Man arrested for toting rifle.

Status
Not open for further replies.
There's a big difference between your neighbor taking a gun to and from his truck in a case, and some guy from WHO KNOWS WHERE with an uncased rifle in his hands cruising thru your residential neighborhood. It may be legal but it's not normal and definitely qualifies as a "what's wrong with this picture" moment.

You wanna shoot an AK at the range? Fine by me. Wanna hunt with one in the woods? Ya got my blessin' brother. Keep one for home defense? Right on, man. But cruise up and down in a neighborhood where you don't live and nobody knows your state of mind, with an uncased (presumably) loaded assault weapon in your hands? No, you may not be breaking any laws but don't act so surprised when you draw some unwanted attention. Somebody is going to wonder what you're doing there, what your intentions are, and if they have an ounce of common sense they're not going to wait around to see if you ventillate any school kids or housewives before they think the situation needs some checking into. They're going to call guys who are equipped to deal with the situation if it does indeed turn out that you just murdered your overbearing boss and your harpie wife and are just waiting for someone else to get in your way or tick you off.

Now, if it turns out you've suffered a lapse of good judgement or are just a jerk who doesn't care what everybody else thinks who considers what you did alarming, should you go to jail? On the first go, no I don't think so, but if the police have to talk to you a second time about this you deserve a little something to wake you up to the disruption you are causing. If that's a ticket or a night to think about what you've done, so be it. If you don't want folks to think you're a nutjob, then don't act like one.

I'm not anti-AK, I'm not anti-RKBA, I'm pro-common sense. Sounds like this guy could've used some.

BTW - Our neighborhood is not on the way to anywhere, it's nothing but a series of dead ends and cul de sacs. If someone is there who doesn't belong, they stick out pretty obviously. My wife has spotted unknown individuals parked on the street in front of our house. After about 15 minutes, she went out to ask what he was up to. He was sullen and evasive, so she asked him to move along. He got beligerent with her and refused, so she said fine, he could explain to the cops then why he was staking out our house. She went indoors and got the cordless phone and came back to the porch where she could see him and vice versa. Apparently he decided he didn't really need to be there after all and drove off. So I guess he didn't think the cops would agree he had a good reason to be there after all. If it was some stranger from outside the neighborhood with a rifle in his hands acting strange like that, I wouldn't want her even getting near him and wouldn't blame her one bit for calling the cops to find out what's up. If you think otherwise, then you must not value your life and property and those of your neighbors much, or you've only met kind good hearted people with common sense and good will. Let me tell you, there are plenty of the other kind roaming around out there, and I for one and not taking any unnecessary chances with them.
 
If the gunshop owner said what he said to throw a "bone" to the antis to make himself look better, it is all the more reason not to do business with that idiot. We don't need 2 faced idiots like him to be spokesmen for our freedoms and interests.

His response to the reporter should have been something along the lines of "So what. This is America and he was exorcizing his second amendment rights."
 
You guys need to reread the article. The guy carrying the ak lives there. And this "walking up and down" statement you guys keep referring to was made by one of the complaintant neighbors, not the police. The walking up and down crap is as subjective as idiots talking about automatic revolvers when describing a gun they saw.

An earlier poster let the police off the hook and blamed the magistrate for this guy being arrested. The way the article reads is that the police very much wanted to arrest the guy but had no cause. They had the discretion to let this guy go but obviously pursued it to get a warrant.
 
Still…sounds like a lawsuit to me. I would love to see that being the norm around here.

I’d love to walk around with an AK slung over my shoulder… or walk around the grocery store with one. I don’t really feel like getting shot by police, though.
 
I'm pro-common sense.
Click to expand...
...just like so many others who use that as an excuse.

The problem is all of you who think like that have let the sheep and the antis define exactly what common sense is.

Where does it stop?

Why don't WE get to define what common sense is?

Should a person be worried if they see a guy walking around their neighborhood with an uncased rifle? Maybe? If so, then prepare for whatever you imagine may be coming next but until the guy commits a crime or appears like he is about to commit a crime calling the cops on him makes you no better than the sheep and antis you all profess to dislike so much.

Sounds like there's a lot of better safe than sorry attitude around here from those saying it was perfectly OK for the cops to arrest the guy and the sheeple to crap their pants. Y'all are the folks ole Ben Franklin had in mind when he made his trade freedom for security remark.

