Have You Ever Had A Gun Pointed At You?

[Slant Eyed Polack]

My car was stolen many moons ago, and recovered about a month later. The cops forgot to take it off their hot sheet, and I was treated to a full felony stop

"Driver! Throw your keys out the window! Driver! Exit the vehicle! Driver! Walk backwards towards the sound of my voice! DID I TELL YOU TO PUT YOUR HANDS DOWN, MUTHERFU¢%ER?! FACE DOWN ON THE PAVEMENT!! NOW!!"

Good times.

 

[Melensdad]

I saved myself from an encounter with 3 gang bangers by having a shiny bright stainless steel 1911 on my hip. No shots fired. They retreated at high speed.

 

[Slant Eyed Polack]

... No shots fired...

Which is how the vast majority - approximately 95% - of civilian involved defensive gun usages are resolved.

When I was an infant, we took a day trip to the mountains and stopped at one of my parents' favorite spots. While we were there, a couple bikers rolled in. Dad could tell they were trouble, and loaded wife & kid into the car. During the load up, one of the bikers shouted at dad to "hand over summa that slant-eyed pu$$y!"

Loudmouth wheeled his bike behind the car about 4 feet off the back bumper. He dismounted and made a beeline for the driver's side window, leaned in and found himself looking down the barrel of a .357. Suddenly he had nothing more to say. He and his compadre saddled up and rode off.

25 years later I owned a 1965 Plymouth Barracuda. One day I towed it to a building where I was going to work on it. As I pulled onto the property, there were a couple guys about my age sharing a crack pipe. I rolled down the window and said "Hate to tell you guys, but this is private property and you'll need to clear off." They snarled and cursed. One of them picked up a piece of rebar and both advanced. I let them see my pistol and told them to simmer down. Both men split.

In both instances: no shots fired, nobody hurt. Just a big stick on display.

 

[Doc]

Never have been in a situation as described above.
I have been hit with stray shot from a shotgun while hunting squirrel. I thought someone was shooting as us. But the choke on my friend's shotgun let it spray more than expected. Two pellets hit in the back of my shoulder. Made holes in my thick army coat but no skin penetration.

 

[pirate_girl]

No.

 

[m1west]

When I was about 18 me and a buddy got pulled over in Detroit at about 1 am. While handing over my DL to the nice man at the window, I noticed his partner pointing a shotgun at me through the windshield. I didn't say anything and he didn't shoot me.

 

[Slant Eyed Polack]

Never have been in a situation as described above.
I have been hit with stray shot from a shotgun while hunting squirrel. I thought someone was shooting as us. But the choke on my friend's shotgun let it spray more than expected. Two pellets hit in the back of my shoulder. Made holes in my thick army coat but no skin penetration.

Crikey. Coulda been worse - you could have been hunting with Dick Cheney...

 

[FrancSevin]

I was a very young foreman on a truck farm in Ferguson MO. The owner, Al was in bed with the flu so I was running the place. The farm bordered on Kinlock, most of our labor came from there.
While Al was sick, I got the job of night patrol keeping poachers off the produce. I carried a pellet pistol to ward of any two and four legged creatures.

I caught two guys in the Okra patch, asked them to leave. They laughed. I then told them to leave or I would shoot. They laughed louder and told me to f!ck off.

So, I shot them. And, they took off running back into Kinlock.

Sun-up came a few hours later. As I was standing by the farmhouse handing out picking teams their orders for the day, the brick wall behind me began exploding. One of the pickers tackled me to the ground just as a bullet creased my right ear lobe.

"Them boys be trying to kill you!" he said. I looked up at the tree line border of Kinlockand three black dudes were shooting at me. I still had that damn pellet pistol and without thinking, pulled it and began running towards my assailants.


Stupid?, yes
Dumbass? Yep

But effective.
For some reason they ran like hell.
My savior caught up with me and again threw me to the ground.
"Stop you crazy fool, You bleeding Francis!"

I touched my ear and saw gobs of blood. And that's when it hit me, OH YEAH, they really were trying to kill me.

When old Al heard of this, he gave me his Colt for the next night's watch. And sick as he was, made the rounds with me carrying his Browning 12 gauge.

Nobody showed all week.

" That boy be crazy!"

Still have a scar, really just a tender spot that itches and bleeds once in a while, on my right ear.
My second encounter facing a gun was hilarious. More on that later.

 

[Hopeless loser]

I never got shot and parent never bought a gun when they immigrated to USA from India. I was only in Detroit for 12 years and my parents were only in Detroit from 1988 to 2005 so a total off 17 years. So we moved to Canada when I was 12 for better jobs. I was mostly a home bodied kid and watched cartoons and pro wrestling along with movies and rode my bicycle when the weather was good. I got into video games as a kid as well. My parents never got shot either. I didn’t get enough time to socialize as a kid and teenager outside off school.

