An argument gun owners like to use in the debate surrounding the 2nd Amendment is, "Better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it." While you could make a slew of counter-arguments against that kind of thinking, the following stories might be the sway the gun owner side needs to defend their ground.
Reddit user, u/Restroom406, wanted to know:
(Serious) Concealed carry permit users who have pulled your firearm, what happened?
Rage On The Road
Road rage inccedent.
There was a guy in front of me at a red light. Its a long red. It finally turns green. He's busy texting, light turns yellow, then red again. He has a passenger. Passenger is just looking at the driver and yelling. The light turns green again, Im still waiting. This time I tap the car horn, the passenger looks back through the rear window, then opens his door, gets out and starts kicking my passenger side window and trying to get in my car.
The door was locked but I couldn't drive off because i was too close to the car he got out and there was someone right behind me. He tried kicking my mirror off, missed, got more mad, came to the drivers side, tried getting in again... i was in shock and didn't know what to do for the first like... 5-10 seconds of this happening. More in shock out of disbelief than anything... then I remembered I had my ccw, drew it in the car and the guy held his hands up got back in the passengers seat and then the next green light came and it was over. The whole thing was surreal.
A Sale To Remember
Wasn't me but a friend of mine (we'll call him Nick) was selling his Harley on Craigslist. Someone agreed to meet him at his house to look at the bike and buy it. 2 people pulled up in a car and they started doing the negotiations. He then asked Nick if he could test ride the bike to which he said sure. The buyer rode off with the bike and his friend started to get in the car. Nick is now realizing that their intention the whole time was to take the bike for a test drive and never return.
As the buyers friend is putting the key in the ignition, Nick points a gun at his head and says, "is it really worth dying for?" Nick says "you're gonna get a call from your buddy here in a minute asking where you are and why you're not at the spot you were going to meet him afterwards." Sure enough his phone rings and it's his buddy asking him where he is. Nick makes him get on his knees and waits for the cops to arrive.
Damn. Did your friend get his bike back?
What happened to the two idiots?
Yeah he got the bike back pretty easily. I mean he was essentially holding the dipsh-ts buddy hostage so he didn't have much of a choice but to return it. As for what happened to the idiots I think the cops came and arrested them but can't remember 100% I'll ask him the next time I see him to make sure
Living Alone But Never Afraid
My mom conceal carrys legally and she has pulled it a lot of times. She lives way out in rural Alabama. Her driveway is 1 mile long legit. She has no neighbors. Cops are an hour away minimum. She had to pull it on some redneck poacher hunters on her property when they were being [sassy] and intimidating to her. Since they were hunters they already had their guns out. She told them to get off her property and pulled out her handgun-they high tailed it out of there at that point.
Another time she was driving with my stepdad down a highway at like 4 in the morning or something. They live to travel super late at night/early in the morning. No one else on the road. Some truck tries to run them off the road-she pulls out her handgun and shows it to the truck driver and he takes off and leaves them alone.
I think in her case I was glad she had the gun. It lets people know if you want to f-ck with her-you may not survive it. and then they think better and leave.
Do You Really Want To Stand Up To A Bear Gun?
Not CCW,but didn't need it in Alaska.
We lived at the top floor apartment in a slightly less then desirable area of Anchorage. Not the worst but bad enough. Guy is pounding on my door at 3 AM screaming for Joe to let him in and sounding very angry. I answered the door in my boxers holding my Ruger Redhawk .44 I carry for bears (loaded with Alaska backpacker rounds, 425 grain hardcast). He just backed up put his hands up and said "sorry, dude, wrong apartment". I said "you think?"
Making A Choice For Your Loved Ones
Walking with my disabled little brother near my house when a bulldog charged us. I had it mostly out of the holster when the dog hit the end of its rope. I didn't even see the rope until the dog hit it; all I saw was a blur of a big dog rushing me and thinking about my little brother who can't run.
A Night In Central Texas
I'm certain I've shared it before but I'll describe this incident here since it directly relates to the question.
My wife (then-girlfriend) and I were leaving a theater at ~9PM. The middle of the parking lot was always kind of dark at night, which meant I paid a lot more attention while walking through it.
This night I notice two teenagers walking towards the theater as we walk away. They're both wearing hoodies and step out from a car that's still running with the driver at the wheel. Mind you, this is August in Central Texas. Nobody is wearing hoodies, even at night. Especially not with the hoods up.
So these jokers walk past me and my girlfriend is still talking. Completely oblivious to the whole thing. But I'm watching, and one of the kids turns abruptly and I see him reaching under his hoodie to his waistband. When his elbow starts moving back, I decide to pull my gun.
Whatever this kid was pulling out of his waistband, obviously it wasn't as hot as my Glock 19. Both these f-ckers start running like Usain Bolt and disappear into the parking lot.
I will add that I'm REALLY glad I didn't have to shoot them. In fact, my Glock didn't even make it out of the holster before those idiots were gone. The optimist in me says it was some teenagers doing some dumb sh-t, and they've learned to not lead that kind of lifestyle. Realistically, they probably just found someone else on another night.
An Intimidating Mat
I worked at a convenience store. One night the wind had been blowing like a son of a b-tch messing up the liners in the outside trash cans with trash ending up in the cans but not the liners. Instead of dragging each can individually I loaded them up in the back of my truck and backed down the little side driveway to the dumpster.
