My closest to ever pulling the trigger

[ShaulWolf]

I've been debating on whether or not to post this, but I figured this might be helpful for me and others to learn from.

This happened some time ago, just at New Year's Eve. I live in a city known for violent crime. Two blocks away is one of the projects that's known to have issues with said violent crime. My street is quiet and peaceful, but unfortunately it's also one of the few ways into that neighborhood. The time is just past midnight.

I'm outside walking from my neighbor's house, which is three houses down and across the street, in order to grab an XBox controller. I hear a car starting to accelerate through the light behind me, and it's accelerating hard. I look back and see it approach, and it appears to be continuing. Then it comes to a screeching halt roughly 10-15 yards from me. The rear driver's side door opens and someone jumps out. My immediate reaction is to draw and aim. The person leans over and proceeds to vomit. At that point his girlfriend exits as well and tries to console him. The driver looks back, sees me under the street lamp, gun aimed in, and peels off. At this point I reholster and ask if the guy is ok. The girlfriend never saw me with the gun out and says they'll be fine, then they go over to another neighbor's house. I walk away back to my house.

At first the car accelerating hard didn't bother me because that's not unusual, despite it being a quiet street. There are plenty of jerks who speed down it that it's normal. I did look back just to keep an eye on the approaching car though. My immediate thoughts when the car stopped was "F*ck. Threat.". I thought it was a threat because I know there is rough neighborhood not far away and this street is often used to get to it, and I was alone outside that late. I realized that there wasn't a threat when I saw the guy start to vomit and not make any other sudden movements. I kept my finger straight and off the trigger because I didn't want to accidentally fire with the adrenaline rushing through me. I reholstered when I knew for sure there was no threat and deescalated the situation as best I could.

I felt that cold knot in my stomach when the car stopped and someone jumped out. Immediately after that my mind was blank and training took over. I felt immediate relief when I saw there was no threat. I realized just how much adrenaline was rushing through me once I got back to my house and I suddenly felt very fatigued. I felt more relief that I didn't have to fire again. I felt very stunned when I realized I could have shot someone who was just too drunk for their own good, and then even more relieved that I hadn't fired. I'm even more certain that I would have fired if he had made a sudden movement towards me and not just keeled over to throw up.

What have I learned from this? Be aware of what's going on around you, even if you think the situation is completely normal. Be prepared to defend yourself if the situation points towards a SHTF scenario. Be prepared to fire if you carry. Be prepared to NOT fire if the situation suddenly shifts and you don't have to or shouldn't fire. Deescalate when the threat ends. Mental preparation is just as important as physical preparation. Scratch that, mental preparation is more important, because you can be the fastest draw and most accurate shot, but not having the will to use that training and knowing when not to will get you killed or found guilty of manslaughter.

[mollymayhem82]

You drew your gun because someone jumped out of a car? You need a chill pill.

[steelviper]

He drew his firearm not because of one factor, but several. Bad Neighborhood nearby, its late and dark, a car driving aggressively/recklessly then proceeding to come to a sudden stop close to his position with someone opening the door and jumping out. That would most certainly catch my attention, I myself cannot say I would have drawn my weapon in that situation but I can understand why there was a perceived threat. No one truly knows what they will do in a situation until they are in it, especially when being caught off guard and adrenaline is pumping through you. Thanks ShaulWolf for sharing your story and I think you handled it fine.

[JDC]

Even if the guy jumped out of the car and ran up to you. You still aren't justified in drawing your weapon unless of course he is armed. Shooting someone who is unarmed and with unknown intent is going to be nothing but bad for you.

[IronSight]

Even if the guy jumped out of the car and ran up to you. You still aren't justified in drawing your weapon unless of course he is armed. Shooting someone who is unarmed and with unknown intent is going to be nothing but bad for you.

Sorry, but that's not correct. Legal justification for use of deadly force depends on the perceived threat, not whether said threat has a weapon at hand.

I could list a dozen articles of people beaten to death without a 'weapon' several the result of a single blow and fall.

Late at night, near a bad neighborhood, stopping aggressively next to someone then jumping out of a car and running after them is a good way to get yourself hurt, justifiably so in my non-lawyer opinion.

