First Time Pointing A Gun At Someone

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OP , thanks for sharing your story . Sounds like a scary night for you your daughter and companions. Would of ,could of , should of doesn’t mean anything but the fact is no one died or was shot therefore you were perfect in your response! I try to put myself in the other persons shoes and this guy who showed up at 3am doesn’t make sense to me. I ask myself reading your post , why would I pull up so close to a camp at that time of night ? Why would I not know my gun was loaded ? Why would I discharge it accidentally or intentionally , because I’m not following elementary safety precautions! The biggest thing however is why would I not yell out to you my mistake and immediate apologies trying to calm those I affected with my bone headed blunder ! Regardless of what happened the truth is something was off about this guy , you life was put at risk as well as the others with you. You call out to your daughter to stay down and still this guy did nothing to calm the situation , like I said something is off ! Lastly you called LEO ! You did it right ! The other guy did it all wrong !
 
I don't understand how the OP did anything wrong. A shot goes off near enough to you to blow your eardrums out in the middle of the night, you're protecting your family in your "temporary home", you're not training your gun on the intruder with your finger on the trigger with the safety off. Hat's off to the OP for keeping a cool head and protecting your own, I would like to think I would do the same for mine.
 
Wow. Dude... 3am. Daughter with him and you sit up on your high horse? I would have had the safety OFF and crosshairs on his chest... guess that's just me. A protective father.
Correction to a earlier post I made, this one so the stupidest post of the year!
 
Lockerroom lawyer. Pfft
Nope, but I was a police officer, SFC retired US Army, and the VICTIM of a shooting from a IDIOT who thought he could point his gun at me and shoot. GFY

For the record he thought he was justified in his actions too, that is until he went to Jail….
 
Nope, but I was a police officer, SFC retired US Army, and the VICTIM of a shooting from a IDIOT who thought he could point his gun at me and shoot. GFY

For the record he thought he was justified in his actions too, that is until he went to Jail….
Glad you’re ok!
You can’t just leave us hanging on that one.
How’d you get shot?
 
Nope, but I was a police officer, SFC retired US Army, and the VICTIM of a shooting from a IDIOT who thought he could point his gun at me and shoot. GFY
That's some serious credentials. Thank you for your service.
 
Glad you’re ok!
You can’t just leave us hanging on that one.
How’d you get shot?
He missed and like many in this thread he tried to justify the actions he took any way he could. At the end of the day I hadn’t done anything wrong, I was tracking a wounded deer thru property I had permission for. He overreacted and pumped up by his brothers though I was a threat to his livestock. ( on his property 1/4 mile away from me in the opposite direction).

The Kid I was mentoring had a break down and has never set foot in the hunting woods again.
 
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For all of you who want to so quickly denounce me, if I’m so wrong in this why did the OP feel he had to go and edit his original post?

If he was perfectly justified then there was no reason for him to alter his story…. Think about that for a while. Then go back and look at the time stamps.
 
He missed and like many in this thread he tried to justify the actions he took any way he could. At the end of the day I hadn’t done anything wrong, I was tracking a wounded deer thru property I had permission for. He overreacted and pumped up by his brothers though I was a threat to his livestock. ( on his property 1/4 mile away from me in the opposite direction).

The Kid I was mentoring had a break down and has never set foot in the hunting woods again.
First thank you for your service however I feel as former LEO you would have looked at this differently ! This guy OP encountered wasn’t just in the wrong place wrong time he was making all kinds of poor decisions ! My question is why ? Why is he there , why would anyone crowd a campsite like that at that time in the morning? OP was at risk so was his group, a shot was fired , that right there is reckless and citable. I believe OP reacted within his rights and responsibly . I would him be right and no harm come to him and his then be scared of the letter of the law and be dead ! The officer found his actions lawful as far as I read it and even if the law doesn’t do your day in court not on the table in the morgue !
PS I am not denouncing you for the record , just my take on the information
 
Your recap is obviously based on 2 seconds of analysis of the situation. First of all, it's illegal to carry a firearm with a round in the chamber while hunting in CO. It's illegal to discharge a firearm within 150 yds of an occupied campground. It's probably assault for blowing out my eardrums. I could probably come up with a much longer list if I thought about it for another 5 minutes. So, feel free to delete your asinine comments and I'll delete this rebuttal of them.

