General

[Pardini]

I wonder how long it's going to be before we see a cop shot because he didn't shoot a kid with a handgun because he had painted the muzzle orange.

[Pickle]

Originally Posted by Azzy

I might add to this what I have added before in the milsim look argument. I have a few friends who are officers in the local area of West homestead. Not the nicest area, its economic downfall was when the steal mills all closed and the mill workers left. Now its mostly rundown bars and welfare projects, which get interesting.

A few years ago one of the local gangs started painting their real guns green adn orange, to try and trick cops. And by gangs I mean 16 year old types dealing drugs.

Ive been told they dont hesitate when they have a gun pointed at them, no matter the color. They do use common sense in every situation though, and I know I havent heard about many kid shootings over this way.

Azzy, if you could point me in the direction of validating this information I would appreciate it. I want to see if it is worth passing on to my co-workers.

[K_Obeastly]

glad to see someone else brought up the painting of real guns, I was thinking I'd make it all the way through and have to post it myself.

I think it may be time to start replacing "sex ed" or maybee spanish with a class named "how to interact with officers of the law." It doesn't seem that sex ed is helping all that much so we may as well give the kids info they can use. It's not a favorite show of mine but I have seen many episodes of "COPS" and there are a lot of cases on there where a person gets pulled over for speeding and then goes to jail because they think it should be okay to punch a cop. One of the people I play pb with is a lawyer and after mentioning this thought to him he gave a few examples of seeing this same behavior from clients/defendants. It's just sad that people in this country are that stupid even after we throw so much money into public education.

I've only been pulled over once while having paintball gear in the car and I rolled down the window and hung both hands out untill the officer got up to the door and I could tell him they were there so they didn't get mistaken for anything else. I think clarifying the situation to the officer is the duty of the person in question and not the officer. I would rather return home alive and I should assume that cops do as well, don't do things that would make them feel they need hurt you to keep themselves safe.

[Pickle]

When we live in a society that advocates better training for cops because they shot a mentally handicapped person who was pointing a gun at him I doubt that "cop ed" is going to help. Hmmmmm.....that sounds critical of K Obeastly and that is not the case. It is meant to be critical of idiots who think it is wrong to shoot a person who is aiming a weapon at them regardless of mental capacity. Cop ed is a good idea, but like sex ed, it is best left to the parents.

[Azzy]

This was info passed to me from a West Homstead officer who works occasionally at our field.

Although a google search did turn up this gem -

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=2045782&page=1

[K_Obeastly]

When we live in a society that advocates better training for cops because they shot a mentally handicapped person who was pointing a gun at him I doubt that "cop ed" is going to help.

not too critical of me as this would be what I would hope to change through proper education though as has been said by many people all over, it needs to be taught by parents. In some cases cops do screw up but for the most part I think keeping out of violent confrontations with the police is the duty of the citizen. I've delt with police on a few occasions and other than accidently touching a finger while hitting them up for d.a.r.e. cards (while drunk of course) ive never touched one or had any sort of conflict with them.

I don't suppose we will ever see much of a change in the mindset of the people when the media, congressmen and so many flip their top when a soldier puts too many bullets into someone trying to kill them.

[podup365.com]

This was my biggest problem with the airsoft players at a local indoor paintball business. The indoor hosted paintball open play in one area and airsoft open play in another part, but the common area was shared by all.

The paintball players all came in from their parked cars with their gear in bags and cases. I didn't see one paintball marker exposed in the parking lot.

The airsoft players, a lot of them dressed in their milsim uniforms (which makes it look worse) arrived for afternoon play. I only saw one of them using a case to bring his airsoft pistol/rifle into the building. Everyone else was hauling these realistic looking airsoft "guns" in out of the backseats and trunks of their vehicles in view of anybody driving by down the road. From over 50 yards away the scene looked like a group of terrorist were practicing to take over the city. That also means that around 30 people walked out to their cars from their house that day, in broad daylight, dressed the same way, and carrying what appeared to anyone who looked like they had a real weapon in their hands. Some people just don't think about, others might think it's "cool". That sort of activity can get you shot, and not just by the police, either.

