Back in the day, the rules of shotgun were simple: The guy with the shotgun made the rules.
He’d ride on the stagecoach next to the driver, armed to the teeth, ready to defend whatever the cargo was. The concept changed a bit during the next century, taken over by teenage boys and rancorous siblings who would race from the house to the car, pushing, jostling and yelling “Shotgun!”
It’s a ritual as American as striking out at Little League or sneaking into R-rated movies. Winner sits up front and gloats, loser sits in back and pouts, parents sort out competing claims and long for the good old days when everyone knew the rules.
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Tom Reuter did not make all the rules, but he codified them. The Hammurabi of Shotgun, Reuter, along with a couple of friends, wrote the book on shotgun rules: “The Official Shotgun Rules Pocket Reference Guide.” Just so there is no doubt:
* “You Must Be Outside to Call Shotgun.” No calling while still inside the house.
* “Hand on Door.” You cannot call “Shotgun” when someone else already has a hand on the shotgun-door handle.
* “Other Seats.” Once shotgun has been established, you can then call other seats (“back right”) or refusal of seats (“not back center”).
“We’re planning to update and add some more rules people have suggested,” says Reuter. “Stuff like, your mom automatically gets to ride shotgun. If you’re with your friends, nobody can call shotgun, ’cause your mom rides up front.”
Reuter and his partners, Josh Pearson and Will Henderson, sell the book through their Web site, shotgunrules.com, for $5.95. The rules are all on the site; the book is handy because it fits into a glove compartment and can settle arguments on the spot.
The three friends wrote the original list of rules when they were in high school and posted it on the Web in the late 1990s. Their book sales and Web ads together make about $15,000 a year, which they spend on one big group vacation.
“We get a lot of e-mails from parents who say thank you for making my children stop screaming and fighting,” Reuter says.
Amazingly, Reuter did not play shotgun with his sister when growing up in Colorado. It wasn’t until he and his friends turned 16 that they started.
Reuter grew up, got married and went into his father’s business: He owns Checkpoint Auto Sales in Steamboat Springs, Colo. That’s right: The guy who wrote the book on calling shotgun sells cars.