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Ever Been a Victim???

35K views 216 replies 137 participants last post by  Kennydale 
#1 ·
Not sure if this is the proper place for this thread, so mods feel free to move it.

How many of you have ever been the victims of a violent crime? How has this affected your world outlook, and your current status as a CCW permit holder? In other words, did you come to gun ownership and ultimately to the practice of concealed carry as a result of being victimized in the first place? If so, did you go to the extent of seeking real training and or joining a shooting club like IDPA or IPSC to further your skills (both shooting and tactical)? Or, did you learn from "Dad" or daddy's friend "the cop?"

If it's not too traumatic can you give us a thumbnail sketch of the incident? Include whether or not the crime was completed or you were able to escape or resist. If it's painful, don't bother.

I am excluding all childhood bullying and victimization for obvious reasons. So don't relate what happened in the schools, unless it was serious and required a police report or hospitalization.
 
#2 ·
Only a couple of what I might describe as ''close calls'' but no victimization thank heaven.

Nothing really of interest to relate - but I think in one case my alertness (and ''attitude!'') made the difference, in the other - luck!!
 
#3 ·
In 1972 I was mugged on school grounds and the result was serious enough to require a trip to the E.R. and the police so that meets my own exceptions. Funny thing...I KNEW I was about to be attacked!

I was in the mens room at high school, alone...and this scrawny little weasel comes in and never stops to do any "business" he just runs down the open stalls to verify the fact that I'm the only one there. He leaves and my spidey sense is SCREAMIN'! I go to open the door and a bro the size of an M1 tanks hits it like a linebacker and I'm on my back while this bro is pummeling my skull with a large fist and a ring on the finger....I'm bleeding and semiconscious and all I can think of is "I should have opened the door from the side, quickly and stepped back. The ape (sorry bruces45) would have cold cocked himself on the nearby wall!

That led me into the martial arts AND the military, later. Got my carry permit as a senior in college and already nearing my commission as a US Army Infantry Lieutenant so no more worries...was getting very tactical...lol

In 1986 I was leaving a restaurant with two buddies of mine around noon downtown Miami near the river when this scrawny punk (not the same kid) trots up and whips out a Beretta JetFire .22LR and screams (lol) "Gimme yo cash!" I start laughing and step behind my buddies, who calmly pull their Sigs (IIRC) and badges (FBI). I thought the kid was gonna cry.

In 1996 I went hand to hand with a burglar and won. No opportunity to get nightstand gun..the 21 foot rule was the 21 INCH rule in this case. Too close. The Newfoundland dog was quietly snoring on her 145 pound frame in the front of the house. Some guard dog. Hmph. I still won the encounter. Sudden, extreme violence was the key here. My fist was cut up and bruised such that even a cop made the remark that it seemed I had gotten more than a measure of justice. I went to a gunshow the next day and bought a brass knucke "paperweight" that still rests next to the window by our bed (my side)

I've had the occasion to use my Aikido as an educator in the past 17 years several times.
 
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#4 ·
It's what is happening around here

As of today nothing has happened to me. But a lot of people living in my City sure have been beaten..robbed...had their auto's carjacked from them..had their homes invaded...Had their homes shot all to hell by drive by shooters.

Just yesterday afternoon at 2pm at a local Cracker Barrel this lady ending her shift and while getting ready to drive from the parking lot this guy sticks a knife through window and says give me you'r money.

She grabed his knife hand got cut jumped out of her auto and got stabbed in the leg.

The guy then got into his truck and the off he went. Cops chased him down till he hit another auto and crashed.

Also in the evening a group of five young guys and one girl invaded a home with a young girl at home alone. She hid and called police they quickly got there got them before they found the hiding girl. Just her luckyday.

Day before a young woman washing stuff in apartment wash room. This 17 year old kidnapped her to a near by drainage ditch robbed her of her was money and then beat her to death.

Anyway this is just a small sample of what has been happening all around me. So I am not waiting to become a victim if I can help it.

