Intrepid Dad
Member
I went to an electronics store in a strip mall today and when I went back to my car I was caught off guard. First, a brief background. I received my CCW back in December 2006, so I'm still pretty new at this. I have a Springfield XD 40 in a Bianchi Carry-lok holster in the 3:30 position. I conceal it with a sports coat.
Since I drive a Suburban, I usually park my car further away from the stores so I don't have to fit it in between other cars. As I came out of the store, I thought I was practicing fairly good situational awareness. I looked around at various people moving through the parking lot and didn't see anything unusual. I reached my car towards the back of the lot. There were no cars in any of the contiguous parking spaces and no one was near me. It was the early afternoon.
I unlocked my car, got in and shut the door, put my key in the ignition and locked my seatbelt. This probably took all of 5 - 7 seconds. When I looked up from locking my seatbelt, there was a guy by my driver's side window. He was so close he was basically leaning on the outside of my door. He looked half-way normal so I cracked the window and asked what he needed. The guy proceeded to give me a sob story about how his mom needed help, they were visiting from Tempe, Arizona and they were stranded, and his mom had health issues and they didn't have any money....
I cut the guy off by saying that I couldn't help him. Without saying another word, he turned around and walked off. As he did, I looked down and realized that my sport coat was trapped under my seatbelt and my gun was wedged between my kidney and the car seat. I couldn't have accessed it if I needed it without unlocking my seatbelt and moving my coat.
As for lessons learned, I have a couple at least for now:
1. Seeing how the guy appeared virtually out of nowhere, I'm pretty sure he was lurking by one of the other cars and moved towards me quickly as I was getting into my car. I obviously need to be more diligent in scanning the cars immediately around me and maintaining situational awareness as I'm stepping into my car.
2. I'm a fanatic about using my seatbelt and have many years of using my seatbelt without thinking. It seems that I need to develop a new habit of starting the car, backing out of the space, and begin moving forward before I lock my seatbelt, making sure my coat doesn't cover my gun.
I got lucky that the encounter turned out to be nothing, but I shouldn't have to depend on luck. That's why I started carrying. So, can anyone think of any other lessons I should have learned? I appreciate your collective wisdom.
Since I drive a Suburban, I usually park my car further away from the stores so I don't have to fit it in between other cars. As I came out of the store, I thought I was practicing fairly good situational awareness. I looked around at various people moving through the parking lot and didn't see anything unusual. I reached my car towards the back of the lot. There were no cars in any of the contiguous parking spaces and no one was near me. It was the early afternoon.
I unlocked my car, got in and shut the door, put my key in the ignition and locked my seatbelt. This probably took all of 5 - 7 seconds. When I looked up from locking my seatbelt, there was a guy by my driver's side window. He was so close he was basically leaning on the outside of my door. He looked half-way normal so I cracked the window and asked what he needed. The guy proceeded to give me a sob story about how his mom needed help, they were visiting from Tempe, Arizona and they were stranded, and his mom had health issues and they didn't have any money....
I cut the guy off by saying that I couldn't help him. Without saying another word, he turned around and walked off. As he did, I looked down and realized that my sport coat was trapped under my seatbelt and my gun was wedged between my kidney and the car seat. I couldn't have accessed it if I needed it without unlocking my seatbelt and moving my coat.
As for lessons learned, I have a couple at least for now:
1. Seeing how the guy appeared virtually out of nowhere, I'm pretty sure he was lurking by one of the other cars and moved towards me quickly as I was getting into my car. I obviously need to be more diligent in scanning the cars immediately around me and maintaining situational awareness as I'm stepping into my car.
2. I'm a fanatic about using my seatbelt and have many years of using my seatbelt without thinking. It seems that I need to develop a new habit of starting the car, backing out of the space, and begin moving forward before I lock my seatbelt, making sure my coat doesn't cover my gun.
I got lucky that the encounter turned out to be nothing, but I shouldn't have to depend on luck. That's why I started carrying. So, can anyone think of any other lessons I should have learned? I appreciate your collective wisdom.