Another fine example of "responsible" firearms ownership...NOT!

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Jeff White

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071128/ap_on_fe_st/odd_red_light_camera_1
Man arrested for shooting traffic camera
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Police have lost red-light cameras to traffic accidents but never to gun play. "This is the first one that's been shot," Capt. Gordon Catlett said of the wounded camera at the intersection of Broadway Avenue and Interstate 640 — one of 15 camera-equipped intersections in the city.

Clifford E. Clark, 47, was charged with felony vandalism and reckless endangerment for allegedly firing at least three rounds from a .30-06 hunting rifle at the camera, knocking it out of action.

He was arrested after patrol officers heard shots around 2 a.m. Sunday, spotted a minivan leaving the parking lot of a closed business and pulled it over. Inside they found Clark and the high-powered rifle.

Clark, now facing a $50 fine if convicted and loss of his rifle, refused to say anything about the incident to police, leaving the motive unclear.

Catlett, who oversees the red-light camera program, said 6,798 drivers have been photographed running the red light at Broadway and I-640 and ticketed since the camera was installed in 2006. Clark was not one of them, he said.

___

Information from: The Knoxville News Sentinel, http://www.knoxnews.com
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I've seen plenty of roadsigns with bullet holes in them, but a traffic camera downtown?

Jeff
 
There is a website that documents the destruction and how to destroy traffic cameras in England. There are many more cameras in England and they get people for speeding, not stopping when supposed to and many other traffic violations. Firearms are rarely used per website but arson, paint, and other forms of destruction are commonly encountered.



NukemJim

Found it http://www.speedcam.co.uk/gatso2.htm NJ
 
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Man, guys like this just absolutely do wonders for the gun community.:rolleyes:

Clark, now facing a $50 fine if convicted and loss of his rifle
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Felony vandalism is punishable by up to 50 big ones? WOW, remind me never to shoot anything up.:neener:
 
Poke big brother in the eye! I hope this becomes a trend, although I'd prefer they used paint ball guns instead.

--wally.
 
One less surveillance society police-statism tool.

I'm not for vandalism, but as skeptic of government - I won't shed a tear for the big-brother camera.

It is childish though. Many traffic signs out in the rural areas are full of holes from being hit by shotguns. Unnecessary. Force should be used with purpose. Not because it is fun. That is thuggery. Unacceptable. Blowing away a camera isn't going to solve any problem. Assuming this person had some sort of political motivation.

Whatever the case, he loses his gun and pays a fine. No big deal. We ought to be more concerned about the hardened killers, rapists and armed robbers being let free by the THOUSANDS across America because of our dysfunctional and pathetic justice system. Let's not forget about those child sex-predators that get off way too easy. All I'm saying is, this guy is the least of our problems.

I don't think this looks bad on gun owners. Only an ignorant bigot would associate negativity to all gun owners on the basis of this miscreant's behavior. That is like thinking all black people are criminals because one might commit a heinous crime. Same thing. People of that low IQ level are often not our allies or like-minded on issues like the RKBA. Like the hard core Bradyites...you can't convert them and they're going to condemn you based on lies regardless. They don't need reality. They don't need a school shooting or an idiot shooting a traffic camera. They outright lie on a daily basis. We are libeled and slandered constantly.


Sorry if my opinions come across as a bit abrasive, but we're dealing with fanatics in a culture war for freedom.
 
Intentional destruction of public property is a five to ten year felony in these parts, plus restitution, plus loss of firearms ownership. Use of a firearm could be aggravating circumstance, or an additional crime. Plus, those 180 grainers descend somewhere in that urban environment, likely along the highway. Not a lot of cerebration going on.

However you may feel about traffic cameras, use of a firearm to damage them damages our cause a whole lot more. And I can't imagine any reason to trot out the Fudd moniker, unless someone is intent on further damage to the cause.
 
Ski mask, brass catcher, old clothes, park out of sight of the camera.

Wahoo, home free.

This guy is pretty stupid. Or pretty angry.
 
I hate cameras and see them as simply revenue-generators for cities that sometimes cause more problems than they solve, but this was a pretty stupid move on the guy's part. When I was in college, for a month or so they had commercials for information leading to the arrest of whoever shot a weather station on a rural hilltop outside of town with a hunting rifle. I don't think he was ever caught.
 
Hey now. This is right up there with shooting at tax collectors and speed limit signs: stupid but you can't say you haven't wanted to.

I can't help but laugh at the mental image of some fellow getting a ticket from one of these. His eyes narrow as he stares at it. The camera moves rapidly between his grizzled face and the letter. A snarl comes across his lips and music featuring brass, rubber bands, and wailing men fills the air. "Imma gonna git that sumb*%&# fer what he dun."
 
I wish people would stop shooting at signs and other things that have no business being shot at. When you drive down the road and see one of these things all shot up, it makes you realize how gun owners get such a bad reputation, which is really sad because I like to hope that most gun owners are against this kind of petty ****.
 
Right target, wrong tool. And he got caught. Stupid.

Then again, the right target should be the ill-meant laws which enable enforcement agencies to rip off everyone else. Cameras are incidental to that.
 
With apologies to Heinlein:
Be wary of strong drink. It may make you shoot at red-light cameras ... and miss!
 
While I do not generally approve of vandalism, I can appreciate the sentiment. These Big Brother revenue generators have no place in a (supposedly) free society. In some locations (parts of PRK) "traffic cameras" are now being used for further surveillence. Projects are even underway which will eventually allow the intelligent networking of these cameras to track, perhaps retroactively, any vehicle travelling through the networked region.

That said, discharging a 30-06 without a good backstop, and with poor marksmanship, was idiotic in the extreme. A good pellet gun would bust the lens, maybe more, all without the felonious use of a firearm, nor the ensuing dangers.
 
in the UK some idiot blew one up with explosives not only did it not remove the evidence of his ticket also caught him in the act of planting the bomb :evil: trip to jail ensured.
don't speed don't get fined not that difficult surely
 
don't speed don't get fined not that difficult surely
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Don't have relations with your wife in your own house in your own bedroom except in approved positions, don't get fined - it's not that difficult.

Don't forget to ensure full word "yes" "no" answers instead of "Y" and "N" on your 4473s, with only a 0.4% error rate as opposed to the ~50% error rate of the licensors, don't get your dealer license revoked and your business shut down - it's not that difficult.

Don't live next door to a drug dealer, get your bedroom door kicked down while you lie on the floor with your baby daughter and shoot at the black-clad intruder, only later to find out he was an unannounced cop and you've just earned yourself a death sentence - it's not that difficult.

Don't neglect to pay your taxes, around 50% of your gross income, for any protest nor reason, don't get drug away to prison after a stop at the kangaroo courts, don't get fined - it's not that difficult.

Don't actually exercise your rights and make a 1919 machine gun in your own home for your own use and with no criminal intent, lest you draw the ire of those in power after you object to a particular property matter and they throw you into prison for six years without even letting you speak your defense to the jury - it's not that difficult.
 
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