Today...Guns Flashed in Convenience Store Parking Lot....What Would Other Freepers Have Done?

self | 11-08-02 | wardaddy

[wardaddy]

This happened to me today. It rattled me, I'm not going to lie. I used to think I didn't rattle too easy but I found myself in a percieved hairy situation today and would like to know how other FReepers would have handled this.

This morning about 11 AM, I was on my way to visit my wife and our newborn son(#2) who was born last night at the hospital in midtown Nashville.

I decided to stop at a 7-11 style store near the hospital to pick up some drinks and stuff for my wife. Upon entering my parking lot, I chose to park my Suburban next to a Dark Green Yukon with "pimped-out" rims and whatnot. I didn't think a lot about it at the time except to think it was either bangers or a pro-athlete except that the car was backed in rather than the usual parking of nose first. As I got out of my car right next to the Yukon, I noticed 3 large "baggy urban clothed" young black males in the car with tinted windows in the back. It set off some mild alarms but not too much. I deal with bangers in my businesses frequently.

Anyhow, as I turned to close my door, I happen to look down right into the driver's lap where in one hand was a cell phone and the other hand cradled an open-bolt Mac-10 style machine pistol....the bolt was open and I could see by the brass that it was indeed loaded. I turned away by then very very alarmed and my thoughts racing...as I did , I noticed the passenger in front had a Sig or Glock cradled in his hand as well. I did my very best to appear that I had not noticed since I was to be sure in easy fire range thru the open window. I wasn't sure whther the Mac was selective fire or semi-auto.

I immediately made the decision to go ahead and enter the store not sure whether they were planning to hit the place or what in the hell but I sure did not want to spook them. A Yukon full of bangers sitting back asswards in front of an urban convenience store with guns in their laps in broad daylight was sort of overwhelming.....kind of like Neil Young's Powderfinger "it sure don't look like they are here to deliver the mail"....

I got in the store and immediately told the store clerk (an Indian of course who could barely understand a damn thing I said).....he stammered about a bit and I yelled at him to lock the "GD" door now damn it!...he complied and I took his phone to call the cops. I asked him if he had a gun to which he expressed befuddlement. I damn sure wished I had had one about then. I called 9-11 and told them what I'd seen. The dispatcher was quite nice and asked for a description and a tag #. I complied.

As we were waiting for the cops, another young black man in a red hooded sweatshirt came up and spoke to the driver and the driver got out with his gun under his coat and the new guy took over driving and the original driver got in and they pulled off about 10 seconds before the cops arrived. When the cops arrived, I ran out into the lot and told the cop which direction they headed and he thanked me and radioed the other units and told me he was on it and screeched off. I went back inside to try to chill out the clerk who by then had called his relatives and was sort of freaked out by me as much as anything I suppose.

Now, I've lived all over the damn world, been shot accidentally, been shot at on purpose and done a fair amount of living. The danger I immediately felt by the circumstances made me feel quite vulnerable. I simply was not sure what was going down but it sure didn't feel too good. I mean ....how many folks sit in front of 7-11s brandishing fairly serious handweapons in public in a parked car in the middle of the day?

I knew I was not about to walk past those guys again to get back in my car with the driver's window open and me a perfect target if I had spooked them if they thought I'd made them.

What kind of idiot's show their guns in public in that manner? I don't think these were CCW fellows.....

Anyhow. That's my story. Glancing down at that Cobray style pistol rattled me a bit.....It was damned surreal. I thought for a second that after all these years and rebuilding my life, I might just get clipped in some crossfire by some chickensh!t gangbangers over some bad dope deal or grudge.....it didn't seem fair. Does it ever?

The cops were pretty prompt to their credit.

I don't like calling the cops over anything to do with guns or RKBA but this situation just had a real bad feeling to it.

Any fellow FReepers care to lecture me on the right way to have handled it or just maybe I should have minded my own business ...feel free to fire away.

[wardaddy]

Good for you and thanks.

