Did something dumb: got pulled over with CCW

[KBintheSLC]

This morning on my commute to work, a fella made an illegal and violent lane change at a very bad time and nearly caused me to crash into him on the freeway. At the red light on the off-ramp, I raised my hands up off the wheel and said "*** are you doing". He saw me questioning his poor driving abilities in his mirror and decided he would get out of the car, walk up to my car, and bark threats and obscenities at me for a moment.

This didn't sit well with me considering that he just about caused a serious freeway accident with his recklessness, then had the audacity to threaten me when I openly questioned his abilities.

THIS IS WHERE THE STUPID PART COMES IN ON MY END.

I get very angry with him and follow him in hopes that I may find a more quiet place to oblige in his offer to "dance":banghead:... all the time cursing and making one-fingered gestures and swearing that I will gut him like a trout as soon as I get my hands on him.

As we all know, this is not good behavior for a CC'er to display in public. I had lost my cool. As I proceeded to drive closely behind my new "friend", and Utah State Trooper who was watching the entire thing from a distance kicks his lights on behind me and pulls ME over.

He was very disappointed in me when I told him I was carrying. I figured I would be cuffed and interrogated post haste. Lucky for me he was kind and understanding of the situation and didn't arrest me on the spot for being an aggressor. I was cooperative and accepted responsibility for my stupidity in escalating the situation.

The officer chewed me out really good (which I deserved), and told me that situations like these never end up good for anyone. He didn't take away my gun or cuff me... likely out of sympathy since he saw the jerk I was dealing with. I apologized and thanked him for stopping me... I have no idea what I would have done to the guy in that frame of mind. I was blinded by rage, and the officer essentially saved me from myself.

Whats the moral of this story? Well, I guess it is that we can't really participate in petty scandals as CC'ers. There is just too much risk involved... even if the "other guy" has it coming to them. You just can't get into fights when you are carrying (not that I like fighting much anyway), but it holds especially true when you have a deadly weapon on your person. We must learn to "suck it up" as the officer said to me.

I am usually very good at keeping my cool and minding my business on the road, but today I slipped and let a stupid thing get the best of me.:banghead: I am just glad that the situation is over and nobody got hurt/arrested. I am also thankful to the officer for how he handled things. He was professional yet stern with me, and he didn't "throw the book" at me even though he could have. I need to really use this as a reality check to prevent this from ever happening again.

I just wanted to share the story with you folks. Maybe it can help you avoid one of these bad situations.

 

[Dave P]

Well, it ended well at least. Never again, right???

 

[jakemccoy]

Yeah, sometimes you just need to kick somebody's ass, but you have to use all your strength to hold back. It gets easier as you get older. I'm 35.

 

[razorback2003]

Play Cool

It's best to play cool when driving or carrying a firearm. As inviting as it may be, in this day and time, it is best to just drive away from the jerks on the road because they can kill you with their car! Being hit by someone else's car isn't worth trying to confront someone.

 

[Noxx]

A lot of people wouldn't be able to admit to a failure of emotional discipline like that in private, let alone post it so that other people may learn from it (which is of course the only really positive thing you can do with your mistakes.).

Thanks for doing so. I know when I'm out there, especially when I'm on the bike it can be a real exercise to maintain my cool. Remembering that there's no "good" outcome of pursuing such a conflict is the only thing that keeps me out of jail, and coming home to my wife.

 

[Macmac]

Never ever make that mistake again, when you are armed. You just can't.

If you wanna go fisti cuffs with ever foolish driver on the road you can, just not armed. When you are armed you need to suck it up, take what ever foolish words are dished out, and leave, unless you are presented with another real reason.

I ride motorcycles and every cager is trying on purpose to kill me. I rode from NH to Cal and back getting lost is Fla, and ending up in Arkansas, and the whole way every cager was trying to turn me into mince meat. Then folks out on I -15 are as mad as they are in Boston too.

That whole way I was armed and very dammned polite for it. You simply have no choice.

A cyclist aka rider, can not allow any anger to last and if he does he must simply stop riding. To do anything else is to crash. You can't ride and be angery at the same time. So I had 2 reasons to keep my cool.

My hope saying this is you will make a change in the way you drive. I guarrentee that the next 100 times you drive some fool will do something to you. Some will be more of a surprise than others, but you just can't allow the anger.