My moto is always armed always ready to kill if it's needed. I never leave the house without my sidearm my snapout baton and mace. In home my Rem.870P is close and ready.

I try real hard to not become a victim..I am not looking for a problem just don't want myself or my family to become the next attack news story of the day.:frown:
 
#5 ·
Back in the early '70s a buddy and I were working for his dad on some property and the farm, clearing brush, stringing fence bailing hay etc. One afternoon after work we went for a swim in one of the stone quarries that dot southern Indiana, remember this is he 70s so swim suits not needed. There were 2 couples already swimming in the quarry when we got there and we joined in, it was a very communal environment, well a little while after we got there 3 fine examples of white trash with a single shot H&R shotgun came along. They pushed everyone around for while, made the girls do some jumping jacks etc, when one of the guys objected they butt stroked him, I really think they were working themselves to raping the girls until they heard someone else coming and took off like the little chicken sh!ts they were. Well the next Friday my buddy and I each had his dad (post ‘68 and we were 16) buy us M-1 carbines out of our pay which we started carrying when we went to the quarries. I swore then that no SOB was ever going to lord over me again; one of us was going to die.

I had been into guns and shooting since dad gave me my first BB gun when I was 4, but this was the pivotal point when I started thinking defensively about guns. Applied for my first carry permit the day I turned 21, and was pi$$ed to find out that in Indiana I could have gotten it at 18, I have pretty much carried a handgun ever since. I have had 3 occasions since to “show” I was armed but fortunately that was all it took to stop things.

Exsoldier-
In 1996 I went hand to hand with a burglar and won. No opportunity to get nightstand gun..
Here is a little thing I built just for sush a situation...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v737/fordf350/BedHolster.jpg
 
#6 ·
Not a direct assault, but close enough to change my life

In early 1972 my wife to be and I were driving down a backroad in a southern state when we saw some flashlights in the ditch. Being a little green behind the ears I stopped to see if we could help. I rolled the window down as a guy walked up. I turned to see what had to be a 155 mm howitzer poked in my face. He asked if we had seen his daughter. When we assured him we had not, he told us to get the hell out of there and if we saw her to tell her to get her butt home. We assured him we would and we left post haste. I bought my first handgun the next day, a .22 that I still like to plink with.
 
#7 ·
F350, nice little rig! Actually I now put the gun under my pillow! It's to the point that if I don't feel that comforting lump of steel under my head I toss and turn until my subconscious figures out I need to get up and get the gun from the safe. When I travel with the family, it's the same thing. Of course when I leave a motel room, it's ON my person. Especially to walk the wussy dogs.....sheeeeesh a grand total of 180 pounds between the two of them and they'd as soon lick you to death as growl!
 
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#8 ·
Actually, I had an encounter during my first CCW permit term at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. I was carrying a S&W M19 with a 4" barrel in a SafariLand shoulder holster. I was borrowing my roomies 1972 Vega because I didn't want to take a date on my Yamaha 650 who was wearing formal wear.

I was sitting at a stoplight in downtown at midnight on our way home. There was a car in front and a car behind with mere inches between bumpers. The other lane was clear. An old 1960's era pontiac jammed tight with bros pulled up right next to my vehicle...not pulling forward to the next available space. The light remained red.

These dudes soon started making very rude, lewd and socially improper comments about my date. She was understandably very upset, but she didn't know I was carrying. I told her to ignore them, the light would change and we'd be on our way. Light stayed red.

Soon, the driver gets out of the car and starts in front of his hood making noise about how he's gonna kick cracker's a$$ and have some fun....He got right to the middle of his car hood and I drew the M19 and laid it on the sill of the window and calmly said: You REALLY don't want to DO that. Now remember, the car is overfull when the whole thing starts. I'd guess there were eight or so punks. NOW you can see all the way thru to the other side. From somewhere below window level somebody's whimpering in a squeaky voice: He's got a gun! GO! GO! GO! The driver never even flinched...with a wave of his hand he swings around saying: Shhhhiiiiiiiiii**** I jes JIVIN' you! Gets back in the car and varroooom runs the light. THEN the light goes green.

