Post by: K Frame on September 20, 2008, 03:39:08 AM
If she's worried about the kids, why isn't she calling the police or youth services?
Something is wrong with this one.
DEAR MARGO: We have a neighbor who we feel is unhinged. We have concerns not only for our safety, but for that of our other neighbors. "Joe" loves guns, and there is nothing wrong with that, but his use of them verges on the fanatical. Joe likes to hold target practice in his backyard. My husband, who is certified as a firearms instructor, tried talking to him about the hazards not only to Joe's children but also to others. Joe's shooting target is only 20 yards from where his children play, and they are in the yard playing when he is shooting. Joe ignored us. My husband had our attorney send Joe and his wife a letter telling them they needed to stop, since some of the bullets were coming onto our property. He refused. In fact, the next time he went out to shoot, his wife pointed a video camera at our kitchen window, yelled obscenities and gave us the finger. Meanwhile, Joe is shooting away. And I don't mean standing-still shooting; I mean rolling on the ground and then shooting from a prone position. He dresses in black and carries his handgun around all the time -- and brags about it. Should we contact the authorities? My husband is thinking of trying to reason with Joe again, but I am terrified. What do you think?
--- SCARED OUT OF MY WITS IN NORTH CAROLINA
DEAR SCARED: I think Joe is a head case with firearms and fantasies. Tell your husband to forget reasoning with him; Joe is missing the wherewithal. The first thing I would do is find out if this nut job has a permit to carry firearms -- since that's what he's doing. Then bring the whole matter of Joe and his backyard firing range to the attention of the local police. If they are unresponsive, try the local DA or the attorney general's office. I asked a federal judge's law clerk for guidance, and here's a little, pardon the expression, ammunition for you: "North Carolina General Statute 14-34.1 prohibits the willful or wanton discharge of a firearm into occupied property. The little shooting range might also qualify as a nuisance/breach of the peace that the attorney general's office could file suit to abate under General Statute 19-2.1. There may, of course, be local ordinances that more specifically prohibit the reckless discharge of a firearm."
Post by: wmenorr67 on September 20, 2008, 03:43:45 AM
Post by: Perd Hapley on September 20, 2008, 04:14:00 AM
Quote
The first thing I would do is find out if this nut job has a permit to carry firearms -- since that's what he's doing.
Wow, great advice.
Post by: K Frame on September 20, 2008, 04:30:49 AM
Quote
The first thing I would do is find out if this nut job has a permit to carry firearms -- since that's what he's doing.
Wow, great advice.
Yeah, tell me about it. She should have posed that question to her law clerk friend, too. No license to carry needed.
Post by: yesitsloaded on September 20, 2008, 10:13:59 AM
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Joe likes to hold target practice in his backyard. My husband, who is certified as a firearms instructor, tried talking to him about the hazards not only to Joe's children but also to others. Joe's shooting target is only 20 yards from where his children play, and they are in the yard playing when he is shooting. Joe ignored us. My husband had our attorney send Joe and his wife a letter telling them they needed to stop, since some of the bullets were coming onto our property. He refused. In fact, the next time he went out to shoot, his wife pointed a video camera at our kitchen window, yelled obscenities and gave us the finger.
Sounds like a quality individual there. Just an idiot that owns guns and fires them off in his backyard, which makes him a dangerous idiot. I am fairly libertarian, but if rounds are leaving his property he needs to be charged with endangering the public. It is people like him that give all of us a bad name.
Post by: K Frame on September 20, 2008, 11:15:30 AM
Why the hell would the woman write an advice columnist about something like this if, as she says, children are potentially in danger? And why in the hell would her husband, if he is supposedly a certified firearms instructor, go along with something like that?
I'm not buying it.
Post by: Standing Wolf on September 20, 2008, 12:26:39 PM
Smells like more leftist extremist anti-Second Amendment bigotry.
Post by: K Frame on September 20, 2008, 12:45:54 PM
Post by: Nitrogen on September 20, 2008, 12:55:59 PM
In reality, they probably saw the guy cleaning his guns and freaked out. At worst, he's probably shooting airsoft. If he's actually holding target practice in his backyard, I'm sure the authorities would like to speak with him, as it's almost always not legal to shoot in an area with homes a certain number of feet nearby.
In my last house, I had a woman call the police on me beacause her kid climbed the fence, and saw me cleaning guns on my kitchen table. You never know how unhinged people can get.
Post by: Hawkmoon on September 20, 2008, 01:15:18 PM
A FEDERAL judge's law clerk looked up North Carolina state law for her? Highly unlikely.
Post by: K Frame on September 20, 2008, 01:38:46 PM
That I buy.
Westlaw is a wonderful thing. Just about ever Federal, State, and major locality (big cities and counties) law on the books at your fingertips, or actually a click of your mouse. You just need to parse your search words correctly, and that's what a law clerk does a lot of, searching.
A search like that would take no more than a few minutes, and I have no doubt, given Margo's status and her connections (her Mother was Dear Abby, IIRC) that she has contacts like that at her disposal, or her staff's disposal.
I think the writer of the letter is getting it over on Margo.
Post by: K Frame on September 20, 2008, 01:39:43 PM
Come on, you have to share. How did that one end?
Post by: Nitrogen on September 20, 2008, 03:17:25 PM
"In my last house, I had a woman call the police on me beacause her kid climbed the fence, and saw me cleaning guns on my kitchen table."
Come on, you have to share. How did that one end?
Come on, you have to share. How did that one end?
I thought I talked about it on here before.
Basically the cop knocked on the door, saying, "Look, this is silly, but policy requires we come out every time the word "gun" is mentioned. You were just cleaning your guns on your table right? well good, I'll let your neighbor know you weren't doing anything wrong and she needs to calm down. Sorry to bother you, sir."
Literally, it went like that, I didn't get a word in edgewise.
Post by: Antibubba on September 20, 2008, 08:13:44 PM
And who hell is this "Margo", anyway?
Post by: K Frame on September 21, 2008, 07:31:32 AM
Post by: RevDisk on September 21, 2008, 02:46:22 PM
"In my last house, I had a woman call the police on me beacause her kid climbed the fence, and saw me cleaning guns on my kitchen table."
Come on, you have to share. How did that one end?
Come on, you have to share. How did that one end?
I thought I talked about it on here before.
Basically the cop knocked on the door, saying, "Look, this is silly, but policy requires we come out every time the word "gun" is mentioned. You were just cleaning your guns on your table right? well good, I'll let your neighbor know you weren't doing anything wrong and she needs to calm down. Sorry to bother you, sir."
Literally, it went like that, I didn't get a word in edgewise.
No meantion of the kid was trespassing? Climbing a fence to get into your yard isn't the same thing as the kid walking through your lawn on the way to somewhere else.
Post by: Tallpine on September 21, 2008, 03:16:15 PM
Post by: The Annoyed Man on September 21, 2008, 04:20:55 PM
Margo got pwnd.