What would happen if your car was towed and you retrieved it from the tow lot (using your own key) without paying the tow fee?
A good friend of mine did this at Georgia Tech. He'd acquired several unpaid parking tickets, and one Friday morning he discovered that his car had been towed. Not wanting to pay several hundred dollars, he staked out the impound lot from a nearby hill and waited. After a short time he saw a parking attendant walk over to the impound lot with another student (who had no doubt paid the fees necessary to retrieve her car for the weekend), so he headed down. The lot looked something like this one:It was small, held about fifteen cars, and had doors that opened on hinges.Once the attendant opened the gate to let the girl get her car, my friend walked in as well. The attendant said "Can I help you?" and my friend replied "No thanks!" Then he walked over to his car, got in, and started the engine. At this point the attendant figured out what was going on and closed the gates. He didn't lock them, though, and this obviously wasn't a permanent solution anyway since the attendant and this girl were also in the impound with him. So my friend put the car in neutral and started rolling towards the gate. When he got close, he let the car just push the gates open and he drove away. Although I had sat with my friend while he staked out the lot, I was pretty nervous about this whole plan and had decided to leave as he approached the attendant. I was sure the whole thing would fail. So when he drove up that evening in his car with no negative repercussions, I was stunned. So we waited to hear something from parking enforcement or the GT police, but days and then weeks went by with no ill effects. Amazingly, it looked like he would get away with it. In the end it took them about a month. One day he got a call from the GT cops asking about his car being towed, to which he replied "What? No, I have it right here." But they persevered and he eventually went into the police department and had to pay all the tickets. It's a good story, though!Note: Based on the other answers here, it sounds like my friend's consequence-free experience is pretty atypical and that people can go to jail or get sued for this. So I don't recommend trying this at home!
What is the best course of action when someone is following you in a car while you are driving?
Several answers Before we begin. Are you really being followed. Most people will tell you 3 lefts or 3 rights will confirm this. Your best bet is to make a figure 8 using the street blocks. He follows you through that and he's following you and he knows that you know. First, call police and drive to police station Second, call police and tell them where you are and where you are headed (to a 24 hour convenience store that is busy; one with a gas station as well is ideal as they will have 3 plus employees or more even at 3 am) and ask them to come to that spot. Police know where these places are as they can coffee up and use the restroom. Likely the person following you will know this as well and may disperse as you pull in. Third, you can try and evade the stalker. That is a difficult task but not impossible. Exit at the last second, move over two lanes and suddenly making a right or left, run some red light (be careful), etc. Basically, drive like a jerk. Fourth, disable the stalker. Chances are the person following you is maintaining a close distance. Maybe not tailgating but definitely inside the 1 car length per 10 mph. As you approach a green light, slam on your brakes hard causing the car to hit you and then hit the gas immediately. The car will sustain sufficient damage to render it undriveable. If you have an actual trunk.....you can likely drive away. You want to call the police here and explain that you are responsible for the accident and that you were in fear of your life and could not do the first 3 safely.
Is it illegal to conceal carry a gun in a “gun free zone” even though I have a CCW?
It depends on who's declaring the "gun free zone."Concealed-carry laws are passed by the legislature of each State, generally (except for Federal law-enforcement officers and military personnel on duty). Such laws are (again generally) executed by County Sheriff's Departments that issue the Concealed Carry Permit (in Oregon, it's the Concealed Handgun License), but also enforced by City and State LEO's as well (e.g., during routine traffic stops).If a government building has a "gun free zone" sign on the entrances (as all do, nowadays), then the local police (or the private security company hired to cover the entrances) will enforce that policy with metal detectors, searches, and/or body scans, as they see fit. That includes city halls, libraries, county courthouses, state office buildings, DMV offices, and sundry hospitals (due to the possibility of drug thefts, and/or violent patients, armed security may be tighter).Schools? Variable. Some may have "gun free zone" signs, backed by armed security or police to enforce it; some may have signs posted, but no armed security on-campus; some may have no signs posted at all. Generally, if guys with guns and badges tell you it's a "gun free zone," believe them.Private property (but not under government control like a port or a nuclear facility)? E.g., a shopping mall or cinema complex? Variable. If you carry your weapon FULLY CONCEALED at all times, i.e., you give them no "probable cause" to stop and search you, then you are under no legal compunction to let them violate your Constitutional right against unreasonable and unwarranted search & seizure. If they order you to leave the premises, you must do so—then return with a video crew to record the whole event, then serve the store representative(s) and armed security or police with copies of the subpoenas and summons to appear in civil court on charges of Conspiracy to Violate your Civil Rights, among other torts and damages (about $100 million should be sufficient to grab their attention). Be sure that your team of videographers is transmitting this to several hidden cameras nearby, in case one or more of the nearby ones "accidentally" gets grabbed or destroyed.Remember, though, above all:—BE POLITE—BE PREPARED—BE LEGAL, ALWAYS—BE COMPLIANT WITH LAW ENFORCEMENTAnd have fun!
Should I lock my car?
Depends on where the car is - and what’s in it. I have property in a very rural area - population 600 and 20 miles (you pick east or west) to the closest city. People lock neither their cars nor houses unless they are going out of town. 100 miles from this town (you pick the direction SW or due E) are the two biggest cities in the Northeast.I live in the South in a major metropolitan area of around 2 million, but this is an older area with houses in the 100K range on the fringes of the metropolitan area. We only had on occasion since 1965 where stuff was stolen from peoples cars. The police arrested the one man juvenile crime wave and the crimes ceased. I rarely lock my car here either, however I will lock my car here if I have a lot of really valuable stuff. A number of years ago I had a full-size 3/4 ton van. I had backed it into things on a number of occasions (because of having people direct me in backing up who had never done this job before) and paint was pealing off one side (cause I had it for a couple decades and the sun hit that part when it was home. I used to claim that it looked so bad if it was in the mall parking lot it would be the LAST vehicle thieves would attempt to steal.Normally when it was home, I didn’t lock it, but one time I had it behind the house, locked and double checked to make sure it was locked. This was because I had a lot of expensive equipment in it, so much that the contents of the van were worth more than the van AND the house together were!