Jobs aside, how many people here could honestly shoot a person.

[X_Digger]

21. I've been faced with the choice, and I was prepared to shoot.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Ike, I was in Galveston trying to get phone service back up for residents.

As I was ferrying network testing gear from my truck to the switch, I was approached by a guy asking for money. I offered him a bottle of water and an energy bar.

He became agitated and again demanded money. He got close enough that I could see that he had a mouth full of mostly black stumps instead of teeth, and continued to follow me as I went around my truck to the open driver's door (big equipment truck, not a pickup).

As I reached into the center console of my truck for a bottle of water, I heard a 'snick'- he'd pulled a knife and took a step toward me. I reached instead for the handgun I kept by the seat. I put the open truck door between us, and told him to GTFO. He took another step toward me; I raised my pistol and pointed it at his chest. He did a double-take, then turned and ran. I got on the company radio, and an hour later, a DPS officer came by to check on me. He took my statement and left.

I had the shakes for an hour, and the dead-fish smell of the Texas coast after a storm didn't help settle my stomach.

The thing that really pissed me off later? I would have gladly gotten on the radio and gotten him picked up by the crisis response center ran by the Texas City FD / TX National Guard about ten minutes away.