I’ve raised my shirt several times to show it holstered. Several times in downtown Dallas to homeless who wouldn’t take no for an answer and got super aggressive. And once on our train when 3 thugs were diming me out with my laptop bag ready to make a move. All 3 were laser focused and watched at stops as people were getting off the train. They moved up in the seating area. I got tired of it, got up, stretched where they could see it holstered and the predator look on all 3 of their faces turned to prey. Had another time on same train run, where a guy was flipping out and cursing everyone, including women, acting massive cray cray screaming, etc. No showing, but got close, just got lucky at a stop and a train cop was standing near an exit. Told her at the stop what was going on and she made the dude get off and ran his ID, etc. I thought I was going to have to assist the female officer because he started screaming at her too.

And one time with a guy doing max road rage. I mean this dude was so ridiculous during a turn he opened up his truck door, hung out of his truck, turned 180 while driving and stared me down. I pulled my pistol and just set it on the dash where he could see it. I was tired of it as this had gone on for several miles. I just calmly pulled it and set it on the dash. He stomped on the throttle and left, finally.

I’ve never done a presentation and pointed it at anyone. Society has gotten so ridiculous, like how dash cams have become almost a necessity, I’m sure at some point there will be a tiny body cam to clip on to your shirt collar and I’ll happily buy and wear it for certain places. Any of the situations above I was fully ready to deal with LEO should they be called or involved. I’ll take my chances showing I’m armed if it de-escalates.

Once. It was that night that I learned that I was born to live by the gun.

But seriously, No.
There have been a few times that I was glad I had it on me, but (thankfully) it has never gotten to that point.

Never


I need it all the time in my dreams but can't pull the trigger

Close one time but thankfully only close. I left work and made a right on red at the corner with more than plenty of room to do so. What I didn't realize that the truck coming down the road was doing about mach 8 and came up on me fast, he felt I cut him off. Had he been going the speed limit we never would have gotten close.

I was headed to the store and turned on to the road leading to the parking lot and he followed, blew past me and stopped about 30 feet ahead. I made a move to go around, he turned into my path and jumped out with a tire iron. The instant adrenaline dump and fear made me forget I was carrying and time stopped. When I got control of myself I remember thinking I might have to do something I can't take back and started reaching for my glock. I don't know if he saw me reach, I was still seated in the truck, or if he just changed his mind but thankfully he got back in his truck and sped off. I think I was still shaking inside an hour later.

I've been carrying concealed since 1997 or so and fortunately by the grace of God I've never been in a situation where I felt I needed to use my firearm and hope I never will.

Many (most? all?) Publix grocery stores in this area have walk-up ATMs outside the store; ATM users are standing on the public sidewalk.

I was using one of those in broad daylight. Three homies started to crowd me. I asked them to please move back a little, give me some room, and I got the "No habla" response, they kept crowding me.

Reaching for my wallet in back pocket, I must have accidentally brushed my unbuttoned shirt back, exposing my holstered P228. Home boys suddenly seemed to remember important business elsewhere, that they did not want to be late for.

Once, unfortunately, many years ago before cell phones. My wife and I were driving on I95 in the early morning around 7:00 in Palm Beach County, going to visit her parents. We were on a stretch of the hwy. that didn't have any exits for about 8 miles and just passed the last exit, when I could see a dark green Dodge Ram truck coming up fast behind us. We were in the second lane,closest to the slow lane of a 4 lane section. It was a Sunday morning and no one but my wife and I were on the road and the truck. He got right on our bumper. I moved to the very far right lane and the truck swerved over right behind us, like he was trying to hit us. I went back over to the other lane and he started swerving into us, so I slowed down only to have him do the same thing. This went on for a few minutes/miles and my wife was getting scared. I finally took my Glock 19 out of the holster, raised it up by my window and placed it on the dash with my hand on it, pointed in his direction. His windows had dark tint so I couldn't see inside it to see the driver but apparently he saw the gun and took off.

We tried to write down his plate but couldn't see it that good and I never found out who it was or why someone would do what he did. If I didn't have my gun, who knows how that would have played out. We still talk about it every once in a while.

When my son was alive, he ran with a bunch of drug addled outlaws. He was thrown out my house and told not to come back, but I came home one day and he was there with a couple of his friends.

I came in the back door, down the hall and put my .45 against the other boy's forehead and dared him to blink. Took them both prone in the hall and then took a female out of the shower and put them all three in the front yard prone until the cavalry arrived.

