Have you ever been shot at for no good reason?

[Lobotomy Boy]

Once while canoeing on a creek - I guess the property owner felt we were tresspassing. We understood the message and paddled away.

This seems to me a perfectly justifiable use of deadly force on your part. Our nations waterways are public land. If some dude shot at you while you were canoeing, would that not have been a situation in which it was appropriate for you to shoot back? You obviously made a correct judgement by not doing so, given that you were unharmed and able to retreat from the threat. I am only asking because it seems to me that in this case you could have assessed the threat differently, since canoes aren't exactly fast-moving targets that afford much cover.

 

[Pumpkinheaver]

Two of my cousins and myself where atving one evening one some dumbarse shot at us several times with a shotgun, peppering us with birdshot(that stung). My cousin had his raging bull .454 with him as it was deer season. He touched a round off and guess what, no more shots fired in our diection.

 

[GD]

About 3 years ago, I was walking my dog along a fence row (I live in the middle of nowhere). My dog crossed the fence into a plowed field. Immediately rounds started hitting around my dog who is only about 6 feet away from me. I hit the dirt, my dog is doing a dance routine, and I start yelling. Around 7-8 rounds were fired and I take off running for my house which is about 3/4 mile away. My dog is nowhere to be seen. I get to my house and call the sheriff because I believe my dog is dead and I don't want to confront whoever did it, by myself. I, of course am winded when I make the call and the dispatcher tells me to lock the doors and wait for the deputies. They show up 35-40 minutes later and think that I was the one who was shot at. I ask them why it tooks so long if they thought I was shot at? Their response was that they were in the opposite end of the county (2 deputies patrol 1100 square miles in my county). The end result is, my dog "coyote" who indeed looks like a coyote, survived without being hit and I learned that day that I cannot rely on law enforcement to protect me. Whoever the hunter was, he was not able to hit my dog at a range of about 250 yards (thank goodness).

 

[Phyphor]

Walkin' down the street with my cousin,

guess both of us had on the wrong colors or something, but a yellow caddy w/white ragtop went by, I didn't pay it any attention. Until I saw the REALLY BIG fireball and heard the shot whipcrack past my head. I hit the dirt, the cousin was like "*** was that?!?"

I just replied "Run you idiot!" and we ran like hell....

 

[Hook686]

As a youth ...

... I grew up on SAC bases. Westover AFB, 1957 I was a high school student. One day I guided a horse outing around the outer wooded portion of the base and one trail came within 20 yards of the triple fenced perimeter of "Stoney Brook". Stoney Brook was were the nuclear weapons were stored. On this particular day I heard a "Whine" pass over my head, followed by the "Crack" of a rifle. A few minutes later three pickups with Air Policemen in the back, carrying M-1's came from three different directions, and "Surrounded" my little group of riders. The Sgt. that lead this particular team told me that I was probably given a warning shot for being too close to the fence. He wanted to know what I was doing in this particular area. He thought it wasn't a good idea to be horseback riding out in that area of the base. I then heard stories from the other enlisted airmen about times a civilian was shot, then dragged to the fence so it looked like a breach of the security warnings posted. One airman said he had shot a kid up in Alaska, tried for murder, was found guilty, then fined $2, given a carton of cigarettes and transfered. He had hoped to get transfered to a warm climate, but wasn't. I didn't take that trail after that.