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December 06, 2003toting a gunWhen I worked as a maintenance supervisor at the chemical plant, I became caught up in a vicious cycle of overtime for a while. I was working about 60 hours every week and a lot of that was 3:00 PM to 3:00 AM shifts. Those hours just flat-out suck all by themselves, but when you consider the ride I had to make to get home, they sucked even worse. I carried a pistol with me in my truck every day. I kept it in the glove box until I got ready to drive home. Then, I took it out and laid it on the seat beside me. I was not supposed to bring a gun to work. Some asshole in Corporate Headquarters came up with that brain-fart idea, and I'll gurantee you that the fat bastard didn't ride the mean streets that I did at 3:00 in the morning. Therefore, I violated that rule. I do that kind of stuff sometimes. For anyone unfamiliar with where I live, I had to go down Bay Street, through Crack Alley and past Fahm Street to hit the viaduct. Then, I drove through the projects to get to highway 21 and make my way home. I didn't stop at traffic lights in that place at 3:00 in the morning. I looked both ways, then ran every red light I saw. I was pulled over once by a policeman for running a red light on my way home. I kept both hands on my steering wheel as he approached my truck. He shined a flashlight inside and saw the pistol on the seat when he asked me for my driver's license. "Sir, what is that on your front seat?" "That is a stainless-steel Colt .38 revolver loaded with police-issue ammunition. I have two speed-loaders in the glove box. I ran that light back there because a white boy has no business in this neighborhood at this time of night. You know that fact as well as I do. I have that pistol on the seat only because I want to get home safe and sound. I am sober and I want no trouble with you, officer. I just got off work and I want to go home and go to sleep. I've got to do this shit again tomorrow." He looked at my driver's license and said, "Go home and go to bed. I'll follow you as far as Garden City. Nice pistol you have there." He followed me to the Garden City limit sign, then flashed his blue lights at me as he turned around to go back to Savannah. I appreciated what he did. He had a better head on his shoulders than the Corporate Assholes I once worked for. (UPDATE: Carrying a gun on the front seat of your truck is perfectly legal in the state of Georgia. I need a permit only if I wish to carry & conceal. I knew that I was within my rights that night. I just didn't want the cop to freak when he saw the gun. That's why I kept both hands on the steering wheel when he shined that flashlight in my truck. He was an officer and a gentleman about the whole thing for what I believe are three reasons: I didn't give him any shit, I made his job as easy as I could and I was working shiftwork, the same as he was. Everybody should think that way when dealing with the police..)
Comments
The cop had a good grip on the rules of life. The cop also had great self-confidence and perception. Cops nowadays are taught that self-confidence will kill them, and while they need perception, they should never use it in those kinds of situations. They are taught now to point THEIR pistol at you, force you to exit your vehicle just like a wanted felon (that same one-way mentality) and assume the position to be hancuffed while the cop determines if you are legally carrying that pistol in your car. It's too bad. The copping institutes that figger this shit out have lost touch with the realities of the streets. They have taken one concept, "Go home to Mama at the end of your shift" and made it into a principle that trumps everything, especially the common sense that your cop displayed. It's a dumbing-down of the police pool, and it is going to bite us in the ass someday, because when all cops are simply law-enforcing robots, they can be controlled for evil by their masters. Cops, like Second Amendment believers, are some of the only checks we have to a dictatorship in this country. They need to remain independent thinkers and operators, because the alternative is too terrible to contemplate. Rivrdog (retired old-school cop, dontcha know) Posted by: Rivrdog on December 6, 2003 10:09 AMI was fresh out of college and working at a Jewish Camp in Beckett, Mass when I borrowed a car and drove to NYC to meet some friends that were coming back from a trip to Europe. I had this crazy idea to meet them at JFK. I only knew their flight number and day they were coming. They weren't expecting me. It was quite a surprize and I managed to get them to their hotel in Manhattan but on my way home I got lost in the dark and ended up in Harlem. It was hot as hell and no air conditioning so I had the windows rolled down. As I got deeper and deeper into Harlem and running out of gas I pulled into this Gulf station and ask the attendant where I was. He told me , filled up my car, gave me directions to Mass.,told me to roll up the windows and advised me to get the hell out of Harlem.Just the way he said it put a fear in me that I'll never forget and I didn't have a gun. I can say the other most frighteneing experience was when I was living in La Paz ,Bolivia doing my student teaching and the American Embassay advised us to get out of the country and I left in the middle of the night. I read in the paper this morning that they had to let some terrorists go because of lack of evidence. I lived through that one too.When it's my time,it's my time.Acidman you could make a mint telling my stories and leave Quinton a lot more money. I've led a very unusual life for an educated hillbilly. Posted by: Lexia on December 6, 2003 11:26 AMEmbassy Posted by: Lexia on December 6, 2003 11:27 AMMy husband's a police officer and he always says that it's important to tell them when you have a gun in the car. There's now law against it, unless it's concealed and you don't have a CWP. Only the assholes will hassle you about it. There are some good cops out there. What that cop did for you was very cool. Posted by: Gennie on December 6, 2003 11:54 AMI've walked my cracker butt through Harlem in the middle of the night on several occasions, and I've never had a single problem. Most of what you hear of the area is either "old news" from the 80's, or hype. I've also driven around up there quite a lot in my not-exactly-subtle car, and the only "problems" I've had involved black guys in SUV's trying to race me. Perfectly safe, so long as you're not stupid. Posted by: Mr. Lion on December 6, 2003 02:05 PMTaking responsibility for your own safety is the right thing to do. There are just too many damn rules/laws when they try to prevent you from doing what is right. Posted by: TNAR on December 6, 2003 03:06 PMI always thought that was odd, that you could have a pistol on the passenger seat, but not in the glove compartment. I tended bar in Atlanta, and I drove home like that every night. I lived on Buford Hwy, right by Koreatown, which wasn't a bad neighborhood, but it's better to be safe than sorry. I found that 99% of the cops down there (a) are used to seeing it, (b) and have good heads on their shoulders. I had one ask me to roll the passenger side window down so he could get to it once. Posted by: Max on December 6, 2003 05:55 PMThis gets my vote for the second fake post. Posted by: Otto on December 7, 2003 12:50 AMHi...I´m just surfed in and want to say hello!
Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need. Posted by: Horwitz Russell on January 26, 2004 10:19 AMPost a comment
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