Armed Polite Society

Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: Perd Hapley on August 09, 2012, 02:03:27 AM

Title: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: Perd Hapley on August 09, 2012, 02:03:27 AM
Guy was coming back from the range.

http://www.newspressnow.com/news/local_news/city_briefs/article_4dc618ee-1cae-5021-8da8-f166e8137f6b.html

This was in St. Joseph, Missouri, of Pony Express fame.
Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: Fitz on August 09, 2012, 07:10:40 AM
I was confronted in San diego by the police once for the heinous crime of walking from my house to my car with TWO rifle cases. Some lady called the cops and reported "man with a gun." I have no idea how they got there so fast.
Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: T.O.M. on August 09, 2012, 08:49:43 AM
I had that happen once back when I was living in an apartment...some busybody called the PD when she saw me carrying a rifle case and ammo can to the car.  Turned out just fine, and ended up chatting with the responding officers about Army bases we'd all served at, showed off my guns, etc.
Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: birdman on August 09, 2012, 09:13:11 AM
I always fear this happening...when I go to the range, it usually takes a few trips from door to truck with cases, cans, etc.  given our over criminalization I don't want this to lead to a search that, even though I do everything possible to make sure I haven't done anything illegal, could turn up something and cause legal problems. 

If someone calls the cops because I'm carrying CASED weapons and ammo cans, THAT is a problem.

In this case, the caller reported a "man with a gun"...and it appears the dispatcher and responding LEOs didn't get further clarification, ie "is he pointing it at someone?" "does he live in the neighborhood?". Does he look familiar? Etc.  the resulting LEO response was extreme, if the article is accurate, especially given that it was the dude's HOME. 
Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: HankB on August 09, 2012, 09:23:41 AM
Makes me glad I have an attached garage, even here in TX - it helps one to be discreet, since for a range trip you can load up the truck behind closed doors.

When I was growing up - in Chicago, of all places - there was no problem with walking out to the garage with cased guns. But then again, we knew our neighbors a lot better back then than I do now.
Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: Harold Tuttle on August 09, 2012, 11:08:11 AM
guitar gig bag FTW
Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: Perd Hapley on August 09, 2012, 11:08:27 AM
Calling the cops about a rifle case? What is this I dont even...  :facepalm:
Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: BryanP on August 09, 2012, 11:15:50 AM
Wow.  I guess this means I have to load and unload the trunk inside the closed garage to be safe?  *sigh*
Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: MechAg94 on August 09, 2012, 11:16:09 AM
I generally keep my truck in my garage so I can load/unload out of sight of neighbors.  To me it is more that I don't want to advertise having items of value.  I doubt I would have police troubles down here though.

IMO, for the cased rifle story, if the cops don't also go to the person who called it in and at least threaten to arrest them for a false report, they aren't doing their job.
Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: MechAg94 on August 09, 2012, 11:18:18 AM
Quote
Mr. Cross said when he came out to have a cigar, there were at least six guns pointed at him and police and sheriff’s units were also on the roof of the LEC and at a neighboring house.
This sounds to me like the cops were about ready to do a forced entry when he happened to step back outside.  He is probably lucky there was no "accident".
Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: zxcvbob on August 09, 2012, 11:19:47 AM
Quote
Calling the cops about a rifle case? What is this I dont even... 

They are not afraid of the rifle case, or even think anything is illegal.  They are angered by its existence and are calling the cops as a passive-aggressive way of punishing you.
Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: Tallpine on August 09, 2012, 11:43:10 AM
I don't even recognize what apparently most of this country has become.

I open carry all over the neighborhood.
Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: AJ Dual on August 09, 2012, 12:12:00 PM
They are not afraid of the rifle case, or even think anything is illegal.  They are angered by its existence and are calling the cops as a passive-aggressive way of punishing you.

Pretty much this.

Not uncased, but I've loaded rifle cases and ammo cans in and out of my car on the sidewalk, not even blocked by being in the driveway etc. and have had nary a complaint for the past 12 years I've been there.
Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: RevDisk on August 09, 2012, 12:33:06 PM
guitar gig bag FTW

I picked up a Body Glove guitar case on clearance.  Prefer it to firearm cases.

