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Close call today in NOVA

fizzer

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Jul 24, 2007
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76
Location
herndon, Virginia, USA
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And next time I'll have my sneakers on and I'll catch that piece of.... wait, that wasn't me. never mind.:banghead:



People are just crazy out there, you have to be real careful. :D
 

Tess

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Jun 15, 2006
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Bryan, TX
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I faced that kind of attitude one day last winter. I had a bumper sticker that said "It is your duty as an American to own a gun and know how to use it" Apparently some guy took exception, and in HEAVY traffic was darn near out the driver window of his car screaming and yelling about me being a murderer and no American, etc. There was a police officer within 35 yards, and she did nothing. I had one hand on my gun and the other on my cell phone, i tell you.

I've since replaced the bumper sticker, but only because I couldn't find a replacement and it was too faded.

The new one says "I AM THE GUN LOBBY"
 

SouthernBoy

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Western Prince William County, Virginia, USA
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Something like this puts you in a bit of a dilemma.

If you are not armed and the guy is larger/much younger/stronger than you, there is the distinct possibility you could and or your vehicle could suffer a serious beating. If you are armed when it happens, you definitely do not want to precipitate any sort of response since that could be viewed badly in a court of law bacause it erases to some degree the vail of innocence from yourself.

A number of times, I have had to bite my tongue and my natural responsive actions because I was armed when encountering a jerk on the highways.

Perhaps the best approach to something like what you experienced would be a call to 911 to report someone threatening to do serious bodily harm to you. Where you were should bring out Fairfax police in no time. Then inform your antagonist that you just called 911 and reported his behavior and see if that has any sort of an affect on his demeanor. Of course, always have your weapon at the ready.
 

Xeni

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Sep 12, 2007
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Dumfries, Virginia, USA
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The coup de grace would've been if he had either a 'make love not war' or any anti-gunner bumper sticker on his car.

Stay safe.
 

peter nap

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Valhalla
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fizzer wrote:
And next time I'll have my sneakers on and I'll catch that piece of.... wait, that wasn't me. never mind.:banghead:
But, But.....I thought that's how everyone acted in NOVA:cuss:
 

LdoMaj_Ammo

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Apr 27, 2008
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64
Location
Spotsylvania County, Virginia, USA
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You really have to be careful with the crazies.:banghead: Even if I was OC/CC I would call the cops...Ilike to avoidescalation offorce whenever it's possible and from the sound of it, this nut job could take you there pretty fast..
 

hsmith

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Mar 29, 2007
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Virginia USA, ,
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You were in every right to call the police, he could have easily escalated the situation to an uneasy position for you.

It amazes me how easily people will fly off the handle about something so insignifigant. He wasted 1000x more time messing with you than you wasted trying to be safe and holding him up!

Just shows, people don't get it.
 

longwatch

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In this sort of situation I would really advise calling the police. I'm no lawyer but making threats as he was could be a crime depending on the state you are in. If things do escalate it could very well be in your interest to have called the police to help solidify your position as the good guy.
 

southernk30

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Jan 22, 2008
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Fairfax Station, Virginia, USA
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Yeah I should had called the police, but at the time I didn't think I needed to until he started to try and block me in, at that point there was no way I could had called the police, as my truck is a old 3 speed manual, I was too focus of driving trying to avoid him. Now im putting my doors back on so he doesn't pull behind me at a light and pull me out of my truck. Freakin nut case.
 

longwatch

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Get his license plate? If so you might go down to the station and see if there is anything you can do. Even if you file a complaint and nothing happens, should another run-in happen it still makes you like look like the good guy.

Also if you don't have one, get a voice recorder with a long record time. You can leave it on while you are driving in case you need it.
 

Dutch Uncle

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May 11, 2006
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Virginia, USA
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Of course, it never hurts to be armed, but if a crazy like this guy pulls you over and comes up on you (assuming he's armed with nothing but his fists) its probably best to just open up a can of pepper gas on him. Once you've got him good and spiced up like some 3 alarm chili, you can just get back in your truck and enjoy the rest of your day, knowing that he won't. Many of the OC sprays have dye in them too, which would really add insult to injury.

Just my $0.02
 

Citizen

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Fairfax Co., VA
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longwatch wrote:
Get his license plate? If so you might go down to the station and see if there is anything you can do. Even if you file a complaint and nothing happens, should another run-in happen it still makes you like look like the good guy.

Also if you don't have one, get a voice recorder with a long record time. You can leave it on while you are driving in case you need it.
+1
 

peter nap

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Dutch Uncle wrote:
Of course, it never hurts to be armed, but if a crazy like this guy pulls you over and comes up on you (assuming he's armed with nothing but his fists) its probably best to just open up a can of pepper gas on him. Once you've got him good and spiced up like some 3 alarm chili, you can just get back in your truck and enjoy the rest of your day, knowing that he won't. Many of the OC sprays have dye in them too, which would really add insult to injury.

