Did you know, as a driver in Houston, you are not allowed to carry firearms?
In a Facebook post, Joseph Twin Lee decided to brag about how he carries a handgun in his vehicle in order to protect himself from riders. Assuming he has his license to carry, he is technically not breaking any laws, however, both Uber and Lyft do not allow drivers (or riders) to carry firearms while on a ride. Don’t believe me? Here are their policies:
https://help.lyft.com/hc/en-us/articles/115012923127-Safety-policies
While, I feel everyone has a right to defend themselves, you also need to follow the policies of a company you contracted with. They are clearly laid out when you agree to the terms when you first signed up to drive. There really is no excuse of “I didn’t know”.
For the older drivers, you may recall this was not always a policy. However, when they made this into policy, they sent out notices in app and via email. In fact, we had to agree to the terms before we were able to log in, again, there is no excuse as for not knowing.
Why did this policy go into effect?
Because Uber and Lyft both realized that not all gun owners are responsible. Furthermore, you can not shoot someone and kill them if you do not have a firearm on you. Here are a few examples of drivers killing riders for the stupidest of reasons. There is even one of a driver accidentally shooting a teenager. Not everyone can handle a firearm responsibly. A license to carry does not mean you will be able to handle yourself in a situation that requires you draw that firearm.
So, what should you do to defend yourself?
If a rider tries to attack you, the very first thing you should do is try and get away. Pull over, (if not already) get out of the vehicle and run. I get your ego and small peepee makes you want to stay and fight, but seriously, what’s the point? There is a chance you can get seriously injured. If you feel you need a gun to defend yourself, you are already saying you are incapable of defending yourself via conventional methods.
If you are unable to get away, hopefully you are carrying some mace and/or bear spray that you can spray in the attackers eyes in order to get away and get help.
In the end, a Uber or Lyft driver carrying a gun only makes things worse. I get the whole, “guns stop bad guys” and all, but you are an Uber/Lyft driver. If you really want to stop the bad guys, look into becoming a police officer. You will be trained to handle all types of situations, properly. I get the whole carrying a gun makes you feel safer (I have a LTC as well) but unless you know for a fact that you are going to use the firearm as a last, last, last resort, you shouldn’t carry it. If you know you get angry easily and want to fight the first person that cuts you off or that rider that shuts your door too hard, then it would be extremely foolish of you to carry a firearm in your vehicle while doing rideshare.
Oh, and for f***’s sake: Don’t incriminate yourself on social media like Joseph!
Do women have small peepees too? A gun is an equalizer, criminals don’t abide by laws. There have been unarmed taxi, uber/lyft drivers killed by riders. So the only stupid person here is you. It’s my property (vehicle) and I will always carry for my protection. In my state (Arizona) it’s even legal to brandish it as a deterrent, which I have had to do in one case, never came to shots because the criminal started walking the other way as soon as I pulled it out and thought better of attacking me. You’re comments in the opinion piece shows just how ignorant you are.
Also I’ve trained more extensively than some police officers, every hear of Gunsite? Many instances of cops unsafely using a gun, and I’m not talking about cops shooting people in defense, but cops not understanding tactics, flagging their fellow police officers (tunnel vision, and not know what’s behind the person they are about to shoot, one of the safety rules).