If youre willing to share, Id love to hear the CCW stories and any advice, hindsight, or lessons that came from it.
first time was a few years ago and was never reported so can't really go into details but 3 latino dudes started road raging with me and my at the time gf and later came around driving the wrong way towards us and went head on to force me to stop, they got out of the car and started attacking. No cameras or anything around.
Second time was pretty recently, I work as a PI and sometimes serve court papers. I have video of this one and a police report, I was doing surveillance on this guy's house in a gated community and had made multiple attempts at the door on a past day but his wife would only answer. I figure out the dude is the Wendy's district manager per his Linkedin. He is a scared motherless

and doesn't want his subpoena for who knows why and drives home but then leaves. He finally comes back again and pulls into the driveway so I get out and make it to the driveway before he can get into the garage and into the house and I drop serve him. He must have been so pissed when he realized I dropped the subpoena - as I turned to walk away and was going down the driveway he charges at me with a metal baseball bat and tries to swing on me, I turn around as he's a few feet away and do the fastest draw of my life I swear, crazy adrenaline dump.
I was milliseconds away from shooting but he instantly froze with the bat in the air so I didn't shoot and I started backing up towards my car. Lazy deputies didn't even arrest him even with video. Glad I wasn't arrested or anything either, not that I broke any laws. Pro-gun county luckily.
Wish I had some amazing insight but I'm not John Wick really, I never did any shooting outside of basic ranges and military shooting. After the second incident I got way more serious about training and shooting, joined a club and practice my draw multiple times a week lol. My takeaways were that carrying a tiny gun that is super concealable isn't the best, and having a little more capacity is nice. With my HK P2000SK you can fit 12 rounds flush or 15 with the extended and it is not hard to conceal. I have a Shield too and used to think I just want the easiest to carry gun but now I want the best/biggest gun I can carry comfortably. I even got a Vedder lighttuck holster for my MK25 just for fun lol. I had this argument with a friend that got a P365, which is a sick gun for sure but it's a little too small with the flush mag I think, and I have pretty small hands haha.
Video absolutely saves you, eliminates the he said she said and the liars. I have a bodycam now, in hindsight I should have been using it and not just my phone video. When I drew my gun I either squeezed my phone or hit a button idk and shut off the camera as I was turning around. Not even sure what I did with my hands it was all so fast and automatic off muscle memory. I think that if you're going to CCW a gun you really need to train and practice or you're just not being smart. Like anything in life skills perish without practice, so it blows my mind the average gun owner barely shoots especially if they CCW.
Same thing with motorcycle racing and other sports, I have not ridden since last October so I would be rusty today until I had some laps to get back into it. But you don't get that in life or death scenarios. Idk if I was just lucky or just got off with reflexes and muscle memory, I am glad I didn't shoot and go through that process. Also signed up with CCWSafe.
also RE: OP, I never really got into hunting or thought going out to kill animals was that interesting, maybe because I never lived anywhere very rural. My dad wasn't into it either. Idk that hunting and competition shooting are the same bracket