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?