Gun-toting driver offers apology, dinner invite

Here’s a Craigslist “missed connections” posting from this morning that caught a reader’s eye.

To the girl who ran into my car door on her bike –

As you peddled away crying, I realized that I had over reacted. I was having a bad day and had just spent a lot of money on a new paint job, but pulling a gun on you was out of line. I’d like to make a formal apology in person. Over a bottle of wine and/or dinner, perhaps?

Ahh, the poor guy seems genuinely remorseful about what happened. Do you think there’s any hope of reconciliation? Will it take more than wine and dinner to remedy road rage?

I contacted the poster but haven’t heard back.

Link to original post.

[Thanks for the heads up C.P.!]

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Founder of BikePortland (in 2005). Father of three. North Portlander. Basketball lover. Car owner and driver. If you have questions or feedback about this site or my work, feel free to contact me at @jonathan_maus on Twitter, via email at maus.jonathan@gmail.com, or phone/text at 503-706-8804. Also, if you read and appreciate this site, please become a supporter.

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pdxrocket
pdxrocket
16 years ago

Who here would go have dinner and drinks with someone who just pulled a gun on them? Get real! I might just take them up on the offer but have the police waiting for the bust.

kg
kg
16 years ago

If only more people had guns this sort of thing wouldn\’t happen. Oh wait…

joeb
joeb
16 years ago

Ahh, how cute…

Craigslist has a comic strip section?

Torfinn
Torfinn
16 years ago

😮

This can\’t be for real.

Anyway, if it is this guy is a rank amatuer.

When soliciting dates via firearm you always make them go on the date right away, never ask them afterwards.

He\’s doing it all backwards.

tonyt
tonyt
16 years ago

I think she should accept and show up at the dinner with a lawyer.

a.O
a.O
16 years ago

Yep, out of line … and a felony. Call the prosecutor, get a subpoena, and get another gun-toting maniac off the road!

…unless the post is fake, which I strongly suspect.

Dave
Dave
16 years ago

She should show up………..in the company of some \”freelancer\” hired out of the classified ads in Soldier of Fortune magazine.

Diane
Diane
16 years ago

I\’m sure he\’ll be just as remorseful when he loses his temper again and smacks her.

Dude needs anger management training.

Covertcyclist
Covertcyclist
16 years ago

I vote troll.

toddistic
toddistic
16 years ago

he\’s gunnin for a first date! BAH DUMP DA DAH!

felix
16 years ago

It was his love gun! DOH!

ron
ron
12 years ago
Reply to  felix

Har!

Caroline
16 years ago

Wow, just the kind of guy I\’m looking to bump into.

WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?!!?

jeff
16 years ago

There was a similar craigslist posting here in DC this past summer. Only instead of pulling a gun on the woman, the road rager threatened to rape her. Same as this one, after stating he overreacted, he had the nerve to invite her out for coffee!

thane
16 years ago

I would definitely go and bring the prosecutor with me. You pull a gun on someone who is not threatening you, you should go to jail. Do not pass go, do not collect $200.

BURR
BURR
16 years ago

I wonder if he right hooked her first?

Robert Dobbs
Robert Dobbs
16 years ago

Hi,

To the anti-gun folks: Yes, this guy should not own a firearm. Good luck finding every hair-trigger asshole with a gun, and taking it, however. I advocate guns as a tool for personal defense, not to scare girls on bikes.

To the rest, in Oregon this is at least Menacing, and if he didn\’t have a CCW, it would also be Improper Use of a Firearm since he had it accessible in his car. If he pointed it at her, it would be yet another charge.

I still put this below the H2 driver\’s reaction, as he came with a bat (lethal weapon) and then proceeded to beat the cyclist, which could/should result in more charges than Mr. Love Gun if it were ever brought to court.

Of course it\’s likely to be total BS, but who knows….

MikeOnBike
MikeOnBike
16 years ago

I wonder if it really happened.

Sounds like a troll to me…

Ashley
16 years ago

I heart just died a little inside, and then became enraged in fury. W T F. Did you know you\’re an asshole? ASSHOLE.

Shudders…..

Dave
Dave
16 years ago

Sounds like a barrel of laughs. This guy must have a real hair trigger temper. But at least he bit the bullet and is apologizing. Why not shoot for a date too?

Your move, toddistic.

toddistic
toddistic
16 years ago

oh Dave, you are quite the quick draw. I definately should not have brought my bike to a gunfight.

Phil Hanson (aka Pedalphile)

Sounds to me like he just wants an opportunity to reverse his decision not to shoot her the first time around. He\’s the kind of guy EVERYONE should stay away from unless wearing kevlar and accompanied by armed, well trained body guards.

I\’ve no quarrel with guns, only with people who use them irresponsibly. Self-defense is good, angry offense not so much.

Chuck
16 years ago

the way the mind works astounds me sometimes. \”hey, that girl I threatened with my gun after I hit her was kinda cute. maybe I overreacted. I wonder if she\’s single….\”

bravo. this guy sounds like a winner.

brady
brady
16 years ago

\”As you peddled away crying, I realized that I had over reacted.\”

Good thing she cried, apparently.

