Posted by BrendaTx on 7/4/08 1:25pm
Msg #254156

Bought Locking Gas Caps today.

It was $53 drive out price for two of them. One was $31 and one was $17.

My son has already had gas siphoned out of his truck.

Reply by Michael Muse on 7/4/08 1:30pm
Msg #254157

Locking gas caps don't help here. They drill a hole in the tank and fill their cans, when their cans are full they let the rest of your gas drain out on the ground.

Reply by BrendaTx on 7/4/08 1:38pm
Msg #254160

Interesting.

We shall see if this is helpful to me or not.

Reply by ZeeCA on 7/4/08 1:55pm
Msg #254166

yes poking the hole is big here and about $1000 for repair n/m

Reply by JanetK_CA on 7/5/08 1:19am
Msg #254219

What part of CA do you two live in??? n/m

Reply by Philip Johnson on 7/4/08 1:45pm
Msg #254161

Isn't gas thievery a shooting offense in TX. ? :) n/m

Reply by Sylvia_FL on 7/4/08 3:35pm
Msg #254173

Re: Isn't gas thievery a shooting offense in TX. ? :)

Yes, just make sure you are not standing by the vehicle when you shoot

Reply by BrendaTx on 7/4/08 3:58pm
Msg #254175

I don't know about that...but...

what I do know is in around 1937 my grandfather's sometimes hunting/fishing buddy caught his wife with another man in their general store in the East Texas piney woods.

The husband came in early from a pulp wood hauling mission. Upon the discovery he fatally shot the wife's lover. Then he loaded the deceased up in the back of his wood hauling truck and took him to the courthouse to tell the sheriff exactly what happened.

He was not convicted. I am not sure if he was charged or tried. I probably need to find that out...it would be interesting to know.

The wife and he did not get a divorce. Although the couple's daughters have since told my mother (in recent years) that their mother probably would have taken them and left the father had this fellow been allowed to live. The father was not exactly a great fellow. Good hunting/fishing buddies do not always make for great family men. As a business man, he was very successful....even during the depression. However, he was a rotten, mean alcoholic around the house as it turns out.

Reply by Sylvia_FL on 7/4/08 4:43pm
Msg #254184

Re: I don't know about that...but...

Just recently that guy in Pasadena, just outside Houston, was cleared by a grand jury of shooting those two illegal immigrants who were burglarizing his neighbours home.

Reply by BrendaTx on 7/4/08 5:01pm
Msg #254188

Just heard about that too, Sylvia...not sure how I feel

about it.

While I understand his anger, I know that he was told NOT to go out there and shoot at them by the authorities.

I'm seeing both sides of this one. I kinda "get it" about the grand jury's decision, though.

Reply by RickinVA on 7/5/08 12:19pm
Msg #254237

Re: Isn't gas thievery a shooting offense in TX. ? :)

Don't know about Texas, but it's a shooting offense at my address in Weems, VA

Rick

Reply by BrendaTx on 7/6/08 7:44am
Msg #254275

Re: Isn't gas thievery a shooting offense in TX. ? :)

Using a gun to keep a thief from stealing $50 or $100 worth of gas isn't going to happen at my house.

I have always owned a gun as an adult. I have slept 95% of my nights of my entire life in a home with at least one or more fireams. I have a gun I am well-trained to use but I am not going to use it to kill a thief out in my yard after my gasoline.

To me, if I aim a gun it means I am saying "I will kill you."

If you are trained at the gun range or by professional gun instructors in gun usage (in Texas) you are not trained to shoot to wound but to take aim and to shoot to kill the threat. I don't think that I could live with myself if I killed someone over any amount of money especially not $50 to $1000. When a gun goes off and kills someone it is not like watching it on tv. There's tissue and blood everywhere. The gunpowder smell is there along with other unpleasant odors that will haunt a person the rest of their lives. Then there's that "thud" of hearing a dead body hit the ground. It is very, very traumatic. The memory is enduring.

The best defense is to avoid situations where you might be harmed. That's much safer and more effective than handgun usage.

If it came down to preserving my own life or a life of another innocent person and it were pressed upon me by not of my own doing, I could/would do it...I think. Only for dire self-defense, but over a tank of gas? No way. It would be psychologically dangerous to ME. I'm not even going to pretend that I am Annie Oakley and that I would do it over material goods or money. Memories of death and killing are forever.

However, I do have a weapon, and ammo, goggles and ear protections...and a riddled paper silhouette of a human body where I have trained with a gun. (I let my handgun license training expire. I need to get that taken care of, I guess. It does indicate that the Texas Dept. of Public Safety has bg checked me thoroughly. )

Kudos for one of my instructors ( I have been through gun training classes twice over the past five years) for the encouragement of reading a book called Verbal Judo, The Gentle Art of Persuasion. Not that you should use this on a gas thief, I say just stay away from them and report them. VJ is very good training in life in general.

We need to "get real" on the impetus behind the petty thief. They are looking for enough money to buy a "fix" of drugs...meth...crack...heroin. They will kill you over $10 to get it. It is like starvation to them to experience the withdrawal. They can't think far enough ahead to recognize that they might be killed in the process of getting the money....and they will happily kill you to get what they want. So, no...I'm not going to fight a maniac over a few dollars in gas.

I'll try out this locking gas cap and it will deter some of those thieves if not all of them. Right now my life doesn't depend on that tank of gas. I won't take to gunfire over it.

And, yes, I am a proponent of legally owning guns. I am just not a proponent of using mine unless my life is in danger. Once it is out of it's case and aimed, my training says I must use it to kill. Television makes us think we can negotiate with a gun in our hand. That's not true. You aim the gun and you kill the threat. Period. Otherwise, you don't need it. A stupid thug--a drug-conflicted thief does not know how to negotiate and is likely carrying a gun. Be ready to kill or be killed if you threaten them and their drug money (gas).