Last interaction with the police, I was armed.  Primarily with an M4gery.  I was extremely descriptive to dispatch and put the rifle down when I saw the police car.  The officer was very supportive of owning firearms, very professional. 

Problem is nosey neighbours and incomplete descriptions given to responding police.

Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: Jim147 on August 09, 2012, 12:35:41 PM
St. Jo was always a decent place to work when I had that route. Seemed like being in the country most of the time.

Maybe LE overreaction to a callers overreaction due to current events?

jim
Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: MechAg94 on August 09, 2012, 02:05:34 PM
Problem is nosey neighbours and incomplete descriptions given to responding police.
I agree with this, but IMO, the cops should be having pointed conversations with the people calling this stuff in. 
Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: BlueStarLizzard on August 09, 2012, 02:19:34 PM
They are not afraid of the rifle case, or even think anything is illegal.  They are angered by its existence and are calling the cops as a passive-aggressive way of punishing you.

This.

Noisy busy body neighbors with issues is one reason i'm glad I live in a place where, if they can see me, they are trespassing.
Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: TommyGunn on August 09, 2012, 02:52:54 PM
.....IMO, for the cased rifle story, if the cops don't also go to the person who called it in and at least threaten to arrest them for a false report, they aren't doing their job.

Threatening them is a bit too much for the first time.  It should be explained to the caller that "John Doe carrying a rifle case from his car to his house is not a cause to call the cops.  Please don't make a similar call in the future. Thank you and have a nice day."  That's about how it should go.  No reason to be heavy-handed.  The first time.
Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: geronimotwo on August 09, 2012, 03:31:55 PM
living on a street with busy-body neighbors is a two edged sword.  i have gotten a phone call from the couple across the street when a friend was sitting in his car eating a sandwich.  i am also sure that if my daughter was hanging around downtown without parental supervision that we would know about it before she got home.  that said, no-one is calling the police for me shuffling a gun to and from my car.  was the guy new to the neighborhood?
Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: Physics on August 10, 2012, 09:32:07 AM
This makes me laugh a little. When I lived in the Pearl in Portland (yuppie community and probably the most liberal part of Portland), I would have to park on the street, generally not in front of my apartment.  When I would go to the range, I didn't ever want to leave anything in the car on the street, so I'd do everything in one giant load. 

I would walk down the street with at least 3 rifles (usually more like 6) strung across my chest (all of them EBRs) and a backpack full of ammo.  I always got the weirdest looks as I'd make that block and a half trek to the car.  Nobody ever called the cops, but one lady got really scared one time and asked me not to shoot her. ???
Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: Jamisjockey on August 10, 2012, 09:52:40 AM
All my neighbors know I'm the gun guy.  Hopefully that will prevent any stupid calls to the police.
Of course, this is also Texas.....that said, most of my neighbors are transplants of some kind or another. 
This reminds me, I need to get my semi-liberal neighbor out to the gun range. I'd venture he's never shot a gun before.
I've already taught the  couple on the other side of me (conservative but not real gun people) to shoot right....and have them talking about buying something more than the little bersa they have now.
Can't wait to show off the EBR when I finish building it.
 >:D
Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: brimic on August 10, 2012, 10:03:17 AM
Never been hassled.
When I go to the range its not one or two rifle cases, its a trunkload that needs to be carried in and out.
Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: Devonai on August 10, 2012, 11:38:12 AM
Let's see, since I got my first firearm, I've lived in:

