Have you personally stopped a crime by being armed?

[SARGE67]

Not me personally but have written here before that my son and my grand daughter were in Wills Point to visit a hardware store. What can possibly happen in a small country town parking lot? Anyway they were approached by a guy between cars holding a knife. My son calmly pushed his daughter behind him with left arm while removing his Glock .45 cal with his right hand from his holster and pointed at ground. The guy was well within 20 feet. He then hauled ass.

 

[JGA177]

Not me personally but have written here before that my son and my grand daughter were in Wills Point to visit a hardware store. What can possibly happen in a small country town parking lot? Anyway they were approached by a guy between cars holding a knife. My son calmly pushed his daughter behind him with left arm while removing his Glock .45 cal with his right hand from his holster and pointed at ground. The guy was well within 20 feet. He then hauled ass.

Exactly. And since I plan on eventually retiring somewhere a bit more rural and possibly points out west, I'm planning now instead of later.

 

[DoubleDuty]

Carrying has probably kept me from initiating an argument / yelling at idiots a time or two.

I’m Mr. Congeniality when I carry

Me too I am as nice and calm as can be and still be breathing

 

[DoubleDuty]

Not me personally but have written here before that my son and my grand daughter were in Wills Point to visit a hardware store. What can possibly happen in a small country town parking lot? Anyway they were approached by a guy between cars holding a knife. My son calmly pushed his daughter behind him with left arm while removing his Glock .45 cal with his right hand from his holster and pointed at ground. The guy was well within 20 feet. He then hauled ass.

You just never know. The reason I don't leave the house without a hand gun.

 

[striker55]

Two times I drew my weapon and it was in my front yard. Neighbor had an aggressive pitbull, was chasing different people over the years. I came out of my garage with my bicycle, dog sees me and started coming at me. I put my bicycle between us and drew my weapon yelling at the dog to go home. He did stop and retreated to next door yard. Deputy showed up and dog started to come to the deputy, he drew his baton and waved it at the dog. It was a standoff until the deputy shined his flashlight into the dogs face. Dog ran back to his house two doors down. Deputy drove to that house and stayed in the car while turning on the siren for a few blast's. Owner came out and retrieved the dog. Before the deputy left I told him I almost shot the dog and he said I had the right to while it was on my property. I asked how he stayed calm and didn't shoot, he said too much paperwork and he had taken an aggressive dog class a week ago.
Second time we heard barking and a neighbor was on his car with the dog barking at him trying to get to the neighbor. I'm pissed because it happened again, I grab my 45 and go into the front yard, tell the wife to call 911. I'm by the garage and the dog sees me and comes on my yard towards me. I'm sighting on it, wife took a picture, dog stops in my front yard. I really didn't want to shoot it and lucky for him it stopped. Deputies show up, owner comes out, don't know why he didn't come out during the yelling and barking. I finally took him to court, with the neighbors testifying the dog was deemed a dangerous dog. During the testimony he was looking at the pictures, when you see the picture with my gun extended the dog didn't look aggressive. Judge said it wasn't the gun that stopped him because dogs don't know what a gun is. But I still prevailed.

 

[Coyote9]

Curious if anyone here has personally stopped a crime in progress because they were armed?

(For LEOs, this would be off duty in a personal capacity.)

Yes, I was pinned with my car door while getting inside by 2 of 4 illegals attempting a car jacking, I fired my 1911 between one jackers feet and all 4 ran across six lanes of I-35w. That was before all the barriers and fencing. I have pulled several times which prevented escalation and /or muggings; but the once in Fort Worth is the only round discharged in self defense.

 

[TXAZ]

Self control is the name of the game any time you're armed. Not everyone can handle it.

^^^^^^^^***THIS***^^^^^^^^

 

[General Zod]

Two times I drew my weapon and it was in my front yard. Neighbor had an aggressive pitbull...

Well hell, that reminds me of a couple more times. I was just counting times I've had to deal with humans. Not long after we moved into our house in 2017 I was grilling steaks outside - this was in the winter when it gets dark at 5pm like now, so the grilling was pretty much going on in the dark. I stepped outside to check the steaks and I heard this low, rumbling growl from the darkness of the back yard. I stepped back in, got my pistol with the cheap-o light and laser on its rail, and stepped back outside. The light illuminated a neighbor's big black dog in my yard, growling and advancing on me. I turned the laser on, ready to have my dinner ruined by having to talk to a sheriff's deputy, when inspiration hit.

I shined that laser right into the fucking mutt's eyes. The growling stopped and it ran back a few feet, then turned to look at me.

More laser.

It left the yard and stood on the road, looking at me.

More laser. I followed that fucker with the laser, hitting it in the eyes every time it looked at me until it disappeared from the light's ability to illuminate. Then I flipped the steaks, let 'em get medium rare, and brought them in.

That same dog reappeared in my yard a couple of months later during the day. I stepped outside with an airsoft gun in one hand and my 9mm in the other (just in case), and unloaded 18 rounds of airsoft bb's into it. First one hit it in the face, and the next 17 hit it in the ass as it ran back home. It never came back the whole time those neighbors owned it. I'm glad I only had to pull the trigger on that airsoft pistol on that dog.