Reply by RickinVA on 7/6/08 8:26am
Msg #254277

Re: Isn't gas thievery a shooting offense in TX. ? :)

"Once it is out of it's case and aimed, my training says I must use it to kill."

Brenda, you are close, but not completely accurate. Your training, or at least, what
you MUST tell a jury, is you fire to STOP the threat! If it results in the death of your
assailant, it is regretable, but your sole intention was to stop the threat. I would
never use my weapon to stop a minor crime; only to save my life or the life of someone
else. Any comments of mine to the contrary are/were supposed to construed as humorous.
My police instructor would be agast if he were allowed to think anything less! THREAT,
always stop the THREAT!

Rick

Reply by BrendaTx on 7/6/08 10:58am
Msg #254279

Re: Isn't gas thievery a shooting offense in TX. ? :)

Please don't think I was being critical of your post, Rick. I knew where you were coming from but I just got into that mode of airing my sails.

I get the humor!

Reply by RickinVA on 7/6/08 12:11pm
Msg #254284

Re: Isn't gas thievery a shooting offense in TX. ? :)

No worries. I didn't think it was criticizm.(SP) But I did want to make sure you were
testifying properly, should the problem ever arise! I think it holds true even in Bryan.
(Spent some time there in the AF)

Rick

Reply by ZeeCA on 7/4/08 1:54pm
Msg #254165

and they jumped my locked gates and stole my coil hose

the type that is supposed to coil back up? makes for very nice siphon hoses that are cut up and fit nicely in the pocket. I would like to wrap that hose around their necks but hey jmo

happy 4th all

Reply by BrendaTx on 7/4/08 4:14pm
Msg #254176

Zee...what's your solution? n/m

Reply by OR on 7/4/08 4:29pm
Msg #254181

Re: Zee...what's your solution?

I was thinking of tieing my neighbors pit bull to my car. I think that will work. Maybe it will keep people from stealing my gas and the 140 lbs pit bull from eating my little yorkies after it jumps over the 6 foot tall fence that we have in the back yard.

Reply by ZeeCA on 7/4/08 5:19pm
Msg #254194

Re: Zee...what's your solution? BRENDA

I just don't know... I have 2 locked gates, three dogs next door where the hose was in the yard... not much more i can do...

Reply by Tess/ME on 7/4/08 6:19pm
Msg #254196

In Florida now, don't residents have the right to own

and carry a loaded hand gun without having to have a concealed weapons permit? I think if I were a thief thinking of stealing gas I'd think twice before I did that knowing now that "Wyatt Earp" might come running out with a blazing gun in hand. Put up a sign that says your property is protected by "Smith & Wesson" they may take the hint. And you can be dialing 911 with your cell phone in one hand and shooting at the thief with the other.

Reply by Tony_FL on 7/4/08 7:17pm
Msg #254205

Yes you can, however there are ...

... places where you can NOT carry a firearm. To carry a firearm concealed, you MUST have a permit. As a former LEO, I do have a permit to carry a concealed weapon.

You can carry a loaded firearm in your vehicle as long as you CAN NOT put your hand on it and put it to immediate use. In other words, you can keep one in a closed glove compartment (which would require you to open it first) or if you keep one under the seat; it would need to be in some type of closed container (gun case, etc). You can not simply have one loaded and sitting on the seat or under the seat. This is against the law in Florida.

Even with a CCW permit; there are still many places that we CAN NOT carry our firearms. Courthouses, airports, some parks, schools, bars that serve alcohol by the drink, and quite a few others.

Florida did do away with the 'flee in defense' requirement. You no longer have to flee from your attacker.

Reply by DebbieT on 7/5/08 2:48pm
Msg #254244

Re: Yes you can, however there are ...

In florida there has to be three steps. Example: Open glove box, pull the gun out of the holster, and then the third step would be to pull the top of the gun back (dont know the correct term) and its ready. Thats our three steps.

Reply by Tess/ME on 7/5/08 4:08pm
Msg #254245

What happens if you are in your house and you see

someone in your yard attempting to steal your gas from the car? I don't think someone is going to attempt to steal gas from the car if you are in it, driving down the street, or in a parking lot. I'm sure most people will take the gun in the house with them and not leave it in a "glove box" locked or unlocked. In that case it could be sitting on the coffee table, loaded and ready. (except for grabbing it from the holster, "cocking" and shooting.) I think Florida is a good state to stay away from with those new laws and all the road rage reported almost daily. Now gas theft on the rise. Many hand guns do not have to be "cocked" to shoot.

Reply by MistarellaFL on 7/5/08 6:03pm
Msg #254246

Debbie, that word you are missing is cock

when you pull back on the trigger, you are cocking the gun.

Reply by DebbieT on 7/5/08 6:55pm
Msg #254249

Re: Debbie, that word you are missing is cock

It has a clip you put in it and then you pull back the whole top of the gun and that puts the bullet in the chamber. I have never shot it. Too scared. The hubby is at the range every weekend. It is just too loud for me.

Reply by DebbieT on 7/5/08 7:03pm
Msg #254250

Re: What happens if you are in your house and you see

Ours has a carrying case. That was justb an example. A long time ago if you shot someone you had to drag them into your house not to get in trouble for it. Now they consider your entire property. The only problem these days the intruder can sue you if you shoot them in your house. That is if there is still a witness (intruder). They really need to go back and take another look into the laws of Florida.

Reply by MelissaCT on 7/5/08 6:33pm
Msg #254247

We've had those for a couple years now. My DH is a city boy & knows too well about that kind of stuff...