A firearm made a difference... Post your story up!

[okievarmint]

You cannot see our house from the road. Those that have been here know what I’m talking about. Our house sits just about in the middle of our place. Our driveway winds up the side of a hill, through the woods, and is about a ¼ mile long. Various neighbors live close to the road and have security lights that are lit up from dusk till dawn. We did not want any of those outside, automatic, security lights like you see on almost every rural home. Our outside lights we can turn on and off at will. The star-filled skies can be seen from our place because there is little to no light pollution.
A few years ago, daughter Rebekah (about 8) and grandaughter Shelby (about 4) were sound asleep. My wife Peggy and I were awakened by someone pounding on our front door. It was about 2 AM, and it was a cloudy, moon-less night.
I turned on the outside lights, and spoke loudly through the closed door, “Who are you and what do you want?”
A male voice said, “Open up. I need to use your phone to call someone.”
“Give me the number and I’ll call for you.” I answered
“No, I need to use your phone!” He shouted.
I racked the slide on my 870 Wing Master. I heard someone swallow hard; then shouts and the sound of running heels thumping down the wooden steps of our front deck. I jerked the door open and saw 4 people running flat-out down the drive. I think there were at least 2 more in the trees.
Why would they come to our house, not lit up, a long way from the road, and up the side of a hill? There were other houses close to the road and well lit.
Thankfully, I was armed. But what if they would have just kicked in the door? What if they were armed? No problem grabbing my firearm. But the shotgun holds just 5 shots; there were probably more people than that. And believe it or not, I do miss sometimes. I now have an AR I built myself, (Thanks, Louis) and hi-capacity mags.
Were they armed? I don’t know. Rape, murder, theft, and assaults have been carried out without arms. I believe I have the right to be as well armed as the bad guys. I also have the philosophy I will be better armed. I know when to shoot, and when not to.
Peggy and I believe they meant to do harm that night. We also believe that us being armed saved lives that night.
Some may say, “They may have just needed help!”
Judging from the way they were running, the only help they may have needed was with cleaning their shorts.

[TedKennedy]

Had my 8 year old stepson run in the house 20 years ago - my wife had just picked him up, and had some "road rage" incident on the way home. Boy yells "there's a guy fighting with Mom!", and I run out, grabbing rifle on the way. (assault rifle, BTW) See older guy trying to hit wife - he sees me aiming rifle and stops immediately. I tell him to go on, he wants to explain his actions, I repeat my advice to get the heck out of thee, and he does. Now, I could have knocked him up side the head and not used the rifle, but who knows if this retard had a knife, gun, whatever??? Anyone that would follow a chick home like that could do about anything.

[Rolando]

At home with my three small children in my rural home. Somebody tried to kick my door down. I grabbed a pistol. Dogs scared the perps away.

I would have been scared if I had not been armed.

[aa5b]

A man kicked in our back door in the middle of the night while I was away on business. The only thing between him and my pregnant wife was our bedroom door and a loaded glock 17 at the ready. Fortunately, he ran off and nothing irreplaceable was lost.

[Old Fart]

On my front yard late one night I uttered the words "Get off my lawn!" while pointing my weapon at them.
True story.

[bettingpython]

Middle of nowhere, middle of winter truck battery deader than a door nail at 3:30 in the morning when I was trying to get home from work. Drag the charger out from the back room hook it up to the battery run the extension cord outside and lock the door to the bar. Roaring into the parking lot 4 douchebags I had refused service to earlier in the night since they were already drunk or high on something. All 4 of them got out 1 of them came out with a tire tool, I knew right then and there that I was fixing to get a beating I might not survive. Fortunately I had my colt officers model with me. I knew I couldn't get all 4 of them but I was damn sure gonna try to get as many as I could and someone was gonna eat a bullet or 2 before they could get me. None of them had the courage to be the one to eat a bullet so his buddies could get to me.

I have never been so scared in my life.

