An attacker entered his rig due to Anti-Idling Laws and Unsafe Parking… Now he’s been arrested for his Concealed Carry Weapon.
UPDATE: Trucker whose pet Rottweiler saved him from an attacker has been arrested for his concealed carry weapon in New Jersey.
CDLLife reported on a driver that was attacked in his truck due to issues surrounding Anti-Idling Laws and Safe Parking Issues. Luckily, his pet Rottweiler was there to save him. Gary feared for his life and is sure he would have been murdered otherwise. But he has now been arrested for having a concealed carry weapon in New Jersey.
“I’m just trying to stay safe. To come back home alive.”
Gary Harmon has been attacked in his truck, faced an attempted carjacking by a ring of cars, and been badly beaten… all on separate occasions, in different parts of the country.
Gary told this CDLLife reporter a few weeks ago that his dog had saved him from a would-be murderer, and he always carries a gun to protect himself. He was afraid that might catch up with him in the states with major crime levels that don’t permit drivers to carry weapons.
He specifically mentioned New Jersey as an example– Gary would know; he was assaulted in a southern New Jersey city. Despite terrible crime rates, this state has a lot of anti-gun laws.
Gary was worried about the rising crime rates in major cities. From New York to San Francisco murder rates are at historic highs. Homicides are up 30% across the country and much more than that in some major cities.
2020 saw the greatest spike in murder in a century.
But Gary’s worst fears were realized this weekend: He was caught carrying a handgun in New Jersey, and was taken to jail.
“Yes, I’m a truck driver. I have to protect myself,” he told the responding Lt. when he asked if Gary was carrying a weapon. He was helping to unload $50,000 of cargo, when his gun was exposed from below his shirt. Someone saw it, and they reported it to the police.
He now faces $10,000 in legal fees and up to a decade in prison.
“My constitutional rights don’t stop at the Missouri border.”
They took Gary’s dog away. Then, they asked him if he had any more weapons. He responded truthfully that he had three more in the sleeper of his truck.
“I want to make something clear: I know four guns is kind of extreme. But I keep them because I visit gun ranges across the country, and I use them in my time off to be prepared for an emergency.” Gary continues, “I go through training all the time.”
“Things could change in a second out here, in a moment. I could be walking along the tree line with my dog and get attacked. You never know what’s going to happen around here, there are so many shady people that like to hang around at truck stops.”
“I’m looking at ten years for a gun poking out the side of my shirt.”
CDLLife found that forty percent of crimes against truckers are violent.
Gary’s dog has been returned to him, but it can’t save him from New Jersey’s anti-gun laws.
“I’m just a working man. I’m trying to come back alive. My safety is more important than any laws… sometimes I’ve been afraid for my life; I don’t know their intent.” Now, “I can’t sleep at night. My mind (says), ‘what if, what if, what if?’ I can’t concentrate on my job.”