Not sure if I was in danger...

[Q120]

I was in the parking lot of Walgreens while my wife was inside picking up a few things... I was sitting in the car watching my 4 year old son and my 6 month old daughter. There was a rather beat up car next to me with nobody in it. I was playing on my phone, occasionally glancing up. Suddenly, I heard what I thought was the door handle of my passenger side rear door (by my 6 month old daughter).I looked over and thought I saw the owner of the car to the right of me turning around towards his car (as if he was, at one time, facing my car). I cannot be 100% sure of this. It very well could have been his door handle that reverberated into my car. It just sounded too much like my door handle to think nothing of it...
The thing is is that I was not carrying at this time...I had just come from work (where I am not allowed to carry).

[Ruminus]

Two thoughts:
1) I've personally walked out to my car and tried to get in, only to realize I'm at the wrong car. Sure, I'm in the general area, but with my brain on a million different things, ended up going to the wrong one.
2) Even if you aren't allowed to carry at work, couldn't you have had your weapon stowed in your car while you were at work, then armed up once you left?

Whatever the case, glad you and yours are ok.

[Snurd]

I would also say to get a lock box of some sort and keep a gun in there. It's legal to have one in your car at work. Unless you are employed by the USPS.


(Sent from iSnurd)

[Daeyel]

Two thoughts:
1) I've personally walked out to my car and tried to get in, only to realize I'm at the wrong car. Sure, I'm in the general area, but with my brain on a million different things, ended up going to the wrong one.

I've actually unlocked a car at the grocery store, gotten in, thought, this doesn't feel right, and realized I was in the wrong car only when my key would not start the car.

My car keys will unlock my friends car (same make, model, style and year) but will not start it. Meanwhile, he cannot unlock my car. It's good for laughs, and convenient for him. He once had me open his car when he locked his keys inside at church. He lives a block away from me.

[quychang]

At my last job there were two of us with white 3/4 ton chevy trucks.... hers was loaded up and fancy, mine is a utilitarian model...anyways....after work one day she stood back watching, and I assume laughing, as I distractedly spent 10 minutes trying to unlock her truck....I even walked around to the passenger door in case something was wrong with the lock on the drivers side. I felt about 2 inches high when she finally came and asked why I was trying to open her truck.

Glad she was laughing.

Mel

[Q120]

Yeah I've tried to get into the wrong car before accidentally, but the unique thing about this situation is that he appears to have tried to open the rear passenger door. He could have been putting his bag of stuff from Walgreens in the car. Nothing that happened in this situation that warranted anything but cautiously watching what he was doing. I did, for a moment, wish I was carrying, just in case he did have ill will towards myself or my kids.

A few years ago I actually opened the car door of a car that wasn't mine while the driver was in it...I looked down and saw the driver and for a moment thought he was in MY car. When I realized what happened, I said "I am so sorry! Wrong car!" to which he replied, in a very sarcastic tone: "Yeah, cars these days...They all look alike".

[DaKnife]

Usually even if a similar model key won't just open a door, it will act as a bump key. I've impressed/scared a couple friends who locked their keys in thir cars by borowing the key of a same make car from another friend and opening the locked door.

Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk 2

[JoeSparky]

I would also say to get a lock box of some sort and keep a gun in there. It's legal to have one in your car at work. Unless you are employed by the USPS.


(Sent from iSnurd)

As far as USPS---- Don't park in THEIR lot, use the street!

[FrankenHollow]

Aside from any firearm(s)....

In my reach, within my truck, at all times:
Jack handle extension (1" steel tube approx 22" long, from a floor jack)
Lug wrench
2D MagLite
Gerber Metolius fixed-blade knife

It sounds like I'm looking for trouble or just paranoid, but they stay in the truck for various, legitimate purposes. I just happen to keep them in places that are extremely easy to retrieve them from... without even leaning over a seat, or really moving from a driving position.
There are many other things that could make very effective weapons, but they're locked up in their respective storage cases.


The jack handle extension made an appearance a couple years ago, when a massive jerk-wad slammed his door into mine, while I was sitting in my truck (and I didn't have a firearm). He left a 6+ inch-long drag mark, and a dent more than 1/2" deep in the passenger door. I calmly asked him for his insurance information; to which he responded by spitting on my wife and screaming about how his truck was too big to fit in the tiny parking spot (and that's my fault? ). While my wife was calling the police, I retrieved the skullcrusher, and the d-bag ran for home. Only problem?... It was a Dodge diesel with a programmer. He stomped on it too hard, and spun the rims inside the tires while trying to get away. It popped the bead on the right rear tire. So, the police didn't have a hard time tracking him down.

[Maxterra]

Whenever waiting in the car for somebody, I've got into the habit of locking the doors.
No need to be a perfect easy car-jacking target (not too worrisome around here I know, but scary in Chicago!)

[FrankenHollow]

Whenever waiting in the car for somebody, I've got into the habit of locking the doors.
No need to be a perfect easy car-jacking target (not too worrisome around here I know, but scary in Chicago!)

A couple days ago, I was reading some statistics on car theft and car jacking.
In the US, the odds of being car-jacked on any given car ride are about 1:600,000,000. (Obviously better here, but lower in Detroit, Chicago, Miami, Atlanta, etc.)
The odds of the perp giving up if you try to evade are over 90%. (just trying to drive away, even if only 25 feet, or so -- Actually getting away is its own statistic.)
Fewer than 25% of victims of successful car-jackings are injured in any way.
So, you're more likely to win a mega lottery up to 36 times, before being injured in a successful car-jacking in which you tried to evade.

Of course, being prepared and avoiding being a target is never a bad idea.