Gun owner checked in school lockdown

[ZeroX]

Ugh, Indy Star.

 

[El Tejon]

Hank, no, no registration here.

Made phone call, was told "under investigation." Has to be more than just buying 5K in firearms.

 

[rem]

"if the headlines were..." - ScottsGT

Umm, yeah, but they weren't.

 

[0007]

He's probably on the phone to Richard Jewel's (former) lawyer discussing the size of the law suit...

 

[cgv69]

I can't even begin to comment on this. It is wrong on so many levels.

+1

I fear we better get use to this kind of thing because it is only going to get worse.

 

[Justin]

Comment from local yokel nitwit in 5...4...3...

 

[auschip]

If he's a hunter, he's a moron. If he's just plinking, he's a moron. If it's "just a hobby", he's a moron. Playing sneaky Pete with a rifle near a school ranks pretty high on the "this is really stupid" things to do. So either he's a bad guy or a moron, but he's still worth taking aside and talking to.

Provided he was the guy in camo at the school. Otherwise he is a local guy who buys guns and owns camo. Heck, if buying guns and owning camo was against the law they would have locked me up a long time ago.

 

[Lonestar.45]

I don't think there's anything wrong with "checking the guy out". Meaning, go ask him if he was in the woods, if he owns guns, and ask to see them (to see if they match the descriptions of any that were seen with the "lurker"). Beyond that, no way can/should they be able to do anything else without some sort of proof that this was the guy.

That said, they TOOK HIS GUNS! Made him give them to a relative to keep while they "checked it out"! Are you kidding me!?!?!? That is wrong on so many levels. That means just about any of us on this board can be ordered to give our guns to relatives, clean the guns out of our house, if someone spots someone in your neighborhood with a gun? Wearing (heaven forbide) that evil camoflage? Damn. This is disheartening.

What if there really is a nut out there, the cops have taken away this (presumably) innocent guy's guns away, and the real nut breaks into his house and shoots him or his family? I'd be pretty damn pissed, knowing that there could be a real nut out there close by, and the police just came by and disarmed me.

Not to mention, do you know how many teenagers, heck adults, for that matter, that run around these days with paintball guns and camo? It would be moronic to do it in the woods near a school, but it's not that hard to imagine some teenagers doing that. There are BB guns, heck, waterguns, that look like "assault" weapons these days. To disarm a guy like that without any proof is completely ridiculous.

 

[swjr72]

There are always 2 sides to every story Usually the media get things so skewed or misreported you never get the WHOLE TRUTH. I definitely like to know the conclusion to this story. If the guy did nothing illegal then he should not have to let anyone babysit his guns. If on the other hand he is standing out in the woods with a gun near a school he isnt the brightes bulb in the room to begin with and need checking into

 

[Model520Fan]

None of us know what happened. Even if there were more detail in the "news" report, we still wouldn't know whether it was true.

Suppose it happened to me, and there was no ID on the actual camo-clad idiot who was spotted with a rifle (if there even WAS one), and the cops suggested to me that I leave all my longarms with a relative? If the relative had safe storage and I were still holding on to a handgun or two, I'd jump at the chance. That way, if it happened again before I took my longarms back, the cops would be pretty sure it wasn't me. I don't play with the longarms that often, anyway.

Just another useless guess above. We simply don't know the whole story.

 

[Gunsnrovers]

auschip, you're right and I did a poor job of typing my thoughts. I love internet forums. I do a lousy job of expressing myself on them.

The moron in the woods need to be looked into, but we don't know who this person is. Talking to the local guys makes sense because it certainly is worthy of investigation. Not many upstanding reasons to be walking around school yards with a rifle.

What they do AFTER they pay you a polite visit is where things go wonky. I would like to believe they have more on this guy then a report from a bunch of school kids to remove his guns, etc. but we don't know much if anything now.

 

[Grey54956]

Most folks I know who own firearms also own camo.

I own firearms, and I also have some camo.

How far is "very close" to a school? Two miles, perhaps three?

