Your experiences of Self Defense in Real Life

[ak27]

After hearing/reading a lot about concealed carry, defense tactics etc, I have begun to wonder if anyone of you have actually had a confrontation with any thugs or muggers. Those who actually had such an experience, please narrate how you have protected yourself/your loved-ones with the aid of your weapon, be it a Gun or a Blade.

regards

[DOM]

While searching the forum, saw this thread, so i m sharing the baddest time of my life.

DISCLAIMER : Following is a real incident but some of the points have been deliberately changed for the sake of it being on an open internet forum.

Hi All,

A day of December 2011, on a weekend evening, I came back home with my family from a short trip of market and parked my car inside. Family went upstairs and I started to take care of my car as it got some mud and I had to clean it. Due to the compact parking area and thus lack of maneuvering around the car, I had to keep the main door slightly opened. Well, big mistake/ blunder/negligence etc etc etc.

So here was I kneeling around the front tyre of my car when I noticed a guy getting inside the gate. One thing to mention that we have tenants on the ground floor and one of the lady there used to teach inter-level students. So when I saw him, I was just wondering if he was one of her students or some relative. He also had a bag on his shoulder like students have and may be that is why I was kind of confused. I stood up, and 2 more guys followed him inside. Suddenly the 1st guy pulled up his shirt and started pulling a pistol.

I had my trusted Stoeger Cougar on me, safety off, chamber loaded and hammer down.The shirt was not tucked. Seeing him reaching for his pistol triggered all the alarm bells in my mind and at that time I decided to not to let them get into the residential area of the house where the family was. I quickly pulled my shirt up and started to draw the pistol while moving on my left side. The distance b/w me and the 1st guy was hardly 6-ft. When he saw me going for the pistol, he stretched his arm and fired a shot. I took the hit on the right side of the chest and lost my balance and fell. Laying down, I returned fire at him. All 3 ran out. I had them in my sights so I fired some more shots. As soon as they were out of the vision, I reloaded, ran upstairs and told my wife that I have been shot and lets go to hospital.

I was so panicked that I was not able to think of anything else other than getting to the hospital as most of the casualties happen here because of blood loss hence my ultimate goal now was to reach for getting medical aid. I went back downstairs, and drove to the nearest clinic. I could feel the wetness of blood on my shirt and also started to feel the pain of gunshot wound. I reached the emergency ward, told the medics that I have been shot. Usually most private clinics and hospitals here do not take such cases because of the legal issues but may be because I was in a stable state, they inspected me and my wound. It turned out that the bullet struck almost parallel to my body on the right chest, traveled inside around 4-5 inches parallel to the ribs and then exited. I was shot from a distance of a mere 4ft and I had carbon deposits in the entry and exit wounds and other scratches were also there which may be were from the unburnt propellant hitting me or what, I am not really sure about it.

They entry wound was quite small but the exit wound was around 1 inch in diameter. The bleeding was not severe as well. This made me quite relaxed but the pain was increased many folds in intensity. My wife meanwhile contacted the ambulance and I was shifted to a proper hospital of the city where they treated me and I was released the very next day.

I could not possibly tell whether I hit any of them but my cousin told me that there was some blood near the road which ofcourse could not be mine. The police came, took my statement and I registered the FIR against the usual "unknowns" for attempted murder and robbery.

I am thankful to Allah that I was saved miraculously. The wounds are yet to be healed properly but there is nothing worrisome about them. I recovered the bullet the very next day from the porch, a .30 caliber. The bullet was not deformed at all and could almost be reloaded.

The whole incident got us pretty shaky and I am on extra high alert due to the fear of retaliation from them which may or may not ever happen. I hope there are lessons for all of us in this story.

I would really like to get feedback on this from all of you and will appreciate any critical comments and mistakes that I might have made except the "You should have complied" thing because when they are inside the home, I think we should expect the worst specially when we have ladies in the family and act according to it.

And yes, no news from police regarding success in the suspects being caught.

