When did you realize you needed self defense ?

[USA1]

for me it was about 6 or 7 years ago. one night at about 3am my kids came running into my bedroom saying someones banging on the door! well i jumped up and went to the front door and looked out. there was a guy pounding on the door yelling for someone named (cant remember the name but it wasnt me) at that time we rented a house that was built in 1950 with a flimsy wooden door with alot of glass panels that were rattling .i thought he was going to knock the door down. thats the day when i realized i had no way of protecting my family .i yelled to him "that guy dosent live here" he looked at me through the glass,saw i wasnt who he was looking for and left. the next day i decided to buy a gun. after telling the story to my brother in law, he suggjested the best home defense weapon would be a shotgun, he said most of the time just the sound of the action of chambering a round is enough to settle a situation. since then i have really become aware of potential threats.i dont live in fear or anything, but i realize the world is not full of unicorns and rainbows !

BTW...when i first mentioned getting a chl back then to my mother she said "why in the world would you want to carry a gun?"
about a month ago she called me and said "i think im going to buy a gun, would you go with me to look at them?:
she is in her 60s and lives alone.
im proud of her.

[Pete92FS]

There is not really a specific date etched in stone but had a similar experiance about 25 years ago. Had a drunk pounding on the door about 3 in the morning hollaring someones name. I recognized the name and told him he had the wrong house; the one he wanted was two doors down. He kept pounding and hollaring, I pumped my Rem. 870 and repeated myself and he finally stumbled down the street to his intended destination.

My CHL instructor at Top Gun made the same statement about a shotgun being the best home defense weapon. He said he keeps his loaded with #3 Buckshot. Good luck finding much more than bird shot at any of you favorite ammo stores.

[Purplehood]

When I came back from Afghanistan and came to the realization that I could no longer carry 24/7. Felt naked.

[TexasComputerDude]

Mine was this time last year when my brother was shot (on school grounds.) He was so close to death that the doctor still calls him a miracle. He was shot in the chest with a shotgun from about the width of a single lane road as he was getting in his truck. One of the things that helped save him is he had absolutely no alcohol or drugs in his system when he was shot.

I can't really speak right now on what happened but just know that after his trial (he is charged with shooting himself basically, riot enhanced to felony assault with a deadly weapon, even though he had no part in the fight and was leaving and there is more than enough proof) is over I will have a full post on A LOT of interesting details that I'm sure all of yall will love to hear about.

At the time all we had were rifles and shotguns and now we own quite a few pisols and both my dad and I got our CHL's and my brother and mom will prob. be getting theirs asap. I never thought I would need a gun in my little town unless someone was breaking into my house or something but when you have to guard your brothers hospital room 24/7 for weeks your opinion changes.

[Dan20703]

There was no "realization". I grew up in an area where most people had multiple guns in their homes. I always thought that is the way it was everywhere till I grew up. My children thought the same.
BTW If you "need" self defense it's too late. It should read: .........you "wanted" self defense.

[Keith B]

I have always had a loaded gun in the house (29... er, OK 49 years. ). My Dad was an NRA Hunting Safety Instructor so we had firearms around even when I was born. We lived within a couple of blocks of the main train yard, so Dad always kept a loaded shotgun or handgun available in case a vagrant rode in on one of the freight trains and decided to come into our neighborhood looking for trouble. I really don't ever remember not thinking you needed a gun to protect your home from potential invaders, especially after dark.

As I got older, I was given or bought my own firearms. I started shooting BB guns at about age 5, then was on a City Police Junior Rifle team shooting .22's and hunted with my Dad and Uncles from the age of 8. From there I went on to shoot on an NRA Junior team. When I joined the Police Department as a reserve officer, I already owned my own pistols. I was asked to join and became part of their PPC (Police Pistol Competition) team and also shot bowling pin matches. As an officer, even in a small town of about 25,000, I saw more of the dark and evil side of the world and knew that you should be able to protect yourself.

Even since being married for almost 27 years, there has always been at least one loaded firearm available at the house. I used to travel frequently for extended periods, so my wife would be there at night alone. She can shoot (almost out-shoot me!) and is not afraid to properly use the handgun in a self defense mode. Until recently I didn't see a lot of need to carry concealed, but as things in our society continually deteriorated, I decided about 2 years ago to get my CHL. Have not regretted the choice one bit. Now, if I can just get her to feel she may need a handgun to protect herself someday outside of the home.....

