2010 FAQ: Did you ever use your CH in self-defense?

[steveincowtown]

I think it implies he is in the Armed Forces....

[Beiruty]

or used it at home/business/car where there is no need for license.

[VoiceofReason]

Displayed one about 40 years ago which got my family and I out of a bad situation.

Got out of another bad situation about 30 years ago and the aggressors never saw it.

Got out of a situation about three years ago when I made four guys think I had one when I really didn’t.

Have not even had to put my hand on it since getting my CHL a couple of years ago.

Hope I never have to use it.

[billv]

CH no but CHL a few times.

The new CHL looks very similar to DL. One time I was in a bank withdrawing some cash and I handed the teller the CHL by mistake. She went "This is not a driver's license," and I said "what do you mean it's not?" We went back and forth a few times. I didn't realize my mistake until she shoveled it under my nose. :-(

So why wouldn't she take your CHL? It's a state issued photo ID that has a lot more validity of the owner than a DL does (fingerprints, back ground checks, etc).

I've wondered what would happen at the airport if I presented my CHL to the TSA, besides getting my "junk" checked thoroughly.

[ScottDLS]

CH no but CHL a few times.

The new CHL looks very similar to DL. One time I was in a bank withdrawing some cash and I handed the teller the CHL by mistake. She went "This is not a driver's license," and I said "what do you mean it's not?" We went back and forth a few times. I didn't realize my mistake until she shoveled it under my nose. :-(

So why wouldn't she take your CHL? It's a state issued photo ID that has a lot more validity of the owner than a DL does (fingerprints, back ground checks, etc).

I've wondered what would happen at the airport if I presented my CHL to the TSA, besides getting my "junk" checked thoroughly.

I once showed my Texas CHL to the Pentagon Police because they wanted two picture ID's and I didn't have my DoD contractor ID card yet. I told them I wasn't carrying (of course) and they said no problem, we see them all the time.

[RoyGBiv]

Once at home, never while out and concealed..

Lived in the woods, two guys come into my driveway (gravel, loud) and park their van behind my car (blocked me in). Middle of a sunny day, nobody but me, them and Bambi for at least a half mile. They get out (I'm watching through the BR window) and start looking around. Then they head for the rear of the house and up the porch. I know many of you are thinking "everyone always comes to my back porch first, nobody ever uses the front door"... Well, that's not the case at this house. The front door is the very obvious choice.

Now I'm in the LR. One guy starts looking through the sliding glass doors (vertical blinds kept me hidden), the other goes further around to the back door and I hear him trying the knob. Already had my gun out, now I call 911. "Someone's trying to break in to my house, please send help". They confirm the address and tell me someone's on the way. I put the phone down (still on 911 call) on the table and quietly go out the front door, around the side and take a covered position at the corner of the house. I don't want to be inside if they pull out guns or decide to break in.

"Hands Up.!!... NOW.!"

Both of those MotherLovers turned white as a ghost. Started yammering about how they were lost and thought this was a house they were supposed to do a repair on. "You always come around back before you knock on the front door? You couldn't have missed my car parked in the driveway." They repeated their story...

"Hands on the railing, the cops are on the way"... "Don't move and I won't have to shoot you".

End of the story is that the Sheriff shows up about 2 minutes later (smokin down the gravel road). The two guys don't have any weapons, and they DO have a bunch of carpentry tools in their van.... Apparently they were able to give the Sheriff the name and address (no phone, not a very close by address but off the same main street, plausible, I guess) of the job they were supposedly on their way to... A house under construction. Since they didn't actually break in, their only real crime was felonious stupidity, so the sheriff took names and checked ID (no records for either) and sent them on their way with a warning to always knock on the front door or risk getting shot next time. I assume he followed up on the address later, but that was the end of it for me...

I remember being fairly calm through the whole thing. Tense but calm. I definitely felt like I had surprise on my side... Like maybe they thought the wife was home alone during the day (home office for me). Even more so once I got outside. Felt less trapped, had more options, lots of places to run/cover and I was standing between them and their van. Didn't see any weapons on them, not even a hammer or crowbar... I'll never forget the feeling of my heart beating in my throat.

[PappaGun]

...Didn't see any weapons on them, not even a hammer or crowbar... I'll never forget the feeling of my heart beating in my throat.

Sounds like their story was legit.

However, imagine how different this story would have been if you had seen any type of weapon or burglary tool.

[RPB]

RoyGBiv, good Back yard story:

Here's another true Back Yard Story:

In the 1970s, I bought a house that had been vacant for many years. One night my (ex)Wife heard something at the back window ... I yelled LOUD, "OK honey, I'll check it out, I have the shotgun" I went to the window, looked out ,,, no one ... I got into the back yard, found a shoeprint/footprint up on the wall of the house where someone was "about" to climb up and try to get in a window ... but they changed their mind I guess ... no one was around.

The next day I ordered an 8-foot fence from Sears, and installed many floodlights all around the house with switches to all in the hall by the bedroom door, secured the windows with a hole through the aluminum jamb just so any window could be raised an inch without removing the nail in the hole. (And went to Foley's and bought a shotgun)

[RoyGBiv]

...Didn't see any weapons on them, not even a hammer or crowbar... I'll never forget the feeling of my heart beating in my throat.

Sounds like their story was leit.

However, imagine how different this story would have been if you had seen any type of weapon or burglary tool.

I've thought about that a lot since...
Would I have confronted them if I saw a gun in their hand?
The Sheriff was already on the way, and I was out of the house, why not just keep going?

I believe I would still have taken the same action. It's MY HOUSE.
If it was my car in some random parking lot and it was that easy for me to get away, they can have it. But not my house.

I hope to never have to find out for sure.

[Beiruty]

Last spring, my next door moved out to Austin. I was watching his vacating house all the time. Around end of the summer, I was at home when a beat up truck parked on the front side of his house, and 2 hilly-billy-looking guys, entered the backyard, and proceeded to drill out the back door lock to get access. I grabbed my home gun, packed into a tommys pack and went out to confront the intruders. I questioned the 2 guys why are they doing and who they are, The claimed that they are mortgage co service contractor and they came to post a note, change locks, and take care of the lawn, I asked them to produce document as evidence which they did. I Verified the name of the ex-owner my friend and the produced work order looked legit and that the end of the story. I did not have to call the 911nor producing deadly force means.

Happy ending, but a new forclosed house is next to my house

[Excaliber]

Since my retirement from LE work 17 years ago, I've never had to draw.

I've been selected for approach several times since then, but detected the attention early.

My "You're making a mistake. I know you can feel it, and if you keep going, it's going to ruin your day" look has helped most of those folks make good decisions that saved both of us a lot of grief.

In the one case where a purse snatcher made a run at my wife's purse in Chattanooga, I convinced him he had urgent business elsewhere with words and positioning without revealing that I was armed.

[rbrecount]

I'm with the Annoyed Man. Thank God, no. Please God, not ever.

[anygunanywhere]

I never drew down on anyone in 2010.

I have before several times prior to CHL.

Never shot anyone but I sure have had the thought cross my mind.

Anygunanywhere

[mctowalot]

Since my retirement from LE work 17 years ago, I've never had to draw.

I've been selected for approach several times since then, but detected the attention early.

My "You're making a mistake. I know you can feel it, and if you keep going, it's going to ruin your day"

At first I thought you actually spoke those words. That would probably do the trick, too!