Fearing for safety, some drivers say they carry guns

Updated Feb 24, 2017

GunConsider these two recent newspaper reports:

On Wednesday, Feb. 15 two truck drivers got into a fight at a truck stop in Pacific, Missouri when one driver pulled a pistol and shot and killed the other. The prosecutor says a video and eyewitness show the diver with the gun was acting out of self defense.

On Tuesday, Feb. 14, two truck drivers waiting to unload at a Costco warehouse in Monrovia, Maryland got into an argument over their positions in line. One, a 61-year-old driver from Wisconsin told police he pulled a handgun when he felt threatened by the other driver. The driver had a permit to carry a handgun in Wisconsin but not Maryland. He was charged with two counts of assault and several weapons violations and released.

These two incidents, about 24 hours and several hundreds of miles apart, illustrate that firearms can be part of life on the road for some American truck drivers.

This was even more clearly defined in a recent three-part series by Carolyn Manger and published by our sister publication Overdrive recently. A survey by Overdrive found 27 percent of those survey carry a gun when they drive. It also found that 73 percent said they were in situations recently when they wish they had had a gun.

Read the full series:

Part 1: Danger zone: Truckers stick to their guns despite questions about firearm laws, Overdrive research reveals

Part 2: Truckers who carry, and one who doesn’t, detail their reasons

Part 3: Federal level action on truckers’ right to carry: Myth and attempted process