What should I do?

I think you should call the cops on him. Then please come back in a month & start a new thread to tell us how life has been for you & your family. You should like him much better then. He might even offer to take you a ride in his car & show you around where he works. I bet you even get to finger paint together.

jscott,
"Take over a box of ammo and ask him to shoot it"? I would have to disagree.... Perhaps a CASE of ammo would be more fitting.

For the OP,
Whatever the reason you have for grinding an axe with the guy, you need to get over and carry on. Starting crap with ANY neighbor usually will not end well. Just my 0.02.

Keep in mind, "when the buckshot start flying, there's no calling them back!". You need to consider what retaliation could be in store should you report this.

First of all if the guy is a Deputy Sheriff then I would not expect much help from the local LE. All they will do is speak with him (they certainly will not be showing up with a search warrant) and he can deny everything, most likely they will also tell him where the complaint came from. Now the situation has been escalated a notch, do you really want this to happen? Although I may not like it unless some bullets hit my house or property I would let it pass. Comes down to the "do unto others" rule..........

You have a ton of good answers before me, my gut reaction was that he could be "bump firing" could explain the single shots then multiple ones on occasion.

the guy is a deputy sheriff.

He may have a legal M4 or something else, either owned by the county or his own.

I wouldn't be concerned with it as apparently your neighbor doesn't care if anyone hears it. Contrary to what most people think even LEOs will get arrested with illegal NFA weapons. If you live in an area where Bubba is the sheriff, his brother is the chief deputy, and their sons are deputies, this may be different.

Hey OP, I am guessing that you are on this forum because you are a shooter? If you are able to shoot on your property than why not have a go. Than meet said neighbor at the mailbox and start up a conversation. You may indeed become an ally to the un-liked, potential full auto owning deputy sheriff in your neighborhood. How bad could that really be? Never the less, I would follow all of the above SOUND advice and leave it be. If he really is a law enforcement officer who is potentially breaking the law then fate destiny and circumstance should catch up with him soon enough. You can only break the law of averages for so long.

Unless he's shooting on your property or has threatened you personally, mind your own business. Good fences make good neighbors.

I have a few ideas of what could be going on.


Option #1: Two or three guys are all firing as fast as they can.

Your response should be : No biggie, as long as they are being safe, at least in how it relates to you. (hey, if he only risks his own well being, that's his business)

Option #2: The guy is 'bump firing' (hold the gun somewhat loosely, put finger on trigger, fire gun not by pulling back on trigger, but by pulling gun body forward. Recoil brings gun body backward, continual forward pull causes the trigger to activate again...resulting in VERY RAPID semiauto fire)

Your response should be : No biggie, as long as he is being safe, at least in how it relates to you.

Option #3: The guy legally owns full auto toys.

Your response should be : No biggie, as long as he is being safe, at least in how it relates to you (Followed by 'hey can I try that?)

Option #4: Guy is a law abiding citizen who follows the believe that it is Illegal to Tax the Execution of a Right (as the Supreme Court stated regarding a Tax on the Right to Vote) and does NOT possess the $200 tax stamp he should for his machinegun (home built, home conversion)

Now here it gets tricky. Right now you have no idea which of these 4 conditions is going on. Lets just say that somehow you magically know it is Option #4. Now things get interesting.

Morally, should a man turn in a lawbreaker with the law being broken is immoral? Example, you are a Christian in Germany, you see your next door neighbor walk around all the time looking like a generic German. One day you see he has a Menorah lit. German law states that Jews need to wear the Star of David on their clothing. The man is technically breaking an unjust law. Do you turn the man in?

I hope your answer is 'no, if the law is unjust, I will NOT turn in someone who is breaking that law'

Then you must consider the morality of our laws regarding full auto firearms. Is it right that we are taxed to express a personal freedom, especially when the SCOTUS has stated regarding OTHER freedoms that they cannot be taxed?

What about the fact that the 'machine-gun registry' is closed, so only machine-guns made prior to 1986 can be registered, causing an artificially limited supply, which drives up the price, meaning only the RICH can afford to own them legally.

(In parallel, what if your city stated: 'only offical ballots will be counted in this year's election. We will only print up 100 ballots for the entire city, these 100 ballots will be up for auction, this is fair because every person has equal access to bidding and winning of one of the 100 ballots' The real effect of this falsely limited supply is that only the RICH would be able to vote)


and finally, let's say you come to the conclusion that yes it is your duty to report on those who break immoral laws, OR that you believe our current system of only allowing machine-guns to the RICH is moral, and therefore you feel it is your duty to turn him in

The question then becomes: How do you know it is option #4 not options #1-3? Can you legally invade his privacy to 'investigate' that option #4 is the one being used?

As it stands right now, as MOST LIKELY his behavior is legal, you need to not worry about it. IF somehow you find out that his behavior is technically illegal, THEN you need to decide if you are going to report someone for breaking an immoral law.