[USA1]

im working on her.baby steps

[pedalman]

No particular incident for me. I've always had a firearm or two my entire adult life. It wasn't until recently that I was in a position to pay for a CHL and periodic shooting time.

I will say that at 49, I'm too old to try to use my fists against 3-4 punks.

[llanite]

For myself, I was raised in a military family and had empty tank shells and 20mm casings decorating my room from an early age. But I will offer an eye-witness account of my wife's transition:

Since coming to Houston in the mid-90s, I'd always lived inside the Heights/Montrose area of Houston and worked downtown. My wife also lived in the are since starting college in the early-90s. Neither of us ever felt unsafe - until post-2006. While we saw the character of our neighborhood and the area around the clinic where she worked changing, security was never an issue until last year - the same month we found out we were going to have a baby we had our car broken into, her clinic's drug cabinet was raided in broad daylight, and we got into a verbal confrontation with 4 'youths' that could have gone badly if not for some quick thinking and quick action getting into our car and driving off. That week we put our house on the market and three weeks later we were moving to the other side of the Brazos from Houston. Since that time we've acquire 4 hand guns to add to the trusty shotty - 2 range guns and 2 for carry - all with the wife's whole-hearted participation.

Should any of those events occur again, especially now that Little Llanite is here, I suspect she will be the first on the draw. Her motivation and determination to keep herself and her family safe are something to see...

[bdickens]

In Kindergarten.

[cling]

In Kindergarten.

Me too.

In second grade I learned the best defense is an overwhelming counterattack.

[dewayneward]

I had been in martial arts from a young age. I was always confident in my abilities until........November 2009. Not trying to stir up a politcal discussion, but after all the reading I did on the candidates and seeing Mr Obama's anti-gun leanings, after he won, I realized 2 things:

1) people were not not smart enough to see through the lies that were being told (I am not bashing him, I am stating facts) and voted him in on emotion
2) if that is not the case, then people were OK with his pro-abortion position and those people scare me

From that moment on, I decided I needed a better way to protect myself. On the way to the ft worth gun show, I stopped off at a gas station (Sunday morning 10am) and while pumping gas a guy "appeared" in front of me wanting gas money for his nonexistant 24 month old daughter in a car that couldnt be seen (wink wink). This fine gentleman only needed $10 to get to dallas.....or to finish the TARANTULA tattoo on his neck!!!

I told him that I couldnt help him out and then witnessed Asoob's book reference to when a bad guy is staring through you. I could tell the guy's gears were really turning trying to figure out just how he was going to kill me. Thankfully, he decided I wasnt worth the trouble and left. I then got to hear from my 2 buddies who looked like gomer pyles with their mouth's dropped open how they "had my back"!!! That told me that I am getting a gun and getting my CHL.

I have since bought door braces and other protective measures to keep the house safe. I carry 24/7 and maintain a consistent high alert status.

I am currently looking to expand my gun selection for CCW as well as a shotgun, but funds are tight and am looking for something in the $200 range. I may go to the gun show this weekend and trade my current 9mm in and see what they have.

[ClarkLZeuss]

Several things:

1) I inherited a gun, so wanted to learn all the laws and proper mindsets about carrying. No one had ever taught me, and I figured it would be a good thing to learn. I later learned that my grandfather had bought that gun after nearly getting robbed at gunpoint at a stoplight, but thankfully he was able to get away.

2) The reality of living in the Age of Terrorism, and the possibility for domestic attacks and/or panics.

3) Hurricane Ike.

4) Several situations (which turned out to be false alarms), during which I repeatedly thought to myself, "Man, I wish I had a gun right now!"

5) Working in a dangerous part of town, often at night...and one night I ran out of gas. Nothing happened, but that's a recipe for disaster if you're unarmed, IMO.

6) A few unnamed, disturbed individuals who have been in my life, and the possibility that they might reappear without warning.

[frazzled]

Self Defense: My Dad was a Marine, enough said.

CHL: on advice of counsel. Seriously.

[MBGuy]

Hey Llanite, I too live on the west side of the Brazos, but I still work in downtown Houston. Which leads me to why...

After 9/11, I realized how much hatred there is for the USA. This at a time that I was commuting on a bus into downtown Houston and realizing that we were all sitting ducks in there.

I'm still on that bus, but not helpless.