Next day, I'm in my criminal justice class with all the city and campus cops and I relate the incident. All those cops and the prof too were suggesting I could have done the world and certainly the city a favor by SMOKIN' the driver. Said they'd have given me the key to the city. This was lessee....1978? So maybe. But I'm glad I didn't have to shoot, anyway. No telling how it might've affected my US Army commission.
 
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#163 ·
...But I'm glad I didn't have to shoot, anyway. No telling how it might've affected my US Army commission.
...Not to mention your date's mood. If I may ask, how did the rest of your night go? :wink:
 
#110 ·
If they do, they will probably sue you......
When I was about 8 or 9, my mom woke my brother and I up to tell us that someone was trying to get in the house.... Sure enough, the basement doorknob was being wiggled back and forth.... I tried to get her to get my dad's revolver, but she said "I dont know how to use it."..... We ended up running out of the house and landing in a pile at the bottom of the hill.... My dad was holding a business meeting at the church he pastored across the street, so he and the deacons cleared the house and us kids ended sleeping in my parents room that night. I remember thinking then that I would never live in a house without a gun and not knowing how to use it.....
 
#11 ·
d2thomas said:
Nah for me, but I pray for the one who tries it - I hope they at least live........
I for one hope, if it ever becomes necessary, that the BG doesn't live. If he does it's likely to become a very expensive civil suit.


It has been attempted to make me a victim on a couple of occasions. In each case the BG didn't like the outcome. (So I guess I was lucky).

One incident I recall quite clearly was in LA, CA. I was driving a cab in the 1980's when I picked up a guy who wanted to go to the other side of town. I was driving a Ford station wagon with bucket seats. Suddenly my passenger pulled a knife, scooted up between the bucket seats and placed the knife at my throat, he demanded my money, I started to chuckle and depress the accelerator. He asked what I was laughing about and I replied that we were now doing 70 MPH and that if he cut me would he like to take a bet on which one of us died first in the crash. He got real serious and scooted up closer to me and demanded that I stop the car right now. I obliged. I hit the brake as hard as I could and he flew over the dashboard and out the windshield. (What you get for not wearing a seatbelt) He landed about 6 feet in front of the car in pretty bad shape. I got out of the car and picked up his knife then called my dispatcher to contact LAPD. I looked at him and used a line from the John Wayne film "The Shootist" and said, "You should find another line of work because this one doesn't suit you."
The LAPD units that responded told me I did a brave but foolish thing.
I asked why they thought that. I told them that after 2 years in Vietnam with Special Forces I had been terrorized by professionals, this guy was an amateur. They got a chuckle out of that.
I was carrying a S&W Mod 686 at the time (The one that Chris, P95, now owns) but had no chance to get to it in this situation.
The BG survived the encounter and pled guilty in court so I never heard another thing about it.
 
#12 ·
I wasn't a victim, but was assaulted a few times. Fighting back help each time. I think being assaulted helps for me to keep my guard up more than some.
 
#13 ·
Not yet, don't want to be, but am working on being better prepared as each week passes. Striving for the continous improvement thing.
 
#14 ·
Was attacked during a soccer game one time. Held my own against him until we got to grappling and ground fighting. He said; "THis is stupid, let's get back to the game." I stopped fighting and let him get up. I was still on the floor

Then, I'm told, he kicked me in the face. :banana:

Woke up in the hospital with my nose destroyed and concussion. Had to get a nose job to fix it. Had daily headaches for many years.

I'm a great proponent of considering a head kick a deadly force attack.
 
#16 ·
Scruit said:
I'm a great proponent of considering a head kick a deadly force attack.
I concur 100% on that - one solid kick to the cranial vault can be lights out - permanently.
 
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#17 ·
A Dish Best Served....Cold.....