It makes you a bunch of two faced, double dealing hypocrites. :fire:
 
I own battle rifles, I like battle rifles, but I have never seen anybody walking down the street with one (in the US). Can anybody understand why one would be curious about this? Am I not supposed to confront someone doing something highly unusual in vicinity of my family and neighbors?
Click to expand...

I'll side with you here. It's just not a socially acceptable thing to do in most parts of the country. In some areas, maybe it is. Just like it's socially acceptable for me to wear assless chaps around the streets of San Francisco with the words, "Kiss Me" on alternating cheeks. If I do it in Montgomery, Alabama, I'll probably get arrested for indecent exposure.

Another thing I notice is some people saying, "well 50 years ago, we all carried guns to school". This happens on a number of threads. This may have been common in rural areas, but I'm willing to bet people in say, Philadelphia, Salem, or Toronto, did not. And I'm also willing to bet that it wasn't that common in many less urbane areas as well, or the older folks would remember and not call the cops.

My first reaction towards the gun owner is not, "oh you poor soul, who had your 2A rights trampled on," but, "what an jerk". It's about community standards people.
 
Interesting thread, and passions are running high.

I'm on the fence, and don't know what I'd do if faced with a similar situation.

However, this bothers me:

It's about community standards people.
Click to expand...

What happens when the "community standard" becomes "civilians should not be allowed to own guns"?

This guy committed no crime, threatened no one... what he did is supposed to be protected by the Constitution. Where's the line?
 
Shouldn't community standards have a basis in the constitution or do you get to be the arbiter of what the standards are? I don't like looking at obese women. Should they be forced to lose weight to meet my visual standards or do they have a right to be the size that they want to be?
 
I own battle rifles, I like battle rifles, but I have never seen anybody walking down the street with one (in the US).
Click to expand...

Apparently, you've never been around my neck of the woods when me or my neighbors are having a Campfire.

It's like show and tell at kiddygarden.:D

I've been known to carry a suppressed .22 and or a MP5.

And I do not live in the country, houses are about 50 yards apart in a residential neighborhood.

I guess it's all in where you live.
 
What happens when the "community standard" becomes "civilians should not be allowed to own guns"?
Click to expand...

That's an excellent point. But look, the guy wasn't using the gun for self-defense. He was wandering around his neighborhood with a gun on his back, it's an odd thing to do in most parts of the country. To and from the car, who cares. Neighborhood being burned up by rioters? Sure. During peacetime, it's odd for people to walk around with rifles slung on their shoulders in most parts of the US. If you don't have immediate need for the weapon, put it in a case. If you have immediate need for it, well, use it. He didn't have an immediate need for it. He was probably doing it to intentionally cause alarm.

Come on, NONE of you would be alarmed if somebody was walking around your neighborhood with an AK?

Did he mean any physical harm? Probably not, but he was being a wiseguy by doing it. Nobody likes a wiseguy.

Incidentally, I own 3 AKs. I love the things. Probably will buy more when I get the money. If there was civil unrest, I'd gladly put them to use, but there currently isn't any. That's why you have CCW. You carry a handgun most of the time. SHTF, grab your AK.
 
I've gotten looks but I've never been arrested or confronted for carrying a rifle in the city I'm in right now...not that I have done so very often (kind of tiring carrying a rifle as opposed to a handgun) but I do believe a right not exercised is a right soon lost...
 
Here is my "beach" standard. Any women size 5 or smaller are allowed to wear bikinis. Any bigger than that, they should be covered head to toe. I would never try to enforce that standard on others. Many seem to think it would be okay for a hunting rifle or shotgun like this guy was doing but not an ak. A gun is a gun and woman is a woman, no matter the configuration. How many of you naysayers on this thread blasted Zumbo for what he said? What you are doing now is no different.
 
I own battle rifles, I like battle rifles, but I have never seen anybody walking down the street with one (in the US).
Click to expand...
A couple years back, we were driving through downtown Billings and there was a guy carrying an EBR on a sling. Nobody seemed to be paying any particular attention to him.

Except me ... I was trying to figure out what kind it was, but never did because I had to pay attention to my driving. ;)
 
Many seem to think it would be okay for a hunting rifle or shotgun like this guy was doing but not an ak. A gun is a gun and woman is a woman, no matter the configuration. How many of you naysayers on this thread blasted Zumbo for what he said? What you are doing now is no different.
Click to expand...

