Campus encounter

[MJK]

So I was driving back onto campus today after lunch (I work at a university). An SUV came speeding out of a parking lot, and almost took the front end off my car. I honked the horn. Immediately, the guy in the passenger seat gives me the finger. I honked my horn again, but other than that ignored it.

We drove a little further down the road, and I saw the passenger looking back at me, so I knew this wasn't over yet. When they came to a stop at a pedestrian crossing, the guy in the passenger seat jumped out of the SUV and started acting like he wanted to fight. I instinctively hit the door lock button as I saw him exiting his vehicle. I remember hearing the voice in my head, "well this is just going to be ******* wonderful." (because I was on a university campus). I waved the guy over as he didn't act like he was going to leave, and I wasn't getting out of my car. Once I did that, he got back in the SUV and they drove off.

I never had to reach for the gun, but I was prepared to if he approached.

I was never scared of the guy, but I was shaking afterwards, adrenaline I guess.

Now I am wondering about the legality of the situation. The law says I am allowed to keep my gun in my vehicle on campus. I can also carry my gun while I am in my car, while driving to or from campus. So the having a gun part doesn't seem to be illegal. However, if I had needed to draw the gun, or actually shoot it. Would I then be breaking a law for having a gun on campus??

Anyway, the might not really be an encounter, but it certainly had the potential to become one. I don't know why the guy decided to make something else out of it by jumping out of his vehicle. These people have no clue, I would have loved to have been able to talk to him and just explain what he almost got himself into. Not to scare him, but just so that he is aware. College students are some of the dumbest people, sometimes they just don't think.

[SMMAssociates]

MJK:

(Good response....)

IANAL, but since you're allowed to "have" the gun on-campus (disregarding the whole "buildings we paid for" thing), getting out of the car with it would be a non-problem. I expect you could walk around the campus with it, too. Just don't go in a building....

Actually using the gun is subject to the usual criminal and civil issues, but there's no specific problem with it being a college campus that I'm aware of. At least not outside of a building.... That we paid for....

Regards,

[rickt]

IANAL, but since you're allowed to "have" the gun on-campus (disregarding the whole "buildings we paid for" thing), getting out of the car with it would be a non-problem. I expect you could walk around the campus with it, too. Just don't go in a building....

Actually the law says "premises" not "building", so walking around the campus with it would be illegal. Basically, you have to lock it up before exiting your vehicle.

(5) Any premises owned or leased by any public or private college, university, or other institution of higher education, unless the handgun is in a locked motor vehicle or the licensee is in the immediate process of placing the handgun in a locked motor vehicle;

[MySQLQuery]

IANAL, but since you're allowed to "have" the gun on-campus (disregarding the whole "buildings we paid for" thing), getting out of the car with it would be a non-problem. I expect you could walk around the campus with it, too. Just don't go in a building....

Actually the law says "premises" not "building", so walking around the campus with it would be illegal. Basically, you have to lock it up before exiting your vehicle.

(5) Any premises owned or leased by any public or private college, university, or other institution of higher education, unless the handgun is in a locked motor vehicle or the licensee is in the immediate process of placing the handgun in a locked motor vehicle;

From the sounds of that ORC, it sounds like you can't re-arm until you're off-campus

[MJK]

Hmmm. My handgun was locked in the vehicle during my encounter. It was locked in the glove box, with the key in the lock. Not my usual method of carry, but it was mostly like that because of being on campus.

I might stop by the campus PD and ask them a few questions. Gotta find a friendly officer first though.

This might be one of those situations that if I needed the gun, I'd deal with any consequences later. In my experience, the campus and the university in general are reluctant to press charges against anyone for anything serious in an effort to avoid any negative publicity. All of those prosecutions have to be reported in an annual report that parents have access to. If they don't prosecute, then they don't have to report it.

I hate the vagueness in the law. It seems strange that I can carry to campus, and then lock the gun in the vehicle, but I might not be able to carry from campus?

Of course, there was a two lane road in our town that for a long time was 45 MPH one direction, but only 25 MPH the other direction. So I guess anything is possible.

[Brian D.]

I instinctively hit the door lock button as I saw him exiting his vehicle.

Not to sound like a pic-knitter, but shouldn't you have already had your doors locked? My vehicle automatically engages them at about 15mph, but careful/paranoid fellow that I am, the lock button gets pushed as soon as I climb in, no matter where or when.

The other thing I MIGHT have done differently in your situation was to just not blow my horn, since that can cause an escalation in tensions. (But this ain't being typed from some ivory tower MJK, the horn portion of my steering wheel hasn't exactly gathered moss or whatnot.)

[SMMAssociates]

Ooops....

"Premises" v.s. "parking lots"....

I'll concede, but this is bass-ackwards from the fairgrounds rules....

Another trap from the criminal-friendly people....

Mostly I stay off of school properties.... If the kid ever graduates, I may have to change that. Once....

(She didn't want to go to her High School graduation. Took a trip someplace instead. Dodged that bullet....)

Which leads me to another thought:

What happens if you're driving by a school and get pulled over. You really can't pull into the school's parking lot.... Wonder if Officer Friendly will go ballistic when you keep on going for another block or two....

Regards,

[Brian D.]

