Pulled my pistol on a guy who got in my car today

[lawrnk]

I was off Waugh, and was in the passenger seat of a honda pilot. My wife had run into the post office (and I was technically on their property, possible fed issue?), and I was in the parking lot with the car running.
She went in to mail a package. As I'm waiting, the driver door flies open and I see a white male, 40ish climbing into the vehicle and seating himself. I meet his eyes and I believe I am being car jacked, and am trying to get past my seat belt and leather jacket (and I've realized both seriously slowed me in retrospect) and am drawing my LCP from my crossbreed. Just as I am getting my weapon level, couple seconds, all I see is his back as he exits and the door slams. He walks to the rear of my car, and around to the identical silver honda pilot right next to my window. He profusely apologizes in a thick western european accent I couldnt recognize, saying "It looks just like mine, so sorry" repeatedly. Thank the lord it turned out how it did and I didnt shoot someone who did something I've done several times, albeit to unoccupied vehicles.

[DONT TREAD ON ME]

That could have turned out really bad. I think your both lucky. IIRC...you cannot carry on the post office parking lot. PLEASE correct me if I am wrong.

Glad it all turned out good tho!

[Beiruty]

Parking lot is not the same as the actual post office. You may write for the postmaster for a clarification.

[Oldgringo]

Beiruty wrote:

You may write for the postmaster for a clarification.

That's a good one!

[mctowalot]

Wow. I can't say I blame you, glad you exercised restraint. I've heard of cases like this (folks getting in the wrong car). In the late 70s my mom went to a car just like hers, and her door key unlocked the door, but the ignition key wouldn't turn. She looked around the car and only then realized she was in the in someone else's vehicle.
Re: your very temporary passenger today - something tells me he'll never do that again.
Edited to add: Thank you for not handcuffing him and holding him at gunpoint untill LEO showed up.

[lawrnk]

After the event,I went for a smoke and discovered an HPD car, occupied and idling, 2 lanes down from where I would have been firing. The cop was backed in, placing the officer directly in my firing path, with nothing but the glass of the adjacent vehicle away from him. It goes to show one can NEVER know what is beyond his target in these types of situations in public.

[Dragonfighter]

We had a red Ford Ranger, the first and only new car I've owned. There was another one locally with identical paint job and configuration with similar plates ( a couple of characters off). The only real difference was a red interior where ours was grey. When my wife got rear ended, so did they and the bumpers were affected the identical way. When we got it repaired, so did they, with the same bumper. We put a ball hitch on...so did they. We got a bed cover and they had gotten the same one. When the Velcro failed, we rolled it up and left it, it sagged in the middle of the roll; you guessed it, so did theirs. We got a capper and they got an identical one.

We periodically passed one another and looked in bewilderment as we passed. Though they weren't dead ringers, they were similar age and build. There were two different occasions where I came out of the store and was wondering why my key didn't work only then noticing I was trying to enter the one with the red interior parked a couple of spaces or one row over from mine. One time I came out and saw a lady circling my truck a couple of times, throw her hands up and then walked to another section of the lot...I think it was "her". We never officially met but when I finally sold mine 6 years and 300K later, I never saw theirs again.

This little trip into the twilight zone is to illustrate why I am sympathetic with the guy that hopped into your car. But I would have drawn also. My wife is in the habit of locking the doors if she is waiting for me though and only unlocks when I am at the vehicle's side.

[joe817]

That could have turned out really bad. I think your both lucky. IIRC...you cannot carry on the post office parking lot. PLEASE correct me if I am wrong. Glad it all turned out good tho!

There was much discussion back in October, if it was permissible to carry either on post office property or in a post office itself.

A Post Office is considered Federal Property and you CANNOT carry on Post Office Property. See thread:
http://www.texaschlforum.com/viewtopic. ... ce#p331472" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In any event lawrnk that was an EXTREMELY scary situation and I thank God all turned out ok for you. I KNOW what must have been going through your mind when that person jumped into your car! You showed good restraint(whether intentional or not planned at the moment). Thank goodness you had trouble drawing down on the guy(sorry but I have to say that). It could have gone south very quickly. LOTS of lessons to be learned from this and thank you so much for sharing.

[03Lightningrocks]

Shoot...I have tried to open the doors of trucks that were not even the same color as mine. I even got in one a few years back and wondered why I left my door unlocked until after I had gotten in and realized I was sitting in some other guys truck. It was a little embarrassing....glad nobody shot me.

