frankie_the_yankee wrote:See Charles' post above, with which I fully agree.Liberty wrote:I don't believe that an assault has much room for interpetation. They lay a hand on me its assault. If I don't have any goods that are stolen they have no legal reason to lay a hand on me. We all have a legal right and moral obligation to protect ourselves. There is know way I am going to engage in a conversation in a parking lot with a stranger. To do so is dangerous. I'd rather take my chances with the court system than the weirdos hanging around store parkinglotsfrankie_the_yankee wrote:Sure, and if you misinterpret the legitimate actions of a store employee investigating a possible theft and respond with force, you can expect to go to jail.Liberty wrote: If someone physically asaults me in a parking lot. I will respond as if I've been assaulted. I get aproached all the time in parking lots by strangers. I tell them loudly and firmly "NO!" and warn them not to aproach. If someone is wearing an apron doesn't make them not a carjacker or other type of criminal.
FWIW, when I'm leaving a store and an alarm goes off I usually stop, turn around, and try to catch the eye of an employee. Invariably, they simply wave me through and we're done.
Since I know I haven't stolen anything, I have nothing to worry about. Being a good guy (hopefully), I try to be nice to others whom I may run into. Since I'm carrying a gun, I would hate to get involved in some altercation over a silly misunderstanding.
Being nice goes a long way.
And I have no worries at all about being "assaulted" in a parking lot by a store employee. Store policy invariably instructs employees to be respectful when approaching people in that situation, precisely because they know full well that false alarms DO happen, and that checkout clerks somes forget to properly neutralize the RFID tags. So the idea that an employee is going to come charging out and put the grab on me is ludicrous.
What is far more likely is that, if they do anything at all, someone will approach me saying something like, "Excuse me sir. Blah, blah, blah....."
Not exactly something that justifies a rap in the mouth or any other kind of beligerent action. And no jury would interpret that as an "assault".
Of course you have rights. So does the other guy. Be a good guy. Be nice.
Excellent!!!!!!