As I exited my vehicle I saw someone come around the side of the building towards me. There is absolutely no reason to be back there. I reached under my seat pulled my pistol yelled "Freeze!" and realized I had trained my gun on a plastic mat hung out to dry.
Waiting Until You Get Home
I had to pick my wife up at the airport one night. We got back to our house at around 2am. My wife had left her pursue in the truck so she went back out to get it. She comes running back in screaming because some guy had been hiding in our bushes and poped out on her as she was getting into the truck. She escaped him and ran inside screaming. I grabbed my gun and a flash light and turned on the guy. He froze and I told him to lay on the ground and held him there until the cops came to arrest him.
Protip: If you tell 911 you are holding someone at gun point they get there REALLY fast.
"I don't even remember what I was thinking."
I'm a very petite girl in my late 20s, had someone tap on my window one night while I was at a gas station (they were closed, pumps still operating) in a kind of sketchy neighborhood in my big city (FL). I hadn't even gotten out of my car to pump gas as I was still looking for my debit card. Guy was trying to rob me or steal my car, I honestly don't know cause he had a mask over his nose and mouth with a hoodie and I couldn't hear but I did see he had a gun partially coming out of his hoodie pocket (those middle ones).
I felt my heart in my throat but somehow I pulled mine out of my purse and pointed it and he ran like hell. I assume some punk kid with a fake gun maybe. But I cried like hell once I got out of there and parked somewhere safer. I don't know what would've transpired had he had an actual gun. I don't even remember what I was thinking.
A Face You've Never Seen
I pulled my firearm in my own home. It was a quiet afternoon and I was lying in bed to take a nap when my home security system let me know an unknown face was at my front door. Not unusual I get packages all the time and my phone always lets me know when an unfamiliar face is at the door.
Anyway i just wanted to take a nap so I didn't go looking into it I figured I'd just get the package later, then my phone indicated that my front door had been opened. I open the app and see on the video feed two men had entered my home so I hit the send help button and got my weapon when the two men opened the door to my room all it took was them seeing the gun in my hand to run away.
A Lion Or A Kitty
My dog ran away from me while I was on a hike in the woods (yanked the leash right out of my hands). He bolted to chase after some noise I didn't hear. I followed him the best I could by using his barks and listening to general rustling noises in the woods (he is not a graceful pup). As I got closer to where I thought he was the trees were pretty thick and I started to hear a low growling noise that I associated with a mountain lion (I've never heard a mountain lion, to the best of my knowledge at least).
I drew my gun then because I suspected that I was about to walk up on this mountain lion eating my dog. I would need it out of self defense. Luckily, it turned out to be a house cat that had perched itself in a tree to avoid my dog. I could have sworn that growl was from something ten times bigger.
DeFactoLyfeIt Is The Age Of Uber and Lyft
Some guy opened the door and got into the passenger seat of my car while I was sitting at a red light while driving through an industrial area of my town late at night. I had just dropped off a friend at his work on a night shift, so the doors were unlocked (older car, no auto locks) He was going across the crosswalk, and veered off to the side of my car when he got to it then opened the door and got in. I had started drawing my gun as soon as he changed direction at my car, so it was out and ready when he got in. He turned toward me to say something, I was pointing the gun at him, and I said "what the f-ck are you doing?". He stammered something unintelligible, got out and ran off.
He might have mistaken me for someone else, like a lyft or uber or something but I wasn't about to sit there and wait to see what his intentions were. Nobody got carjacked/mugged and nobody got shot, so it all worked out in my opinion.
Not Sure What You're Holding There
I have once and it scared the sh-t out of me. I do hvac and when I started at my current company they were very new and would take all the work we could get so that meant going into some unsavory areas. I was looking at an AC unit for a slumlord we were dealing with at the time when some large dude came into the backyard and had me cornered while screaming about me trespassing and some other unintelligible stuff. He had what I'm assuming was a machete, could have been a lawnmower blade, in his hand and kept pointing it at me. I knew he wasn't the tenant as the property was vacant.
I pulled my gun from my holster in my waistband and made it very clear that I would shoot him. I don't even know if I would have because I was terrified. I'm a big guy and he could have manhandled me. After what couldn't have been more than a couple of minutes he back backed off and I grabbed my tools and hauled a-- back to my van. Ended up not doing anymore work for that guy. It's a really sh-tty feeling, especially after the adrenaline wears off.
"The fact that I'm a 6'2" 250lb male did nothing to discourage him."
Didn't draw but was open carrying and at the ATM getting money to pay the sitter after a evening out + dinner. So it's dark, around 9:30pm or so. As I started working the ATM, my spidey sense started going off. I glanced left, saw nothing, to the right, and something was amiss. I stopped looking for detail and started looking for movement. I saw a dark silhouette of a person sneaking along the wall.
The ATM was lit up like the noon day sun. So I took a half step left, made sure that my firearm was plainly visible, and continued my transaction. While paying attention to the guy trying to sneak up on me. When he got close enough, he realized I was armed. His eyes got huge, he bolted away, and every couple of steps, glanced back to see if I was chasing him.
It's a bad idea to approach someone, in a skulking manner, at night, specifically staying in the shadows. Doing that means you have ill intent. The fact that I'm a 6'2" 250lb male did nothing to discourage him.
I'm glad I was armed.
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