Massachusetts: 6 years
Southern New Hampshire: 3 years
Connecticut: 6 years

I've never been approached by anyone while transporting weapons, though I don't think I've ever tried to move a naked rifle.
Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: Monkeyleg on August 10, 2012, 02:46:44 PM
I have a photo somewhere of my brother in the mid-1950's. He's kneeling in the side yard with his new rifle and scope shouldered, pointing at something across the street. This was in Flint, MI, not some small town. Nobody said anything to anyone, as it was what everybody did when they got a new rifle.
Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: MechAg94 on August 10, 2012, 02:56:20 PM
Threatening them is a bit too much for the first time.  It should be explained to the caller that "John Doe carrying a rifle case from his car to his house is not a cause to call the cops.  Please don't make a similar call in the future. Thank you and have a nice day."  That's about how it should go.  No reason to be heavy-handed.  The first time.
Overreaction on my part perhaps.  I guess I have seen too many of these stories where someone calls police and the victim who wasn't doing anything gets hassled or worse.  I never hear about the people making bad reports getting hassled. 
Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: Hawkmoon on August 10, 2012, 03:42:59 PM
In this case, the caller reported a "man with a gun"...and it appears the dispatcher and responding LEOs didn't get further clarification, ie "is he pointing it at someone?" "does he live in the neighborhood?". Does he look familiar? Etc.  the resulting LEO response was extreme, if the article is accurate, especially given that it was the dude's HOME. 

I have had this debate on more than one "gun" forum, and I am always astonished that I seem to be very much in the minority in thinking that dispatchers should at the very least ask any MWAG caller "What is the man doing with the gun?" When the answer comes back, "Well, he's carrying it from his car to the house across the street" in an ideal world the dispatcher should just tell the caller there's nothing illegal about that, and hang up.

However, apparently in many jurisdictions dispatchers are not allowed to think, and in those jurisdictions if they get a MWAG call they MUST dispatch an officer. Even so, I can't help thinking that the responding officer(s) might be well served to be informed if the call is about a guy eating lunch with a handgun in a holster on his belt, or if it's a scruffy-looking guy waving an AK-47 over his head and shouting epithets at the local mosque. Unfortunately, in far too many jurisdictions the ONLY available response to any MWAG call seems to be sending in the full SWAT team. I guess if the department gets all that grant money to outfit and train a SWAT team, they need excuses to justify having a SWAT team.

What better excuse that a "Suspicion of engaging in lawful behavior" call?
Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: Tallpine on August 10, 2012, 07:17:36 PM
Quote
apparently in many jurisdictions dispatchers are not allowed to think

Or not capable of thinking :(

We continually get fire pages for "fire at 123 Dusty Road" when that is just the location from which the fire is seen and reported.  Then we get several more reports from disparate locations, all looking at the same fire 20 miles away from different directions.

A few weeks back, I called in on my cell phone and reported smoke (turned out it was an ash laden dust devil on the burned ground from the big fire in June) and told her I was on horseback on So-and-so's ranch.  She relayed the message to our fire chief that the fire report was on "Horseback Road"  ;/
Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: French G. on August 10, 2012, 09:33:53 PM
Well in VA, even when I was in the city it's legal to walk down the street with a slung rifle. Beware our version of assault weapon tho, bigger than 20d mag not good in big cities. I once famously told a cop shop dispatcher, while reporting a burglary in progress, "If you get a report of a guy with a rifle, that's me."  [popcorn]

And I almost made the news  day. Lived on a corner in a one block wide neighborhood, two main N/S streets with side streets. I head out my door with 3-4 slung long guns, couple of long gun cases, range bag, all in prep for a big day at the range. And there is a marked cruiser blocking my street. Ooookay. Peer down to other end of block, same same. Not good. Officer Friendly hasn't looked my way yet so I ease back inside and start figurung who called me in and why. It took a bit before I realized that I had forgotten the president was in town, christening of CVN-76 was underway next door in the shipyard.
Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: RocketMan on August 11, 2012, 01:42:19 PM
I suspect that in many of these cases, the 911 caller indicates early on that they are fearful of the MWAG, and it's then "off to the races".  There won't be any follow-up questions about what the person with the gun is doing, is there threatening behavior, etc., to determine the legitimacy of the call. The troops with the toys roll and the fun begins.
Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: gunsmith on August 11, 2012, 01:46:36 PM
This.

Noisy busy body neighbors with issues is one reason i'm glad I live in a place where, if they can see me, they are trespassing.

  :cool: =D

I sometimes dress only in sneakers after a shower and dry off in the sun
Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: BlueStarLizzard on August 11, 2012, 01:59:06 PM
  :cool: =D

I sometimes dress only in sneakers after a shower and dry off in the sun

I will admit to occasionally taking advantage of a passing rain storm whem the power is out and I need a shower...
Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: Tallpine on August 11, 2012, 05:30:21 PM
I will admit to occasionally taking advantage of a passing rain storm whem the power is out and I need a shower...