Finally, ask yourself this. Let's say he just is capable of very fast semiauto fire, but you report him for 'suspicion of having an unregistered machinegun'

The ATF comes in, shoots his dog, battering rams down his door, torches open his safe (which destroys some of his guns) seizes all his legal firearms, punch holes in his wall looking for hidden machineguns, cut holes in the furniture cushions, upend all the cabinets and bookshelves, etc etc

All the while the guy is sitting handcuffed on his front porch for HOURS while the ATF searches...and eventually find nothing, and leave the guy to deal with the mess.

(Note: this IS standard ATF practice for 'reports' of machineguns...and as long as they didn't fabricate the report, they have no legal duty to pay to repair the damage they did)

What is your legal obligation to the man for jumping to conclusions? (probably none) But what are your moral obligations to the neighbor when you jump to conclusions and he pays for it by having $10,000 of damage inflicted upon his property as well as being humiliated.

The reason for "turning him in" is just because he's not liked much in the area, which is not a good enough reason but i still want to....make sense?

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Oh, so you are a petty A-hole who has no qualms making up charges peripherally related to behavior that is almost positively legal just because you don't like him.

Well that's simple.

Does he have any kids? Any girl-scouts ever walk on his property to sell cookies? Report that he is molesting his kids and/or the girl-scouts. That will get the guy you dislike in trouble, and even if it is false, will shame the hell out of him.

I hope this alternative points out to you what a HUGE A-HOLE you are being. Honestly, if I saw you coming, I'd leave my door locked too.

Ouch. Probably true, but ouch.

If I had a guy from next door wanting to Turn Me In because he doesn't like me... I wouldn't come to the door either.
I think you should mind your own business and leave him the heck alone.

"Look up the definition of Karma."

Yes, Im in agreement there. If your neighbor is not doing anything to effect you or your property in any way other than ignoring you, then leave them alone. I have a few strange neighbors, in their eyes Im probably strange, but no one complains, no one causes problems.
You know, looking to cause problems for your neighbor because they dont talk to you, or dont want anything to do with you is harassment, and karma has a way of sneaking up on you.
Ask him if you can join in with his shooting sessions if you want to be constructive.
You know many countries are at war because one group of people does not understand another. Many species of animal are threatened or going extinct because some people do not understand them or their niche in life, its called ignorance.
A famous quote, "Mr Gorbechav, tear down this wall", how about "if you seek peace and prosperity, open this gate" (Ronald Reagan).

If you are able to shoot on your property than why not have a go.

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My thoughts exactly. If I were in your shoes, the very next time I heard him shooting, I'd pull out a few of my guns and let him hear my music. After he's heard the symphony coming from your place, he might just answer the door with a smile the next time you knock.

First of all you do not know he is breaking the law. You suspect based on his shooting speed.

Second, From what you posted, I did not see mention of any reckless or dangerous behavior from your neighbor.

Third, you have pretty much stated you are looking for a reason to call the police on him since nobody likes him,

Lastly, he is a cop

What you are looking to do is turn a cold war with your neighbor into an active one. Really, as long as he does not keep you up all night, break your stuff, sue you, or anything else, I would say leave him alone. He is a cop. So if you call the police on him, then unless he is doing something pretty bad, he is not going to get in trouble. You had better believe though, you will get something back from it.

Honestly, if it REALLY bugs you or worries you and he does not open the door, write him a letter about it. He may not even read it, but it is more likely to work than going to his door. Neighbor issues are best worked out man to man. If you cannot do this, then your best option is to get to a state where he stays in his house/yard, you stay in yours and you pretend each other does not exist. Calling cops will start an entire slew of garbage with cops being called on you, building inspectors, etc etc. That he is a cop gives him a strong upper hand in that battle.

I am sure your other neighbors are for it, THEY have no skin in the game, they will just get to be bystanders.

Guess what? I can walk out my back door and shoot my (legal) machineguns any time I want and I don't always answer the door either, especially when I don't know the person standing there. A door knock does not require an answer. It's notice that someone is at my door, uninvited, asking to be acknowledged, and I can decide to answer the knock or not. Usually I don't. Nothing wrong here.

You stated that this guy is a deputy sheriff. Is that the kind that it's part of his job to perhaps need to put his life on the line for you? Not sure if that's the kind you are talking about, so you might want to make it clear. If it is, send him some movie tickets or a gift card to a really nice steak house, for pete's sake. It is good to show kindness to someone who is ready to risk it all for you or cleans up your mess (like the trash collector). Be nice. And forget the auto or what you think is auto. I don't have any auto but can make you believe I do....very easily ....
(or just crank up my stereo !).

Uh...folks...I think the OP has left the building.

I don't even open my door for census takers.