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texanjoker wrote:Look at this another way. Depending on what the person said, you could have been charged with a lot more then intentionally failing to conceal as I read in the thread. Imagine if this guy or a witness called 911. He would say he was walking in the parking lot and you assaulted him and threatened him with a gun. By your own words he didn't say anything or make any threatening movements. By exposing your gun and putting your hand on it you displayed the weapon. If it was believed that you displayed it during an assault, you could have been in some hot water. Assault can simply be threatening somebody with bodily harm. If it was done by displaying a gun, you are now up to aggravated assault. Did you have justification to do what you did? That could be questionable and fortunately he never called the police so you didn't have to find out. If leo's came, you would have probably been taken down as a MWAG. They would take statements, look at video (if there was any) and then determine if they had PC (probable cause) for the arrest. While a jury may or may not clear you, that would be an expensive adventure. Glad it worked out.

§ 22.02. AGGRAVATED ASSAULT. (a) A person commits an
offense if the person commits assault as defined in § 22.01 and
the person:
(1) causes serious bodily injury to another, including
the person's spouse; or
(2) uses or exhibits a deadly weapon during the
commission of the assault.

Sec. 22.01. ASSAULT. (a) A person commits an offense if the person:
(1) intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly causes bodily injury to another, including the person's spouse;
(2) intentionally or knowingly threatens another with imminent bodily injury, including the person's spouse; or

http://law.onecle.com/texas/penal/22.02.00.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

VMI77 wrote:

SewTexas wrote:I would suggest (for the future) the best way to do this type of move, and what I've done, is to not "show" the gun, but to let the stalker "know" that you have it.

Basically, when I was in the same situation you were, (it was dark-ish and in a WM parking lot, so it was reasonably well lit) I was able to shift my bags to the same hand as my purse and put my hand under the hem of my shirt, he saw what I did, I did it very deliberately and with my eyes on him. There was no mistaking what I had my hand on, but I had not displayed anything, so no one not involved could possibly be nervous.



meanwhile remember, the law was changed about failing to conceal, you're ok. and we don't have a brandishing law. I think you're ok.

I think this is the best approach in an ambiguous situation where you haven't made a clear decision to draw. I read about an incident at a gas station in Austin where a couple of guys were "interviewing" a woman for attack. She did what you did, and he asked "do you have a gun?" Her response was "that's for me to know and you to find out." Him and his buddy jumped into their car and drove off.

I like her more guarded approach. She didn't say she had a gun and didn't display a gun.

Gunner4640 wrote:Let me add some things I didn't in the first post. The guy was following me from the time I came out of the door. He could have approached me then but he didn't he went around to the back of my car. I was in the end of the parking lot no other cars close to me. He never said a word but I guess I never gave him a chance to say one.
Someone pacing me and going to back of my car instead of coming to the front. I am not going to take any chances. He was not the type of person to have a cell phone either, so him making a call I doubt it

cb1000rider wrote:

The Annoyed Man wrote:Just a reminder. . . .there is no law specifically against "brandishing" in Texas. There is a law against failure to conceal by a CHL unless in response to a threat of use of force/deadly force, or the actual use of force/deadly force. As fishman said, you felt threatened.

To be the devils advocate, here are some things that might land you in trouble:
1) If you felt threatened enough to expose the fact that you had a weapon, you felt that you were justified in using force. Why didn't you call the PD? Generally, any action that is bad enough to warrant that type of response should be followed up... By the way, it might keep you out of trouble. IMHO Pacing you isn't enough to justify force. Neither is attempting to contact you. Neither is making you nervous. After you've warned him, then perhaps things start to change.

2) If he knew you had a weapon, it can result in a MWG call. That's bad for you. At that point, the LEOs are going to believe the caller, as you do have a firearm. I've decided that if I'm ever facing a MWG call where someone didn't see my firearm, make sure the LEOs have the caller describe your firearm. Silver automatic is probably enough to get the job done 50% of the time, but the other 50% it's going to be crystal clear that no one saw your firearm in plain view... Hard to charge you with anything in that case.

I understand that someone approaching you in a parking lot doesn't make you feel comfortable, but people in urban areas do it all the time - looking for money, trying to sell speakers out of a van, whatever... I have yet to run into hostile intent. It's tough having to figure out intent on their way over and putting a car between you and them until you can get it sorted out is probably a good idea.

I don't think you did anything wrong - Just trying to help keep us all out of trouble.