My son died about a year later from an overdose. I helped put the male in prison for a few years. He got out and died of a drug overdose within a couple months. I don't know what happened to the girl.

I really hate to say it, but the world is better off without my son and the other guy. Drugs suck.

Several times when I was a cop. I lived in the town I policed and ran into folks I had arrested all the time. Two didn’t realized that was just business ( cops and robbers) and tried to start something.

One guy said he’d come to my home and told me my address. After I explained it was just business and if he came to my home it would be personal and now I could articulate why I’d just start shooting if he did show up, he walked away

And once before I was a cop, had to show him my colt commander while I got into my truck and drove off. He followed me for 20 miles in the middle of no where, till I got into town, then drove off.

Three times

Though technically the 1st time was not my CCW. I was in High School so of course no handgun or CCW was allowed at the time.
I was going to meet a buddy near University of Cincinnati’s Campus. A young girl was driving a Miata with the top down in front of me and she pulled into the lot where I was going. When she pulled in there were to upstanding fellas walking on the sidewalk. I am guessing they thought she should have let them cross the lot before she pulled in (it was pretty close, I would have waited to pull in) they began throwing chunks of concrete at her from the lot.
I had just come from shooting clays with another buddy so I had a Remington 870 on the back seat (too long to fit in the hatch). So I hopped out with the old 26” barreled Remington 870 and racked that sucker. The upstanding gentleman ran, the girl was crying I asked if she was alright. She said she was and said thank you.
I left.

2nd time I had to run an errand real quick so I took the cruiser. I was dumb and and rushing home not paying attention to a vehicle following me. I parked on the street in front of my house and a guy jumped out of a car behind me and started screaming that he had a gun and a body in his trunk. So out came my CCW and I ordered him to the ground and proned him out in my driveway as the neighbors were out with their kids.
Turns out the guy had escaped from one of the Psychiatric Hospitals in Cincinnati about 2 hours away. Really thought he had a body in the trunk saw my cruiser and wanted to turn himself in so he followed me.
No body in the trunk and no gun we could find but he did have a holster. Glad he did not have that gun.

3rd time was down the street at my neighbors our kids were playing and him and I were just chatting when the across the street neighbors Rottweiler came charging the kids. I started yelling the dog stopped in the street. Front shoulders hunched down, neighbor got the kids on the backyard and I drew my CCW aimed at the dog of it were to charge.
The dog took off up the street going after another neighbor who was mowing his yard. He was pretty quick to react and he pushed down on the mower handle as far as he could putting the blades up and started at the dog with the mower. By that time with all the yelling the owner came out and got the dog.
They ended up getting rid of that dog.

friend and I used to hit pawn shops about once a month on our days off,

downtown Richmond, not a great part of Broad St, and I parked on a side street about a block or 2 from the 2 shops we were going to,

had a few 'yutes' in a doorway near my parking spot, eyeballing us, and when we started down the sidewalk, they did too,

no idea if nefarious stuff was going to happen, but when I checked the Detonics in my waist band, as in lifted my coat, made sure it was secure and pulled the coat back, they suddenly had someplace else to be,



a few months later, I was at my grandmothers house,
she had a handful of old TV's and I needed one for my then garage,

so I took one and put it in the car, with her permission, and walked back in the house and made sure all was good, said my thanks and goodbyes etc, and went back to the car,
I noticed 2 cars coming from opposite direction in teh alleys (parking for her house was on the side street, alley on either side, and a police car at the intersection, and an officer near my car,

they asked me if I saw anyone take a TV, and I said yes, I just put on in that car (it was visible in the back seat)
told them I was the grandson of the person that lived here, and BTW, I have a pistol on my side (slowly opened coat to show them that same Detonics,, )

Ok, you are good with the pistol, and they all left,
never checked with her, or my ID (same last name) etc, just drove off,

found out later that the neighbor across the street had called my grandmother later that day, and told her she had called it in as a B&E,,

grandma, who never minced words, chomped on her ass thru the phone and then hung up,

In '85 or '86 I found myself in a situation where I wished I had a CCW real bad. I don't think I did a single thing to incited this bad actor, but before my encounter was over I was thrown through the air, thrown on the ground, stomped on, mashed up against a gate. Won myself a trip to get stitched up. I threatened that bad'n with all sorts of shooting, stabbing, running over, and I don't know what else. Maybe it a language barrier. I don't know, but you couldn't pay me to trust a psychotic chianina mama cow ever again.

once. was heading home one sunday morning after work and freeway closure had me get off in a bad area. There was no traffic signal, just a stop sign. The car in front of me would not go so I honked once. I watched the driver and passenger look back at me then look around then they both got out. I drew both my guns and displayed them on top of my dash and they got back in their car and took off.

quote:

Originally posted by Chowser:
once. was heading home one sunday morning after work and freeway closure had me get off in a bad area. There was no traffic signal, just a stop sign. The car in front of me would not go so I honked once. I watched the driver and passenger look back at me then look around then they both got out. I drew both my guns and displayed them on top of my dash and they got back in their car and took off.