[tall_tex]

I think that if you go to the 2nd amendment sisters website, you can research ccw laws across the country.

I had to have class room education, pass the written test and proficiency range qualification.

[Ditter]

You did VERY good. I don't think I would have been brave enough to go into the store after seeing what the thugs had in their car. I always have my cell phone with me & if I couldn't have gotten back into my car without raising suspicion, I would have gone around behind the store & called 9/11. They may have known you saw their guns & your presence may have saved the life of the clerk.

[RLK]

The first rule is avoid confrontation if you can, which is exactly what you did. Don't second-guess yourself any longer. Congratulations on the new baby!

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

You have me mixed up with the guy who started the thread. I'm well beyond the age to start having kids.

[wardaddy]

I am waiting for the joker on this forum to have another thread explain where they were sitting in their car, minding their own business with their CCW guns, when some snitch turned them in. LOL

They are already here Shooter. Snitching out legit gunowners was of course not my intention. An open bolt brass showing Mac under those circumstances set off my alarm bells bigtime. Had I noticed a holster between the console like I used to use back before LEOs got so "sensitive" I would not have reacted quite the same.

[Heff]

You did great...I would have given birth to 9 pound turd, got back in my car and drove off, as I am calling the 7-11 clerk to lock his door and grab his gun.

[sneakypete]

I can't see where you did anything wrong,other than leave home unarmed. Even if you had of been armed,what you did was the morally AND tactically correct thing to have done. What else were you supposed to do,make a citizens arrest on a SUV full of either gang bangers or undercover cops?

[Bobby777]

those would be my guesses to ... or they were going to make their standard drug deal and wanted to be packin' just in case ... either way, I'm glad you're OK and I didn't congratulate you on the new arrival so I will now ... congratulations ...

[wardaddy]

Thank You...at 45, I know my limitations more with each passing day....sigh. I'm not the buck I once was.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Ditto what CPOSharky said. If you'd have headed back to your vehicle, you might have spooked them and become the first casualty IMHO. Those folks are flakey enough to begin with and their behaviour is unpredictable.

[wardaddy]

It did cross my mind that one could already be in the store but I was already halfway across the Rubicon if you get my drift and scampering across the parking lot in my K-Swiss Surf and Turfs didn't seem like a good option with that Mac in the front seat.

[tall_tex]

...run like hell..

You nailed it, even with my 9mm and 15 round clip, and being an expert shot, I know when I am out gunned.

As we learned during the DC sniper happening, run or move quickly in a zigging mannor, or stagger as the Kennedy's move around from place to place.

The guys with the mac 10, if persuing will be slipping and sliding on environmentaly correct organic material left behind from tall_tex..

[FreedomPoster]

Good general comments - and dansangel has got her bases covered, and that's all I'm going to say. ;-)

[RightOnline]

"....I wasn't being brave....I was plainass skeered."

Well..........FWIW............if you read interviews with living MOH winners, you'll see the above words more often than not. Not trying to put your actions in the same league as MOH winners....:).....I'm merely pointing out that men have been known to act with incredible presence of mind and bravery under incredibly stressful situations while totally scared s**tless. Doesn't diminish the effective bravery of their actions.

[dinodino]

Your response sounds well reasoned and 100% appropriate. Kudos.

[Glutton]

I was on a bus in Tacoma once and several young kids were clustered around a "show and tell" session. What they were gawking at made all the noises I know all too well as typical of a revolver with a swing out barrel.

I wrote a note, dropped it in the driver's lap on the way out, and I called the police ASAP.

They stopped the bus, and arrested the kid with the piece a couple of miles down the road.

You did the right thing, and I empathize with the tension and aggravation you must feel. I have felt that way too.

[FreedomPoster]

Did you go to that site? It's great.

[sneakypete]

it was pretty obvious they were gonig to rob the place.

Nobody sends a "crew" out with auto weapons to get 50 bucks from robbing a 7-11 store. These guys were out on a hit.