The Time I Used My Gun in Self-Defense

I'm a gun owner. I've got a Beretta .22 pistol similar to the one pictured. Its main attraction is that it's small and that I can flip open the barrel to see if there are any bullets inside so I don't kill myself. (It's still loaded even if it is empty.)

It's not big enough to kill somebody unless I get off a lucky shot. If somebody's on drugs, it probably won't stop them. But it's better than a pea shooter.

I used to carry it in my purse, but jostling with lint and lipstick was making it where it misfired so I quit. (I guess I could have put it in a ziplock bag....)

Anyway, since the Supreme Court Heller decision is all the news that's not about Obama, I thought I would write about the time I used my gun in self-defense. I am convinced that my little prone-to-misfiring weapon kept me safe.

And I agree with Megan McArcle (hat tip: Instapundit) that Guns Are a Feminist Issue.

First off, I decided before I bought my first gun (a beautiful Smith & Wesson .38 special) that if necessary, I would kill somebody with it. No reason to have it if you're not willing to use it. In fact, if you're not willing to use it, don't have it.

I was in my late 20s. There were a bunch of break-in rapes in my neighborhood and I lived alone. That's when it occurred to me to get the gun.

My father told me to take the gun, which had never been loaded, home and "dry fire" it at the light switches and other targets in my apartment. This would help me improve my aim while not wasting ammo. So I sat there at night (I also had my father's loaded S&W .357 magnum with me, in case the criminals didn't wait until I was good with my new gun) with my empty new gun and practiced squeezing the trigger as its site floated past the light switch. One of the first things my father taught me was that nobody can hold a gun still, so what you have to learn is to squeeze the trigger at the exact moment when your gun site is floating over the target. This was a good lesson because it kept me from fighting against myself and trying to make me hold the gun still when nobody can hold it still. Go with the flow. And learn to squeeze at exactly the right moment.

I became a pro at dry-firing at doorknobs, light switches, shoes, roaches, the TV and other things in my apartment. I had the feel for it. Then it was time to go shoot something using bullets.

I met my father in the country (where his famed garden is). Non-Saintly Brother had made a target out of iron at least an inch thick, and it was cut into the shape of that most vicious of all creatures -- a chicken. Don't ask, I don't know. He made it for his own target practice.

I killed that metal chicken. I killed it first by taking my time and letting my hand float by it while squeezing the trigger. Then my father starting telling me that the chicken was getting close and I needed to hurry.  He was yelling, "It's coming at you! It's coming at you! Shoot NOW."

He was so serious. That was the only thing that kept me from cracking up.

So we pretended that the chicken was attacking me and I fired and fired. That was one dead metal chicken. I was ready. I gave my father his .357 back.

My apartment did get broken into but I wasn't there. They got everything but the gun. They even took my telephones!

It wasn't until I was filling up my car with gas about 10:00 p.m. one night that I needed to use my gun. It was a different gun -- the little Beretta I mentioned first. The .38 was too big to carry so, over my father's objections (since the Beretta was Italian, an automatic and too small caliber), I got the Beretta.

A carload of up-to-no-goods pulled up next to me at the gas pump. I won't go into a blow-by-blow, but they began to harass me so I quit gassing my car before I was finished and went inside to pay. (This was before pay-at-the-pump.) The up-to-no-goods followed me. I could see them through the gas-station windows talking and pointing at me. I went into the bathroom and stayed for a while. When I came out, they were still there. A couple had come into the store.

There was a woman behind bullet-proof glass at the cash register. I don't know why I didn't seek her help, but it never occurred to me. I did mention them to her, and she agreed that they looked like trouble.

They clearly weren't going away, so when they were distracted I hurried out of the door. One followed me, kept yelling for me to wait up, kept trying to engage me in conversation.

What were his plans? I don't know. But I felt threatened and had no need to talk to him and his gang of friends alone in a gas station parking lot. So I walked faster. I could hear him coming up closer behind me, telling me to stop.

That was when I reached into my purse, pulled out my Beretta, and held it out to the side, where he could see it. I never pointed it at him but I made sure he could see me pull back the top thingie that loads the chamber. It made a loud click. He heard that.

And he and his friends left me alone.

To me, that is the perfect use of a gun in self-defense. I never fired a shot. I never pointed it at anybody. But suddenly, I was at least as big and strong as he and all of his friends were. We were on equal footing.

I will never know if they meant me real harm. It's not up to me, outnumbered, intimidated and outsized, to fathom their intentions. All I know is that I "used" my gun that night. And I'm still here to tell the story.

Comments

[Katie]

Wow, if guns were allowed in NZ i would have probably have done the same. I'm glad you didn't have to hurt anyone!

Unfortunately guns are illegal in NZ unless you have a gun licence which are very hard to get and usually only people like farmers and hunters are granted them. So i just have to rely on my self defence skills... which really I have none of.

[I Gallop On]

Good story. I carry one too. Mine's a Glock semiautomatic. Here in NM, you can wear one where everyone can see it. As long as it's visible, you're OK. The freedom to do that gives me the freedom to go to the mountains without my husband with me. ;-) People are not going to mess with a woman who doesn't look like an easy mark. I'm amazed at the folks who'd like to take that constitutional right away from us. We were very fortunate last week.

Kimberly

[Mrs Mom]

Anne- Darn glad you had your security there with you.

When the Heller Decision came in the other day, there was a good amount of high fiving and celebrating going on in this little patch of Heaven. (OH! Darn It! I just KNEW we forgot something-- we did not take our Rugers out and shoot them mindlessly into the air. Darnitall!) (OK sarcasm off...)

I hope that you still keep that Berretta handy- the times they are a changin' yet again. Clean it, oil it, and check the firing mechanisim, and teach Lily how to use it as well. Or take her to a range, and get instruction there. It is never too early to learn.

Round here, Gun Control means using TWO hands when you fire ;)

[Anwyn]

Fantastic, Anne.

[Chelle]

And that's the kind of world we live in right now. The bad part: Many people don't feel safe in their own home. That's wrong and needs to be fixed. The good part: You have the right to defend yourself in the manner of your choosing (sort of). You can carry a gun, you can learn self-defense techniques (handy when you can't use the gun), and I have a friend who carries a switchblade.

When the world is safe we won't need weapons.

[DM]

loved the story! I now own a glock 9mm and have a conceal and carry permit I have no intention of letting lapse.