“ Both my guns” lol

In reference to my LEO career, I've pulled my weapon MANY times, but I've never fired at people. I've dispatched many deer, a dog, and a cow.

While off duty or now retired, my wife and I were walking to our new house, which was under construction, when I vicious dog came after us. I drew and aimed at it as it was circling us. It finally withdrew, and off we went.

Off duty one time, I did a felony traffic stop on two robbers in my Honda Civic. I got them out at gunpoint with my then Browning BDA 380 as backup arrived.

I don’t know if this counts, but I was being dressed down by a road rager a few years ago. I had apparently inconvenienced him and he had change lanes to continue speeding some 25 mph above the speed limit.

We were both stopped by the next intersection which infuriated him presumably because he had to slow down a bit to go around me. He approached the passenger side of my truck and began shout profanities and insults. My window was down and when I didn’t respond, he leaned into my vehicle to continue berating me. When he saw my sidearm he stopped shouting and bugged his eyes out. He quickly backed away and went back to his car.

When the light turned, he sped off and I decided to turn down another street. Didn’t want him to regain his bravado and develop a plan knowing there was a gun in my truck.

Only once, years before AZ even had CCW.
I was washing clothes after a divorce and being a night owl was doing laundry at an open all night laundromat about 0200hrs.
That’s when about 4 yutes walked in.
One went to the very back and checked the bathroom, saw it was empty and joined the others at the only door.
All of them were looking around in that “let’s make sure we’re not being observed” scanning mode.

I stopped folding clothes and stuck my hand into the pocket of my old Army field jacket…where I had placed my 649 J frame. We were separated by a row of laundry machines.
They watched for what seemed like a minute or so and the one who looked to be directing the group had that “dim light bulb moment” and realized that since they came in, I had not once pulled my hand *out* of that pocket.
He whispered to his cohorts and they decided they had errands to run elsewhere.

I’ve put my hand on my CCW ready to draw exactly twice. Both times in Philly.

Once involved an aggressive homeless man following my wife and I around Old Town and getting too close after multiple verbal warnings of decreasing politeness. We crossed the street towards a couple of beat cops who just happened to be there and the aggressor did a quick 180.

The second time, we were actually on the road leaving the city, first in line at a red light waiting to get on the highway on ramp. A car sped up behind us and screeched to a stop (I was watching, thinking we were going to get hit). As fast as I saw the driver jump out and take a couple running steps towards us (which is when I prepared to draw), a marked police cruiser and van caught up, at least 4-5 cops jumped out, weapons drawn, and raced up to surround the guy’s car and ordered him to the ground. One of the cops waved me away and I was happy to go through the intersection (still red) as soon as cross-traffic was clear.

-Rob

Once. Seattle, 1984, near the Pike Place Market. I had taken my 9 y.o. daughter there for lunch but had to park quite far away from the restaurant. While walking back to our car I was aware of a sketchy 30 something man following us. To confirm that he was actually following I made several changes in direction while walking. My daughter kept asking why we didn’t go straight back to where we had parked. I said that we will make one more turn and head straight back to the car. The man still followed us and was getting closer. When we got to our car he was about 10 to 12 feet away from us. With my left hand I opened the passenger door to let my daughter in while looking directly at the man and with my right hand brushed back my open jacket to reveal my holstered S&W Bodyguard. He immediately made a U turn and headed away at a quick pace.
I still CC that gun.

Twice I wished I'd been carrying, but in the end it worked out.

Once was in DC in around 1984. Two locals had set up an ambush where visitors had parked for a restaurant a couple of blocks away. One against a wall towards the far end of the line of parked cars, another across the street. I saw them as we approached, directed my wife into the middle of the street and hustled in through the passenger side of the car before they got to us.

The second time was in our old neighborhood when 2 dogs on the loose came trotting through. I have picked up numerous escapees and returned them home over the years. These two wouldn't let me get very close so I followed them, then they both suddenly turned, viciously barking, teeth bared, hair up on their necks. I backed off and they ran.