(It takes some nads to admitt to this on line)

 

[Mainsail]

Find yourself a retired Crown Vitoria Police Interceptor; you will forget what road rage and stupid driving even look like. The highways are much more polite from behind the wheel of one of those.

Oh, and take some anger managment classes, you should never be so emotional that you lose control.

 

[rbernie]

It's hard sometimes to let people get away with bad behavior. For me, sometimes it's really hard.

But I have learned that you can never yell or beat the stupid out of somebody, so there is no point in trying.

Sometimes my hand gestures come out of nowhere and surprise even me. The key is to not let myself escalate it once I start down that path.

 

[ServiceSoon]

I am glad it worked out for you.

Same sort of thing happened to me while I was at the movie theater. Me and my friends were watching a movie and somebody opened the door to throw soda and popcorn on us. At first I didn't understand what happen, but then the door slammed shut so I realized what happened and I became full of rage. I ran after them and I was going to do everything in my power to beat them down. I wasn't carrying that day, but after the event took place it made me have the same thoughts you presented here.

 

[Tommygunn]

One time I had an incident that might have escalated .. .I was turning onto a road and after about 300ft. somebody passed me in a Camaro going really fast, then stopped. The guy got out of the car and started ranting about me pulling out in front of him. In point of fact, when I'd turned onto the road, he wasn't even on the road, but had turned onto the road I was on from another point further behind me, and was easily traveling faster than the posted limit.
Yes, I was carrying, and I also tried to be nice about the incident, even though if he hadn't been speeding, it probably would never have happened like that. However, being nice didn't help .... it just made him angrier.
Thankfully, the guy seemed to shake it off, got back in his camaro, and as he left, deposited half the rubber of his tires on the road ahead of me.
Keeping cool may help .... but it might not always be immediatly apparant.
I was really happy it didn't go further than that!

 

[PcolaDawg]

It gets easier as you get older. I'm 35.

Absolutely. I'm 46 and the older I get, the less I am inclined to engage in road rage. Now that I am always driving armed, I am even less inclined. I don't have to worry about whether I can kick someone's arse anymore. I know I can kill them. Which makes things a little more serious. Well, a LOT more serious.

 

[moooose102]

you know, road rage can hit anyone. really. been there, done that. just depends on a lot of things. i am glad for you that the officer did what he did. or. worse case scenario, you might have ended up in jail for the next 15 years for manslaughter. much better to be scolded by a symathetic cop, than be bubba's girlfreind for 15 years!

 

[rainbowbob]

Whether it was their fault or your fault - just smile and wave. It will do wonders for your blood pressure, and by the time they figure out what just happened - you'll be long gone.

 

[LKB3rd]

I guess I am lucky in that I don't get road rage at all. I think that realizing that some people seem to change personalities when they get behind the wheel (and with no offense intended, I guess you realize you at times may be one of them), and losing my cool too only makes for two pissed off people, and improves nothing, has been the key. It's very simple(although not easy for some) to just drive away, and leave it behind you. The same thing that seems to encourage people to flip out, be rude, etc, which is that they are safely inaccessible in their car, can be flipped around, and used to just drive away and ignore it.

 

[64nova]

This happened to me once. I was driving home from work trying to make a right turn while waiting at a red light. Traffic was backed up and going slow and I pulled into a gap. It wasn't dangerous but I will admit that I was being anxious. The guy that I turned in front must have been having a bad day and honked at me and flipped me off and all of that stuff so I gave him a brake check which didn't help his opinion of me. So, I figured that I would just get even with him. I let him around me and started to follow him. It didn't take too long before he realized I was following him and he tried to loose me with no avail. I don't know what I was going to do but I wanted to know where he lived as I assumed he was going home. Eventually he stopped, got out of his car and opened his trunk and stood there next to his open trunk. I went to leave then stopped my truck, got out and approached him (I didn't have my CC permit at that time so I wasn't packing,) I held my palms open in a non threatening manner and apologized to him. I shook his hand and said that I was being foolish and nothing good was going to come out of it. He agreed and we went on our ways. Ever since that day I haven’t escalated disagreements on the road ways. I haven't had a problem since and that was 5 years ago. (This was when I lived in Denver, we don't have traffic in Wyo.)