[saddlebum]

i was on a cell tower site at 2am in the boondocks of se oklahoma. i had left the farm gate open as there were no livestock in this pasture and it was open when i got there ,i saw truck lights come through the gate and head for the cell site. i walked toward the compound gate thinking it was probably the land owner seeing what i was doing.

the pickup pulled up behind my work truck and four very large very intoxicated men got out. i asked can i help you and one replied we're just gonna take what ever you have ,it was then i realized i had taken my pistol off and layed it in the floorboard to be more comfortable on the long drive.

suddenly i felt like i was in slow motion , my heart raced and i kept hearing in my head "think,think". i had waited way to late to react. i knew i couldn't let them get between me and the truck, i wanted to run for the door but thought they would know i was unarmed if i did that.

i had a flash light in my hand that has a laser pointer on it so i flip on the laser and put it in the middle of the closest guys chest and said bad idea fella's stopping them in thier tracks while i made my way to the door of my truck opened it grabbed my pistol and stepped back to the front of my truck for cover.they went back to thier truck and high tailed out of there. after they were gone it hit me i got week and threw up a couple times.now i never take my gun off til i go to bed

[saddlebum]

http://gunowners.org/wv20.htm

this is the story that convinced my wife to start carrying

[B96brig4CC]

Wife woke me up in the middle of the night(about 3am) saying she kept hearing the screen door open and close. I got up and looked out the bedroom window and saw a guy standing at my front door. he would open the screen door and jiggle the handle, walk down off the porch and around to the drive way and then return and do it again. I told her to call the police, grabbed my pistol i keep by the bed and headed to the front door. Checking out the back and each window of the driveway to try and locate him. I get to the front door and he is really trying to work the knob. We have a small window at the top of the door about eye level that I can see him through. I turn on the living room light, tap on the glass with my pistol, he looks up with the deer in head lights look and just makes his way back off the porch. Once he is a safe distance into the yard, I step out and can tell he is piss drunk. Come to find out it was a neighbors buddy that was staying with him that was on the wrong side of the street! Saw him the next morning and told him he was lucky I check and lock all the doors. Had he been in the house it would have been the last drunken mistake he ever made. He asked why I would even own a gun......

I was at work another day, had my trailer parked next to the house with my wifes expedition blocking it. A hispanic gentlemen came to the door and kept ringing the door bell and knocking on the door. Wife ignored it but kept an eye on the guy through the window of the bedroom(windows had oneway screens so you could see out but not in.). He walks off the porch and signals to his buddy to back up into my yard to try and steal my trailer. She grabs the pistol, runs through the house and out onto the porch. She yells at them with the pistol in her hand and he starts making up all kinds of stories until he sees the gun!! Jumps in the truck and they take off!

[TJay74]

years ago got hit while I was on my motorcycle by an older guy, he took off while he had 3 kids in the back of his car. We followed at a safe distance with one of stopping along the way to update OHP. Almost out to the casino in Shawnee the old man finally pulls over right after an idiot in a truck tried to run me over and force me off of the road. I pull ahead of them by about 200' with my riding buddy. I take off my helmet and unzip my jacket to make my firearm more accessible.

Guy gets out of truck screaming something and how he was going to kick my ass. I advise him to stand down until OHP gets on scene, he continues to advance on me with a tire iron in hand screaming his threats again, once again I tell him to stand down and maintain his position until OHP gets on scene, he gets with in 20' of me I unholster my weapon behind my back and advise him for the last time if he make another threat and continues his advance on me I would have to defend myself with lethal force. He stopped right where he was and finally backed up and then started apologizing.

I called OHP to update them of my location, advise the dispatcher what was going on and that I had a weapon but it was still holstered, OHP shows up on scene and gets everyones info. OHP has me and the grandfather to the side while the son who was threatening me is standing next to my buddy, he asks my buddy if I was really packing, my buddy said yes and that my gun was in my hand. About that time a tropper comes over and tells the guy he should buy a lottery ticket as it was his lucky day and that he is still alive as I was with in my rights to defend myself and was armed.

My buddy said that the guy was ghost white at that point. Seems his dad called him after hitting me but neglected to tell him it was a hit and run, he reamed his dad out right there on the spot.