(https://armedpolitesociety.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcache2.allpostersimages.com%2Fp%2FLRG%2F10%2F1068%2FPFPL000Z%2Fposters%2Fstoecklein-david-r-cowgirl-in-heaven.jpg&hash=6d1108d854a9965b9d148395a653478d2a1457ef)
Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: Monkeyleg on August 11, 2012, 05:32:04 PM
(https://armedpolitesociety.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcache2.allpostersimages.com%2Fp%2FLRG%2F10%2F1068%2FPFPL000Z%2Fposters%2Fstoecklein-david-r-cowgirl-in-heaven.jpg&hash=6d1108d854a9965b9d148395a653478d2a1457ef)

If that's your place, can I come to visit?
Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: Fly320s on August 11, 2012, 05:59:15 PM
(https://armedpolitesociety.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcache2.allpostersimages.com%2Fp%2FLRG%2F10%2F1068%2FPFPL000Z%2Fposters%2Fstoecklein-david-r-cowgirl-in-heaven.jpg&hash=6d1108d854a9965b9d148395a653478d2a1457ef)

Guy needs a hair cut.
Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: Hawkmoon on August 11, 2012, 08:17:33 PM
I suspect that in many of these cases, the 911 caller indicates early on that they are fearful of the MWAG, and it's then "off to the races".  There won't be any follow-up questions about what the person with the gun is doing, is there threatening behavior, etc., to determine the legitimacy of the call. The troops with the toys roll and the fun begins.

Correct.

And that's exactly the problem. Heck, want to rob a bank? Bribe some kid you've never seen before to open carry an airsoft pistol or BB gun on the other side of town. The entire force will respond to the MWAG call, leaving the bank neighborhood with zero coverage.
Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: seeker_two on August 12, 2012, 08:22:09 AM
I will admit to occasionally taking advantage of a passing rain storm whem the power is out and I need a shower...

(https://armedpolitesociety.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fdata.whicdn.com%2Fimages%2F14446323%2Fstoecklein-david-r-cowgirl-in-tub_large.jpg&hash=b6d4a785412d011da9fe09edf201c3ebd3b0351f)

Better angle.... =D

Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: AmbulanceDriver on August 13, 2012, 09:58:49 AM
This makes me laugh a little. When I lived in the Pearl in Portland (yuppie community and probably the most liberal part of Portland), I would have to park on the street, generally not in front of my apartment.  When I would go to the range, I didn't ever want to leave anything in the car on the street, so I'd do everything in one giant load. 

I would walk down the street with at least 3 rifles (usually more like 6) strung across my chest (all of them EBRs) and a backpack full of ammo.  I always got the weirdest looks as I'd make that block and a half trek to the car.  Nobody ever called the cops, but one lady got really scared one time and asked me not to shoot her. ???

As a fellow Portlandite (thankfully, in the suburbs!) I can picture this, and it makes me laugh my butt off...  :)
Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: zxcvbob on August 13, 2012, 11:16:12 AM
I will admit to occasionally taking advantage of a passing rain storm whem the power is out and I need a shower...

How often do those three events converge?
Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: Scout26 on August 13, 2012, 01:09:58 PM
I would say that A) could easily cause B), and therefore she would have to C) !!!
Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: Marnoot on August 13, 2012, 02:54:31 PM
(https://armedpolitesociety.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fdata.whicdn.com%2Fimages%2F14446323%2Fstoecklein-david-r-cowgirl-in-tub_large.jpg&hash=b6d4a785412d011da9fe09edf201c3ebd3b0351f)

Better angle.... =D



Fabio?
Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: RocketMan on August 13, 2012, 08:01:52 PM
As a fellow Portlandite (thankfully, in the suburbs!) I can picture this, and it makes me laugh my butt off...  :)

As a former Portlandite I can picture this, and it makes me laugh my butt off...
Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: Perd Hapley on August 13, 2012, 09:11:12 PM
As someone who's seen several episodes of Portlandia, I can picture this and it makes me  :rofl:
Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: MrsSmith on August 14, 2012, 11:45:15 AM
Cable and phone hooked up this morning in rental house, finally, so I'm sitting here catching up on APS before I head out to a couple meetings. See something moving out the window and glance out, man with a fishing rod on one shoulder and a long gun on the other shoulder is walking down the road. That was half an hour ago, no police car has gone by after him, nor is one likely to.

