Move on your have enough gas

[kev]

Here is real life story for you guys and gals.

Lufkin, Texas a couple of days after hurricane Rita passed through. This guy is at a gas station filling up several 55 gallon drums, this person walks over to him, pulls out a pistol points it at him, says "you have enough gas, move on."

So who is in the right and who is in the wrong? The guy for hogging more then his fair share of fuel, or was he bringing it to other people further south that could not make it to Lufkin? Or the guy with the gun for forcing him to move on?

Some of the gas stations started rationing out fuel - 45 dollars at a time. At 2.99 a gallon, that aint much.

[Clay]

IMHO no one was in the wrong. This is a perfect example of a scenario we will all most likely face. If the guy filling up the barrel actually needed that much fuel then he would have been able to rationalize it with the man with the gun and continued on. He was just trying to get his and the guy with the gun was the regulator. Who knows why he was, but he was and sometimes that is what is needed.

[Kenno]

The guy filling his drums was smart but gasoline is not worth your life, he should have forseen this situation concidering the circumstances. The guy with the gun was obviously stressed-out, maybe even a bit unhinged, maybe willing to kill for gasoline. I say let him have his gas and feel lucky to have gotten that few extra gallons with-out getting perforated in the process. Violence is wrong unless it is in defense of life and property but in extreme times many people forget the rules. You have to be alive to survive, and your family needs you in one piece to help them survive. Plan ahead and you will not have to be involved in such a confrontation. Right or wrong, survival is the goal, always keep that in mind.
A strong argument for having fuel stored ahead of any disaster.

[Per Ardua]

One does not know from the scenario why the guy with the drums had them. Maybe he was from a shelter set up at the local high school and they needed it for generators or maybe he was just trying to hog as much as he could.

Intent and reason are important and an assesment of right or wrong cannot be made in their absense. Regardless, the guy with the gun was wrong if he did not first try to determine the intent of the guy with the barrels.

$0.02,
-Per.

[Kenno]

Imagine the unintended consiquences of being shot at that gas station. Your family might leave a safe shelter to search for you and fall prey to criminals. A whole series of terrible events might occure over a few gallons of gasoline.
Right and Wrong is not as important as surviving.

[fuller]

And people wonder why i carry a gun.

[danglefeet]

Not to mention the use of a firearm in such close proximity to large quantities of gasoline. MANY people could have been killed.

[Tugger]

Tugger 2 cents....

The guy with the gun makes me want to say he was in the wrong.....
Reason.....The guy filling his 55 gallon drums was at the pump first and is entitled to the gas he can carry/afford as there was no law or policy that was enacted by the gov or the gas station saying he could only take so much....

Don't mention morals or ethics about the guy taking more than his share, because pointing a gun at someone who is not harming or going to harm you is ethically and morally wrong.

The guy with the gun is trying to envoke fear in an innocent citizen and should be labled a terrorist.

take it for what its worth


just my opinion

[Despierto]

Originally Posted by kev

[B]this person walks over to him, pulls out a pistol points it at him, says "you have enough gas, move on."

Is the owner of the gun also owner of the pumps?

If "no" perhaps the owner of the gas station should have walked over with a gun of his own to tell the armed man not to mess with his customers...

[PartisonConfederat]

Counter him with your AR and then see who's still talking

Serious though the guy with the gun is in the wrong. We do not know the guy who was filling the cans story. Say he just came from down south and was filling up for a return trip. He could be helping stranded motorists. The way I see it he was helping others out. Would he not have already had his cans filled before the storm hit? Seems to me he was helping others out. The guy with the gun was just in a panic and did not think clear.

[The Saint]

gas or bread, it wont matter if people perceive they need something in an emergency they will use whatever means they think is necessary.

If I was the gas station owner I would limit people to "gallons" per visit based on what I had left in the tanks, and I would open carry a gun to enforce it.

Of course as a prepper we always keep our tanks in our cars full and have a few spare gallons in the shed just in case, that way we don't have to put ourselves / families in dander to get gas or bread etc.

[Cougar8000]

the guy with the drums might have thought about having his wife/son/friend covering him discreetly with another firearm, kind of mad max to think about but then so is pulling a gun on someone filling up with gas. *trip to fantasy land here* he could have splashed gas all over the dude with the gun and the guy would have been terrified to fire for fear of igniting himself!!! lol

[Apocalypse Now]

I say the guy filling 55 gallon drums was in the wrong for 2 reasons.
1. He was no more prepared than the other people waiting in line behind him, he waited until the last minute and then decides to hoard up on gas,while many other citizens are waiting. He should have filled those drums months earlier ,if it was that important to him.

2. He becomes an ecological nightmare driving down the road with all of that gas. If he has an accident (which is very possible in already stressed conditions) hundreds of gallons of fuel will be spilled ,creating a dangerous hazard to other motorists and the environment.

[Katrina Guy]

Since we aren't living in the wild west, one can't pull out a firearm because they don't like what somebody else is doing in a law abiding way. I mean you could take this situation in numerous other areas, one guy after a major storm has six grocery carts back to back like a small train, all filled with drinking water, would it be right for someone to pull a gun on him and force him to stop purchasing water (in a law abiding way)?
The story reported by Kev is why we in here are pre prepared, because this sort of thing while isolated from a wind storm could become more rampant in a serious emergency situation where there's only so much to go around, be it drinking water, canned goods, or in this real life example, fuel.

[BJJ_Grappler]

Definitely the guy with the gun is in the wrong. Shooting someone over something they can legally do is crazy. If the 55 gal guy was stealing the gas, that would warrant physical force.

[mongo]

I'd say pulling a gun on someone who is not breaking any laws is wrong.




But..... Katrina was clearly a SHTF scenario, and MY first rule in such a situation is "Do not draw attention to yourself."


If you need that much gasoline, you should KNOW you need that much gasoline, and be prepared ahead of time.

[375H&H]

I can understand the frustration of the guy with the gun. It would be very similar to road rage. Neither one prepared. Neither one anticipated a disaster.

Yet, I bet when you see a guy cutting lanes on the shoulder of the road to get ahead of the traffic patiently waiting in line, your ire goes up. What entitles that sob to go to the head of the line is the sentiment.

It may not have been right, but I understand it. He didn't tell the guy to leave his 55 gal barrels behind. He just said you have enough leave some for others.

In a SHTF situation, to me, that is a very reasonable response to selfishness and the me, me, me thinking that we see everyday.

[ImbriD]

Very cool question. Sounds like some of the old Kohlberg tests so I'll answer based upon his criteria. If you go by the stages of moral development they're both wrong.

The man with the drums was wrong because he was not following the principle of "the greatest good for the greatest number of people"

The man with the gun was wrong because pulling a gun on someone is both morally objectionable as well as illegal.

If I saw this question 2 years ago, I'd have said the guy with the drums for the reason stated above especially considering it was after a natural disaster. Now, I'm not so sure. The man with the drums is smart enough to get prepared for what may come where as the man with the gun are the type of people that could really do some damage in a bad situation.

[ClovisMan]

I'd say the guy who ressurected a 2 year old thread is on the wrong.

[Maurepas]

I'm going to have to close this thread for about an hour for maintenance.

Apparently it's going to need some cobwebs knocked off and maybe an oil change and lube. Prolly run alright after that. Just hate to go too far without checking it out real good you know, it having been in parked for two years.

Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause you.