How open carry can deter an altercation

[Armed4Life]

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hp-hobo wrote:

Armed4Life wrote:

I was leaving Target open carrying today (as usual). Since it was 105 and the sun was beating down I told my wife to wait at the curb and I would bring the SUV to the shade to pick her and baby up. Pulled up to the curb with turn signal on.... The guy in the truck behind me wasn't happy with where I stopped and laid on the horn. I could see from the rear view mirror that he wanted to roll down the window and say something (how rude of me to make him have to drive around my vehicle!!!!). Anyway, he starts to pull around eye-balling me hard just as I'm getting out. He notices the gun and the hard look immediately turns into a "my bad" wave and he quickly drives away. Obviously, not a major altercation, but a practical example nonetheless.

It may also prove that people who arrogantly block traffic with their oversized SUV because the world revolves around them can get away with it because they're OCing. Is that the case? I don't know, I wasn't there. I do know that if a woman or child are so frail that they can't walk across a parking lot, barring a physical disability, maybe they should stay at home.

Just a thought.

I'm sorry if women have treated you badly in your life.

 

[protector84]

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I'm sorry if women have treated you badly in your life.

Actually, he has a point. People should learn some courtesy to avoid confrontations and regardless of whether someone is OCing, CCing, or not carrying. I have to honk at people virtually every day because they block traffic, poke along, or otherwise don't move when they are supposed to. Of course some people would think I'm being the rude one, but people ought to be aware of their surroundings and understand that in a city of millions of people, nobody has time to just sit around. I see the same thing at the store that they have to block the road to let able-bodied people out right at the entrance. There is no reason they cannot get their 300-pound arses out of the car and walk a block or so to the door. I try to be patient especially when I am OCing to avoid confrontations but I get tired of the idiocy I see on a daily basis. For the idiots who say "don't be in a hurry" it is unrealistic. People have things to do and places to go and they don't have all day to sit around and wait for people who don't know what the hell they are doing.

 

[mvpel]

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A guy who was dropping off his crippled old grandmother and mostly obstructing one lane was honked at by a guy in front of me who couldn't be bothered to go around him in the completely empty next lane, and this turned into a roadside shouting match that thankfully ended without any physical violence.

 

[glocknroll]

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protector84 wrote:

I'm sorry if women have treated you badly in your life.

Actually, he has a point. People should learn some courtesy to avoid confrontations and regardless of whether someone is OCing, CCing, or not carrying. I have to honk at people virtually every day because they block traffic, poke along, or otherwise don't move when they are supposed to. Of course some people would think I'm being the rude one, but people ought to be aware of their surroundings and understand that in a city of millions of people, nobody has time to just sit around. I see the same thing at the store that they have to block the road to let able-bodied people out right at the entrance. There is no reason they cannot get their 300-pound arses out of the car and walk a block or so to the door. I try to be patient especially when I am OCing to avoid confrontations but I get tired of the idiocy I see on a daily basis. For the idiots who say "don't be in a hurry" it is unrealistic. People have things to do and places to go and they don't have all day to sit around and wait for people who don't know what the hell they are doing.

How do you define able bodied? My wife has several vertabra fused together, with titanium rods and screws holding her spine together. She has no outwardly signs that she is disabled, but spends much of her time in extreme pain, and quite often a short walk across a parking lot is excruciating for her. So honk away, I really don't give a damn. What'cha gonna do, yell at me? Trust me, I have had much worse things tossed my way.

 

[protector84]

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I usually give people the benefit of the doubt as you can't always tell exactly what is going on. If the person makes an effort to pull their vehicle as far over to the right as reasonably possible, puts on their hazard lights to indicate they are stopped to let someone out, and then as quickly as possible lets the person out, that doesn't bother me. It is an inconvenience but it is not going to ruin my day. What I'm referring to are lazy idiotic people that will just suddenly stop, make no effort to alert other drivers, and when you finally get around them, they are just sitting their chit-chatting, lighting a cigarette, talking on the phone, etc. when people are clearly trying to get by. That is the kind of stuff I have little tolerance for. So please understand that I am reasonably courteous as I give people the benefit of the doubt before just jumping to conclusions.

On the other hand, I have to wonder that if a "short walk across the parking lot" is so excruciatingly painful for a person, how are they going to be walking around in the store or the mall doing all of their shopping?