[ssmickey.32]

WOW! You were simply lucky man in various ways... it was .30 cal, you got shot at a 'comparatively' safe place - no critical wound or organ involved, no repeated fire, other fellows did not fire and they all decided to run away, you retained consciousness and various other factors... i appreciate your courage DOM. The best thing is that you fought and saved your family from any trouble. This confidence will forever remain with you and you will forever be proud of it.
That is why one should always carry handgun fully loaded.
Nice to know you...
ssmickey.32

[DOM]

WOW! You were simply lucky man in various ways... it was .30 cal, you got shot at a 'comparatively' safe place - no critical wound or organ involved, no repeated fire, other fellows did not fire and they all decided to run away, you retained consciousness and various other factors... i appreciate your courage DOM. The best thing is that you fought and saved your family from any trouble. This confidence will forever remain with you and you will forever be proud of it.
That is why one should always carry handgun fully loaded.
Nice to know you...
ssmickey.32

when first guy shot me in the chest, almost i am ready for the Bang.
after shot lost my balance and fell. I returned fire at him using the car as Shield.

All 3 ran out DONT KNOW WHY ?? may be my continuous firing, emptied the magazine in a few seconds
but the BAD Guys always try to manage ran from the situation when shootout starts.
Actually All BG's are coward and robbed people by only targeting family, children.

confidence is right... but the scare of losing my life...............Ohh God

[DOM]

I would really like to get feedback on this from all of you and will appreciate any critical comments and mistakes

[goodboy_mentor]

I would really like to get feedback on this from all of you and will appreciate any critical comments and mistakes

1. It will be a matter of conjecture and debate if you could have shot your attacker before he shot or if you could have shot all the three of them. Overall your response appears good but maybe could have been better and more accurate.

2. Since it is not known what kind of people they were or what was in their mind, it is difficult to know whether they will attack again or not. But in any case whatsoever, taking precautionary measures to avoid trouble in the first place is always better. Examples:

a) if possible keep the main door of house locked from inside and allowing only known people inside the house. If it is common door with tenants request them to co-operate to keep the door closed as security measure. If not possible explore if separate main door for tenants can be created so that the main door to your house is under your complete control.

b) look for possible weak points of entry into your house. Like some houses have very low or connected boundary walls or roof tops, weak doors and windows from where any one can climb/jump or break into the house. If possible correct these weak points in your house.

c) avoid going outside by making a fixed routine so that nobody can predict when and where you will be going. Like avoid going for daily walk at same time in morning. If possible avoid going at odd times like at night etc. If possible take at least one more person along with you. It is said eq aur eq gyrah(one person accompanied by one more person make combined strength equal to eleven persons)

[DOM]

I would really like to get feedback on this from all of you and will appreciate any critical comments and mistakes

1. It will be a matter of conjecture and debate if you could have shot your attacker before he shot or if you could have shot all the three of them. Overall your response appears good but maybe could have been better and more accurate.

2. Since it is not known what kind of people they were or what was in their mind, it is difficult to know whether they will attack again or not. But in any case whatsoever, taking precautionary measures to avoid trouble in the first place is always better. Examples:

a) if possible keep the main door of house locked from inside and allowing only known people inside the house. If it is common door with tenants request them to co-operate to keep the door closed as security measure. If not possible explore if separate main door for tenants can be created so that the main door to your house is under your complete control.

b) look for possible weak points of entry into your house. Like some houses have very low or connected boundary walls or roof tops, weak doors and windows from where any one can climb/jump or break into the house. If possible correct these weak points in your house.

c) avoid going outside by making a fixed routine so that nobody can predict when and where you will be going. Like avoid going for daily walk at same time in morning. If possible avoid going at odd times like at night etc. If possible take at least one more person along with you. It is said eq aur eq gyrah(one person accompanied by one more person make combined strength equal to eleven persons)

@ mentor

yor advice are excellent, point 2b is very valid.

[ak27]

Bravo! After reading through your post,i cant help saying this DOM- 'fortune favours the brave'
Lucky that you have lost balance and fell down..otherwise you would have been an easier target should the shooters decide to back fire. And what calibre did u shoot? I think its shock that has hit the crooks more than the bullet. Forgive my curiousity, but was your better-half armed?

