Has anyone here needed to defend him or herself and was USCCA able to successfully help? If so, did you have to spend any money outside of the monthly membership fee? How was the process?
I have yet to see any real stories from actual members that were not used for advertising.
I really hope others are willing to share their experiences, @AK1763. Part of the reason you don’t hear too much from those people is that they’ve been through a pretty traumatic experience and are trying to get past it. They may have been vilified in their communities for using lethal force to defend themselves (unfortunately it happens).
We don’t require anyone who has utilized the legal protection aspect of their USCCA members to talk about the situation. I would love to hear more about people’s experiences as well. I know we’re helping a lot of people, but even the USCCA staff (outside of some of the Critical Response team) doesn’t know many details - for the legal protection of our members.
BTW @Dawn can corroborate most of this she has my permission. I won’t mention the Crisis Team Managers name. Truly amazing lady
My true story.
First off not a shot was fired, I deescalated the situation, 911 got there, but after 911 got there a bunch of…let’s call them unsubs showed up.
At the dog park, my wife and another lady got into a verbal confrontation with a woman who came through the wrong gate and let 20 odd dogs loose from the dog park. Lady was threatening to assault my wife and my wife’s friend. I get between them ( yes I was armed).
As soon as the ummm let’s just say lady was confronted she claimed all of the owners of the dogs that were confronting her about her lack of dog park etiquette were only doing it because they were racist and she didn’t see what the big deal was, everyone but 2 people got there dogs back.
Well, I can see this is going nowhere good, get my irate wife and the lady that was with my wife and pulled them away. Called 911. While 911 is arriving, so are a bunch of unsubs. They are all just sitting in there cars. I start getting a really bad feeling about all of these unsubs sitting in there cars and I block the exit so my wife and her friend can leave.
Once 911 leaves 4 of the unsubs follow me, I take them for a scenic drive to the police station. While doing so I called the crisis # cause I think it’s about to go South. I also have a rare medical issue where stress can put me into a coma. I explain to the crisis team what’s going on and the manager I got. She was amazing, she talked with me, and then checked up on me every couple of days.
My car is not discrete. It’s a small, very fast 2 door convertible, with a personalized tag. Not another like it in town. My concern is the unsubs would look around and find it or my address would be released when the police report was. The day after the report was released I learned my town does not put the complainants parties identifying info in the report.
I went into a coma that day (lasted a couple of days). Of all the people I know, that crisis manager (besides wife and daughter) was the ONLY person who cared enough to check up on me. She sent me a get well card.
So no guns blazing, no takeaways about how much money was saved. Just a story about a major company with over 400,000 customers who cared enough to follow-up even when there’s no big gun fight just good people.
YMMV
I have experienced a couple encounters PRIOR to becoming a USCCA member.
I live in the country. My newspaper box is about a mile hike each direction from the house. My girlfriend used to walk to the corner each day to get the newspaper and some exercise.
One day she was longer than usual, she had been shot twice in the back. A neighbor brought her to our home, got on the phone with 911 and went through quite a complicated and involved ordeal with the Sheriff. Even though I was at home, I was considered to be a suspect. I would not let the PO in my house and we sat outside for several hours until they found the suspect. Fortunately I had a basic understanding of the law, otherwise all my firearms may have been confiscated for several months. I do give cuddos to the Sheriff deputy who was charged to stay with me. He tired a couple times to get me to let him in the house, when I said I would have to call a lawyer first the subject never came up again. He was a good guy just doing his job.
Another time I was trapped in an indecent in FL where 2 cars would sandwich you and rob you. I was armed and had a friend behind the car that pinned me who was also armed. That incident ended with the bad guys fleeing. I did get a crunched tail light out of the deal.
I have had a couple other incidents where i was in a vehicle and approached. I had drawn my weapon but kept it under my coat and after short discussions the incidents were diffused without ever having to show the weapon.
I have had a couple other incidents while camping where strangers decided to make themselves comfortable at my campsite. Again, pulled my weapon but kept it under my coat, never brandished it and was able to talk the persons into leaving my campsite. The end result was satisfactory, but after such an indecent you dont sleep that night, you stay at such a high alert you are awake all night. Fortunately each case worked out OK without indecent.
After picking up my wife from UTSA I sped up on the ramp entering Loop 1604. Apparently I made the mistake of looking aggressive by zooming past a pickup truck. As I drove down the highway the guy kept flipping me off getting besides me and tailgating me. I was angry and a bit afraid so I slammed my brakes hoping to shake this idiot off my tail. It had the opposite effect. I accelerated as fast as I could in our little VW Fox. The reached down while on my tailgate. I found a gas station/convenience store to call the police and get around witnesses. I jumped a median to get there as fast as possible and drove my car to a front side of the store.
I sent my wife in to call 911. I went to the trunk/rear of my car and acted like I was reaching for a weapon. The guy was huge muscle bound angry wearing a Gold’s Gym t-shirt. His hand and arm were hid behind his truck bed. He yelled nonsense at me. I yelled rationally back at him. I just knew I was going to die because he had a weapon. I’m not sure what happened but he decided to jump in his truck and drove off.
My wife was pregnant and the police showed up 45 minutes later and never got out of his car. He didn’t care. That’s when I really wanted to buy a gun and carry. But we were poor college students.
I no longer slam my brakes on like that. Just remember as I changed lanes he move behind me and get a couple of feet from my rear. I was desperate. Tried to protect my wife but it looked like it wasn’t going to be a fair fight. Wing Chun only goes so far.
Confucius say “Man who screw tailpipe of car have hot rod”. Your point is well taken, sometimes it is just a lose-lose proposition and you have to do your best with what you have. You did the right thing in my opinion by stopping at a populated area with lots of witnesses.