A shooting made the news on January 18th:  

“Mauldin Police Department Charges Two in Connection with Road Rage Shooting”

Two men were involved, with incidents that occurred while driving from Piedmont to Mauldin.  

When police arrived on the scene, they found one man holding a gun.  The other had a single gunshot wound to the shoulder. 

The man holding a gun was arrested, and the wounded man was taken to a hospital. 

According to the report, the altercation began in the Piedmont area, where the man who was later shot had been driving erratically and tailgating the car driven by the gun owner.  On West Butler Road, he got in front of the of the gun owner’s car, and then slammed on his brakes, causing a rear-end collision.  

After causing the collision, that man then got out of his vehicle and walked toward the driver’s door of the vehicle behind him.  That driver then fired his gun through his open window, resulting in the shoulder wound. 

Not self-defense??

The shooter has been charged with attempted murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime – a serious, life-changing pair of felonies.  Felonies could mean jail time and the loss of the right to own a gun.

The other driver was “only” charged with reckless driving – a much lesser charge, with much less serious legal consequences.  

For those who have a Concealed Carry Permit, the first reaction is obvious: “The wrong man was charged!  The shooter acted in self-defense!”  

“I would have done the same thing!”  

Self-defense is certainly legal.  Firing a gun at someone in protection of the life of yourself or another, or to prevent serious damage to property is certainly legal.

But is that what happened in this case?

If you own a gun, you have to know when using that gun is legal.

What we can see now, in hindsight, you as the owner of a gun must see at the time of the incident.  

Walk back from the instant of the shooting.

How could the shooting have been prevented?

If you were in your car and someone threatening was walking toward you, opening up your window is a mistake.  Stay enclosed in your car

Was that crazy driver walking back to apologize, or talk about the accident, or was he intending to act violently?  We will never know.  

No courtroom will ever hear the driver who was shot admit that he intended to harm the shooter.

You – the driver – are under no requirement to open your window.  If you are unsure of the situation, you can await the arrival of the police; you can and should even call them yourself on your cellphone – dial 911.  People will react emotionally and irrationally after an accident; avoid that.  Do not be one of those people.  Leave the windows closed and the doors locked.

When you stay within your enclosed car, that places the onus on the other driver.  If he smashes your window, that is clearly violent behavior, and in so doing, he changes the whole situation.  Shooting an attacker is clearly self-defense – once he attacks.

But walk back the whole sequence of events in this incident even further:  you and he may both have had the intention to drive from Piedmont to Mauldin.  And there can be no doubt in anyone’s mind that the situation became progressively more serious and possibly dangerous, apparently through no fault of the shooter.  

Disengage

But Law Enforcement will always stress the proper action:  disengage.  Get away.  Take a different route.  Stop at a gas station, and if need be, circle around the gas pumps area – slowly – until the other driver tires of following.  If he stops, stop as far away as possible – and call 911.

Call 911

Call 911, and report where you are and what is happening; get help from Law Enforcement.  

Keep the police on your side.

Carrying a gun may be legal, but doing so requires a very different way of thinking and deciding how to act – a way with which we are all unfamiliar.  

The alternative is to experience the nightmare of spending time in jail, followed by the sad legal mess currently being endured by the shooter in this incident.  

When you can legally use a gun is not as clear-cut as it appears on TV shows.  There is no script-writer to help you get out of a dramatic but real-life bad situation.

Even if the tables are turned, and the driver who was shot ultimately receives the jail time most of us probably think he deserves, the driver who apparently was just trying to defend himself now has a record of having been arrested and charged with two felonies – even if the charges are eventually dropped or a jury finds him innocent.  He has spent time in jail.  He is also facing the heavy expense of lawyer fees, as he endures a lengthy judicial process.  In the meantime, he is not working, and cannot pay his bills.

All because he did not disengage, and all because he lowered his window.  

How different his life would be now, if he had just called 911.

Which is all very sobering for those who carry a gun, simply for the purpose of defending their loved ones and themselves.

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