[Sudhakar4Sharma]

Dear DOM,

I am really fascinated by the topic of self defence and read a lot about it, discuss it with some of the experts and everyday learn something new.. It is said that the fight is won "in the mind" and you certainly proved it. Congratulations to you.

I have a question for you though. if you can recollect, can you tell me how much time approximately (in seconds), it took you to take out your gun and shoot at the guy, after you noticed a gun in his hand..

When you answer me , i would like to share something with you.

Once again hats of to you for protecting your family and yourself from this challenging situation.

regards,
Sudhakar

[Hammerhead]

If it ends well , it's all gold. Coula ,shoula , nexta , ifta were not there - Haji

[DOM]

Bravo! After reading through your post,i cant help saying this DOM- 'fortune favours the brave'
Lucky that you have lost balance and fell down..otherwise you would have been an easier target should the shooters decide to back fire. And what calibre did u shoot? I think its shock that has hit the crooks more than the bullet. Forgive my curiousity, but was your better-half armed?

Calibre 9mm chinese.

[DOM]

Dear DOM,

I am really fascinated by the topic of self defence and read a lot about it, discuss it with some of the experts and everyday learn something new.. It is said that the fight is won "in the mind" and you certainly proved it. Congratulations to you.

I have a question for you though. if you can recollect, can you tell me how much time approximately (in seconds), it took you to take out your gun and shoot at the guy, after you noticed a gun in his hand..

When you answer me , i would like to share something with you.

Once again hats of to you for protecting your family and yourself from this challenging situation.

regards,
Sudhakar

Not sure. But i think within 40 to 50 seconds.
And yes i love my family lot. Normally i m very cool minded but when the matter of my and family life, no control on my angerness.

[Sudhakar4Sharma]

Hi DOM,

This is what i was wondering !!!

In a self-defense situation, you should be able to pull out your gun and shoot within 2 seconds. This might seem to be totally unrealistic, but that’s the fact.
As you mentioned, it took you 40-50 sec which is pretty long and this means you gave enough time to that guy to hit you. Now, this is not a magic technique, it all comes with practice and tactics of keeping your gun at a right place during conceal carry.

Only perfect practice can help us to avoid such situations. I have seen a video on you tube which might be helpful.






You also mentioned you carry a 9mm. Do you fire and practice regularly?
I fire it twice a month in the shooting range and my understanding is that it is a powerful round with some recoil. Unless you practice on a regular basis, it is difficult to be accurate with this caliber or for that matter any caliber.

Once again, I would thank you for sharing your experience and this way we can learn a lot from each other.

regards,
Sudhakar

[DOM]

Hi DOM,

This is what i was wondering !!!

In a self-defense situation, you should be able to pull out your gun and shoot within 2 seconds. This might seem to be totally unrealistic, but that’s the fact.
As you mentioned, it took you 40-50 sec which is pretty long and this means you gave enough time to that guy to hit you. Now, this is not a magic technique, it all comes with practice and tactics of keeping your gun at a right place during conceal carry.

Only perfect practice can help us to avoid such situations. I have seen a video on you tube which might be helpful.






You also mentioned you carry a 9mm. Do you fire and practice regularly?
I fire it twice a month in the shooting range and my understanding is that it is a powerful round with some recoil. Unless you practice on a regular basis, it is difficult to be accurate with this caliber or for that matter any caliber.

Once again, I would thank you for sharing your experience and this way we can learn a lot from each other.

regards,
Sudhakar

Thanks for the sharing, and yes practice and fires regularly.
practice for withdrawing, slide racking, in standing position, and many other from different techniques and styles.
yes 9mm rounds is powerful but .30 is more powerful (What i Think)
Practice makes man perfect,
again thanks for share and guiding.

[dev]

Amazing experience Dom. Only thing that I can say is that you did very well, considering that most people freeze in such a situation and being able to return fire after being shot speaks volumes for your toughness. Well done and be safe.