I watched a set of older teenagers hop out of their dad's truck as he dropped them off, with their airsoft rifles in their hands! I stopped and spoke to the dad at his truck, to quietly recommend that he get cases for them to put the rifles into. His answer was "meh, those are just toys", the real guns get locked up in cases at home. When I mentioned that a police officer wouldn't have time to decide if those were toys or not, his response was that he would sue the police department for everything they had if they shot one of his kids while holding an airsoft rifle. I casually mentioned that he could do that, but his kid(s) would be seriously wounded or already dead. He decided the conversation was over and drove away mad at me.

When I casually mentioned that the business owner should require everyone to use a case to bring their paintball or airsoft equipment into the building, I was shrugged off as "one of those loony, paranoid, and overly serious paintball players". Some people just don't get it. The same business wasn't requiring the airsoft players to use a barrel covering device in the staging area because "those airsoft guns can be turned off". That was the last time I ever set foot into that business. They closed their doors a few months ago.. I say good riddance.

Is common sense lost on people these days?

[FeedTheDogg]

I'd like to see a specific story that includes the details of this. I'm pretty damn sure a cop wouldn't shoot someone with an airsoft gun if they 1) were carrying it a non-threatning way (like inside a bag so it couldn't be seen and then mistaken for a gun) and 2) I'm sure that if the kid saw the swat and threw it to the ground (assuming there was time) The cop would not of killed an unarmed person surrendering. Furthermore, I too am still frustrated by people saying it is the items fault and not the individuals using them. People can find away to kill/get killed with anything and its peoples faults, not the inanimate objects in their possession. I mean, toasters are deadly if you put them in the bathtub and try to take a shower while you make your toast but no one rushes out to ban them. Point is, most these kids deaths are caused by a lack of common sense. I believe the family should be the one responsible for educating their kids at an early age about their "toys" so that something like this doesn't happen. I think that Swat team officer should of been given some kind of medal or award, because he (assuming their are no incriminating details to the story we don't know about) sounds like he did his job right. If it was a real gun we could of had another Columbine/Santee School shooting situation and maybe 10 or more dead innocents.

[Christian Nelson]

I think part of the problem is the mindset in the US that as soon as they see someone with a gun, they assume he/she is going to be violent or something with it.

Years ago, people carried weapons on thier person as a matter of course, it wasn't seen as threatening to posses it. In fact the second ammendment not only garuntees the right to own, but to carry arms as well.

I wish open carry was more prevalent in society, so people didn't get thier undies in a bunch over seeing someone carrying a gun.

Yes, if someone is behaving in a threatening manner, no problem, shoot them. But just for having one in your hand?

Yes, if the cops tell you to drop it, it should be on the ground, but I am talking about why where the cops called in the first place?

Kid brought it to school, did anyone bother to find out if it was real before they called the swat team? Was he pointing it at people, and threatening, or was he just fooling around with it, or showing it to his buddies?

Our society has gotten a severe case of gun phobia, and it isn't healthy.

[craltal]

I blame the bleeding heart, Let's legislate everything mentality the country is moving towards. It reminds me of the lady who spilled hot coffee on her lap and sued McDonalds and won. For some reason it is being drilled into everyone's head that stupidity is alright and we need to be the all happy about it all and ignore all the bad stuff.

Just a few months ago, there was a car accident in my town. There were 8 teenagers piled into a '90's Jeep Wrangler and the driver hit a curb that had been poured that morning. He lost control, hit a tree, ejected all of the passengers, and died himself. The local media was trying to blame the road crew for not painting the wet concrete bright yellow so he could see it. My point being, instead of admitting that there was "human error" involved we must find a faceless entity to blame.

/rant