I'm coming out of Bi-Mart yesterday with my wife. We purchased a few sundries and were trucking our cart back to the jeep. Well, there's a ford explorer next to us that was still there from when we went in. Two 20 something fellows, they look a little rough, but nothing out of the norm for the PNW. They are parked right next to us on the drivers side and were there before we went in.
As I walk by with the cart upon returning from shopping, I hear a pistol action cycle and I see this guy, in the passenger seat of the explorer, with a gun in his hand. First off, I did not panic or even let on I noticed. He did not make any moves like he was going to jack my jeep or something, but it did cross my mind. He did this as I passed his door between our vehicles.
My first instinct was, if this guy jumps out of his car to jack us, he's getting a broken leg with his car door for I had that position at that moment and I had the better position to engage had he been right handed. I pretended not to notice but kept my body facing him and loaded the items from the back of the jeep so I had some concealment/cover should I need it. My wife was on the opposite side of the rig, thankfully.
We hopped in, drove away and then I mentioned it to my wife. Toying with a pistol in a parking lot is bad juju in my book. He did have it down at lap level and I happened to see it briefly, but the noise of the action is what keyed me in, it sounded like he was loading a round when he was most likely checking out his friend's pistol while they sat there.
That was the closest I had ever come to an engagement and I was quite thankful I had my CCW on my belt. But again, nothing happened.
What did I learn, playing with a pistol in your car in public can make people nervous, please don't do that.
As I walk by with the cart upon returning from shopping, I hear a pistol action cycle and I see this guy, in the passenger seat of the explorer, with a gun in his hand. First off, I did not panic or even let on I noticed. He did not make any moves like he was going to jack my jeep or something, but it did cross my mind. He did this as I passed his door between our vehicles.
My first instinct was, if this guy jumps out of his car to jack us, he's getting a broken leg with his car door for I had that position at that moment and I had the better position to engage had he been right handed. I pretended not to notice but kept my body facing him and loaded the items from the back of the jeep so I had some concealment/cover should I need it. My wife was on the opposite side of the rig, thankfully.
We hopped in, drove away and then I mentioned it to my wife. Toying with a pistol in a parking lot is bad juju in my book. He did have it down at lap level and I happened to see it briefly, but the noise of the action is what keyed me in, it sounded like he was loading a round when he was most likely checking out his friend's pistol while they sat there.
That was the closest I had ever come to an engagement and I was quite thankful I had my CCW on my belt. But again, nothing happened.
What did I learn, playing with a pistol in your car in public can make people nervous, please don't do that.