Strange car outside

Status
Not open for further replies.
It's also unconstitutional if the fellow holding the weapon didn't threaten anyone with it.

Colorado law:

Menacing (18-3-206)

A person commits the crime of menacing if, by any threat or physical action, he or she knowingly places or attempts to place another person in fear of imminent serious bodily injury. Menacing is a class 3 misdemeanor, but, it is a class 5 felony if committed:
(a) By the use of a deadly weapon or any article used or fashioned in a manner to cause a person to reasonably believe that the article is a deadly weapon; or
(b) By the person representing verbally or otherwise that he or she is armed with a deadly weapon.
 
Colorado law:

Menacing (18-3-206)

A person commits the crime of menacing if, by any threat or physical action, he or she knowingly places or attempts to place another person in fear of imminent serious bodily injury. Menacing is a class 3 misdemeanor, but, it is a class 5 felony if committed:
(a) By the use of a deadly weapon or any article used or fashioned in a manner to cause a person to reasonably believe that the article is a deadly weapon; or
(b) By the person representing verbally or otherwise that he or she is armed with a deadly weapon.
Click to expand...

So what part of this did the homeowner violate? If he merely sat on his porch holding a rifle, exactly what part of this law did he violate?
 
"war" story; off-topic incident...

The "hey, I'll smoke-check anybody you comes near my spread!" mindset won't go to far with the cops or a grand jury, :rolleyes:.
It's a shad off the subject, but I recall a seriously ill man in rural GA, who lacked medical benefits. He walked out & shot his area's USPS mail carrier! :eek:
He heard federal BoP prisoners get full dental & medical while incarcerated.
The wounded USPS mail man wasn't to thrilled with that plan.
This took place about 4/5 years ago.
Strange people "lurking" around your home or property isn't always a minor deal either.
In 2010, a well known Hollywood stunt performer & stunt trainer I know had a "unwelcome" visitor to his large ranch in Lake County, FL.
My friend(a combat veteran of Korea) & a few of his stunt school cadre/students discovered a hapless PI "hiding" in the bushes on his property.
The local sheriff was called out & the PI sheepishly told the group how he was there working a worker's comp fraud case. :rolleyes:

True story!
 
Awareness is a good thing, but a lot of that depends on where you live.

In a high density urban environ, you might not know who's car is parked in front of your house. In a suburban environ, you might or might not know.

I used to live, literally, down a half-mile of bad road and the road ran out in my front yard. If you came down there, you either knew me personally, or you were "by-God" lost.
Click to expand...

PawPaw has the way of it.
 
If its legal in your area I would walk outside and let them know I am armed, I have the description of the vehicle and people inside
Click to expand...

Isn't there a case in Florida going on right now about this...

All this seems a bit extreme. Do you not have neighbors nearby who have friends etc.?

Some of these opinions should be embarrassing, frankly.

This is a DIFFERENT car, EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE, over the course of YEARS.

Anyone can seriously tell me that they've never stopped their car on a unknown street for a few minutes? You've never had someone turn on their lights in their house when you've stopped on a street? What do you do? Most of us drive away because we don't want to bother someone and or have them come out and ask us what's up when NOTHING is up, we just had to stop for a minute for any of 10,000 reasons.

Go outside and take pictures? What will they do? They'll leave! How suspicious! No... they'll leave because there's some guy taking pictures of them for no damn reason! They'll be weirded out!

Go out side and wander around with a gun?

Go TELL THEM you have a gun? You've got to be kidding! If I pulled my car over and you came out and told me you had a gun, I'd be calling the cops ON YOU! I would absolutely consider that a threat.
Click to expand...

I agree. Location of course is the key and context.
For kicks and giggles, I'd advise that the next time this occurs, walk out in a clown costume. Bring two whipped cream pies. When the time is right, you'll know what to do. :D
 
I know a lot of guys do the broom sweep of the porch. They see a stranger and start sweeping just letting the stranger know they are there.
Click to expand...

OK, I've done that. I did that last week, messing around with a water sprinkler in the front. Of course mostly I was turning on the sprinklers because I thought they were salespeople or JW about make a run trhough the neighborhood and I didn't want to be bothered. ;)
 
So what part of this did the homeowner violate? If he merely sat on his porch holding a rifle, exactly what part of this law did he violate?

You'd have to ask the DA, who prosecuted him.
 
I'd like to read some actual details about that sitting on the front porch case.
Click to expand...

This has some good details of the case and trail-
http://www.colorado4x4.org/vbb/archive/index.php/t-164807.html

I could only find one article spun a few times by the same new company-
http://www.coloradodaily.com/ci_12960708
http://www.dailycamera.com/ci_12960708

My version was quite vague I heard the story 4yrs ago. I guess their was also a couple of words exchanged and possible "trespassing".