 

[FrancSevin]

Back in the early 70's, I had a partnership business with two guys. our place was an old brick building just off Lakeshore Drive and I-55 merger. Right where McCormick build five now sits.
Just north of the infamous "southside" it was a bad neighborhood. Not dangerous per se but dangerously close to really bad. We mostly packaged the Hickory Farms cheese gift product with about 50 employees but only for 6-7 months of the year. Otherwise we were slow, maybe 5 or 6 employees and the three partners.

My job was engineering and building new lines and automation of old ones. So, sometimes I worked late. 6:00 winter is dark outside in Chicago.
Leaving the building just after dark, I was accosted by an older man carrying the Saturday nite special 38 pistol. All Chrome and menacing. He demanded my wallet which I handed over. Took the $10 or $11 bucks I had. I have to admit, I was scared and frankly did not, or would not, look him in the face. He warned me not to turn around and left.

That was the first time.

Later, I was again working late, but this time I was driving my brand new Oldsmobile Starfire. Same guy, I could tell by his voice. Same scary gun. This time I saw his face when he took my wallet and found only a $1 bill. He puts the gun butt on my shoulder and turns me around. Saying, "You drive a fancy car like that with only a buck in your wallet?"
"That fancy car is a just dressed up Chevy Vega, and it is why I only have a buck left!"

Boy, you is more broke than me. Keep it! And he walked away.

Every once in a while, I would see that gun in my nightmare dreams. Him, I never saw again.

 

[Hopeless loser]

Back in the early 70's, I had a partnership business with two guys. our place was an old brick building just off Lakeshore Drive and I-55 merger. Right where McCormick build five now sits.
Just north of the infamous "southside" it was a bad neighborhood. Not dangerous per se but dangerously close to really bad. We mostly packaged the Hickory Farms cheese gift product with about 50 employees but only for 6-7 months of the year. Otherwise we were slow, maybe 5 or 6 employees and the three partners.

My job was engineering and building new lines and automation of old ones. So, sometimes I worked late. 6:00 winter is dark outside in Chicago.
Leaving the building just after dark, I was accosted by an older man carrying the Saturday nite special 38 pistol. All Chrome and menacing. He demanded my wallet which I handed over. Took the $10 or $11 bucks I had. I have to admit, I was scared and frankly did not, or would not, look him in the face. He warned me not to turn around and left.

That was the first time.

Later, I was again working late, but this time I was driving my brand new Oldsmobile Starfire. Same guy, I could tell by his voice. Same scary gun. This time I saw his face when he took my wallet and found only a $1 bill. He puts the gun butt on my shoulder and turns me around. Saying, "You drive a fancy car like that with only a buck in your wallet?"
"That fancy car is a just dressed up Chevy Vega, and it is why I only have a buck left!"

Boy, you is more broke than me. Keep it! And he walked away.

Every once in a while, I would see that gun in my nightmare dreams. Him, I never saw again.

Sorry to hear that. So you have ptsd from that incident? Did you see a therapist and do you take any medication for ptsd?

 

[Crumpy]

Back in the early 70's, I had a partnership business with two guys. our place was an old brick building just off Lakeshore Drive and I-55 merger. Right where McCormick build five now sits.
Just north of the infamous "southside" it was a bad neighborhood. Not dangerous per se but dangerously close to really bad. We mostly packaged the Hickory Farms cheese gift product with about 50 employees but only for 6-7 months of the year. Otherwise we were slow, maybe 5 or 6 employees and the three partners.

My job was engineering and building new lines and automation of old ones. So, sometimes I worked late. 6:00 winter is dark outside in Chicago.
Leaving the building just after dark, I was accosted by an older man carrying the Saturday nite special 38 pistol. All Chrome and menacing. He demanded my wallet which I handed over. Took the $10 or $11 bucks I had. I have to admit, I was scared and frankly did not, or would not, look him in the face. He warned me not to turn around and left.

That was the first time.

Later, I was again working late, but this time I was driving my brand new Oldsmobile Starfire. Same guy, I could tell by his voice. Same scary gun. This time I saw his face when he took my wallet and found only a $1 bill. He puts the gun butt on my shoulder and turns me around. Saying, "You drive a fancy car like that with only a buck in your wallet?"
"That fancy car is a just dressed up Chevy Vega, and it is why I only have a buck left!"

Boy, you is more broke than me. Keep it! And he walked away.

Every once in a while, I would see that gun in my nightmare dreams. Him, I never saw again.

Franc, me thinks you have a death wish. But I told Saint Peter they have to wait. I am not done with you yet. 😉

You should tell the story from your days at R&F Spaghetti Company.

