Man puts Car out of its misery

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Broward man shoots car to put it out of misery

LAUDERDALE-BY-THE-SEA, Fla. (AP) -- A man with car trouble is in trouble after shooting his 1994 Chrysler LeBaron.

John McGivney, 64, pumped five rounds from a .380-caliber semiautomatic into the hood, Broward County sheriff's deputies said Tuesday.

When the property manager at his apartment complex asked what he was doing, McGivney said, "I'm putting my car out of its misery." He tucked his gun in a pocket and went back inside.

Deputies responding to a report of gunshots Friday ordered McGivney to come out of his apartment and arrested him on a misdemeanor charge of discharging a firearm in public. He posted $100 bail Saturday.

McGivney said the car has been giving him trouble for years and has "outlived its usefulness." He called the shooting "dumb" and worries he will be evicted. But he doesn't regret it.

"I think every guy in the universe has wanted to do it," McGivney told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel on Tuesday. "It was worth every damn minute in that jail."

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About what I'd expect from Florida

Senile has-beens with cars and guns they are now too incompetent to operate responsibly. :rolleyes:
 
just more kerosene for the anti gunners to throw on the fire, totally irresponsible behaviour. that guy shouldnt own firearms. if you own 50 acres out in the country then fire away,but in an apartment complex parking lot? that guy is an idiot.
 
personaly 9mmsnoopy

I think your giving him to much credit,
Your right People like him make it worse for the rest of us and great for the anti gunners
 
I agree with almost all of your post, snoopy, except for:
...that guy shouldnt own firearms.
Click to expand...
It's a bit of a stretch to say that this man should be denied a basic human right because of this.
 
We have to remember, this guy is 64... you know, before the GCA and all the other crap. He grew up in "Free America" while we just exist in "pre-police state america".

Otherwise, besides him thinking that America was still a free country, I would agree that he should have either drove it or had it towed to the country, picked something abit bigger, and blasted away :D.

As for the guy no longer should be able to own guns, hey, you go first (give up your guns) and while you're at it, give up your car, the use of flame, power tools, hand tools, etc.. because I'm sure that we've all done something stupid with at least one of the above.

If not, then I will call everyone that says they didn't (with anything) a liar :p .

Wayne
 
bluesman, what if in the course of "killing his car" he accidently hit and killed an innocent bystander, would you still feel the same? i would think that everyone would agree that mentally unstable people shouldnt own firearms, sounds to me like that guy has a screw loose.


usp45, if i had a buck for everytime i did something stupid i could put donald trump out of business, but i can honestly say ive never done anything remotely as irresponsible and stupid as to discharge a firearm in a residential area, at a CAR no less!
 
Snoopy - Did you say "What if?" What if the hound hadn't stopped to take a leak? He'd have caught the rabbit!

We're not speculating about "what ifs", we're judging this man by his irresponsible actions. IMO he is a poor reflection on gun owners and should be put on trial for the misdemeanor charge of discharging a firearm in public.

He should not have his right to self defense infringed for this, though.
 
I agree with TheBluesMan.

In the first place, the man is right...we've all been there. Yeah, it was dumb and reckless, but I don't think it was so awful that he should lose such an important right. We can punish him enough without it to ensure that he thinks twice the next time.

And it's true, no one did get hurt.
 
In 1992 I responded to back up another LEO on US 1 in Miami-Dade. I pulled up and saw a older green and rust Oldmobile 98. The driver was a little old lady. The other LEO and I were amazed by HOW she was driving. Her steering wheel had come off the steering column. She was driving the landyaght with a pair of Vise-Lock pliers for a steering wheel. People make do with what they have. I can sympathize with shooting a vehicle. IIRC, Bill Mauldin drew a cartoon of a grizzled old Sergeant shooting his Jeep with a 1911. I have taken an old PC and monitor out for a last ride in the country.
 
what if in the course of "killing his car" he accidently hit and killed an innocent bystander
Click to expand...

Then he should be put in jail for doing so.

But, lets put this on another foot, "what if" you were out in the woods, you checked all the rules, and started to fire and you hit and killed someone that ventured into the area, unknown to you? Should you too be devoid of your Rights? Wouldn't you be just as stupid because you didn't check all the rules after and before every shot?

This man apparently hit his target, no harm done. I will admit that it was a stupid thing to do but it's not my right to judge the man either, on age or mental capacity.

I also think that this man got too angry and did something stupid. In no way am I standing up for what he did, he acted human and used the tool that he had at the time. It would have been stupid to use any tool in such an area but as human, we don't always think things through before we do them. If we did, we would be called "R2D2" all the time, nothing more then programmed robots.

As for the anti's it doesn't matter what we do, how safe we are, or anything, they will use anything and everything, even if they have to make it up, to demonize us. I say, screw the anti's and what they stand for.

You know, what really ticks me off is that this happened and didn't harm anyone, was stupid, and we worry that it's going to be used against us, but when the MMM member shot and killed the wrong person and the other one had a gun with a SN that was removed, we didn't get angry enough to post to the world our thoughts and the double standards that were used. We are too much on the defensive as we should be on the offensive. That is the reason that I left the NRA, they would apologize for anything that a gun owner did but didn't beat the left when they did even worse.

We sit back and worry too much about what others will think of us and don't do enough to push on with an attack as it's given to us. When we win a point, we apologize and back up two, when we lose a point, we apologize, demonize, and condemn as we back down even further.

Probably not the best place or time to have a rant, but here we sit, condemning this man, saying that he shouldn't own guns anylonger, sitting high on our horse as those that own are taken down one by one, and us not even thinking of giving a benefit of the doubt, or thinking why, or even wondering if he did ensure that all rules were taken into account and then shot his own property.

It seems we are fast to jump on the wagon, on either side, and just leave our brothers in arms to swing in the wind.

If the guy would have taken a lead pipe, steel pipe, hammer, knife, screwdriver, or even their fists to the car, would that been okay? Not to mention that the objects above have killed alot more people then a person with a gun ever has.

Yes, it was a stupid act. Yes, I disagree with what he did. No, I will not condemn him to not being able to own legal tools because of.

Sometimes, I just wish that we all just sit back and think about the words that we say. And to those who are hell bent on commenting, why don't you put some fact into the posts instead of "I think". Thinking is what damned man in the first place, and it's still the aspect that will damn man in the future.

Wayne
 
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