[Z71]

Back in the 1990's..the family and I left central OK after work..driving to Sealey TX...at 2 or 3 in the morning..I was driving and the rest of the family were sleeping and we were nearing Houston..A tan full-size Chevy van started messing with me!! Trying to get me to pull over...pass me slow down in my lane trying to get me to follow them onto the shoulder..to which I would just pass them by in the other lane..then they would speed up and do it again. None or not much other traffic this time of morning on I-45..

We did this several times..the van trying to get me pulled over...and speeding around me at high speed..or slowing down beside me wanting something...after a few times of this...I fished my Norinco 1911A1 from under the seat...turned on the dome-light..and showed the occupants of the van my cool(near new then) 1911 pistol.

That did the trick!!...The tan van passed me and hauled *** on into Houston.

I found out later that this was the time-frame that bodys were turning up here and there around the Houston area and along I-10...possibly/probably had a close call with serial killers!!!...I think my Chinese .45 saved me and the family!!

[vooduchikn]

Texas 2008 approximately 10:30PM, Mini-mart parking lot, low rent part of Corpus Christi (yeah, I know, I asked for this).

I was waiting for the old guy in front of me to get done and one of those Caprices with the 35" rims decided to roll through. I could see in the reflection on the windows in front of me that it stopped and a young hoodrat got out and walked over to the payphone about 20 feet away to my left and the car kept going and parked on my right.

Dude walked up to the payphone and picked it up, didn't put in any money, no calling card and just started acting like he was on the phone. This struck me as odd, most people of his age don't even know how to use a payphone . I looked at him and and he looked at me (still on the phone). He asked me WTF I was looking at along with some other racial slurs, (you know the kind that come in a box and taste good with soup). He Looked back at his buddy who was glaring at me from the window of the ghettosled and nodding in approval. He then hung up the phone and started towards us, staring intently on me. I could also see the driver exiting the vehicle to my right from the reflection on windows.

I was carrying my 1911 in a crossbreed supertuck at the 9 o' clock (lefty). I had on a t-shirt, so I pulled it up and put my hand on the grip and said "Bad Idea Man". He stopped, his eyes got bigger than softballs. He nodded, put his hands in the "I aint got nothing" position and then walked WAY around the back of me almost to the edge of the parking lot. I tracked him the whole way to the car and they all got in and burned out of the parking lot without even turning on thier lights.

I suspect that if I did not have a firearm, old man and I would have been robbed by these thugs. I also think that escalating to the hand on my exposed firearm diffused whatever situation was about to occur.

Heard from a friend later that there had been a rash of folks getting robbed as they were withdrawing cash at ATMs and that getting cashback is safer (good tip).

[TerryMiller]

Panhandle of Oklahoma, back in the '80's.

.410 gauge single shot shotgun and a (now deceased) rattlesnake.

Used it on skunks, too.

Both cases......certainly made a difference.

[okietom]

Panhandle of Oklahoma, back in the '80's.

.410 gauge single shot shotgun and a (now deceased) rattlesnake.

Used it on skunks, too.

Both cases......certainly made a difference.

Your signature is nice but guns are an issue that will make me a single issue voter.

[dennishoddy]

Well, I was on a little deployment to SE Asia around 1970........


In civilian life, it wasn't a firearm,but a bluff that got me through the confrontation.

My wife and I were at the Botanical Gardens in OKC. It was Sunday, and not many people about. We went to walk the reflecting pool. Going down the stairs, we passed a guy just standing there, looking a little rough. About half way around I saw another guy in front of us. My bell went off, so, told my wife to turn around and get out of there. The other guy was coming behind us. the guy in front was coming.

Told my wife, no matter what happened, run like hell, and don't look back. It was cool, and had a windbreaker on. Took on a little attitude, stuck my hand in my jacket, and looked the guy right in the eyes. As we approached, he took his eyes off of me, and kind of acted so-so, we went by him and out of there with no problems.
This was in the 80's, way before CC. I was unarmed.

Got lucky I guess.