Scruit said:
I was still on the floor Then, I'm told, he kicked me in the face.
Did your teammates stomp him thru the field? Did you get some justice (official or not -- later?) When I played soccer, my team mates would have used their cleats to the best advantage.....
 
#19 ·
My wife, and I where camping in a some what remote area a number of years back. When one night a guy was acting suspicious. It was very unsettling for me because I did not have a firearm at the time. This was the time I started thinking about firearms, and the fact the world we live in is full of not so nice people.

I was lucky it could have turned out very bad.
 
#21 ·
My mom was robbed and the puke tried and failed to kill her. She refused to lay down on the floor wrestledwith him over his gun, he finally put the gun to her head and said "Fine, I'll just do it here" Well he had the muzzle to her brow and she jerked away and fell to the floor in a heap. She related that she faked a faint. Her 70's Big Hair saved her. He killed another night clerk the same night at the St. Micheals Bar in Prescott, AZ. He was later shot by a clerk in NM. On what he thought was his deathbed,confessed to killing two clerks in AZ the year before.
This left a big impression on me, I was around 15 -16 at the time.
I have had several run ins, but have never been the victim- just the wrong choice in their selection. I have not had any trouble for several years now-I hope to continue the trend.

Rob
 
#22 ·
Preface: I was raised into a certain type of work, one which made one a target of crime by its very nature. I later was involved with other areas , more responsible areas and this made me and other like me prime targets for stalking, being kidnapped and such.

Yes been a victim.

House targeted during Riots, I used a firearm to keep me and sibs safe when the front door gave way to brickbats. Stopped an immediate action, I was 13.
As a kid, everyone hitch-hiked. I used my knife and laid someone open, seems there was another person I did not see when I entered this vehicle, age 14.

Business armed robbed, business broken into, came home to find my alarm bypassed and .357 revolver with the hammer back to greet me, he had a friend too. All sorts of fun stuff.

This School of Hard Knocks is a tough School, curricula changes, and you still have to remember the old lessons too...

Had a UC LEO turn rouge (money and Cocaine will do that) and set me up. <shiver> Really sucks to have gunshots take out drivers rear window, have rouge cop know my route and with radio...keep his new friends advised.

Complicated...I got loose from being attacked by a good looking honey in a elevator, got by her pard a male, and ...I got really pissed after being shot at, I used my vehicle as a weapon. I survived, I looked like hell, but I gave better than I got. I am attempting to write this one out.
My car gun was a model 29 , getting tired of being bumped, and passenger was pointing a gun...I shot the car, like I said complicated.

I did not know whom to trust. I mean a rouge cocaine crazed cop, whom has put in a bad spot and his partner too. I dunno whom is on what side, he had radio and who knows what he is going to tell legit cops...I really learned the definition of "alone" the hard way.

I ran, I mean I RAN, you name it I probably did it. Not only was there about a $ 1million worth of goods [ its insured] ...it was my skinny butt [not insured and not replaceable] I was concerned about.

I went to trusted folks and contacted using code we used. Short version, I went in as bait to find these guys. I had to - one flat told me he was going to kill me and what he was going to do to my lady partner. I stood there in a jail and had to face this demon. I worked with folks as a decoy, my boss gave the okay...got all but one.
Then I disappeared for a bit.

In that other life, legitimate business has been conducted way before UPS, FEDEX, cell phones or internet. I was good, I am still good at that life. Just the nature of the business makes it a real dangerous life.

Put it this way, while the dog and pony show was going on with armed security and such...I was the low profile with the real deal. Lloyds of London, bonded and whatever else I was.

I was a a range rat, liked to hunt, liked to fish. I had a 'retail' presence...but my Resume' can never reveal what I did in that other life.

I still do not like parking decks, elevators ( vertical coffins) and front wheel drive totally sucks at getting over a median at high speed...

Chris...you may know some...DO NOT share anything I may have hinted at b/t us.

I still watch my six for more than one reason.

