Originally Posted by
JFlurett
It is always amazing to me that retaliation is shot down so quickly in these discussions (and in America). It's almost viewed as OK for people to do mindless and cruel **** to random people.
You people are losing sight of what has been mentioned a few times in this thread. At minimum this is assault with a deadly weapon, with the potential to severely injure, paralyze, or kill the biker. I'd take that very seriously, and would have no problem returning fire if I owned a gun. At minimum put a bullet hole in the trunk lid. Now we are looking for a gray Acura with a bullet hole in the trunk lid.
By allowing this type of crap to continue with no repercussion we perpetuate the problem. Just like nothing ever happens to little Jimmy throwing rocks at cars at the bus stop.
We make all kinds of excuses to not react, when it is not the victim who is the instigator.
I am totally hearing where you are coming from. I don't go looking for trouble, but I won't back down from it either. I HATE the pacifist rep that cyclist have, and sadly, that's where a lot of it goes wrong. I have had people yelling at me as they drive by, not ONE will GET OUT OF THE CAR when I catch them at the light. I had one guy lay on his horn as he went by, I waved with a single finger to let him know I'm not fond of horn blowers, he rolled down his window and proceeded to tell me he ought to "kick my ass" for flipping him off. I told him to get out of the car, and lets go, I was getting off the bike, he started arguing that I shouldn't have been in the left lane, blah blah blah, then drove away muttering about how "lucky" was was. Yeah, that's why you stayed in your car and drove off, cause I'm lucky. I can add he'd have made it halfway out of his door before I would have pinned him there and asked him, nicely, if this was really what he wanted to do.
I have a conceal carry, I live in PA, I don't currently carry on the bike, but I'm thinking of getting a smaller firearm I could put comfortably on my person while I rode. I can tell you I'd be carrying my 9mm if I were EVER fired at. I don't think I could or would shoot to kill for being fired at with a pellet, but it would depend. A lot depends on the attitude and threat level at the time. Keep in mind, the person you are dealing with has 2 weapons, 1 is a car, the other whatever they are shooting at you with. The potential for them to actually cause you to lose control of the bike and get run over by another car, or by them, is enough to qualify that in my mind as assault with a deadly weapon.
At any rate, this has not happened to me, and I have to admit, I was shocked to see it here. Wow. Just wow.
Joe