Todd B
Todd B
16 years ago

A perfect valentine week news item.

Perhaps the Mercury/ WWeek will issue a prize (free dinner and Earl Shibe paint job) and let this one lead the Valentine\’s Day edition of the paper\’s \’I saw you/ missed you section\’ of the personals.

Opus the Poet
16 years ago

Gah! He\’s the kind of guy that gives a bad name to gun owners, or any other member of the human race…

Opus

Adam
Adam
16 years ago

If it was the cyclists fault the she ran into the vehicle I can understand the drivers frustration but pulling a gun out? Come on! If thats not over the top I don\’t know what is. I support owning a gun but this type of person makes me look like a violent, ready to shoot anyone, idiot.

n8m
n8m
16 years ago

I can\’t believe people are taking this post seriously… This is creative writing at best, unfortunately.

Todd B
Todd B
16 years ago

Well ladies…anyone out there willing to see if this date can be the real thing?

Liu
Liu
16 years ago

That post is a fake. I\’d bet on it.

Andrew
Andrew
16 years ago

There is no one as insecure, fearful, cowardly and maladjusted to commit such a flagrant act with a lethal firearm except for our own Robert Dobs, who apparently rides a bike. If we are to believe his claims – that Dobs indeed rides a bicycle – then by the process of deduction we know this post to be a hoax

cy
cy
16 years ago

Moral of story…

Girls on Bikes should carry Guns!

and I am only half kidding!

KT
KT
16 years ago

Eeewwww!!!!

Creepy!!

I thought you never pull a gun unless you plan on using it?

If that girl is dumb enough to take him up on his offer, I hope she brings the police and her lawyer along.

Stripes
Stripes
16 years ago

I\’m curious whether she \”pedalled\” into his door, or whether he opened his door in a bikelane or other travel lane, without first looking. That would have resulted in her being unable to avoid his door, and therefore the situation would be entirely his fault, not hers.

After all, it\’s pretty hard to pedal into a car door, without it being flung open into your way. Not many people intentionally pedal straight into the sides of cars.

I hope she is okay. Nobody should be left in tears, just as a result of trying their best to get safely from A to B in Portland. Nobody.

LEE HOFFMAN
16 years ago

&Well I loved her so I had to shoot her& I realize that allowing this trend of cyclist intentionly ramming car doors must be stopped what better way than a \”nine\” \”busta \”cap \”oh don\’t forget we have dinner plans after\” pleeeeaaaassssseeeee

JE
JE
16 years ago

Has this been reported to the police yet?

Torfinn
Torfinn
16 years ago

Usually when you report comical posts on Craigslist to police they don\’t respond.

Hahahaha, I\’m loving that so many people think this really happened.

I see lesser garbage on KATU all the time, if some dude was drivin round pullin guns on people you\’d hear about it.

i'm a cyclist too
i'm a cyclist too
16 years ago

Mr. Dobbs wrote: \”To the rest, in Oregon this is at least Menacing, and if he didn\’t have a CCW, it would also be Improper Use of a Firearm since he had it accessible in his car.\”

I may be wrong but I think you can have a gun accessible in your car without a CCW if it is not concealed – that is, if it is in plain view. Maybe it can\’t be loaded in that case.

If this story is true, make a date and have a cop there – get him on pointing the gun at you – but not for having a gun – that is your right as a law-abiding citizen.

Keep ridin\’. The price of oil is down thanks in part to cyclists.

A.R.
A.R.
16 years ago

Doesn\’t anyone copy the post before it gets removed?

A.R.
A.R.
16 years ago

Oh wait, here it is, on this very site. My bad, I thought there was something in addition to this.

Cablenut
15 years ago

number 37:

http://www.publications.ojd.state.or.us/A133855.htm

Its not legal to carry a loaded firearm in your car, unless you have a concealed handgun license, under ORS 166.173.

Even *IF* this asshat had a CHL: brandishing is both illegal and unethical. You should only ever unholster your firearm if you view your life, or the lives the other in your protection, in danger. There is NO other reason to unholster your weapon.

Lastly, drawing your firearm is just a damned good way to get yourself shot…in response. That bicyclist *could* have been carrying herself, and someone pointing a gun at her, threatening her, could satisfy the legal requirement for a “justifiable self defense shooting.”

I am relatively certain that dude didn’t have a CHL: statistically, CHL holders just *don’t* commit crimes: The Sheriffs Association typically identifies the number of folks who are arrested, that also hold CHLs in the single digits a year, mostly for non-violent crime (typically dui’s.)

If this gal signs in: please report this to the county Sheriff. This person is NOT well. Don’t try to handle this yourself.

Oh, and I am not a lawyer…just a liberal guy who likes to shoot guns, and follows politics very closely, and ride my newly Stokemonkeyed Xtracyle.