Have you ever been shot or shot at? Stabbed?

No, thank goodness!

I live in a civilised country, so no.

I had a knife pulled on me. Luckily, I was able to talk the guy down without getting stabbed.

I also had a couple guns pulled on me by airport police in China. Also, lucky to diffuse that situation without getting shot.

I live in an area where I have never seen a gun so I am not too worried about it. If I lived in an area of the country where guns were regularly carried, I would be more concerned.

There is no way you can get around the fact that there are less gun deaths in countries with stricter gun laws than the USA.

No. If I had been killed by a gun, though, I wouldn’t be able to answer this.

Only once, I was about 16 and a friend and I were out at a local creek shooting a 22lr and an old 1914 Mauser my friends uncle had just given him. The entire area was tall grasses and brush. There was a lot of water in the creek so we were walking along the top of the bank, shooting down into the water at regular intervals trying to hit various things we threw in as targets. We were about a half mile from the road and had been at it for probably 45 minutes when from our left side three shots rang out; first one then two more in quick succession. “Blam!.........blam, blam!” There was little to no time lag from the sound of the shots to watching the grasses being clipped off and parting about four feet off the ground as the bullets zipped past us, missing us by what felt like inches but was, in all probability, a couple of feet.

No. These would be extremely rare occurrences where I live (a large Canadian city). I don’t personally know anyone who has been shot or stabbed, either.

I think I used to be stabbed, once.

Yeah, I was stabbed, by me.

I’m not sure about it. My memory of that event was vague, like a mist. This is what my parents tell me (and a little of my memory).

When I was young there was a time when I pitied Mom for having to do so much housework. I decided to help her a bit. That day Mom was preparing a meal. I came and offered some help but she turned me down, given the fact that I wasn’t old enough to be safely around the kitchen. Suddenly the telephone rang. She went for it. While she was busy with the phone, I went to the kitchen. There were some vegetables in the basket. I put them out, trying to imitate what she usually did in the kitchen. I went to fetch the knife, but it was too high for me. I tried to reach it… a little more… Agh, it was falling! Have to get it… Well, the next thing I remember was that the knife was in my hand, with the blade through my hand.

Mom says she heard the noise and ran to the kitchen, and she almost fainted when she saw such a mess. I remember waking up at the hospital seeing Mom crying. She blamed me for being so stupid. But then it became clear that I was only tried to help. We both apologized to each other.

The aircraft I was riding in during a drug interdiction took fire once and a round hit the bottom of my seat. Fortunately I was sitting on my flack jacket and only got a bruised buttock. I never heard anything, jus felt like somebody kicked me.

Do BB guns count? I’ve been shot with those a few times. Stings more than it hurts. Leaves a nice welt. Other than that, I’ve not been shot at or stabbed.

Shot – no. Shot at – it was close. Hunting in Kentucky. Did it once, never again. Apparently some people have a hard time seeing hunter’s orange. Stabbed, no. I have been cut with blades, but it was consensual knifeplay between myself and my brother.

Yes. It’s really not fun. Ruined my entire day. Luckily for me it wasn’t life threatening but I had to go to 2 hospitals and was a guinea pig for several different medications. I would advise not getting shot if you can help it.

Nope.

My dad shot me with a BB gun when he caught me sneaking out. He said he thought I was an intruder. I don’t know that I believe him, but I never snuck out again.

I’ve also been shot by paintball pellets. That sucks.

@Mimishu1995 I put a blade through my own hand pitting an avocado in a stupid way once. Clean through. Luckily it was all flesh and neat.

Paintballs really hurt.

Yup.

When I was 8, I asked my friend to play frisbee. His father was dating a woman who had a son 2–3 years older than me. He had been mean to me the day before, calling me names… so like any 8 year old would do, I didn’t ask him to play frisbee with us. I was outside with the frisbee, and he and my friend went inside. What I couldn’t see – because of the windows just reflecting my own image – was that the kid had taken a .22 rifle that they were hunting with earlier that morning, and was aiming it at me, or I would probably have tried to run. I had my arm up, spinning the frisbee on my finger. The bullet entered the top of my arm, about an inch under the wrist, exited the side of my forearm on the inside, about halfway down. Because I had my arm bent, the bullet went back into my arm in the bicep area, and exited the back of my upper arm about 4–5 inches below the shoulder.

Holy shit! Did the kid end up in juvie?

Nope.

@poofandmook Good God. Were his parents brought up on any charges? A real live jelly example of irresposible gun owners.

Did your dad dump the woman?

Fortunately no.

@poofandmook Wow! So the kid shot you through the glass window?

@GloPro: Yeah… three months. Hardly enough since the kid said in court that he aimed for my heart initially. Also, I think you may have misread… it was my friend’s dad.

@JLeslie: I don’t think he did any time but I did receive a small settlement held in a CD until I turned 18. Incidentally, I’m all for civilians owning firearms. I just think that they need to have an initial and periodic psychiatric evaluations to maintain their firearms license. And annual background checks.

