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I have never drawn or used a gun in self defense, but I have been in a life or death situation.
My girlfriend and I, in seperate cars were on our way home from a wedding. I was the Best Man and she was she Maid of Honor. I remember a truck coming up behind us really fast, it passed my girlfriend who was following me, and dropped in behind me. The truck started flashing his lights at me, I was in the far right lane, and didn't know what he wanted. I tried moving into the left lane to let him pass on the right, he followed me into that lane. I then merged back to the right and again he did the same, riding just inches off my bumber flashing his lights and honking his horn. At this point I am getting
scared. I hit the gas and put some distance between us. Watching in my rear view mirror, I saw my girlfriend pass the truck and speed up to catch up with me. At this point I was even more scared as now she had put herself in harms way with this trucker. Our speed eventually put us far ahead of the truck, and we took our exit off the intersate. We pulled into a gas station and parked side by side. We were talking about what had just happened when the truck pullled up, stopped on the road and blocked both exits from the station. A few seconds later I heard two loud bangs. My first thoughts were that the truck had backfired, but when I turned to look, there was a man pointing a gun at me, ordering me to get out of the car.
He walked up to my window, shoved the gun against my forehead and again ordered me out of the car. I got out of the car asking him what was the matter. He said I had tried to kill him by trying to run him off the road. I tried to reason with the guy. At this time, my girlfriend started to get out of her car, he wheeled his gun in her direction and told her to get back in.
He then hit me twice with his gun, The first time broke my nose so badly, it was moved directly below my eye. The second hit gave me a severe concusion. My adrenalin was pumping so hard that I never lost consciousness or even fell off my feet. I didn't even feel the hits that I just took, or know that my nose was broke. I was fearing for my life and my girlfriends. At this time he turned his attention to my girlfriend, he walked to her window and put his gun to her head ordering her to now get out of the car. At this point I knew I had to try something, else if I didn't we were both going to die. As his attention was away from me, I started to make my move towards him. He either sinced or heard my movement and turned with his pistol pointing straight at me. I felt at that moment that I was dead, but suddenly, just as he had turned to face me, he raised boith his hands in the air and said "I don't want any trouble". An Armed security guard who was across the street at a Hotel had heard the shots and called it in. He was the first on the scene. The trucker quickly surrendered the gun to the security guard. Just moments later the police showed up. I was in a state of shock at what had just happened. All I knew or cared about at that moment was that my girlfriend and I were still alive. The Police made a hasty and wrong assumption, they assumed that I was the gunman and that the trucker had dissarmed me. The Police were handcuffing me, while the trucker was walking around free. When my girlfriend saw what was happening she started screaming at the cops, "YOU'VE GOT THE WRONG GUY". I guess this either embarrased the police or angered them that the assailant was walking free while the victim was being handcuffed, that three of them tackled the trucker hard, slamming him face first into the cement. After the trucker was in custody, an officer came back to me and removed the handcuffs, and apologized, I remember telling the officer that no apologies are neccessary. I said Thank you. At this point the police were asking me and my girlfriend what had happened when I noticed the cops were looking at me funny, they asked me, has you nose always been that crooked? I said what do you mean, and reach for my nose, it was not there, or at least where it was supposed to be.I found it below my eye. I said oh man he broke my nose. I looked down and my tux was covered in blood and also had a gushing wound on my head. They told me that I needed to go to the hospital and get that taken care of. I opted to have my girlfriend drive me in my car as it was loaded down with wedding presents, and I didn't want it to be left there. The police asked us to come to the police station after we were finished at the hospital, but when I got to the hospital I found out I had a cracked skull as well. I was admitted to the hospital and the police came the next day to take my statement.
I later met with the security guard when he came to visit me in the hospital. I could never thank him enough. He said that he was just as scared as I was when he saw the man standing there pointing a gun at me. Apparently the trucker thought the security was a policeman, which is why he surrendered the way he did.
Anyway, after going through this experience, I got one question answered. That is could I take a life, if it meant saving mine or my families lives? The answer is yes I can. And I don't think I would have any remorse for acting in self defense. I feel I would only have remorse if I fail to take action.