Here is a thought pattern for you. I hop in the car thinking it is mine. I see you sitting in my passenger seat pulling a gun. I immediately grab your arm to disrupt your draw, grab my gun(that I illegally carried into the post office, because nobody could see through my clothing) and put a double tap into your face. OUCH!!!! Talk about embarrassing moments!!! I would just feel awful once I realized it was your car instead of mine.

[Keith B]

This is why when I leave someone in the car, or they leave me sitting and waiting, the car doors get re-locked as soon as they are out. You can unlock the doors for them when they come back to the car, thus avoiding the issue.

Glad it worked out OK in this case.

[mr.72]

If you can carry in the parking lot of the post office, you can carry inside the building. The rule states "real property". That includes the parking lot.

Good thing nobody saw you draw your gun in the PO parking lot. Of course I think you'd only face a $50 fine.

[The Annoyed Man]

Since the USPS is not a federal agency, and since lots of post offices are not located on federal owned land, it seems to me that parking lot carry is often a non-issue. FWIW, I carry in the parking lot, but disarm before leaving my car to go inside as a precaution — since I never bother to check if my local post office is on federal land or not. Usually, I am with my wife, and one or the other of us stays in the car and locks the doors while the other disarms and goes inside.

Frankly, I don't care about the risk of being asked for ID as a witness to something. For one thing, the odds are small that it would happen. For another, I can always say I saw nothing, thereby decreasing LEO interest in me. And lastly, my experience with Grapevine PD to date has been pretty positive. My gut says that, even if I were asked for ID, and even if the LEO had knowledge that the parking lot was federal property, and even if I showed both TDL and CHL, the most I would receive is a warning that this is federal property and I'm not supposed to have a firearm there... ...to which I would reply, "Gee officer, I didn't know that it was federal land. Thanks for the warning, and I won't park here anymore with a gun in the car;" and that would be the end of it. I have always found Grapevine PD officers to be polite and reasonable.

[lawrnk]

Here is a thought pattern for you. I hop in the car thinking it is mine. I see you sitting in my passenger seat pulling a gun. I immediately grab your arm to disrupt your draw, grab my gun(that I illegally carried into the post office, because nobody could see through my clothing) and put a double tap into your face. OUCH!!!! Talk about embarrassing moments!!! I would just feel awful once I realized it was your car instead of mine.

Wow, I never even thought of that situation! Two guys shooting two innocent guys.

[bdickens]

Most cars these days have locks on the doors. Using them is a good habit to be in.

[jimlongley]

We had a red Ford Ranger, the first and only new car I've owned. There was another one locally with identical paint job and configuration with similar plates ( a couple of characters off). The only real difference was a red interior where ours was grey. When my wife got rear ended, so did they and the bumpers were affected the identical way. When we got it repaired, so did they, with the same bumper. We put a ball hitch on...so did they. We got a bed cover and they had gotten the same one. When the Velcro failed, we rolled it up and left it, it sagged in the middle of the roll; you guessed it, so did theirs. We got a capper and they got an identical one.

We periodically passed one another and looked in bewilderment as we passed. Though they weren't dead ringers, they were similar age and build. There were two different occasions where I came out of the store and was wondering why my key didn't work only then noticing I was trying to enter the one with the red interior parked a couple of spaces or one row over from mine. One time I came out and saw a lady circling my truck a couple of times, throw her hands up and then walked to another section of the lot...I think it was "her". We never officially met but when I finally sold mine 6 years and 300K later, I never saw theirs again.

This little trip into the twilight zone is to illustrate why I am sympathetic with the guy that hopped into your car. But I would have drawn also. My wife is in the habit of locking the doors if she is waiting for me though and only unlocks when I am at the vehicle's side.

I have walked up to a car identical to mine and stuck the key in the door and unlocked it before I realized it was not mine.

-----------------

In 1966 I bought a Ford Custom 500 - fleet grey, blackwall tires, red interior. Being a volunteer fireman I put a blue light on the roof and my dress hat on the back shelf.

A couple of months later my parents sat me down for a family conference. They started talking about how they realized that Phyllis was an attractive woman but Gary was a friend if not a fellow fireman and so on.

Gary had bought the same exact car, with the same exact blue light on the roof (we WERE in the same fire department and that was the "approved model.") and a parade hat in the back window.

My parents had observed my car parked in front of Gary's house several times when I was supposed to be at school or work.

Phyllis was very attractive, but it was Gary's car, not mine.