Actually, the hunting rifle would bug me more, because I'd assume the person was hunting in a suburban neighborhood. Being that he wasn't in his backyard and was on the physical street.
 
Fellow's probably been reading some radical agitator's musings.
"A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise and independence to the mind. Games played with the ball, and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun, therefore, be the constant companion of your walks." --Thomas Jefferson to Peter Carr, 1785. ME 5:85, Papers 8:407
Click to expand...
 
Do any of you remember a post on here from awhile back that had a link to the actual 911 call from a guy who was at pizza hut? He called 911 because a group of guys were carrying while they were eating there. The cops showed up and harrassed the gun owners even though they weren't doing anything illegal. The 911 caller said he didn't know if what they were doing was illegal or not but didn't think they should be able to. This situation is no different. Someone who doesn't like guns trying to impose his will of what the law should be on others. The neighbor who called the cops may very well have known the guy and was just looking for a reason to get him in trouble. We don't know the full context but we know that he broke no law and the police fished for a cause to arrest him.

How long will it be before certain speech is called hate speech and you can be arrested for saying something that offends someone else? I'm not talking about the "yelling fire in a crowded theatre" kind of speech here. I talking about voicing your opinion on illegal immigration, etc.
 
For What It's Worth

I did a little Google maps search for the streets mentioned.

The streets on which he lives and on which he was seen are all in the same neighborhood (they intersect).

The gun store mentioned is less than five driving miles away.

The dude is in his twenties.

If it had been a new car, I suspect he would have been idling through the 'hood letting everyone see his new wheels.

Evidently that doesn't play so well with a nice new gun.

Mobile is no longer a medium-sized town, and I would imagine that neighborhoods like Spring Hill are middle-upscale (note the "gardener"), complete with soccer moms and career dads and an SUV or two. I would derive further that a guy "in his twenties" probably doesn't own a home there and likely lives with Mom and Dad.

I would imagine Mom and Dad are possibly less than thrilled with all this.

Still, all said and done, I should imagine our hero will live through this with a misdemeanor charge and his RKBA intact.

Note to self: don't stride around the neighborhood with my latest rifle purchase to impress the chicks.
 
A bogus misdemeanor charge is okay? Who is the arbiter of deciding what is breach of peace and what isn't? What if he just had a big bowie knife on his belt? Is that any different? I would think that everyone here would be very disturbed that they fished for something to charge this guy with since they couldn't charge him for what they wanted to charge him for - exorcising his second amendment.
 
Here's a line of thought: Supposed for the moment he was on his way to the range, or a friend's house, where he could shoot, and it's within walking distance. Maybe his car's broke, or the woman has it, whatever. He's strolling down the street, minding his own, and suddenly, people panic. No one asks him about it. The first he knows there's a percieved problem is when the cops show up. The cops question him, and because there's been a complaint, they seize the gun as evidence and later persue the criminality of it, for whatever reason.

Does this seem right to anyone? I'm not saying that's what happened here. We don't have all of the facts. I'm pretty sure most of us here would be a bit miffed if this were us.
It's been mentioned here to use a non-revealing bag. In some places, that would be illegal unless the action were stripped and a trigger lock installed.
I's common sense to obey the written transport laws, but this is not covered by those, and is it inciting panic when you're merely carrying an object, regardless of what it is? What if it were a crash-test dummy in a large sack, arm and foot hanging out. If the cops came up and found you weren't carrying a real body, would they arrest you later for inciting panic?

Just some thinking....
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

G
  • Locked
81 year old woman shoots intruder, police take her gun.
2
Replies
47
Views
3K
Tyris
T
T
  • Locked
Man arrested after pointing gun at deputy
Replies
3
Views
805
C.R.Sam
C
D
  • Locked
(CA) Man accidentally shoots coworker with assault rifle
Replies
20
Views
1K
DoubleTapDrew
D
S
  • Locked
Michigan Man Arrested for Open Carry
2 3 4
Replies
86
Views
8K
Fisherman_48768
F
J
  • Locked
Clerk won't sell doritos to man with $100 bill...Man pulls assault rifle.
2
Replies
45
Views
2K
magyvor
M
Back
Top