Conclusion: I did my apprenticship starting at age 12 under a Orthodox Jew. He and his folks took me in (a dumb Gentile) and I trusted and taught. Orthodox Jews are very smart folks, and they know about awareness and survival. Later on add the Reformed Jews and other folks.
Nothing wrong with firearms, understand back then we did not have pieces of paper in regard to guns. WE had a Moral Code , my kind had a Moral Code for living, the business had one as well. Mdse was insured to the hilt...human beings are NOT replaceable.

Main deal was training the brain,how to read people, places and things. Think. Awareness. Evade. My training included firearms I mean my short fat Jewish boss could shoot, his Sister in law had taken sniper training...I learned from LEO and Military folks. WE didn't have known gun schools per se' and there was that bit about not attending so as to not attract attention.

Don't be where trouble is, if trouble shows up - evade. Being in a situation and using a gun was a option, part of the package, firearms were not the only package.

I am not ashamed one bit to say I have run. I have acted a fool and tossed trash cans to get attention, pass a trooper to get pulled over, run a light or take a left on red. I got the officer's attention, was honest, and stayed safe, no tickets.

Buddy of mine was kidnapped and his family held hostage. They were coming for me these Professionals. I met one of this group in jail ( he got caught being stupid), he told me how they planned to catch me...'you are the most PITA un-predicitable person we ever run across- we thought you made us...so we napped so an so and emptied his safe..."

I saw the cars, all I did was answer a wrong number then use that phone to make a call, in the front of a business...they were watching and thought I called Police.

Never ever turn down Lady Luck, maybe all ya got.

I should have gotten into the bait shop business...oh no, that would have been too serene. *sigh*

s
 
#23 ·
Steve -
Main deal was training the brain,how to read people, places and things. Think. Awareness. Evade.
There my friend you sum up what is probably the most vital aspect for us all.

Oh and - confidences are confidences old pal :smile:
 
#24 ·
1970 - Northern Thailand, around 23:00. I lived in a civilian bungalow in town and needed to get out for medical help for a housemate. Just outside the compound we lived in, a taxi pulled up. Great, I thought, until 4 guys jumped out and started waking toward me. I remained focused on a now-empty taxi until the lead guy pulled a knife. I turned to run, but either fell or was tripped (things happened very fast). I jumped up, thinking I would continue running, until I saw a second guy in front of me with a pistol aimed at me. They stripped off my watch, took my wallet, and started pulling me toward the taxi. It flashed through my mind that there had recently been a couple of other U.S. servicemen kidnapped and killed. Knowing with a high degree of certainty that allowing myself to be pulled into the taxi would not produce a happy outcome, I pulled loose and ran the 50 yd. dash back to the compound, yelling like a madman to wake up others. It cost me a watch, wallet, and petty cash - cheap price for a well-learned lesson. So far, it was the biggest adrenaline dump of my life.
 
#25 ·
not a victim.. next door was though....

So I'm at home with my GF..just hanging out till I go to work at 3:15 pm. My neighbor, who is ATL PD, has a GF who comes over looking very flustered at 2:15 pm. I let her in and she says someone broke into her house. Call 911 and let them know and then I head over to investigate.

While I'm walking around the house looking and listening kris and her are talking about 40 ft from me. I hear running inside of his house. Time to go back into the house girls. I get to my house and call 911 again, ~5 min later, and let them know someone is in the house.

I don't own a gun, my neighbor owns 3, 2 of them are in his house. So this means I can only get so close. I'm trying to listen and see if I can hear them leave his house. I don't.

~25 min later local PD shows up. They are breifed about the GUNS in the house and they enter the house. Come back about 5 min later, all clear.

His PS2 and games and other BS is missing, guns are still in the house. She came home in the middle of it!!!!!!!

I feel bad cuase they broke a window and I NEVER heard a thing. It was most likely kids, but I was trapped be tween a rock and a hard place.. I could only do so much.

It made me think about coming home to an intruder and I was living with blinders on thinking my dogs would stop anyone.

