Rideshare companies Uber and Lyft both have policies forbidding drivers and passengers from carrying firearms, even if they’re lawfully able to do so.
Drivers and passengers who choose to violate that policy can be banned from the services, even if they have to use that firearm in self-defense. In fact, the companies are quick to terminate the contracts of any driver who uses a legally-owned gun to protect themselves.
Those policies don’t stop every driver from choosing to carry; after all, it’s easier to find another job than another life. But I’m sure the mandate does prevent some drivers from carrying for their protection, even though it does nothing at all to stop violent criminals from taking advantage of the driver disarmament policy.
That was the case early Saturday morning for Candice Kozinski. The Milwaukee, Wisconsin woman had just picked up her fourth fare of the night, but what was supposed to be a single woman turned to be four men. It wasn’t long before the ride turned into a robbery.
“A couple minutes up the road, he’s like, ‘Hey, I feel sick, can you pull over?’ So I thought he was going to puke,” Kozinski said. “I pulled over, and then he was like, ‘Get out of the car.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, crap.'”
She pulled over at 41st and Hampton, and moments later, felt something in her lower back.
“I went and grabbed under the gun, like, under the barrel, and tried to pull it away from them, but they are all stronger than me,” Kozinski said.
I admire Kozinski’s fighting spirit, but unless she’s got superpowers she’s probably not going to be able to take on four guys, at least one of them armed.
Kozinski was shoved to the ground and the men took off in her vehicle. Police were able to locate it several hours later, and luckily it doesn’t appear to have suffered any major damage.
Still, Kozinski says she and her property were both violated.
Data from the Milwaukee Police Department shows 40 total carjackings since the start of this year, with carjackings down 44% compared to this time last year.
Kozinski said she has since quit her job as a Lyft driver. 12 News has reached out to Lyft for comment, but has not yet heard back.
I doubt the local news station will ever get a response, but if they do it will be so full of corporate-speak that it will be useless.
Hindsight is 20/20, but if I’d been in Kozinsk’s shoes I would have just kept on driving after realizing the actual passengers weren’t anything like what the app told her they (or she) would be. That, combined with the late night hour of the fare, should have rung some alarm bells.
I don’t blame Kozinski for parting ways with Lyft. I’m sure that was a terrifying experience. Unfortunately, the policies that Lyft and Uber have put in place give criminals every reason to believe that drivers are going be disarmed and defenseless, and therefore easy targets for robberies, carjackings, or worse. I think it’s unconscionable for these companies to have this policy in place, and as long as they do I’m going to encourage every driver who can lawfully carry to do so. Uber and Lyft can ban me for my attitude if they want, but I’d like to see every driver make it back home safe and sound after they’ve put in their day’s work.
Editor’s Note: The radical left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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