wwest

"..guy on a bike..."

Bicycle or...

How do you know he wasn't leaning over to advise you that your brake lights weren't working, are maybe just to complement you on your good car choice, etc.

I my opinion you might want to seek some mental help.

srf506

Yeah, an old worn out street bum doesn't have near the effect on me as three or four young teenagers all "horsing" around and loud. These days you got to wonder about them being druggies, or doing their initiation into some godforsaken gang. I've had my CWP permit here in Florida for many years. I always have my Glock .40 with me, as well as an USAF survival knife I've had for may years. Like caferacer, I always say it's to bust out the window and cut the belts should the situation arise I need to, but it's my first line defense tool while I get the Glock into action. Hopefully, I'll never need to, but these days who knows.

Peter Zimmermann

Had a gang-banger type approach me in the Home Depot parking lot not long ago. He was riding as passenger, young female driving. His car windows were open. I was loading 6' long metal pipe sections into my truck from a cart; it looked like the guy was going to get out of his car. He probably judged my size, looked at the steel pipe I was holding, thought better of it and asked directions to a business on the other end of town. I told him that I didn't know the location and they drove away. That's been it for me.

Ed Hughes

WTF? That is the dumbest comment I've seen in a long time. Who the hell is going to wait to hear what is on their mind? Too many animals out there to wait and see what they have to say....or most likely DO. Plus, you don't grab on to some stranger's door handle to have a chat.

Wake up.

rusnak

The guy on the bicycle was probably in his 20s, had on a hooded sweater, and went right for the door - not making eye contact. I was like "eff that noise". Not going to become a statistic, I'll tell you that right now.

My preference is to get the hell out of the area ASAP, safely. I think a threatening action is enough for me to use force, say a lead pipe or a tazer. Certainly reaching into your car through either the door or the window is threatening. My preference would be to warn the person in a loud enough voice to be heard by witnesses, but most likely you won't have the chance. The guys who are there to harm you give no warning.

My reason for wanting to start the thread is to think through the use of force to defend yourself if you can't get out of there, or if there is an imminent threat to your safety by someone who comes up to you when in your car (you have nowhere else to go). Especially since it seems that this is happening a lot now.

WWest, I respectfully disagree with your assessment. No one, and I mean no one, is going to come up to my car without being warned. If they come up anyway, that's their problem, not mine.

Caferacer

So you don't deny that you need mental help?

rusnak

ah crap, I'm trying to find that SNL skit that Billy Crystal used to do: "is it me or is it you? It's not me is it? It's you?"

the search function on Youtube pretty much sucks.

User 4221

You must live in a utopian neighborhood with lots of bunnies and unicorns.

rusnak

How crazy is this?

Breaking story this morning. Fresno PD shot and killed a man around 30 years old, who was running in the street with a 10 inch chef's knife, and had attacked a random passerby in a car. When the man armed with the knife ran toward the police, he was shot multiple times and killed. I bet the guy was not even a chef.

http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/video?id=8535113

Caferacer

He was really upset that the passerby's brake lights weren't working.

88911coupe

He was probably just asking people for recipes...

Ed Hughes

Or excited about the driver's car choice. I wonder if the cop should seek mental help?

Shannon123

There was big article in Houston paper the other day about carjackers in this area......the vast majority of cars are car-jacked right in front of peoples own homes ! More and more car-jackers here in Houston are simply killing the people and taking the cars. Its a very serious problem !

rusnak

I'd let them take the car. My concern is personal safety. We are having home invasion robberies now too.

I'm bringing this up to (1) increase awareness of dangerous situations, (2) encourage you guys to think about your safety, (3) have some discussion on the appropriate use of force, including non-leathal force to protect yourself.

The reason to bring it up here is that you are particularly vulnerable in your car. There is a lot more opportunities for a bad guy to jack you in your car. And since the budget cutbacks have let so many bad guys go free, there is already more street crime out there, as evidenced already.

I did some research. It is a crime, and in some cases a felony, to use a non-leathal weapon in non-threatening situations. You basically have to wait until an attack has begun before you can use a non-leathal weapon, if you want to be totally in the clear. Otherwise, there will be some sticky issues over whether your perception of a threat is justified.

My conclusion is that non-leathal force is justified even if the threat is not life threatening. You can zap a bad guy with a stun gun if he makes an aggressive action toward you. You need not feel that he's going to end your life, just that there is imminent harm.

I don't know the statistics, but I think in and around your vehicle, you are probably way more likely to be attacked than at home or in your place of business. I've dediced that I will probably get the law enforcement type Taser gun, that comes with an hour of training, so that I have the best possible knowledge of how to protect myself responsibly. I have too much to lose otherwise IMO.

Tom 97 C2-S, So. Cal.

I'd be more inclined to carry something that EVERYONE knows what it is when pointed at them, in Chrome, makes a lot of noise when fired, and guarantees more than one shot (although new Taser has 2 shots).

If a guy is close enough that you could hit'em with a Taser (15 ft), and has more than one friend with him, your SOL. I believe most police Taser use is in an envirionment where they have some info on the person, or have back-up.

The alone Officer in the video didn't use a Taser. The officer was non-threatening and doing the proverbial "run from a knife, charge a gun".

If an attacker(s) doesn't bug out after hearing a warning shot and seeing the muzzle blast, then I certainly don't want to trust a Taser to protect my/my families safety in that situation.

BTW - hottest handgun you can't find in CA is the KelTec PMR 30. 30 rounds of .22 Magnum loads. It would make a lot trouble go away, especially at 15ft.

My .02$