Shotgun Commonlaw

From NickWiki

Introduction

Calling "Shotgun" has been an effective way of determining who gets to sit "Shotgun" (in the front passenger seat) for as long as cars have existed. The rules dictating when and how shotgun can be called, however, are as varied as the people who call it and cars in which it is called. This has resulted in a wealth of interesting shotgun rules, but has also led to absolute inconsistency among those who would call shotgun.

It would therefore be useful for there to be a centralized compendium of shotgun commonlaw to allow for more consistency in shotgun calling.

Heirarchy of Shotgun Arbitration

TODO

Commonlaw

• American Shotgun rules dictate that one must be in view of the car to call shotgun.
• European Shotgun rules dictate that one must be outside to call shotgun.

Note: For the purpose of this document, it is assumed that both American and European rules are being followed.

• Shotgun may be called whenever one goes from an internal space to an external space (given that the above requirements are fulfilled). Therefore, if a person calls shotgun, then goes back inside, that person forfeits his shotgun privilege.
  • It is as yet undetermined what the proper protocol is when the driver goes indoors but the passengers are still outdoors.
  • Garages are an edge case. It has been determined that when the car is outside the garage, and the garage door is opened, shotgun may be called, even though the parties involved are technically still in the house. The reasoning for this is that the garage becomes "outdoors" when its door is opened, due to the fact that it is open to the outside world, but not the house in this case.
    • It has not yet been determined whether shotgun may be called on a car inside a garage while the garage door is still closed.
  • If the person riding shotgun leaves the car, that person has forfeited his position. Even though parties inside the car are still inside, shotgun may be called as soon as the passenger-side door is closed. Otherwise, parties must leave the car (therefore going outside) to call shotgun.
• "Spamming" shotgun calls is not permitted. That is, one cannot just start calling shotgun in hopes that one call will be valid.
  • An extension of this rule is that if a person makes a false shotgun call, that person is unable to make another call in this particular shotgun instance until everyone else has made a call. If all parties make false calls, then it is as if no party has made a call, and everyone may once again call shotgun.
• The Girlfriend/Boyfriend Privilege - The Girlfriend/Boyfriend Privilege states that a girlfriend/boyfriend of the driver may veto another's shotgun call. This may be done either explicitly (through the use of language invoking the veto) or implicitly (generally otherwise overriding a legitimate call of shotgun). This privilege may be used at any time a valid shotgun call is made or can be made, and preempts any further calls of shotgun for that particular instance. It should be noted that as this rule circumvents other shotgun commonlaw, its use is generally frowned-upon, but this fact does not diminish the validity of the Girlfriend/Boyfriend Veto.