's convention center in it's downtown area. LA, Chicago, Detroit, Miami, New York City, Philly? All the same to me. I go to work early and leave late at night. I've driven all night long on the loneliest stretches of interstate out west and slept in/used the Rest Areas in the middle of the night. I've done this for the last 10 years. In that time I've NEVER needed any sort of gun for protection.

My brothers live in Oklahoma and can't believe that I don't carry a handgun for protection. Am I just a lucky SOB?

And yes, I have had a gun pointed at me. It was empty though.

in bumfuck mississippi

in 1975

who thought I was someone else

It was during my straight years. My ex had quite a temper on him. We were having some problems at the time, and for the second and last time in our relationship he threatened to kill me. The first was driving his car full speed down and road in order to slam it into a building at the end. I was able to talk him around just in the nick of time, thank God. The second was him pulling his .22 rifle out and placing it against my head.

I was so scared I literally wet myself. I honestly thought my life was over at that moment. When I wet myself I guess he realized how far he had gone and backed down, lucky for me. But it was enough to scare the hell out of me, and had really done its damage. Something to this day I have never gotten over, or been able to talk about before this thread.

Doing all kinds of stupid shit when I was a teen. Looking back, I'm surprised I 'm still alive.

Very unpleasant, all things considered.

in Athens GA. Sad part was, it was a guy that came in everyday. I knew him by name and had even played basketball with him at his apartment complex. I told him, just put that thing down and walk away and no one will know. I never really felt like I was in any danger. He said he just needed the money. I gave him the $40-some-odd dollars I had access to and he started out the door. Two Athens PD officers pulled into the parking lot as he was walking out with a gun in his hand. He just dropped the gun and lay on the groud...it was sad really...

sP

I don't really remember much - have blocked it out.

Growing up a delinquent asshole on the streets of Lawrence MA I've had guns pointed at me a few times by drug dealers, bikers, rival Puerto Rican gangbangers and cops. Its a cold and frightening feeling.
At 16 my friend and I were buying meth from the Lowell MA Hells Angels. This scrawny little woman with no teeth pulled out a .45 and put it right to my head while I was sitting at the kitchen table waiting for my dope. She laughed and said "I could kill you right now and throw your body in the Merrimack River, right out back". She chambered a shell and I almost shit myself before she laughed and put the gun away. My hand wouldnt stop shaking for hours. I didnt need the meth after that experience.
I was asleep one morning at 19 when the cops broke down my door and put their service pistols in my mouth. There was a drug warrant out for my arrest and a friend who had been arrested ratted me out. This one Lawrence MA detective kept slapping me on the head with the barrel of the gun. Asshole!
And the rival gang experiences should speak for themselves.

Either way it was a frightening experience.

I never thought it would be that many. No, I haven't.

he was driving slowly on a rural road, looking into the woods for something to kill. I got aggrivated and passed him, and made the mistake of honking as I went by. He decided I was more interesting than deer and he sped up, followed me, and stuck his gun out the window as he did so. I was scared out of my shit.

Chicago Cops, mistaking the car I was in for another car that was cruising the neighborhood buying drugs.

Got pulled out of the car at gunpoint, put against a wall and frisked.

:scared:

RL

He was on drugs and/or alcohol. Luckily, nobody got shot.

Oddly enough, it wasn't fear for my life that was so troubling as it was the sense of "this stuff doesn't happent to MEEEEEE?!?!? Life has clearly made some mistake!"

Nobody likes to be a victim. I was angrier the next day.

Oh yeah, the old axiom that a conservative is a liberal who has been mugged is utterly full of baloney.

Started when I was a little kid. My parents were divorced and my mother could barley make enough to feed us and keep a roof over our heads. Needless to say the babysitters we were left with were some scary and abusive people. We lived on the west side of Cleveland in a pretty crappy neighborhood. Sometimes we had to be dropped off at this family's place where there were these two little girls. My sister and I were terrified of the mother because she was always slapping her daughters around, yelling, and generally being a complete waste of life. Anyway the father, a Viet Nam Vet with anger issues, came home yelling about something. He pulls out this revolver and starts pointing it all of us in the living room, kids, wife, dog. He kept rambling on about respect or something, and trodded off downstairs to the basement. The woman turned her back for a second, and I grabbed my little sister and hit the fucking door. We ran like hell about 5 blocks to where my fathers house was. He wasn't home so we waited outside in the cold of winter. When my mother showed up to get us, we weren't there. She was able to put it together that we went to be with our father. Thank God we never ended up there again.

The other 7 or 8 times have been at the hands of the fine law enforcement officials here in our great state. I had a collective of them draw on me because I fit the description of a convenience store robber, I was on the bike that night.

Another time, some asshole that I worked with wanted to "surprise me" with his newly acquired .357 when I arrived at work in the morning. Just joking around of course. Very ha haha ahhha... Can you imagine the shit I could have went to H.R. with over that one?