1)Minnesota-(I was 12 yrs old) Another 12 year old pulls a .22 rifle on me and fires it from his driveway, bullet hits my bicycle frame as I rode by (we had a fighter earlier in the day)Missed my calf by a fraction of an inch.
2)Minnesota-(I was 17 yrs. old.) 4 of us underaged minors drinking at a park, some drunk bastard begins to get in his truck and one of the guys in our party spews some verbage at the drunk bastard, he pulls out a hunting rifle, loads the magazine and starts waving it in our faces. Cops see it from a distance, arrest the guy. He's wanted in Wisconsin for Assault with a deadly weapon on a separate, unrelated charge.
3)Minnesota-(I was 17 yrs. old) hitchhiking home one night from a girlfriends house, her ex-BF and HER BROTHER pull up in a car, pull out a shotgun, force me into an alley and proceed to beat the crap out of me, at gun point. (They NEEDED that gun, or I'da whooped them both)
4)Washington-(I was 22 yrs old) Bartending, I cut a drunk off, he opens his coat to reveal a pistol that he claims he's gonna use on me if I don't serve him, manager sees this going down, calls the cops, the guys leaves soon after.
5)Washington-(I was 25 yrs. old) After telling an obviously drunk customer at a local bar that 3 guys were going to beat him up after he was going around pinching girls tulips in the bar (I was trying to warn him that he'd better leave, I wasn't one of the 3 conspiring to beat him up) the guy thinks *I* want a piece of him. He leaves. 30 min later I left, a car pulls up behind my car blocking my path, I get out, walk up to the darkened window, window rolls down, its the drunk guy with a .32, who fires 2 shots at me wildly (as I was ducking and running) None hit, he screeches off. Cops called. No arrests were made (But I hunted that son of a ***** down and mentally/emotionally harassed him for about 6 months...thats another story

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6)My stepbrother, upon moving out here from Minnesota, wanted to get some shots of Mt.St.Helens letting off steam when she became active in late 79' and early 1980. We went thru the state to get "Blue zone" passes which were relatively close to the mountain, allowing one to get some good photos. After 2 months, we were finally approved. Passes good for Sat. May 17th and Sunday May 18th, 1980. Sat. was a work day for Jim, that evening we had a couple of girls over and drank until 4am (the girls left at midnight, so we continued drinking without them

) Alarm clock goes off at 5am (2 hour drive would have put us in the blue zone right about 7:30-8:00 am). I smack the alarm off and decide its best we do an afternoon photo shoot of the mountain. At 9am we get out of bed dragging our hung over tulips to the living room, turn on tv, and realize that liquor saved our lives...most of the 64 something people that died that day were in the Blue zone.