[XACEX]

first of all, from reading your post, you obviously felt your life was in danger. people should keep that in mind before flaming you too badly, as that often justifies the use of deadly force. however, if you had fired, i guarantee a jury would have found this perception to be "unreasonable" looking at it after the fact and you would be screwed.

a good way to avoid this is to remember to NEVER DRAW YOUR WEAPON UNLESS YOU ARE GOING TO PULL THE TRIGGER.

I dont even practice drawing without pulling the trigger every time.

then on top of this, NEVER DRAW YOUR WEAPON UNLESS IT IS WORTH GOING TO PRISON FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE FOR.

this guarantees you are protected by the law because anything worth going to prison for the rest of your life to stop has got to be rape, kidnapping, death, or SERIOUS bodily injury - in which case you have the green light; or its just something actually worth going to prison for in which case it doesnt matter.

combine those two things together and you will always be ok. in your situation i would have pulled up my shirt (if CC) and put my hand on the grip but not drawn.

dont beat yourself up too bad, just learn from it

[TaePo]

I think a reasonable person could make the assumption that it is beyond coincidence that a car would accelerate and then suddenly decelerate near one person on the whole street in the dead of night with the other facts as described by the OP. Now, it's a gamble on what type of people are on your jury and what they might decide in a perfectly safe jury room with no pressure that a 'reasonable' person would do in an emergency or a potentially threatening situation.

I think drawing was not a bad decision in this case. I would have hidden the gun and placed my weak side facing the 'threat' until I had more information. I would not have aimed at that point. The most I might have gone to was a low ready facing the threat.

The other people (in the car) need to remember their situational awareness and not to drive so aggressively late at night. They might seem to be the only ones out and about but they might just give someone the wrong idea about their intentions. Just as we do not want to 'overdraw' our firearms; others need to be wary of the signals they are giving off.

[ByblosHex]

Better safe than sorry. That's why we carry guns, correct?

[9orangeletters]

first of all, from reading your post, you obviously felt your life was in danger. people should keep that in mind before flaming you too badly, as that often justifies the use of deadly force. however, if you had fired, i guarantee a jury would have found this perception to be "unreasonable" looking at it after the fact and you would be screwed.

a good way to avoid this is to remember to NEVER DRAW YOUR WEAPON UNLESS YOU ARE GOING TO PULL THE TRIGGER.

I dont even practice drawing without pulling the trigger every time.

then on top of this, NEVER DRAW YOUR WEAPON UNLESS IT IS WORTH GOING TO PRISON FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE FOR.

this guarantees you are protected by the law because anything worth going to prison for the rest of your life to stop has got to be rape, kidnapping, death, or SERIOUS bodily injury - in which case you have the green light; or its just something actually worth going to prison for in which case it doesnt matter.

combine those two things together and you will always be ok. in your situation i would have pulled up my shirt (if CC) and put my hand on the grip but not drawn.

dont beat yourself up too bad, just learn from it

Wait, what? That sounds like dangerous advice, both physically and legally.

[jcabin]

How wide are your streets, 50 yards wide? Come on. You're walking "in" the street? If you saw a car rapidly accelerating towards you, why didn't you move to exit the street, even if it meant getting back on the side you just came from?

You talk about how the training took over, almost as if you blacked out. That's pretty scary dude. Over what? Target training or defensive training? It would appear to be the former. Step one in situational awareness, not even getting into defensive tactics, would have meant getting out of the street as soon as you realized there was a speeding car coming at you. Clearly you had enough time to see the vehicle, watch it rapidly stop, watch the door fly open, and some guy exit. You picked up on it soon enough to rationalize that it was not a threat because it happens so often. In that time you could have exited the street and created distance while moving to cover/concealment or avoided the situation altogether.

I don't think you were justified in drawing your weapon. It would have been different if you gripped your weapon and kept it moving. I do think the driver of that car would have been justified in running you over once he realized there was some guy, close to a bad neighborhood, where crime often happens, standing there in the middle of the street pointing a gun at him and his friends.