 

[Task Force 16]

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protector84 wrote:

I usually give people the benefit of the doubt as you can't always tell exactly what is going on. If the person makes an effort to pull their vehicle as far over to the right as reasonably possible, puts on their hazard lights to indicate they are stopped to let someone out, and then as quickly as possible lets the person out, that doesn't bother me. It is an inconvenience but it is not going to ruin my day. What I'm referring to are lazy idiotic people that will just suddenly stop, make no effort to alert other drivers, and when you finally get around them, they are just sitting their chit-chatting, lighting a cigarette, talking on the phone, etc. when people are clearly trying to get by. That is the kind of stuff I have little tolerance for. So please understand that I am reasonably courteous as I give people the benefit of the doubt before just jumping to conclusions.

On the other hand, I have to wonder that if a "short walk across the parking lot" is so excruciatingly painful for a person, how are they going to be walking around in the store or the mall doing all of their shopping?

In case you haven't noticed, there are allot of large stores that have the little electric riding carts for folks that can't get around so good.

 

[glocknroll]

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protector84 wrote:

On the other hand, I have to wonder that if a "short walk across the parking lot" is so excruciatingly painful for a person, how are they going to be walking around in the store or the mall doing all of their shopping?

Sometimes shopping is a necessary evil. I certainly can't try on my wife's clothes for her. And sometimes her pain is more than on some other days. She also has a "handicapped" hanging tag for her vehicle, so when I am not with her she doesn't have to walk so far. I am not going to use her tag and park my able bodied self in a spot that can be used by someone that is truly disabled, therefore I let her out at the door as often as possible.

 

[SlackwareRobert]

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How do you tell if the dirty look is for the sidearm, or the handicap tag.
LEO's gave me plenty of stares when I pulled my motorcycle into a handicapped
space. Couldn't walk, had no problems shifting with motified shifter to
kick up or down. But loved the looks from them. It gives me proof
of handicapped discrimination, because they would not issue me a plate,
only a hanger for rearview mirror.

I agree with the common sense crowd, if he also (legaly) carried
the incident wouldn't have happened at all probably.

I only use my horn at sites of accidents when the rubbernecker is gawking
when the car in front is already moving. Once again it is the cops with the dirty looks,
most of the time. But that falls under situational awareness as far as I see.
They are breaking the minimum speed limit, and blocking my way forcing me to break the law also.

 

[protector84]

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To prevent others from making assumptions, I believe in situational awareness when it comes to courtesy for others and not just for defense. I give people the benefit of the doubt as disabilities can happen to any of us. Just as the faster person has to learn a little bit of patience, the slower person also should use as much courtesy as necessary. A lot of the stores do have those carts but most still don't. Sometimes a disabled person has to just do the best they can and things are not always easy and I hope it doesn't happen to me because I don't like being the one slowing others up. If someone is briefly parked as far over as possible with the hazard lights on and drops off or picks up someone as fast as reasonably possible, it doesn't bother me. Unfortunately, there are too many who "milk the system" and they may have a slight pain or whatever but they feel that gives them the reason to take up far more time than is needed so that they can have a conversation in the middle of the street or otherwise do a variety of tasks that should be done at some other time (smoking, talking on the phone, etc.) other than when it causes traffic delays. Those are the kind of people I will yell at, not ones who are making an effort to do the best they can. I have no problem holding a door and helping a person in a wheelchair get by. That doesn't mean they should sit in their wheelchair smack in the middle of an isle when there is room to move to the side of the isle. It is this kind of stuff that goes beyond "disability" and becomes a simple "me-first victim mentality." Likewise, I have little sympathy for people who are disabled and weigh 400 pounds at the same time. There is genuine disability and then there is sloth and gluttony. I don't buy the political correctness in this country and in some cases a spade needs to be called a spade.

One of the great things about open carry is many times these altercations are not necessary due to the fact that people are carrying. That is why we say "an armed society is a polite society." I'd be willing to bet that many times a person would not move out of the way or pay attention to where they were goingexcept when they are aware that someone nearby is carrying a gun and may be a police officer, they are well aware of their behavior and extend proper courtesy to others making a confrontation unnecessary in the first place. People in general seem to act better around armed citizens as well as cops which makes it easier on me because I'm trying to be as courteous as possible and it avoids me having to make rash statements when people are consistently being idiotic. That isn't why I carry a gun openly but at least it helps me as well as others become more courteous. Again, that also doesn't keep me from saying something if it is absolutely necessary.

 

[Grapeshot]

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Did you say all of that taking just one breath in the middle? :lol:

Yata hey