This is one reason I love Georgia.
Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: Tallpine on August 14, 2012, 02:27:13 PM
...

This is one reason I love Georgia.

You escaped Commiefornia ?   :lol:
Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: Perd Hapley on August 14, 2012, 03:48:53 PM
Cable and phone hooked up this morning in rental house, finally, so I'm sitting here catching up on APS before I head out to a couple meetings. See something moving out the window and glance out, man with a fishing rod on one shoulder and a long gun on the other shoulder is walking down the road. That was half an hour ago, no police car has gone by after him, nor is one likely to.

This is one reason I love Georgia.

The Wild, Wild South. I've been scouring the internet, but there are no news stories on this. How many people did he kill?
Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: Fly320s on August 14, 2012, 06:13:21 PM
The Wild, Wild South. I've been scouring the internet, but there are no news stories on this. How many people did he kill?

Who? The cable guy or the phone guy? My bet is the cable guy; those guys are wacky.
Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: MrsSmith on August 14, 2012, 06:47:46 PM
You escaped Commiefornia ?   :lol:

Yup. And have had a pistol on my side since I cross the CA/AZ state line.

The Wild, Wild South. I've been scouring the internet, but there are no news stories on this. How many people did he kill?

Hold your breath and wait for it.

On another note, when I met the landlord here, an older couple, the only question he had for me was, "You have any weapons young lady? Woman alone ought to be armed. You do? Good. You know how to use 'em? Good."
Also found out that a couple friends here have been doing a little subtle work to make sure I'm left alone. Guy who handles issues with the water system came by the other day to make sure all was working right and he said, "So word has it you're a NRA instructor. I reckon ain't gonna be nobody messin' with you, seein' as how they're likely to get themselves a belly full o' lead."

I didn't bother to correct him that I'm not yet a weapons instructor. Had to smile though.
Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: RevDisk on August 15, 2012, 01:10:31 PM

MrsSmith, about as awkward as a very nice young FBI agent asking if I was armed.

"Uhh...  Yea, I have one or two..."
"Good. Be sure to keep up on your range time."

 ???
Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: Carl N. Brown on August 16, 2012, 05:47:38 AM
Given that there are 65 to 80,000,000 gun owners in America and far less than 1 out of 400 are gun criminals, the vast majority of gun owners are law abiding citizens: there should be some police education on dispatching Man With A Gun calls (list of pertinent questions) and some accountability for false reporting MWAG.

Reporting MWAG on someone carrying a gun case and ammo can from their home to their vehicle is moonbatty hysteria, and ought to result in the dispatcher suggesting the caller chill out, 911 is for real emergencies not manifestations of hoplophobia.

Given the phenomenon of "SWATting" (calling police anonymously or with faked name or using spoofed phone and reporting "murder in progress" or "pot smell coming from premises") to prank one's enemies, I wonder if bogus "MWAGging" will be the "prank" call of the future?

Title: Re: Carry your AR from your vehicle to your house, meet the local PD
Post by: MrsSmith on August 16, 2012, 12:23:11 PM
Reporting MWAG on someone carrying a gun case and ammo can from their home to their vehicle is moonbatty hysteria, and ought to result in the dispatcher suggesting the caller chill out, 911 is for real emergencies not manifestations of hoplophobia.

Given the phenomenon of "SWATting" (calling police anonymously or with faked name or using spoofed phone and reporting "murder in progress" or "pot smell coming from premises") to prank one's enemies, I wonder if bogus "MWAGging" will be the "prank" call of the future?

Folks who call out SAR needlessly end up paying for those services in some cases, if I'm not mistaken. Maybe we ought to charge these idiots for dragging the cops out on needless calls too. Hit 'em in the wallet - it's something they all understand.

MrsSmith, about as awkward as a very nice young FBI agent asking if I was armed.

"Uhh...  Yea, I have one or two..."
"Good. Be sure to keep up on your range time."

 ???


And you kept a straight face?  =D