@Pied_Pfeffer: Actually it probably wasn’t glass. This was in a summer campground with permanent sites and trailers… the big kind someone might live in, and not at all the type you tow around to different camps. The front was all windows. I don’t know that they were glass.

@poofandmook what a harrowing experience! Do you have any lasting issues (other than a scar)? It seems like that would be horribly traumatic for such a young child.

He aimed for your heart. Jesus, his parents must have turned three shades of red. Did they apologize to you? I realize during a court case they are controlled by their lawyer, but afterwards did they do anything? Say anything?

@FlyingWolf: Not so much anymore. I used to be terrified of “bad people” breaking into my house at night and killing me. The old ADT commercials with the guy that says “I can pick most locks with a credit card” used to scare me… as did the show Unsolved Mysteries with the murders and whatnot. Not so much anymore. The only lasting “issue” is that since I was so scared as a kid, my dad eventually had to put a small TV in my room for me to sleep… it was the only thing that worked. Now, at 31, I still have a REALLY hard time sleeping without the TV (though now I use my Nook instead so it’s not so bright and disturbing to my husband.)

@JLeslie: They were pretty trashy rednecks. The father showed up in court with a pack of cigarettes rolled up in his sleeve. They never said anything. They were also kicked out of the campground because despite being in the Poconos, firearms were prohibited. It was a very family oriented place, with lots of “snowbirds” that would come up from Florida and stay all summer. They were like little homes rather than campsites.

I’ve been shot at twice. Once while driving, from a passing motorist, and the other while I was standing at my front gate, trying to stop the gang-bangers from next door from tearing apart my picket fence, so they could fight with them.
My favorite moment like this was when I was driving by a high school, and saw a kid holding a handgun. Down the street, less than ½ a block away, was a couple police officers. I pulled over and gave them a description of the kid, and his friends. The next day in the paper was a story about how the police found a student with a gun thanks to the tip from an unknown passing motorist. The kid wasn’t even a student at that school. Apparently, they were going to a school fair. I feel like I may have stopped something bad from going down.

Oh yeah. I’ve told these stories here before.
I have lived on rural properties for years in the Sierra Nevada foothills here and have run from pot shots taken that snapped tree branches over my head on my property from the lunatic neighbor on 20 acres that would randomly shoot.
I have had an arrow narrowly miss my horse and I on trail by a bow hunter. I have fended off drunken bubbas waving rifles in my face that were angry I would not let them follow a buck onto my property during deer season. I have had a dog shot, ( he lived ) after he chased some neighboring steers back through the hole in the fence after they were on my property.

He limped home with a fist sized hole blown out of his flank by a 30–06.
Forget the ghetto, country/mountain living in redneck land is not for wussies. lol

I got mugged my first week in San Francisco. I had no money so he only ended up stealing the the leftover pizza in the box I was carrying. He waved a gun at me. I’d never seen a pistol up close and couldn’t believe how small it was. Being stupid, I said “Hey, is that a real gun?” He said “Want to find out?” My friend with me said “No.. Just take the pizza” and he did. Then he ran off. My friend yelled at me until the police came. He said I was a total moron—and I was!

I walked at night through a dicy neighborhood in the same city a few years later. This old crazy old guy muttering to himself was in front of me. I slowed down to give him a wider berth. He suddenly turned around and pulled out a knife. He said “I’ve been to San Quentin for cutting up uglier chicks than you.” He stared at me for a while, waving the knife around and then put it back and kept on walking.

I have been shot at. My grand father kidnapped us (my mother, my brother and I) when I was about 8 years old. They did not want us to get away.

Who is “they” @AshLeigh

I was shot at once, more like I was in a vehicle that was. A gun pulledon me once and almost got stabbed twice.

Some bitch at school stabbed me in the hand with a pen. Not deeply at all, just left a little hole, it barely even bled. Still hurt like a mother though.

Shot – no
Shot at – many
Stabbed – no

@Unbroken Can you clarify “almost got stabbed”? What prevented you from being stabbed?

In Elementary school I was shot with a BB gun and stabbed with a mechanical pencil. Different grades, different perps.

Result: 2 tiny scars and a lifetime avoiding guns and writing implements.

Been shot once in the Congo. It almost killed me and still haunts me twelve years latter.

No but I stabbed myself yesterday with my own pocket knife accidentally. I forgot to pull the blade in and put it in my top clothes drawer and then yesterday when I went looking for something I forgot it was there and I started tossing stuff around. Then bam! I felt something really sharp and it was my pocket knife. But I’m sure that doesn’t count!

@antimatter Woah. The idea of going to the hospital in the Congo gives me the shivers.

BB gun wounds only count if it breaks the skin.

So wearing a Kevlar vest means you can’t claim you were shot because it doesn’t break the skin?

Naw. Any shooting counts. I mentioned paintball. Those pellets hurt! Sandbags also leave a helluva welt/bruise.

Getting stabbed by a fork, stick, pen, etc counts, too.

Ok, in that case I have probably been shot over a hundred times.

