Neighbor's ignorance

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LopezEL

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Earlier today, I heard a very loud noise outside. I went out to investigate and saw nothing so I came back inside to continue my cleaning duties. About 30 minutes later I heard the same noise and I was completely shocked because this time I also felt the ground move and vibrations on my walls.

A few weeks ago, I found firecrackers in my brother's house' (next door) mailbox that some kids had fired up but this sounded a lot louder than kids playing with firecrackers. When I looked in my backyard, my rear neighbor was walking around with a rifle in his yard. I have a chain link fence and a big shed that borders our property lines. This particular neighbor is kind of wierd... however, he has never bothered me nor has he ever done anything dangerous to provoke me until today. He is an older guy that doesnt seem to be all there mentally or maybe he is just drunk all the time... I have seen him stumbling down the street going to the produce stand down the road.

Anyways, I went over to the shed and asked him what he was shooting at. He calmy replied that he was shooting "at that pole down yonder." He was shooting at a plastic pole with no backdrop whatsoever. I asked him what caliber the rifle was and he said 7mm :what: He showed me the casing and it was indeed a 7mm. He said that he had shot at it earlier but then he couldnt eject the magazine so he had been messing with it for about 30 minutes and he finally got it to work. I was hoping that he might have been shooting at an intruder or something justifiable. However, with houses all around us and the fire marshal living right next to his house, I honestly wonder what the hell he was thinking. I told him to please stop firing the rifle and that he should look for a safer place to go shoot. He just said that it was okay, he had hit the ground with the last shot... plus, he had put his face too close to his scope and he had a cut over his eyebrow so he wasnt planning on shooting it again. Apparently he just wanted to try it out since he had just bought yesterday.

I went back inside and thought about what I should do... I felt sorry for him and didnt want to call the police on him so I went back out to offer to take him to the range so that I could teach him some general gun safety but when I went back outside to talk to him again, there were already three cop cars in his front yard. Someone else did call the cops on him and they had already seized the rifle. I feel bad for the old guy, he doesn't seem to have a job but he has been remodeling his little mobile home, fixing up his yard, planting a garden, raising some chickens, etc. I guess I was wondering what you guys would have done if you had a neighbor like this... like I said, he had never bothered me before this incident.
 
I guess I was wondering what you guys would have done if you had a neighbor like this... like I said, he had never bothered me before this incident.
I would have dialed 9-1-1 immediately upon learning that he was firing a gun in the situation and manner you described.

The guy is an accident waiting to happen.
 
I know he's your nieghbor and all but he's endangering every one down range of him when he shoots. I'd have to call the cops
 
...

Cat's out of the bag now, PD arrived soon after your visit. I hope he doesn't think it was you, if ya know what I mean..

But I agree with others, IF I had seen my neighbor doing that, it wouldn't matter IF he was a strange, distant, neighbor like you described. 911 call, seizure of rifle, ticket issued, (possible arrest) and court appearance is the best beginning schooling that Darwin Recipient could get in first-lesson learned about gun-safety, laws, and gun wisdom, in general..


Ls
 
Scary :what:would not have been fun if that 7mm had sailed on into some kids or anyone for that matter , there are just some places you cant shoot .
this is why ranges were invented .
 
After finding out what you found out, I would have been on the phone to 911. I have a school 1 block from my front door.
 
I probably would have done what you would do. I would make sure that he put the gun away and teach him the safety rules.

The RKBA is a right of the people. I don't believe in officially mandating education for all firearms owners but every firearm owner should be responsible enough to take up the task of educating themselves.

All of us, as firearms owners, should also educated others that we see are performing unsafe firearm handling practices.
 
If a grown man doesn't know that a 7mm rifle poses a deadly threat to anyone within a mile or more downrange - then no amount of range time or safety education is going to make any difference. You did tell him it wasn't safe - and his response was "...it's OK..."

It's a tough call to dial 911 on the guy - but the safety of others has to take precedence. It seems clear the man is too addled to be trusted with a firearm. Fortunately, it isn't your problem now.
 
This is a no-brainer. You suspect he isn't all there mentally and have possibly seen him out and about drunk. And, he's firing a powerful rifle in a fairly densely populated area, which is very likely an illegal act by local statute?

Gun rights are for people who *don't* recklessly endanger others with their ignorant, negligent, possibly impaired use of those guns. Call the cops before a tragedy occurs which gives gun owners yet another black eye.

K
 
It's a tough call to dial 911 on the guy - but the safety of others has to take precedence. It seems clear the man is too addled to be trusted with a firearm. Fortunately, it isn't your problem now.
It's not a tough call. The shooter is a loon and dangerous.

We gotta be decisive about these situations. Just because the fellow is a gun guy doesn't mean that he is a good guy.
 
Based on the background that you gave, i would have called the cops right away and not of approached him. If it would have been someone i considered "normal" i would of handled it the way you did and approached the guy for conversation.

I cant see how anyone would shoot a rifle like that in a neighboorhood unless they were trying to defend themselves.
 
...I felt sorry for him and didnt want to call the police on him so I went back out to offer to take him to the range so that I could teach him some general gun safety...
This is the part that got me. My initial reaction was WHAT!:eek:

You already tried to teach him some gun safety when you asked him to stop shooting in the area and told him that it wasn’t safe. He didn’t listen to you then, and chances are a range trip would have been a bad idea.

Honestly, I would have just called the LE as soon as I saw him shooting. No need to get involved with something like that. You did, and it’s now possible that he thinks you’re the one who made the call.
 
Hell, I live on an acre in the county. One day I am inside the house and hear a loud noise. Then again. I go outside and look around to see/hear where the noise was coming from. I see my neighbor, an older gent that I call Pops and head over to speak to him. I see a pump shotgun by the door. I said Pops I heard a loud noise did you hear anything? He said that was me, a damn woodpecker was pecking on my woodstove exhaust so I shot it. I said yes I have been woke up by it too. But I guess that won`t happen again. Nope, he says. I turn around and go home.
 
He said that was me, a damn woodpecker was pecking on my woodstove exhaust so I shot it. I said yes I have been woke up by it too. But I guess that won`t happen again. Nope, he says. I turn around and go home.

Shotguns are different than rifles when it comes to downrange danger. unless he was firing a slug or buckshot at that woodpecker the worst that would happen is some pellets raining down on a neighbors property. birdshot does not have a very large lethal range at all.
 
What part of SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED don't you people understand.








































:evil: Just kidding.

I'd have called the cops too after investigating the sceen as the OP did.
 
"I felt sorry for him and didnt want to call the police on him..."---LopezEL

The reasoning being, that a few more neighbors like that are an asset to the neighborhood?

I'd have called the police in a New York second.

Or...is it supposed that just because someone possesses a gun, that they are your ally? What the...?

:what:
 
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