They now have a big black Rottweiler who is...the most submissive, affectionate dog I've ever met. I honestly can't be mad when he's in my yard because yelling at him to go home is like kicking a damn puppy.

The other time dealing with dogs was before my dad passed away. This happened in 2014 on the acreage I grew up on. We went down for Thanksgiving with Dad and my sister and her husband. Turkey, dressing, all the fixin's. My sister and I had been discussing some dogs that were actively stalking my dad. She had set up game cameras after his house was robbed in 2013, and started getting pictures of two large dogs that would appear right after Dad walked into the house from getting the mail or taking the trash out. Sometimes he'd walk to the kitchen and discover one dog watching through the front door glass and the other watching through the kitchen door window. The game camera pics showed smaller and smaller elapsed times between him being outside and the dogs coming up to sniff after him. They were pretty much hunting him, and they tended to come to the house between 10 and 11:30.

So, the day after Thanksgiving I took the turkey carcass out and dropped it in the driveway, then sat on a lawn chair with my shotgun behind the F-150 I had then, where I had a good view but was relatively concealed. Almost exactly at 11:00am, those two dogs came up - one from down the hillside, and one from the direction of the gate, both homing in on that turkey. I let them get a few mouthfuls of it, then stood and took a shot at the black one. Both dogs yelped as I chambered the next round and nailed my target a second time. The tan dog ran as I chambered the next shell and I got one shot off at it, but it seemed I didn't lead it quite enough - it ran faster and disappeared into the brush outside the yard. I went looking for it but couldn't find any signs of it, so I busied myself disposing of the carcass of the black dog.

A week later, a "missing dogs" poster with pictures of the two dogs appeared at the post office. Turns out a dipshit who moved out to the country from Austin (and probably to Austin from California before that) was missing his two darling dogs that he allowed to roam freely out in the country because that's perfectly okay, right?

About two months later, my sister was making her way through the cedar brush for some reason or another and happened upon the bones of that tan dog, still wearing the collar with its name on it. It had managed to run about 150 yards before it fell after I shot it.

 

[TreyG-20]

No.

 

[BigRed]

Curious if anyone here has personally stopped a crime in progress because they were armed?

(For LEOs, this would be off duty in a personal capacity.)

Two times of which I know.

 

[billtool]

Twice. Leveled a S&W 5906 at a guy that invited himself into my office while I was working late one night in Irving, TX. He froze and had this really scary smile that he wouldn’t give up. I was yelling at the top of my lungs and he just kept smiling. Spooky shit. I think he finally figured out I was getting ready to shoot him and he just turned around and walked out.

Had some drunk Mexican boys bang hard and perpetually on my front door at 3am one night. I peeked out the window and saw them move a few feet off my front porch into the grass. I took the chance to swing open the front door and shouldered my Mossy 500 Persuader. That immediately persuaded all three of them to hightail it to their running car. If one of them would have threatened me, sadly, I would have smoked them. Man- I was scared out of my wits.

 

[rdkl]

As a normal, non-security, non-cop type event? Seven??? Why are crooks so attracted to you specifically? Do you hit ATM machines at 2am, in downtown Houston????

Lawn biz mostly. Almost got mugged fishing. Rest stop idiot.

 

[Wudidiz]

I shot a guy with a 30-06 who was trying to break in to the back door of our house. I was 14 years old and home alone in the country. He got the door open enough to get his hand on the chain lock. He ignored my warnings so I snapped off a shot from about ten feet. The Sheriff deputies never found him. Just a heavy blood trail from the back porch and into the woods. Dogs eventually lost track. I bondo'd the hole.

 

[Vaquero]

No.

Me either.

 

[MTA]

Not sure if anyone remembers my stories about my old hillbilly alcoholic neighbor, chicken fu*ker. He has since moved back in with his momma in Gober and his dilapidated house has become abandoned.

The closest I came to shooting a person was the day he showed up drunk on our doorstep demanding that we give him any info about his lost dog. The lost dog in question was a pyrenees who loved to wander. He was shouting about the transplants up the road who built a log cabin as a retirement home and how they were part of a grand conspiracy to steal his old farm dog.

