I felt threatened

[Pocketman]

Easy to armchair quarterback this one. Basic rule of thumb is to avoid a confrontation and keep the gun in the holster until it's needed.

Get a '68 deuce 1/4 (a big honkin' Buick 225 for you youngsters) and then smash into anyone that gets in your way or drives like a fool on your bumper.

 

[youngda9]

Obviously someone who has never been there.

You attempt to discredit my post...and then you proceed to tell a story about how you led an angry road-rager to your house, and turned into your driveway, knowing you were being followed....

 

[Hornett]

I am sorry if you take offense.
And I really mean no disrespect.

He didn't know it was MY driveway.
He also came on me so fast I had no recourse.

The reason for my post is that I HAVE been there.
I HAVE been followed home by an enraged lunatic.
I did get out of my car.
I was polite and understanding.
Once I realized what happened I knew why he was so mad.
Because I stopped and attempted to communicate, I diffused the situation with no harm to anyone.
In my situation, calling the police would not have ended in the same happy conclusion for all parties.
And not stopping would have served to further enrage the other guy.

There have was another time where I did refuse to exit my car and had a similar happy conclusion for both parties.

All I was trying to say is it's never as black and white as it sounds when you are at your desk typing on a forum.
What must be done depends on the situation.

You told the OP he was Full of fail then proceeded to say Do NOT, Do NOT, Do NOT and it is simply not that easy.

 

[femurphy77]

If you felt threatened, why did you stop?

 

[femurphy77]

Easy to armchair quarterback this one. Basic rule of thumb is to avoid a confrontation and keep the gun in the holster until it's needed.

Get a '68 deuce 1/4 (a big honkin' Buick 225 for you youngsters) and then smash into anyone that gets in your way or drives like a fool on your bumper.

Yeah but have you ever had to scrape a Hyundai off the bumper of a Burick 225?

 

[Benny]

If it were me, I would have told him I had already called 911 when he said he'd run me off of the road. If he kept following me, I would have actually called.

Unless you were about out of gas, stopping in an open parking lot wasn't the right move.

 

[Wheeler78]

If you felt threatened, why did you stop?

pull over in a place of my choice and remain in my car untill he was out as to let me still able to take off if need be. OR have him ram my van and shove me off the road causing my to stop, possible injuries, and he be in control of the situation. i'm still going to stick to my decision on this in this situation. had no phone to call 911 so thats out of the question here unless i where to ask to use his i don't think he was going to let me.

 

[Otasan]

Based on my 36 years of CCW and training, the gun should not come out unless it desperately needs to be discharged. Any waving of it around should bring a charge of assault with a deadly weapon. If the guy had displayed a weapon and come at you in a threatening manner, then the gun could come out and shoot.

 

[Wheeler78]

Based on my 36 years of CCW and training, the gun should not come out unless it desperately needs to be discharged. Any waving of it around should bring a charge of assault with a deadly weapon. If the guy had displayed a weapon and come at you in a threatening manner, then the gun could come out and shoot.

so then u put your self in that situation then no phone going to get run off the road by a lunatic only firearm you have on you doesn't have a holster and isn't easy concealed. first you have two options get hit and possible thrown into ditch or turn into parking lot and try to solve issue and calm him down.

 

[Plinker]

Based on my 36 years of CCW and training, the gun should not come out unless it desperately needs to be discharged. Any waving of it around should bring a charge of assault with a deadly weapon. If the guy had displayed a weapon and come at you in a threatening manner, then the gun could come out and shoot.

I thought I read somewhere that handguns are used defensively millions of times per year without having to be fired (ie: the sight of it is enough to deter an attacker). This is one example of the millions of times it is done per year.

Now I don't agree with the circumstances that necessitated the use of showing a firearm in this instance, but it did keep things from escalating. It's called 'Peace through Superior Firepower'.

 

[NickL45]

I would not have voluntarily stopped my vehicle. I would have gotten whatever weapon I had with me ready and accessible, but not displayed it for him to see unless I felt my life was in danger. I would have continued to drive toward a populated area or police station if possible. If he hits your vehicle then he's at fault and things might escalate from there.

 

[Cherryspringer]

I'm sorry you got put in this situation. It is unfortunate. I'm guessing the other motorist felt as though you had nearly killed him or had put his life in danger with your careless driving. He probably left thinking you had endangered his life twice after seeing the gun. I hope he doesn't remember your car and come more prepared next time. You can really open a can of worms settling business with a gun. Be careful. And like my dad always told me " don't ever pick up a gun unless you are prepared to use it". Were you going to shoot this guy or were you trying to scare him? Prison is a horrible place and you could be headed there had this gone wrong. I'm hope for your sake it's over. Be careful!

