Do you have any scary experience with guns?

[Not Heidi]

I ask because I've been writing about my first girlfriend, who turned into a stalker and loon and, once I'd convinced her that we were truly over, held a gun to my head.

Just wondering if I'm alone.

I was going to post this in the Lounge, but I thought this group would be more appropriate.

[brewens]

1. Yup. I was trying to talk a young woman out of shooting herself in the head one day.

In her backyard after her boyfriend had been busted for selling weed. I was just healing up from a total knee replacement and walking with a cane. I was standing there sizing up my chances for hitting her with my cane and getting the gun away from her when a more trusted family member came in and was able to talk her down.

[Not Heidi]

7. Your heart was in the right place

It's fortunate that the family member appeared, so you wouldn't have to hobble cane/knee and think about hitting her and then think about how to grab the gun.

Were you scared, or nervous, or . . . ?

[brewens]

13. I was terrified. Her and her husband were good friends. Things have turned out well for both

of them though they are no longer together.

[AndyS]

2. Well now that you asked . . .

In 1971 on my way through W Virginia I was pulled over by Highway patrol. As he approached the car I reached for my wallet and heard a distinct 'click-click' followed by 'don't move and put both hands on the wheel'. I was staring into the barrel of the largest gun in the world with a very frightened cop behind it.

The second was on a hunting trip. On of the company had a rifle jam and he was jerking on the gun trying to clear the jam, all the while pointing the gun directly at me. He did clear the jam and the gun did fire but I was prone on the ground being very small so the shot went over me.

Beyond that there was the nephew who took his own life with a gun and the 17 year old daughter of an acquaintance who attempted suicide with her Dad's pistol. She survived because he had military experience with sucking chest wounds and kept her alive until the paramedics arrived.

Finally there have been three active shooters in the school district my grand children attend. Fortunately none of them directly impacting my grand children but I didn't find that out for hours.

The ones directly affecting me weren't intentional or done in malice but nonetheless it's a frightening experience. I can't imagine what you dealt with in your case.

I guess the moral of the story is if you haven't been touched by gun violence it's only a matter of time.

[Not Heidi]

8. I don't like that moral

but I expect it's true. This country is so effed up.

[orthoclad]

3. Several.

A robber with a pistol. "This ain't no joke!"
A hallucinating-episode friend who later told me I was lucky, after I talked him down. He thought I was someone else he was mad at.
A Vietnam vet who let us little kids fire his .38 loaded with wadcutters. Lucky we didn't shoot each other.
Cop putting his hand on his gun.
Kids shooting at us with .22s in the woods.
A drive-by shooting on my block. "Hit the floor!"

and others.

I did some target shooting when young. Now I just plain hate guns. I know people who hunt for the pot. I stay out of the woods in season.

[Not Heidi]

9. Damn, orthoclad

Scary, scary times for you.

What are wadcutters?

[orthoclad]

15. A type of bullet.

[oneshooter]

16. Low velocity target rounds

designed to cut clean hols in the target. https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1020447045

[Faux pas]

4. Yep

I grew up in an abusive, alcoholic household with guns. Every time my parents had an argument I was afraid 😨any one of us might be shot. That's just one of the many reasons I hate guns.

[Not Heidi]

10. Jesus.

How terrified you must've been.

[Faux pas]

17. Yes

and I had 2 younger brothers to worry about. We all survived. My brothers were very damaged 💔 and had a hard time living good lives.

[sanatanadharma]

5. Working late alone in the office, came out of a room and face to face with a pistol pointed at me

It was a county sheriff and I said, "I guess I forgot to lock the door after my smoke break."

I was startled and did need to explain myself and all was fine. Sheriff said he was surprised to see lights on and found door unlocked, thus the drawn gun.
I actually do not remember fear. However, that as near 40 years ago and the USA was not yet bat-shit crazy.

My scary gun experience was walking home after a county jail cook's job interview where I was told I would have a gun and be trained.
I watched my mind and ego begin to feel special and looking forward to "A Gun".
Seeing my ego hijacking my wisdom during that two block walk home, scared the shit out of me and taught how insidious gun-desire can be.
Never had a gun, never wanted a gun, but began to feel special then just thinking I might become a gun-possessor.
I can imagine how much gun-desire and gun-ownership actually possess people.

[Not Heidi]

11. Yipes.

I'm glad the Sheriff was cool.

Interesting to read of your perspective on how guns become desirable.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

6. Only in combat zones. nt

[Not Heidi]

12. Had to be scary. n/t

[MarineCombatEngineer]

14. It was,

'nuff said,

[yagotme]

18. Ha. Had a SSgt at the range screwing around with his hand placement on his .45.

Was to his left. Saw lands and grooves of a loaded Colt twisted in my general direction 5 or 6 times. I was at the low ready, and I backed up a couple of half steps or so, and told the RO "You need to help this guy, now."

[MarineCombatEngineer]

19. Yikes!!!!

And a SSgt. at that who should damn well know better.
I hope the RO reamed him a new one.

[yagotme]

23. Nope.

And me, a lowly corporal, probably would have been. He couldn't handle a weapon worth a crap, and his target proved it.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

24. I was never an RO, but, as a senior NCO, I did carefully watch the RO's

when my Marines were doing live fire training, any anomaly I witnessed would immediately result in a private conversation with the RO on what I witnessed and a mutual agreement that the "transgression" would be solve toot sweet.

To the credit of vast majority of the RO's, I only had to do this twice during my career.

[Straw Man]

20. When I was a kid, hanging around in the woods with my friends ...

... a careless hunter lobbed a rifle shot over our heads. He must have been pretty far away because we actually heard the bullet whipping through the branches before we heard the sound of the shot. We took cover behind trees and started shouting. We never found out who it was.

[Not Heidi]

21. Damn, that's scary. n/t

[Straw Man]

22. Yeah, it was.

He violated one of the cardinal rules of firearms safety: "Know your target and what is beyond."

[captain queeg]

25. When I was a kid we were fishing and some hill billies not much older that us were skipping .22

bullets along the surface towards us and laughing. Big fun for the assholes.

[jimmy the one]

26. I think I did, Maybe

In Baltimore ~30 years ago, I think I had a scary experience with guns.
I was robbed at 'gunpoint' by 3 guys as I had just gotten into my car who wanted my wallet filled with my winnings from pimlico race track (~$40, ha).
But, I never saw any gun, just a newspaper wrapped around one of the robber's hands. They said a gun was inside.
Still counts as an armed robbery even if a bluff since they threatened with a gun.
Long story short, did not want to argue, they got my wallet and keys, took spare key from glove comptmt, drove to baltimore police station and made an entry into that year's FBI Universal Crime Reports (UCR).

[MarineCombatEngineer]

27. Very smart move giving up your wallet,

it may have been a gun in the newspaper, it may not have been, but why take the chance?

Wallets and money can be replaced, a life cannot.