Ooops....

"Premises" v.s. "parking lots"....

I'll concede, but this is bass-ackwards from the fairgrounds rules....

Another trap from the criminal-friendly people....

Mostly I stay off of school properties.... If the kid ever graduates, I may have to change that. Once....

(She didn't want to go to her High School graduation. Took a trip someplace instead. Dodged that bullet....)

Which leads me to another thought:

What happens if you're driving by a school and get pulled over. You really can't pull into the school's parking lot.... Wonder if Officer Friendly will go ballistic when you keep on going for another block or two....

Regards,

Nah, Stu, just make sure to tell the officer that you were trying to get farther away from that DANGEROUS CPZ school zone, for your mutual safety. And for bonus points keep astraight face while telling him that...after your obligation to tell him/her about your CHL of course.

[Petrovich]

As tempting as it is to give jerks like that a big dose of the horn (or whatever else comes to mind) the best response, IMO, is to do nothing to pee anyone off. This is particularly true when legally armed. I know....it takes virtually superhuman self control...expecially when some schmuck is just begging for it.

[TunnelRat]

Hmmm. My handgun was locked in the vehicle during my encounter. It was locked in the glove box, with the key in the lock.

If the key was in the lock of your glove box, according to the byzantine interpretation of Ohio law (keeping in mind I am not licensed to practice law in Ohio...), your glove box wasn't locked. Thus your storage in the unlocked glove box didn't meet the requirements of the law.

Ya gotta take the key outta the lock!

[MJK]

I instinctively hit the door lock button as I saw him exiting his vehicle.

Not to sound like a pic-knitter, but shouldn't you have already had your doors locked? My vehicle automatically engages them at about 15mph, but careful/paranoid fellow that I am, the lock button gets pushed as soon as I climb in, no matter where or when.

The other thing I MIGHT have done differently in your situation was to just not blow my horn, since that can cause an escalation in tensions. (But this ain't being typed from some ivory tower MJK, the horn portion of my steering wheel hasn't exactly gathered moss or whatnot.)

My doors were probably already locked. I *usually* do that as soon as I climb in. However, it was just one of those automatic things I did when the guy got out.

The first horn blowing was purely to alert the guy to my presence. The second horn blowing may or may not have been necessary, but the finger pushed my buttons. I thought I was doing good only blowing the horn.

[MJK]

Hmmm. My handgun was locked in the vehicle during my encounter. It was locked in the glove box, with the key in the lock.

If the key was in the lock of your glove box, according to the byzantine interpretation of Ohio law (keeping in mind I am not licensed to practice law in Ohio...), your glove box wasn't locked. Thus your storage in the unlocked glove box didn't meet the requirements of the law.

Ya gotta take the key outta the lock!

If I got pulled over, the key would be out of the lock.

I know this is a vague area of the law, as to whether it is considered locked or not.

It's a chance I'm willing to take.

[MJK]

As tempting as it is to give jerks like that a big dose of the horn (or whatever else comes to mind) the best response, IMO, is to do nothing to pee anyone off. This is particularly true when legally armed. I know....it takes virtually superhuman self control...expecially when some schmuck is just begging for it.

It really wasn't that big a dose of the horn, just a quick blast. The first horn blast was definitely called for, just for safety reasons. Hard to say if the guy would have still got out of his car, if I hadn't honked again. It was kind of an automatic thing to hit it again though.

In hindsight though, it probably would have been better just to ignore him, but that's not how it happened. Maybe next time.

[dan_sayers]

The first horn blowing was purely to alert the guy to my presence. The second horn blowing may or may not have been necessary, but the finger pushed my buttons. I thought I was doing good only blowing the horn.

I know what you mean. When somebody makes a mistake, it's one thing. When they then act like you're the bad guy, wow. Very unsettling. But I agree that the first horn is a good idea simply because we should learn from our near misses and he needs to wake up. The second one could've been spared however.

Being shaky afterwards is completely normal. You can thank Ohio laws for that. I know this to be true because I've been in my share of situation and none of them shook me up like the ones while armed. Knowing that you're essentially being painted into a corner between the bad guy and his buddies who write the laws

[Petrovich]

It really wasn't that big a dose of the horn, just a quick blast. The first horn blast was definitely called for, just for safety reasons. Hard to say if the guy would have still got out of his car, if I hadn't honked again. It was kind of an automatic thing to hit it again though.

In hindsight though, it probably would have been better just to ignore him, but that's not how it happened. Maybe next time.

Absolutely no doubt! That's what makes it so difficult to resist. You are CLEARLY in the right. But you still gotta refrain if you're carrying. Maybe that's why I'm such a scrapper on this forum. I don't get to do it in real life. I take it all out on you guys.

Now, if the driver of the SUV is going to cause an impending accident the horn is the only option open to you to try to avoid a collision. After the act, however, the horn doesn't serve a pragmatic purpose and only puts YOU at risk for an encounter. Screw the jerk. He's unimportant...or marginal as some would have it. Simply dismiss the schmuck as you would an annoying fly. Remember....nothing is worth risking your freedom except to save your life. The dirtbags only matter if they are trying to kill you. Beyond that...pee on 'em they're not worth the bother.