If the guy's property is adjacent to the school, I could see how that might be an issue. But, there are too many generalities at play here...

 

[carpettbaggerr]

but they completely over-reacted after that.

They may have under-reacted. You can't tell anything from this story, except that there's more to the story.....

 

[Gunsnrovers]

If the kids on the playground actually saw this man, he was NOT 1, 2, or 3 miles away.

 

[PromptCritical]

Cox said the guns appear to have been purchased legally, but the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is double-checking his purchase records

In other words "He appears to be innocent, we're gonna go see if we can dig up something so we don't look stupid."

 

[Highland Ranger]

Colin Ferguson - Didn't he go through the extensive California background check and waiting period? Remember, this is the incident that brought us the anti. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy

I believe this is the LIRR guy, in which case had Nassau COunty (or Suffolk - NY) had reasonable gun laws allowing concealed carry, this guy would have been stopped before he shot so many people.

Its not the gun .. . . . it's the criminal.

And if they had enough on him they would have charged him.

 

[Spreadfire Arms]

s&w 24 wrote:

"the fact is that If the ATF knows that you bought a stack of guns they will come check on you! In FFL audits they will make note if they see the same name on a bunch of 4473's. Like it or lump it thats the way it has been and will be."

for clarification, FFL's only report transactions regarding the sale of two or more handguns within five business days to the ATF Tracing Center.

so, theoretically, if a person bought one handgun each from two different dealers the same day, neither FFL would know he had purchased a weapon from the other guy within the 5 business days so nobody would forward the information to ATF.

Dealers retain their own 4473's. at the annual inspection they do go over all of the 4473's but again it is difficult to locate a single buyer who uses several different FFL's, especially if he buys at gun shows where he can buy one from one FFL and then another from the FFL at the next table over. one FFL can be located several hundred miles away from the other FFL, so they are inspected by different field offices and thus different inspectors.

unless ATF is looking for a specific person it is just plain difficult to do. if the ATF had to keep every 4473 they would need something about the size of the Pentagon to hold all the yellow sheets from the last 20 years.

the only firearms ATF specifically tracks are those in the NFA Registry.

 

[Sir Aardvark]

I spent a hell of a lot more than $5,000 on guns last year. One purchase alone came close to being about that much.

So....if one of my neighbor freaks out with his guns, then I should turn over my guns to a third party for safekeeping - "just in case"?.

If the cops say "Remember Indianapolis", can we citizens respond with "Remember Ruby Ridge"?.

 

[Gunsnrovers]

If a cop tells you "Remember Indianapolis", you can reply , "What do the Japanese have to do with this?" and escape while he figures that out.

 

[Standing Wolf]

Yeah, but we're not a police state.

If you come to my house with a badge to ask about my firearms, you'd better have a signed, verifiable warrant.

 

[Pilgrim]

Who provided the tip?

Pilgrim

 

[Wildalaska]

Damned if ya do and damned if ya dont, theres a thin line that needs to be walked between purported public safety and peoples alleged rights, sounds like its being nicely walked in this case.

If you come to my house with a badge to ask about my firearms, you'd better have a signed, verifiable warrant.

They dont need a warrant to come to your house and ask ya, just need one to enter


WildbuthtenagainimareasonableguyAlaska

 

[dinosaur]

Ever buy one of those raffle tickets at a gun show that have about 30 guns as the grand prize? "Yeah, you'll know my house, it's right next to the school. 2:30 delivery will be fine." Let em chew on that for awhile.

 

[HighVelocity]

As a kid growing up my Dad would often make reference to "doing something that gets your name on a list". He'd say things like "stay off the tv", "keep your name out of the paper." etc. When I got older I called him on it once and asked him to explain.
His explanation was this;

There is absolutely nothing the media can offer you but headaches and heartaches.

I have followed that advice my whole life.

 

[CentralTexas]

Police received a tip????

Right, they just checked their list with addresses of gunowners that they don't have.....
CT