TexasCHLforum.com

Last night was my girlfriend’s sisters 21st birthday. They went to the bar district in Saginaw known as Hamilton St. to celebrate. I was there ride home at two when the bars closed, as I do not drink and rarely go to bars. I was waiting outside the Pub for them to come out when a junky white Sunfire drove around the block twice with three males in it. They parked 40 yards behind me down the street. Initially the car and its occupants gave me a really weird feeling, so at that point I am watching them in my mirror while scanning for other threats. One male got out of the car and walked down the sidewalk towards me and the bar. By now I have my Springfield XD Sc in .40 with the XML tac light in my hand. The guy came up to my window which was just cracked enough to hear him and asked for a cigarette, I told him that I did not have any more. It was very dark where we were and he could not tell that I had my gun in my hand pointed at him through the door the whole time. After he asked for a smoke he turned his head side to side like he was looking around and said “how about all your money than " as he pulled up his shirt to show me his gun. As soon as he showed me his gun my XD was in his face with the light in his eyes. He was so surprised that I wasn’t the typical “sheep� and that a blinding light was suddenly in his eyes that he stumbled a few steps back said oh crap and ran back to his car. I never took my gun off of him while he was running incase he started shooting at me. I noticed that there was a couple crossing the road in front of my truck as the car with the perp pull up behind me and blocked me in. My first instinct was to get out of there as soon as he was no longer a threat, but because of the people crossing the road I was unable to move my truck. At that point I was sure that they were going to pull up next to me and start shooting. As they drove by I pointed my gun at the car, out my window, with my tac light on. The people in the car squinted as they could not look into my weapon mounted light. Judging by the passengers body language I think he had a gun in his had out of sight, but I will never know for sure. I think that the only reason they did not shoot was because of the witnesses that were standing by my truck. They pulled off as fast as they came there and I got out of there ASAP.

After I got home I realized how close I came to possibly being shot by them as they drove by. Looking back I feel like should have got out of my truck and took cover behind it as they drove by. I feel like I left myself very vulnerable to them, it all happened so fast that I had little time to think.

A few thoughts that I had had after looking back at the situation…

-I will never carry my gun at night without my light on it again. I think that this gave me a priceless advantage against them. I don’t think that the situation would have turned out as good for me if I didn’t have it.

-I am going today to have night sights installed on my gun. I now know what it is like to aim a gun under stress with a poor sight picture and do not want to do it again.

-My girlfriend always says that I am paranoid because of the way I am always watching people around me. Sometimes I think that i am also, but this habit gave me an advantage of being ready.

I am very thankful of the training that I have received from my CCW instructors; it may have saved my life last night.

BigBlueDodge wrote:Okay, this is a real life situation, so let's talk hypotheticals here.

1. What was the attempted crime, theft or robbery? My guess is aggravated robbery, because it was attempted theft, with use of force with a deadly weapon.
2. Was the victim in his legal right to shoot the attacker when the attacker brandished his weapon? Hmm, I'm not sure on this. I want to say yes, but since the attacker never actually grabbed the weapon, that has me thinking that there would be a discussion of was the victim's life really at hand, since attacker did not point gun in a threatening manner at victim.
3. What threat does brandishing a weapon consititute? In this case, the attacker didn't physically have gun in hand, pointed at victim. Can your life be in danger if attacker has a weapon (gun inside waistband, knife in pocket) that he shows you, but does not actually have it in his hand?

These real life situations are great, because they allow us to analyze, after the facts, what the victim was legally allowed to do so that we may be better prepared for future occurrances.

BigBlueDodge wrote:2. Was the victim in his legal right to shoot the attacker when the attacker brandished his weapon? Hmm, I'm not sure on this. I want to say yes, but since the attacker never actually grabbed the weapon, that has me thinking that there would be a discussion of was the victim's life really at hand, since attacker did not point gun in a threatening manner at victim.

BigBlueDodge wrote:1. What was the attempted crime, theft or robbery? My guess is aggravated robbery, because it was attempted theft, with use of force with a deadly weapon.

2. Was the victim in his legal right to shoot the attacker when the attacker brandished his weapon? Hmm, I'm not sure on this. I want to say yes, but since the attacker never actually grabbed the weapon, that has me thinking that there would be a discussion of was the victim's life really at hand, since attacker did not point gun in a threatening manner at victim.

3. What threat does brandishing a weapon consititute? In this case, the attacker didn't physically have gun in hand, pointed at victim. Can your life be in danger if attacker has a weapon (gun inside waistband, knife in pocket) that he shows you, but does not actually have it in his hand?

The Annoyed Man wrote:If someone had demanded something of me, and then displayed a gun to intimidate me into compliance, I would have shot him, plain and simple. If you show me a gun as a threat, then you are threatening the possibility of using it. That means you are asking me to shoot you, and that I will comply with.

Of course, all of this assumes that you can get your concealed weapon into play faster than the goblin can get to his.

The Annoyed Man wrote:If someone had demanded something of me, and then displayed a gun to intimidate me into compliance, I would have shot him, plain and simple. If you show me a gun as a threat, then you are threatening the possibility of using it. That means you are asking me to shoot you, and that I will comply with.

Of course, all of this assumes that you can get your concealed weapon into play faster than the goblin can get to his.

BigBlueDodge wrote:Okay, this is a real life situation, so let's talk hypotheticals here.

1. What was the attempted crime, theft or robbery? My guess is aggravated robbery, because it was attempted theft, with use of force with a deadly weapon.
2. Was the victim in his legal right to shoot the attacker when the attacker brandished his weapon? Hmm, I'm not sure on this. I want to say yes, but since the attacker never actually grabbed the weapon, that has me thinking that there would be a discussion of was the victim's life really at hand, since attacker did not point gun in a threatening manner at victim.
3. What threat does brandishing a weapon consititute? In this case, the attacker didn't physically have gun in hand, pointed at victim. Can your life be in danger if attacker has a weapon (gun inside waistband, knife in pocket) that he shows you, but does not actually have it in his hand?

These real life situations are great, because they allow us to analyze, after the facts, what the victim was legally allowed to do so that we may be better prepared for future occurrances.