 

[Melensdad]

Sorry to hear that. So you have ptsd from that incident? Did you see a therapist and do you take any medication for ptsd?

Pretty sure the answer is NO. He just manned up and moved forward.

 

[Hopeless loser]

Pretty sure the answer is NO. He just manned up and moved forward.

True but some folks get ptsd from getting a gun pointed in their head and getting their wallet robbed. Everyone is different.

 

[FrancSevin]

Franc, me thinks you have a death wish. But I told Saint Peter they have to wait. I am not done with you yet. 😉

You should tell the story from your days at R&F Spaghetti Company.

Are you talking about the gal I fired for attacking her sister with a knife?
She emptied a 38 at me, virtually point-blank range. Somehow, she missed every time.

 

[Hopeless loser]

Are you talking about the gal I fired for attacking her sister with a knife?
She emptied a 38 at me, virtually point-blank range. Somehow, she missed every time.

Damn the 70s and 80s were wild. I was born in 1993 so I experience most of the 2000s and 2010s as a kid and teen along with as a young adult. My memories of the 90s were going to New York City and Niagara Falls along with Washington DC in 1997 and 1998 along with watching 90s cartoons and WWE attitude era.

 

[FrancSevin]

Sorry to hear that. So you have ptsd from that incident? Did you see a therapist and do you take any medication for ptsd?

What would a therapist do for me? Charge me for pshyco-plasma. The good Lord obviously has other plans for me than getting shot at the age of 32. I'm thinking, my existence is here for Crumpy's sake and that suits me just fine.

 

[Hopeless loser]

What would a therapist do for me? Charge me for pshyco-plasma. The good Lord obviously has other plans for me than getting shot at the age of 32. I'm thinking, my existence is here for Crumpy's sake and that suits me just fine.

I guess the therapist would tell you how to face your fears and how to avoid getting robbed by a lunatic with a gun. There are lot military veterans coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan with ptsd getting therapy.

 

[FrancSevin]

I guess the therapist would tell you how to face your fears and how to avoid getting robbed by a lunatic with a gun. There are lot military veterans coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan with ptsd getting therapy.

I was a firefighter for over a decade. You cannot do that job justice if you fret about dying.

There were close calls yes, but that is not the subject of this thread. I'll be happy to relate those stories elsewhere.
Some people go through life in fear of death. They hope to live a full life. Whatever that means.
Others savor the enjoyment of living a life fulfilled.
A very different experience.
Know the difference.
Better life!

 

[Gunsrus]

I've been fortunate enough to never have a gun pointed at me. I count myself lucky enough to live in a place where this doesn't happen, at least that I know of.

By the way, I would like to understand the meaning of a proverb dropped by Jack Nicholson in the Departed, which relates to this topic, in a way. It goes something like this...

"When we were growing up, we become cops and robbers. What I'm saying to you today is this: when you're facing a loaded gun, what's the difference?"

Is there a difference? I don't quite get what the script writer wanted to convey.

 

[Hopeless loser]

I've been fortunate enough to never have a gun pointed at me. I count myself lucky enough to live in a place where this doesn't happen, at least that I know of.

By the way, I would like to understand the meaning of a proverb dropped by Jack Nicholson in the Departed, which relates to this topic, in a way. It goes something like this...

"When we were growing up, we become cops and robbers. What I'm saying to you today is this: when you're facing a loaded gun, what's the difference?"

Is there a difference? I don't quite get what the script writer wanted to convey.

I see your from Spain. European countries have different rules and laws about owning a gun so it’s not that common as in USA.

 

[Gunsrus]

I see your from Spain. European countries have different rules and laws about owning a gun so it’s not that common as in USA.

Indeed they are. We can only buy guns for hunting and the rules are very strict. I believe you have to renew your licence yearly.

Do you see the point of the quote from the Departed I posted? I can't quite make heads or tails of it.

 

[deand1]

Indeed they are. We can only buy guns for hunting and the rules are very strict. I believe you have to renew your licence yearly.

Do you see the point of the quote from the Departed I posted? I can't quite make heads or tails of it.

The line "When you have a loaded gun pointed at you, what's the difference?" is indeed from the movie "The Departed." It's a powerful line that reflects the intensity of the situations the characters find themselves in throughout the film.

 

[Gunsrus]

The line "When you have a loaded gun pointed at you, what's the difference?" is indeed from the movie "The Departed." It's a powerful line that reflects the intensity of the situations the characters find themselves in throughout the film.

So, is there a difference?

 

[deand1]

So, is there a difference?

In the context of the movie and in a broader sense, the line suggests that in a life-threatening situation where someone has a loaded gun pointed at you, the difference between life and death becomes starkly clear. It's a rhetorical question that emphasizes the gravity of such situations and the urgency of making decisions under extreme pressure.