 

[iChokePeople]

One question I think is appropriate in a situation like this: what would you have done if you didn't have a gun? I'm guessing you would not have stopped and pressed the confrontation, but you could certainly tell me I'm wrong. I think we have a responsibility to at least think about it, if time and situation permit, and to try as hard to avoid going to gun as we would if it wasn't an option, unless there's a clear, imminent danger. Going to a recent thread, this is one of my concerns about my son owning a gun. What would he do in this situation? Without a gun, probably different and more resourceful than if he had a gun and thought of it as an option. We've actually had this session many times on what to do in this situaton, to get to a public place, police station, sheriff's office, a manned guard shack near our house, etc.

 

[hickuleas]

I am pretty sure once you leave the vehicle with a weapon legally things change fast. Stay in car and avoid situation

 

[drobpk]

Your response

Ok, here is my opinion from 63 years of living. Once in my life, I had someone force me off the road in a road rage situation. I wished that I had a gun then, because he got out of his truck and tried to confront me. Fortunately, for me, when he got a little way away from his truck, I put it in gear and burned rubber getting away. I never saw him again. If I had been in your shoes, I would have done the same thing. . . you were in a tough spot. If you ignored him, I think he would have run you off of the road. So, I think you did a good job. . .you diffused the situation without violence. Calling 911 would have been good, but you did not have a phone. Your actions showed him you meant business, but you were not going to let him bully you. Your cool head and clear thinking prevailed.

 

[Hooker]

I see a lot of questions about how you would have reacted if you DID NOT have a gun? I think carrying should make us LESS likely to get into a confrontation and MORE likely to respond with a cool head. In this kind of situation, we should be looking for ANY excuse to NOT have to pull a weapon. The road is a weird place in that people lose their cool so easily. I don't know why that is, but the goal here is to NOT have to shoot someone.

Were you prepared to kill this man? Guns should not make us feel more powerful, but rather more responsible. The fact that you had a gun put this man's life in YOUR hands. It could easily have gone bad.

I definitely learned something here. I'm sorry you had to be the one to bring this kind of situation to the surface, but we're all better off for it I think.

I'm glad everyone made it out alive.

 

[Mr.JAG]

omg this happend to me all the time people hate little import cars(what i drive lol) good thing my car runs 13s usually nothing can keep up with me unless it another nice sports car so i just drop a gear and scedattly ..................theyll never catch me alive hahahaha but it sucks people get so mad so easily for the dumbest things its not like you got out of you car and started yelling or giving him the finger after you ran the stop sign

 

[Sylvain]

I think in this case you should not stop and get out of your car but most of all you should not grab your gun and display it to the angry guy.
Unless the guy gets off of his car with some kind of weapon and it looks like he's going to attack you then do not pull your gun out just to make the guy calm down.
I think its very dangerous.
Imagine the angry guy is also a LTCH holder, as soon as he sees you with your gun in your hand ready to use it he could just shoot you because you would put his life in danger.
I agree with a previous post, having a gun on you made you feel powerful and that's dangerous.You are not the only guy with a gun out there and you could have got yourself shot if the other guy was armed too.
In this situation its a faillure to drow your gun.This is not a life or death situation who calls for the use of a firearm.
Then where is the limit if you take your gun out for anything?
A guy calls you names in street and you just pull your gun out and say "Hey if I were you I would calm down really quick!".?

 

[MinuteMan47]

Luckily, I drive a tank.

This situation would have never happened to me.

If he pissed at the sight of a .22, he would have **** at the sight of my 105.

 

[TWalker]

I'm with Sylvain. You are very lucky the other guy wasn't armed. Think about it in his perspective some guy just ran a stop sign and you almost hit him. You then proceed to mess with him a little because he's in a van and you're in a truck. The guy in the van pulls over into an empty parking lot. Clearly he's looking for a fight. So you get out to confront the guy and then he steps out with an mp5 look a like. What would you have done in that situation? I understand you didn't have a phone but if your going to pull into an empty parking lot to confront either take your ass whippin or give one and go about your day. You were not in fear for your or your family's life so I disagree with pulling a gun to show him you mean business. However i'm young and dumb so I don't know. I wasn;t there