splinter MBA
Inactive
This weekend I had a traumatic experience. I believe that I would either be in the hospital or dead today had I not been carrying.
I used to think concealed carry was a silly thing to do, but after the Sandy Hook shooting, I changed my mind. I did a lot of research on this site to make major decisions on what to carry, where, how, etc... More on this later.
I live near Salt Lake City. I left with my wife and 2 young children to visit the in-laws in a relatively small town about an hour away. We were forced to exit the freeway a couple exits early because the freeway was shut down due to a bad accident. Traffic was horrible and going slow. Somewhere along the line, I merged in front of another vehicle. He didn't like that and proceeded to lay on the horn.
As traffic sped up, we were able to get past the detour rout and head to our destination. The angry motorist followed us. He sped up and I thought he wanted to pass me, so I pulled over. He stopped beside me. I can only assume he was flipping me off. His windows were tinted.
My in-laws house was only a few yards ahead, so I pulled into their driveway, hoping the other car would speed away. Instead, he parked on the street. At this point adrenaline kicked in. I jumped out of the car because I didn't like that he was parked behind us.
I stood by my car with the door open behind me. (This was a mistake)
A HUGE man stepped out the the vehicle. He was about 6ft and 260 - 280 ibs. I am 5,8 and 180 ibs.
I thought he might just chew me out and go on his way, but he stormed toward me. He looked insane. I have never seen that look in a man's eye before. I knew he wanted to hurt me, and he told me he wanted to beat me, or something to that effect.
I froze for what felt like a minute, but it must have been only a fraction of a second. The man wasn't armed, but his hands were balled into fists. I wasn't sure what to do.
In that moment, I realized that I couldn't back up because the car door was behind me. I couldn't just run across the lawn and down the street because my wife and children were in the car.
By the time I decided to reach for my gun, he was only 3 feet away. I gripped my 9mm Beretta Nano that I carried inside the waist band. He noticed and immediately stopped. Now he was about 2 feet away.
He asked me if I wanted to shoot him. All I said was get away from me, get away from my family. I learned that when the adrenaline is pumping, I didn't watch his face, I watched his chest - his heart. I was prepared to draw and shoot. Thankfully, he didn't come any closer and I didn't have to draw.
He cussed me out but finally went back to his car much more sober than when he came out. I called the police and they sent an officer out to take a statement. He told me that I did the right thing. I was indeed afraid of devastating injury and death. The officer also told me that I should not have let the attacker get so close. I should have created space. I felt so sick and shaky afterward.
I wanted to thank those people on this forum for your advice. Originally, I wanted to carry with a belly band, but I read here that carrying on the hip was a faster draw. I used to lean toward carrying without a round in the chamber, as for advice I read here, I decided to carry with one in the chamber. I needed those precious nano-seconds to decide if I was going to go for my gun. I would not also be able to rack the slid if needed. I also used to think I would only carry to work, because of advice read here, I carry everyday, everywhere.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I would not have been prepared to protect myself and my family had I not followed the great advice here.
I'm also thankful for this great county, the second amendment, and the supportive laws of my state. And of course the professional police officer who took my statement.
I also wanted to add that practice is so important. I now know what i should be practicing. I practice drawing regularly, but I never thought to practice making space. I will now practice that regularly. I can't tell you how happy my wife is now about me carrying a gun.
Any additional advice is welcome.
I used to think concealed carry was a silly thing to do, but after the Sandy Hook shooting, I changed my mind. I did a lot of research on this site to make major decisions on what to carry, where, how, etc... More on this later.
I live near Salt Lake City. I left with my wife and 2 young children to visit the in-laws in a relatively small town about an hour away. We were forced to exit the freeway a couple exits early because the freeway was shut down due to a bad accident. Traffic was horrible and going slow. Somewhere along the line, I merged in front of another vehicle. He didn't like that and proceeded to lay on the horn.
As traffic sped up, we were able to get past the detour rout and head to our destination. The angry motorist followed us. He sped up and I thought he wanted to pass me, so I pulled over. He stopped beside me. I can only assume he was flipping me off. His windows were tinted.
My in-laws house was only a few yards ahead, so I pulled into their driveway, hoping the other car would speed away. Instead, he parked on the street. At this point adrenaline kicked in. I jumped out of the car because I didn't like that he was parked behind us.
I stood by my car with the door open behind me. (This was a mistake)
A HUGE man stepped out the the vehicle. He was about 6ft and 260 - 280 ibs. I am 5,8 and 180 ibs.
I thought he might just chew me out and go on his way, but he stormed toward me. He looked insane. I have never seen that look in a man's eye before. I knew he wanted to hurt me, and he told me he wanted to beat me, or something to that effect.
I froze for what felt like a minute, but it must have been only a fraction of a second. The man wasn't armed, but his hands were balled into fists. I wasn't sure what to do.
In that moment, I realized that I couldn't back up because the car door was behind me. I couldn't just run across the lawn and down the street because my wife and children were in the car.
By the time I decided to reach for my gun, he was only 3 feet away. I gripped my 9mm Beretta Nano that I carried inside the waist band. He noticed and immediately stopped. Now he was about 2 feet away.
He asked me if I wanted to shoot him. All I said was get away from me, get away from my family. I learned that when the adrenaline is pumping, I didn't watch his face, I watched his chest - his heart. I was prepared to draw and shoot. Thankfully, he didn't come any closer and I didn't have to draw.
He cussed me out but finally went back to his car much more sober than when he came out. I called the police and they sent an officer out to take a statement. He told me that I did the right thing. I was indeed afraid of devastating injury and death. The officer also told me that I should not have let the attacker get so close. I should have created space. I felt so sick and shaky afterward.
I wanted to thank those people on this forum for your advice. Originally, I wanted to carry with a belly band, but I read here that carrying on the hip was a faster draw. I used to lean toward carrying without a round in the chamber, as for advice I read here, I decided to carry with one in the chamber. I needed those precious nano-seconds to decide if I was going to go for my gun. I would not also be able to rack the slid if needed. I also used to think I would only carry to work, because of advice read here, I carry everyday, everywhere.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I would not have been prepared to protect myself and my family had I not followed the great advice here.
I'm also thankful for this great county, the second amendment, and the supportive laws of my state. And of course the professional police officer who took my statement.
I also wanted to add that practice is so important. I now know what i should be practicing. I practice drawing regularly, but I never thought to practice making space. I will now practice that regularly. I can't tell you how happy my wife is now about me carrying a gun.
Any additional advice is welcome.
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