Have you ever "pulled out" your concealed weapon in a real life scenario?
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I never pulled a gun but one time I should have. My girlfriend owns a house in north Atlanta, Buckhead, where the rich White folks live. One Sunday night, I was in the living room talking with my brother in law on the phone, I was walking around the living room and happened to be looking out the big front windows.
Right then, I saw this black guy walking across the front lawn. We didn't get too many visitors at 10pm on a Sunday.
In about three seconds, I went outside. This guy was sitting in my pickup truck!
He was about to wire my truck and drive it off, and I had about $2500 of carpentry tools in the tool box.
He noticed me when he saw the front door, and he hopped out of my truck and ran around into the back yard. I was yelling and chasing him. I was yelling "I'll kill you!!"
This guy was really running fast and he was lots faster than I was. He ran all the way around the house, into the front yard, and I was about 200 feet behind him. He got to the street, and to my astonishment, he hopped into a brand new Lexus that was parked right in front of our house, and he drove away at a high rate of speed.
Girlfriend's house is just 3 blocks from Lenox Mall. The criminals from south side Atlanta ride the Marta train up to the Mall, and they steal a nice car. They are scared of GPS tracking, so they just drive a few blocks and park it. They will let it sit overnight, if it is still there next morning they go back and retrieve it. This criminal spotted my old pickup and figured it didn't have GPS so it was a safe ride.
It did occur to me that, if the guy had whirled around with a gun in his hand, I would have been dead.
It was just a fluke that I caught him, I just had put down my book to talk on the phone, and just happened to be looking out the front window when the guy walked across the lawn.0 -
Yes - once.
Afterward I had to step outside a vomit - had the shakes bad and was short of breath - I had been within a hairs breadth of killing someone or being killed - I actually applied enough pressure on the trigger that the hammer began to unseat and move back...
I was well trained and skilled and thought I was mentally prepared for such an encounter - and you might say I handled it right...
But I had nightmares for years.
I still remember the police officer crouched next to me telling me to breath and center myself and ride it out - I oddly recall his forearms being covered with USMC tattoos and him saying that everyone's first time was rough and I had done OK and would be alright - realizing later that he was speaking to me not as an LEO but as a warrior who had been there and done that and had the T-shirt - that there was no judgment of my adverse physical reaction - no embarrassment - that he knew exactly what I was feeling...
I have since that day sincerely hoped to never be in that situation again - and while a carried a gun 6 days a week for over 20 years I knew that I could react the right way - but knew that it should be a last ditch last resort response not to be sought and not to be feared but to be avoided if at all possible.
And of course even though to me time seemed to have slowed down and perceptions greatly enhanced it's a split second time frame that does not allow time for judicious thinking or calm reflection.
It was training - it was an almost unconscious autonomic reaction.
Triggering the gun shops silent alarm with my foot on a floor switch - the proactive armed entry response when the police arrived - holding my hand up with gun pointed at the ceiling and shouting "clear"...
You do what you can and what you must and what conscious demands to save your life or to protect others lives - but it's not something to b you sought out with bravado or something to be sought...
At least that's my view on it - you may see things differently or have experienced it differently...
Mike
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