And it was a SKS not a AR15
 
deepcreek, from the articles you linked, it sounds like the only ones doing any felony menacing were the SWAT team.
 
You'd have to ask the DA, who prosecuted him.
Click to expand...
And lost, apparently. And though I'm not familiar with the circumstances of this case, and cannot state with certainty that this is what happened, grudge prosecutions are far from rare.
 
deepcreek, from the articles you linked, it sounds like the only ones doing any felony menacing were the SWAT team.
Click to expand...

I am just glad the guy accused had the resources to fight the false charges.

The census worker claimed he was "menaced" then went on with his work day until it was covenant to call police ? Sounds like he wasn't to frightened to me.

" As I came around the loop and headed back towards the defendants house I saw him standing there holding a “big black gun”. The defendant was obviously angry and was yelling something but my windows were closed and I could not hear him. I drove past, stopped once or twice, then continued on and took a few more map spot readings. After thinking about the situation, I found a local establishment and went inside to borrow a phone (cell phone service was not available). I called 911 "
 
Displaying a firearm is essentially escalating the situation to a much higher level which will lead to trouble for all involved. I think we should not escalate a situation if we dont have to. It all depends on how the stranger is acting at the time however.

If the stranger is lurking at the edge of the property on the sidewalk or parked in the street then no need to display anything. If the stranger is charging the front door on the other hand its time to have it out.
 
If the stranger is lurking at the edge of the property on the sidewalk or parked in the street then no need to display anything. If the stranger is charging the front door on the other hand its time to have it out.
Click to expand...

Here in Arizona, we "have it out" all the time. Again, not all areas share the same area of freedom of carry as we do here in AZ. Grandmothers, college kids and old geezers walk around openly carrying. I literally see at least a couple other people carrying open, every time I grocery shop, go to Costco, Wally's etc. We just don't have the "Oh My God" factor here like they do some places. Neighbors on five sides of me rake leaves, mow lawns, retrieve mail while open carrying.

That probably seems hard to grasp for some less fortunate residents of other states.


Sgt Lumpy
 
SgtLumpy makes my point even clearer. I live in AZ as well. Outsiders may find it strange to see the amount of guns openly carried and the willingness of strangers to approach and question others. That is life in the Grand Canyon State. You might live in a state where the populace tends to hide under a bed and call the po po. You might live in a state somewhere in between. There is such variety in America as to what may be appropriate.
 
Has happened to me before, 2 different vehicles. They werent the usual cars i see on my road as the traffic is generally all residents of my street... Long story short i watched them one night and it was kids what i assumed to be high schoolers smoking pot. Both cars, pretty sure different kids...
 
HisDudeness said:
SgtLumpy makes my point even clearer. I live in AZ as well. Outsiders may find it strange to see the amount of guns openly carried and the willingness of strangers to approach and question others. That is life in the Grand Canyon State. You might live in a state where the populace tends to hide under a bed and call the po po. You might live in a state somewhere in between. There is such variety in America as to what may be appropriate.
Click to expand...

In east ky-tn area open carry is not a big deal. I see kids in there early 20's in wal Mart OC. No one says or thinks anything about it. There's a lot of hunting there. Connecticut or somewhere might be different. If a suspicious car was out front of a home, the homeowner wouldn't need to let them know they're armed... Everybody IS!
Little old ladies, kids.. It doesn't matter. Everyone has between 1-50. At least in the area of my farm
 
There is a certain inconvenient unpopular truth which I will state now. If Officer Smith discharges their weapon into someone for whatever reason then they have the law, the unions, the chief and lots of lawyers behind them. Most officer involved shootings are ultimately ruled justified and written off by the public as a tragic situation even when the person shot didnt even have a weapon.

On the other hand civilians do not get off so easily...

This is why I subscribe to the philosophy of not escalating a situation. I encourage involving the police when possible. Its simply not worth it in regards to yourself and the community of owners. Any shooting by a civilian can be used to champion the cause of banning firearms like the Bidens of the world want to do. If Biden had his way no one would own a firearm.

Running around displaying your firearm for situations which dont call for it helps the Bidens of the world champion their cause. Look what happened in California where it was legal to open carry an unloaded firearm. Some rights activists took to the street showing their arms and then they made new laws banning the practice. So its not a good idea to test the waters in that way because who wins? Joe Biden and his merry men.
 
johnelmore - May I ask what state you're in?

You seem to want to escalate the legal and common open carrying that my state does with some kind of "confronting people with a gun". Your last post takes it even to the extreme and compares LEOs vs non LEOs shooting people.

I think you're kind of molehilling here sir. Nobody in the thread suggested shooting or even confronting anyone with a gun. You seem focused on the "Oh I see a gun" issue. That may be an issue in your area, or maybe it's just specific to your personal way of viewing things. It's not in my state, nor in my personal way of viewing things.


Sgt Lumpy
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top