On June 19, Uber announced it has banned both drivers and law-abiding passengers with concealed permits from having guns with them for self-defense while in Uber vehicles.
This announcement comes three months after an Uber driver with a concealed carry license thwarted an attempted mass shooting by pulling his own weapon and shooting a gunman who had opened fire in Chicago’s Logan Square.
On April 20, the Chicago Tribune reported the driver was watching “a group of people” walk in front of his car on North Milwaukee Avenue just before midnight when 22-year-old Everardo Custodio allegedly “began firing into the crowd.” The Uber driver pulled his own gun and “fired six shots at Custodio,” wounding him in “the shin, thigh, and lower back.”
But now, the AP reports that Uber has decided to ban guns “to make sure riders and drivers feel comfortable.” The previous policy had simply been to follow local laws in areas where Uber drivers operate.
Uber says that “drivers or riders who violate the rule may lose access to the platform.”
The company did not comment on the lives saved by the Uber driver who had a gun in Chicago, nor did they explain what unarmed drivers and law-abiding passengers are supposed to do if there is a similar public attack near their Uber drop-off or pick-up.
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