The shouting turned more violent and I noticed my wife was behind me with the 590A1. I waved her off as I knew he wasnt armed and I was just going to go out front and give him a beating. He saw her trying to hand me the shotgun and he took off running to his house. Once there he started shouting about how my wife should go back to the north and mocking me for being in the military. He got so upset he started to cry. It was really weird

This was years ago at this point but after having a kid I realized I that I am getting older and will put the fists away and pull the gun out now if warranted. My wife had the right idea

Reminds me that I need to get a Beretta 1301 to replace that 590A1 which was sold awhile back

 

[Sasquatch]

The first time a gun has avoided bad things for me - I was a few months past my 21st birthday. Wife and step daughter in the car. Rush hour traffic. We come across the intersection on a service road, going onto an onramp (we had a green light) - car runs the stop sign and cuts me off, I had to brake hard to avoid being hit on my passenger side (which would've been my wife's door) - I honk the horn in addition to braking (couldn't swerve left, as that would be swerving into the cars next to me). The guy who cut me off slams on his brakes then backs up rapidly at us, stopping just a couple feet shy of hitting us. He then speeds forward, slams on his brakes, and begins to repeat the maneuver. At this point I tell my wife to get my pistol out of the glove box, and I threw it up on the dash making sure he saw. At this point he stops, puts it back in drive, and then speeds forward, cutting the cars to our left off, then as we get to the top of the ramp he flies across two more lanes of traffic.


Another traffic scenario - this time when I'm working as a tow truck driver. I was responding to a late night tire change for a AAA customer up in the West Hills of Portland, OR. Headed up the road that fronts St. Vincent hospital, the road goes down from two lanes to one. Right when the road narrows, a guy in a lifted F250 comes flying up on me, tries to pass me on the right - but he's stopped by a brick mail box (literally where the road has narrowed - he was going to pass on the shoulder) - so he has to let me continue by. He then proceeds to zip into the oncoming lane - not even into the center turn lane - then whips his truck across my lane of travel ands tops, jumping out screaming like a maniac. He jams his right hand into his jeans pocket and keeps screaming - honestly I can't tell you what he said because I was laser focusing on his hands, and I'd drawn my own pistol but was keeping it below the bottom edge of the drivers window. I was in an International cabed flatbed, so that window was about 6' off the ground. I do remember him suddenly stopping screaming at me, his face kinda going white, he yanked his hand out of his pocket and ran back to his truck and peeled out. I holstered my pistol up, picked up my phone (i'd been on the phone with my current wife at the time, we were newly dating, and this was before it was illegal to be on the phone while you drove) and I dropped the phone when homeboy did his bullshit. She was freaking out asking if I was OK, because she heard him yelling and wanted to know what was going on. That was the closest I've ever come to shooting someone, as the guy was right at my door screaming, with my gun pointed at his head. I'd made the decision that if he had a gun in his hand when it came out of that pocket, he was getting shot I wasn't going to wait for him to get it up in my direction. I had to pull over and get my composure back after the yahoo left the scene, before continuing on to my tire change. I was about ten minutes late to that call.


I've had other instances where some sketchy looking asshole at a gas station or store parking lot started making their way toward me & my fam with a no-good look, and an "accidental" exposure of the butt of the gun caused them to suddenly have somewhere else to be. Purely coincidental, I'm sure.

 

[Hoji]

Ok..long story but here it is
I had only been married a couple years and we were in a duplex where the 2 car rear parking was in the back and our bedroom was against that exterior wall
I had a 17 ft bass boat parked under there and one vehicle
The other vehicle we parked behind the boat

There was a major street one block away and they just built a Sonic
Immediately after that the bullshit pretty crime started up.

Cruising looking for unlocked cars to go through..unlocked shed doors...
3 weeks before the dumbasses cut the strap on my trolling motor thinking they could steal it not knowing it was bolted down

That pissed me off so I went to radio shack and got a motion sensor and a few basic parts and built a simple alarm that was a small beeping alert in a box the size of your fist.
It sat on the table by my bedside

I'd had a few false alarms due to stray cats jumping up on the boat so I was a little disappointed

Then one Monday morning at 4am..1 week before Christmas it went off and jumped up and peeked outside and saw these 2 sumbitches looking under the boat cover and then one jumped up in the bed of my F150 and was trying to get into the rear sliding window

My heart was pumping and I was pissed off when I threw that back door open and started cussing them and yelling
It truly shocked the shit out of them

It was a rush

Good dog will do the same thing as the motion monitor
All of the dogs we have had have had two distinct types of barks. Bark one is the “ it’s something on four legs walking in my territory, go away now” and bark two is a little lower and directly in our ears that there is something walking upright outside.

Bark # 2 elicits an armed response if after dark.

We have learned to just sleep through bark # 1

 

[Glenn B]

I shot a guy who was trying to mug me back around early winter 1987 or so. Long write-up, so I won't reprint it here but here is the link if you want to to read it: http://ballseyesboomers.blogspot.com/2006/10/ballseye-what-is-in-name_04.html

 

[Hoji]

I shot a guy who was trying to mug me back around early winter 1987 or so. Long write-up, so I won't reprint it here but here is the link if you want to to read it: http://ballseyesboomers.blogspot.com/2006/10/ballseye-what-is-in-name_04.html

That was pretty funny.

 

[Sasquatch]

I shot a guy who was trying to mug me back around early winter 1987 or so. Long write-up, so I won't reprint it here but here is the link if you want to to read it: http://ballseyesboomers.blogspot.com/2006/10/ballseye-what-is-in-name_04.html

And you didn't retire to Dickshooter, Idaho? That was a seriously funny tale to read, sorry you had to live it though!