 

[cassandrasdaddy]

thanks for being so candid in sharing. i use "near misses" like that as a sign from god and they really help me to make em one time things. in much the same way as a close call in a car makes you more defensive. from thge way you described it with no dodging of your role you sound like the kinda guy who would do the same. don't beat yourself up .

its good to be lucky anyone can learn to be good yopu gotta be born lucky.

really glad you got the kinda trooper you did.

 

[Kind of Blued]

It's a good sign that you're willing to admit your fault. I'm glad you're using this as a learning opportunity, and allowing others to get in on that as well.

To be honest, I would suggest that this was where you screwed up:

At the red light on the off-ramp, I raised my hands up off the wheel and said "*** are you doing".

Defensive driving is important, in fact, probably more likely to save your life than carrying a gun. You've got to watch out for yourself, but assuming you do that, that's where your involvement with "justice" should end.

The guy's plates are right in front of you, and apparently there was a trooper near by who could have reported immediately to arrest the guy for driving recklessly. That's retirbution. Using the law to your advantage is always the more logical route, but that requires you to act appropriately.

If you wanna go fisti cuffs with ever foolish driver on the road you can, just not armed.

Fighting someone over traffic infractions is not alright. Punching a guy doesn't magically become legal because he willingly accepted a fight. We're law-abiding, respectable people first, and card-carrying "permitees" second. To be blunt, get your priorities straight.

None of us should take such things personally, but when we, as a group of people who carry legally for self-defense, are faced with anti-2A politicians making generalizations that we're "dangerous", it can become personal. Unfortunately, we're not really guaranteed our Second Amendment rights in the United States without abridgement. They should be taken away from individuals who demonstrate an inability to control themselves when allowed so much freedom, but now days the thinking is more directed toward refusing rights to everyone as a result of a few bad apples.

Considering, we can't afford bad apples. Be careful our there, armed or not.

 

[Mello]

KBintheSLC,

You seem to have learned a hard lesson. I hope that this is a lesson from which we can all learn. When we carry our special status of carrying a weapon makes aggressive behavior undesirable when it is escalation of a situation that is not dangerous initially but merely evokes anger.

This illustrates one of the things you have to consider before you decide to carry a concealed gun. Somewhere in my past I got a training film about concealed carry by civilians. It was a VHS which had actors portray various scenarios that were "Shoot" or "No shoot" situations.

One I remember was a business owner (BO) was parking his car in an alley behind his business in the morning to open up. He got out to walk the back door of his business. He suddenly encounters a man (M) of about his same age and size who appeared from behind a dumpster. The M started talking trash and waving his arms around. The BO was surprised and reached for his gun. The M spit on the M. Then the BO walked off and M wiped the spit off. Even though the M spit on the BO this was a no shoot situation according to the video. If someone is threatening and close enough to spit on you is he a threat? Is he a lethal threat?

I tell people who ask me whether they should get a gun for self protection, that they have to consider the huge responsibility they are taking on. Are they prepared to take the time and effort educate themselves in the law. Are they prepared to pay for and seriously train in the use of the gun so that they will be competent and truly confident. False confidence can be deadly. I also tell them that to avoid escalating situations they will have to be prepared to "eat $@*^" and just get on out of there. Revenge is not justification for the use of deadly force.

 

[SweetKnuckles]

Very ballsy KB for posting here and subjecting yourself to criticisms.

Appreciate that you took that risk to remind us all to keep our cool.




Bookmarked.

 

[nathan]

Let not your emotions take over. Its hard but once we CHL holders holster that rig into our person, we need to remind ourselves again and again this is only use for self defense . Dont wanna end up as the bad guy fighting in an endless legal battle draining you emotionally and financially as in most cases.

 

[Grassman]

Next time take.......well, THE HIGH ROAD.

 

[Deltaboy1984]

You were Lucky today.

 

[TRGRHPY]

Thanks for being a big enough person to share your "lessons learned" experience with the rest of us. Thank God I have never done anything like that...

I used to get pretty mad at the inconsiderates on the road. Somehow it ended the day I received my CC permit. My driving calmed down a lot as well. Hard to do sometimes with a Whipple under the hood...

 

[Dirty Dawg]

Something I read here has stuck with me. I'll post it to the best of my recollection:

"You can have a temper or you can have a pistol. But you can't have both."

 

[jcwit]

Thanks for having the intestinal fortitude to share this with the rest of us.

May all who read this accept it as a lesson learned.