Two quick stories:
1. This was almost 20 years before I bought my 1st gun, and the closest I've ever come to feeling like I might need one. Wife and I lived in an attic apartment in a small town. To get to our door you have to come down the drive between two houses and then up two flights of outside stairs. In other words, we didn't get a lot of foot traffic. Well, we're eating dinner, and I had my back to the unlocked screen door when I hear a voice asking if Bob (I don't remember the name) is here. I turned and there's this guy standing about 8' away in the open doorway. I tell him there's no Bob here, but he keeps talking and starts stepping further into the apartment. Now I'm up out of my seat, hand up in the universal "halt" position, scanning the room for anything to use as a weapon. The guy stops and after a short, terse (on my part) conversation, I convince him that he's got the wrong address and he leaves. In hindsight, I really think he was just a regular guy looking for his friend, who didn't know that you don't just walk into someone's home uninvited. However, at the time the adrenaline was pumping.
2. My buddy and I and camping with our youngest sons. Late one night, I'm about 40 yards away from the campsite gathering firewood with the boys. I turned my head and my small headlamp picks up a pair of reflective animal eyes coming fast down the trail that runs between us and the camp. There wasn't any barking or growling, no sound at all. I'm thinking rabid coyote, and had my hand on my Ruger LC9, about one second from pulling when my headlamp also picked up the reflective collar - it's a lost **** hunting dog. Sweet dog. Ran up and plopped down at our feet, hungry and exhausted. It never knew how close it came to being shot (at, at least).
1. This was almost 20 years before I bought my 1st gun, and the closest I've ever come to feeling like I might need one. Wife and I lived in an attic apartment in a small town. To get to our door you have to come down the drive between two houses and then up two flights of outside stairs. In other words, we didn't get a lot of foot traffic. Well, we're eating dinner, and I had my back to the unlocked screen door when I hear a voice asking if Bob (I don't remember the name) is here. I turned and there's this guy standing about 8' away in the open doorway. I tell him there's no Bob here, but he keeps talking and starts stepping further into the apartment. Now I'm up out of my seat, hand up in the universal "halt" position, scanning the room for anything to use as a weapon. The guy stops and after a short, terse (on my part) conversation, I convince him that he's got the wrong address and he leaves. In hindsight, I really think he was just a regular guy looking for his friend, who didn't know that you don't just walk into someone's home uninvited. However, at the time the adrenaline was pumping.
2. My buddy and I and camping with our youngest sons. Late one night, I'm about 40 yards away from the campsite gathering firewood with the boys. I turned my head and my small headlamp picks up a pair of reflective animal eyes coming fast down the trail that runs between us and the camp. There wasn't any barking or growling, no sound at all. I'm thinking rabid coyote, and had my hand on my Ruger LC9, about one second from pulling when my headlamp also picked up the reflective collar - it's a lost **** hunting dog. Sweet dog. Ran up and plopped down at our feet, hungry and exhausted. It never knew how close it came to being shot (at, at least).