What's this? Is it really? I lived and hunted in Colorado for three years (recently) and didn't know this to be true.
 
I feel as former LEO you would have looked at this differently ! This guy OP encountered wasn’t just in the wrong place wrong time he was making all kinds of poor decisions
The decisions the other guy made were likely poor, but until he has his story told anybody on here is just pushing assumptions.

Back to my original posts that I am drawing fire from. The OP’s title is click bait and when you read the original account he violates the very basic rules of gun safety for the sake of likes on a Internet forum. Wording it in such a way he committed a felony. Again for internet likes.

This kinda crap doesn’t belong on the internet. If nothing more it open the door for the other guy to have his day in court where he is the victim.
 
Nope, but I was a police officer, SFC retired US Army, and the VICTIM of a shooting from a IDIOT who thought he could point his gun at me and shoot. GFY

For the record he thought he was justified in his actions too, that is until he went to Jail….
If you’re a VICTIM of a shooting from a 1/4 mile away that missed you, surely you understand that the OP was a VICTIM when his camp was under assault in the wee hours of the morning.
 
If you’re a VICTIM of a shooting from a 1/4 mile away that missed you, surely you understand that the OP was a VICTIM when his camp was under assault in the wee hours of the morning.

Somebody shooting at you and missing (from any distance) is a lot different than someone accidentally shooting near you. I'd hardly say the camp was under assault. I understand the OPs fear and reaction, but let's not pretend it was something more than it was. A very dangerous incident to be sure, but he's not a victim of assault because someone was unsafe near him. That's not what assault means.
 
@Addicting This is not meant sarcastically or as a jerk, but how would you have handled this situation differently? From what I read, someone ripping a round off at 3am near your tent in the backcountry would justify an armed response. He assessed what was perceived as a threat and determined that there was not enough of a threat to take further action. Both parties went unharmed. What would you have done?
 
I’m not knocking what anyone did in this story because I wasn’t there, but as a bow hunter 3am doesn’t seem all that early.
That's why hunting later rifle season is a lot more fun than hunting early bow, especially in Montana or other northern states! Shorter days, more sleep, less boring stretches in the middle of the day!
 
@Addicting This is not meant sarcastically or as a jerk, but how would you have handled this situation differently? From what I read, someone ripping a round off at 3am near your tent in the backcountry would justify an armed response. He assessed what was perceived as a threat and determined that there was not enough of a threat to take further action. Both parties went unharmed. What would you have done?
Perfectly acceptable response.
The loaded rifle was kept at the low ready position, finger off the trigger, muzzle in a safe direction while investigating a suspicious gun shot during the hours of darkness.
This, there is absolutely nothing wrong with this approach. But remember this was not part of the OP original post. He edited it after the fact and went and put it in.

The line is crossed when you point your rifle at anyone. You NEVER point your weapon at anything you do not intend to kill. A accidental/ negligent discharge is not a capital offense.
 
Lockerroom lawyer. Pfft.

Too bad that intruder didn't pull that stunt where I live. He would be looking at losing his guns and maybe a little time in the lockup. In an Ontario hunting area guns must be totally encased and unloaded after dark. No cop would bother you for being ready for trouble as long as you called 911.

You fail to mention that in Canada OP would be sitting in jail with ALL his firearms seized for pointing his rifle at someone, regardless of the situation. They would be at the very least charged with careless use of a firearm and unsafe storage of a firearm. They would be in an endless court battle, which they could win, but which would last years, it would take even longer to get their firearms back, IF they won, and they would most likely be returned in poor shape with items missing.

In contrast, the guy who had a negligent discharge would most likely only receive a wildlife act related fine for discharging a firearm past hunting hours.
 
Hmmmm… people are FIRED up. Listen and learn… I’m walking through what I know and trying to put myself in each persons shoes. What may I have done and what would I do now knowing all this information?

This post shouldn’t be about right or wrong, win or lose. I hate our current culture for this. We shouldn’t divide into camps, unless we are hunting of course… Thankfully everyone is “ok.”
 
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