Just my $0.02
+1
A fist in the mouth to wash down the pepper wouldn't hurt either!

 

Deanimator

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Sep 21, 2007
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Rocky River, OH, U.S.A.
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The advice to call the police is good. Also, you should not interact with him at all. Pretend to ignore him while watching him for imminent, credible threat of REAL violence. If you have to do something drastic, you don't want there to be ANY evidence that you did anything to intentionally provoke him. Let the witnesses work FOR you, "Yeah, this crazy guy was screaming at and threatening this other guy who wasn't doing ANYTHING! He didn't even look at him! Then the crazy guy tried to pull the man out of his truck and the man shot him!" That sounds a lot better in court than, "These two guys were yelling at each other and then one of them shot the other!"
 

Glock27Bill

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Mar 6, 2008
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Louisa County, Virginia, USA
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My closest encounter with a guy like this was years ago on Glebe Road in Arlington.

A big ol' guy in a weather beaten, pale blue Oldsmobile Delta 88 was right on my bumper.

This was before I carried, but I've alwys been an "I'd rather have the jerks in front of me than behind me" kind of guy, so I pulled into the other lane to let him around me.

We pulled up to a traffic light, and I thought I heard people arguing (and I had my radio up pretty loud).

I turn down my radio to see if there was a couple fighting somewhere, and it was the guy in the Oldsmobile, in his car all by himself, screaming & yelling & pounding his fist on his dash!!!

If I had been the kind of guy who tried to 'put him in his place,' who knows what would have happened to my skinny 150# butt.

Man, there are some REAL crazies out there!
 

Citizen

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Fairfax Co., VA
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Glock27Bill wrote:
SNIP Man, there are some REAL crazies out there!

Yes there are. In one of Massad Ayoobs books, The Ayoob Files, I think, he relates the circumstances of several shootings for tactical education.

One of the accounts starts with a nut-case cutting somebody off or something on the road. The citizen does not become involved in the shooting--that happens a little later and involves police I think. What was memorable was that an everyday discourtesy was done by a real hardened criminal who shot it out with police just a short time later.

So, the moral of the story is that the little discourtesy or agressive driving may be indicative of a very deep viciousness.

Think about it. The really nasty ones have no regard for others. It would be just like them to cut you off, fly up behind you and change lanes just before hitting you, steal your parking space, etc.

Ever since reading that account, I make it a point to not get worked up when somebody commits a driving discourtesy against me. I leave them carefully alone.
 

Bulldog1967

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Jan 16, 2007
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447
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Alexandria, Virginia, United States
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Citizen wrote:
Glock27Bill wrote:
SNIP Man, there are some REAL crazies out there!

Yes there are. In one of Massad Ayoobs books, The Ayoob Files, I think, he relates the circumstances of several shootings for tactical education.

One of the accounts starts with a nut-case cutting somebody off or something on the road. The citizen does not become involved in the shooting--that happens a little later and involves police I think. What was memorable was that an everyday discourtesy was done by a real hardened criminal who shot it out with police just a short time later.

So, the moral of the story is that the little discourtesy or agressive driving may be indicative of a very deep viciousness.

Think about it. The really nasty ones have no regard for others. It would be just like them to cut you off, fly up behind you and change lanes just before hitting you, steal your parking space, etc.

Ever since reading that account, I make it a point to not get worked up when somebody commits a driving discourtesy against me. I leave them carefully alone.
Great points.
 

Tomahawk

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Oct 1, 2006
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4 hours south of HankT, ,
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I remember 2 summers ago me and two buddies were driving out I-64 for some rafting in West Virginia. I was sitting in the back seat. My friend who was driving in the right lane was approaching a slower vehicle and pulled into the left lane to pass, when this complete hick in a beater pickup truck came up behind us and laid on his horn. He had sped up to try and cut us off when he saw the turn signal, and he was blowing steam out his ears because we were in front of him. The guy was a fat pig wearing a wifebeater and the beatee (his wife) was in the passenger side. He had a lawnmower in the bed of the truck, so we later referred to him as Lawnmower Man.

Anyway, after we finished passing, we pulled over to let him pass, but now he wasn't interested in passing. He wanted to drive next to us and scream and curse and gesture at us. He kept reaching over his wife's lap and pointing his finger at us like a toy gun. We slowed down and he slowed with us and wouldn't let it go. Finally he got in front of us, and still flapping his arms about in the cab, tried to slow down and stay back with us. This went on for a several minutes, with lots of maneuvering to get away from him. When we both got off the same exit, we deliberately turned the wrong way to avoid him, and he hesitated and thought about turning around and coming after us. Mrs. Lawnmower Man looked embarassed the whole time, but she had that scared woman look on her face. He probably backhanded her later for general purpose.

I just kept telling the driver to drive defensively and try to get some distance from Lawnmower Man, and it worked out. We didn't get his plate, or else we would've called the cops, we were far from home and we were anxious to get to the raft outfitters anyway.

There are crazies everywhere and you never know.
 
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