I now own a weapon and I am in line for better training
 
#26 ·
This is recent, and still a little painful to talk about, but here goes:

It was March of 2004. I had already purchased my first pistol, just for range work and learning, I had plans to get my CCW at this time but had not done so, and had not had any training of any kind. I had left the gun home in North Carolina.

My grandfather was very sick, lived in Lakeland, FL. My younger brother and I went to see him, I drove from Raleigh, he and his girlfriend flew down from Buffalo. We were staying at a Motel 6 just off I-4.

The first night we were there, my brother and I went outside the hotel room to have a cigarette. We had strolled down to the end of the row of rooms. A blue S-10 pulls up and a guy yells out the window asking us if we wanted to buy some weed. We said no, turned and walked back toward our room. Next thing I remember the guy from the truck is standing in front of me, pointing a gun in my brother's face. I have no idea what kind it was, my memory is quite fuzzy for reasons explained below.

Anyways, this thug screams at us to give him our f***'in money. We were so stunned (both pretty young, and never been in a situation even close to this), we just stood there for a moment. Next thing I remember the thug made a quick side-swipe with his gun hand and struck me in the face with the gun. I don't remember much after that, my brother says I got up again and got hit again and fell on a concrete stairway that was behind us.

At this point my brother handed over his wallet, the thug grabbed my wallet and cellphone and took off. I vaguely remember getting up again, being really pissed off, and telling my brother to get in my car, and we tried to follow the truck to get a license number or something, but couldn't find it before the adrenaline started to wear off and I pulled the car over and told my brother he was going to have to drive back to the motel. When we got there they say I got out of the car and passed out on the curb.

I remember virtually nothing until I woke up in a different hotel the next day. Apparently I was taken to the ER at Lakeland Regional Medical Center, diagnosed with a severe concussion, and released anyway, with a couple bottles of painkillers and some anti-nausea stuff. Also at this point my bottom teeth were all out of whack and my face was severely swollen and mis-shapen.

I managed to get a flight back to Raleigh a couple days later, after my ex-wife spent something like 13 hours on the phone with the TSA to get me on a plane with no ID, and my employer had faxed down copies of my license, soc. security card., and passport. (That was the one time that woman ever came through in a crisis.)

The day after I got back to Raleigh I went to my dentist to see what was up with my teeth. He took some x-rays and informed me that I had a severely fractured jaw. He showed me the shots and there was a break right in my chin that looked like the Grand Canyon. How the Florida hospital did not find this I still do not know.
The dentist sent me directly across the street to an oral surgeon, who took a look and told me to pack a bag and meet him at nearby Rex Hospital, where he operated on me that night.
He did a very good job, inserted a titanium bar in my jaw to close the fracture, and was able to avoid wiring my jaw shut, although I had to stay on a liquid diet for six weeks.

These days I'm fine, there's no more jaw pain, the plate in my jaw is titanium so I don't set off metal detectors. The most visible evidence of any injury is the cartilage in my left ear which is broken all the way through (and doesn't really heal). You can't see it, but if you touch my ear you can feel the break.

All this may seem awful, but I thank God every day that it turned out like it did. My brother was not hurt, and his girlfriend was not outside with us. No shots were fired. My brother is a saxophone player, so if he had received the injury that I did it could have messed up his whole life. All in all it could have been much worse. Into every life a little rain must fall.

Also, as I said my grandfather was ill at this time, which is why we were there. This all happened the first night we were there, so obviously I didn't get to visit much with my grandfather. About 5 months later, his conditioned worsened. I went back to see him again. He died a week later. If the trip in March had not been violently interrupted, I might not have made that second trip.

The one thing I swore to myself after that was that no one would ever get the jump on me like that again.

Incidentally, the justice system in Florida seems to work about as well as the hospitals. As I said this happened in March 2004. Both my brother and I identified the guy from photo lineups after he was caught. (The police seem to know what they're doing, at least.) He is currently scheduled for trial in Feb. of 2006, but they've been pushing it back for nearly a year so we'll see. I expect to be subpeona'd for my testimony, as well as my brother.
 
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