If self-inflicted accidents count…I stabbed myself with a carpet knife when I was twelve. Nasty.

@ARE_you_kidding_me That begs the question then: how many times have YOU shot someone?

@GloPro, I guess I didn’t mention the other man. After my grandfather took us, he dumped us at this old mans house. He had this idea of creating a ready made family for himself, using my mother and her children.

That is terrible! I hope that story has a happy ending for you, your mother, and your brother.

We were there for two weeks, somewhere on a mountain in the state of Washington. My mother called the police while he was cutting wood, and when the police officer showed up he said “You’re lucky. It took the last woman two years to get away.”
He was never arrested. We moved back to Alaska a week later.

Fucker.

Why the hell was he never arrested?

@ARE_you_kidding_me, No one ever went to trial.

That’s just f’ked up. I’m so sorry this happened to you.

1 Time I was walking home drunk underage. Some scrawny NRA guy came out onto the sidewalk with a shotgun and mumbled a lot of stuff about how he was not to be disrespected and I shouldn’t walk by his house drunk.

1 Time I was letting off fireworks at the community abandoned Superfund site, a cop grabbed my throat, discharged his weapon into the air and said everybody give up or I shoot this kid.

1 Time I was working at a convenience store. A young boy came in and said his brother had a shotgun trained on me and would shoot me through the windows if I did not give him the money in the register. I picked up the kid and held him as a shield and dialed 911.

@Imadethisupwithnoforethought Did that all happen in the same town? Where was it?

Nope. Knew someone who was shot and killed, though. But never been fired at or stabbed myself.

I knew someone who was shot and killed also, and I knew the killer. Crazy shit. My boyfriend’s (my exboyfriend, but this happened while we were dating) cousin was married, and he left her for another cousin. That cousin eventually left him and he freaked out, showed up at her apartment, and shot her to death and shot her new boyfriend, but he survived. Horrific. The wife, the original cousin, still visits him in jail and never dated anyone else.

@JLeslie Seacoast of New Hampshire

@Imadethisupwithnoforethought Wow, and I think of New Hampshire as such a nice state. I guess the suburbs of Boston might have its problems though.

@JLeslie New England folk are just quieter about our problems.

Let’s not forget Providence, either. I was driving through Pawtucket once and turned onto a side road to check my phone. Two guys then tried to hijack the car I was driving. Luckily I had locked the doors just in time.
That car has also been robbed a few times. One time they got away with my piano. It was in a Church parking lot.

@dxs I know you’re obviously talking about a keyboard, but for some reason when I first read it I had the mental image of robbers running off with like a grand piano :P

@El_Cadejo Yes, they played a lovely etude by Chopin as they ran off! Nahh. And to be honest, the thing was only a 61-key. A good excuse to get a full 88-key.

@dxs I was picturing them playing something more like this

@GloPro first time… I was helping a girlfriend and her boyfriend move.. She was drunk but something else seemed a bit off. She had been a meth head but in the years I knew her I never saw her using…

Anyway she got it into her head that I was trying to steal her boyfriend. It took me a while to figure out that was what was wrong.

We were outside and she took a swing at me. I ducked easily but she wasn’t done. She kept coming at me. I wasn’t sure what to do so I just guarded and evaded. Which just made her angrier and she came at me more wildly and her boyfriend yelled something which distracted me and I didn’t see her pull a hunting knife that time she actually made contact but I gave with her what I thought was just a punch rolling it off me and it just glanced off my side.

The second time this guy I was flirting with invited me over for a visit. He was trying to hide it at that point but he was a meth head who was trying quit. And I his party people used his place regularly.

There was this guy that was tripping um he’d been going for quite some time I think.

Couldn’t really tell what he was bitching about. But it could have been that I wasn’t using. A lot of those people B had to vouch for me.

I had just told him I was going to leave and he told me to give him ten minutes to get everyone out. I stepped in the bathroom to chill out for a minute.

The crazy guy crashes through the door breaking it. I hadn’t even thought to lock it. Lol. He seemed to be expecting me to be on the toilet and it took him a couple seconds to regroup. But he had a butterfly knife in his hand. In that time b came and pulled him by the back of his shirt out of the door and proceeded to beat his face into to floor. There was a good bit of blood.

We did get him to stop but the guy was unconscious. Itseemed like forever but we did get him up I mentioned an ambulance once but had a lot of angry people looking at me and I chickened out. At that point I wasn’t just going to be endangering me but b as well and since he was still pumped on adrenaline and drugs he might hurt someone else. But really I just was scared and didn’t know what to do.

When he woke up he scrambles out of the apartment fast and b was still blazing riding him ready to let him have more… He took the knife as a trophy. And we never did become a thing after that. But I kept in touch enough to know he did finally kick method and those friends…

Though his short fuse and overreactions did eventually make him a felon

Scary situations, both.

@GloPro going to a hospital in Africa is about closest thing to Hell.

I was in a hospital in Mexico once. I think they put me on a tequila drip. I don’t remember 3 days.