Your actions with respect to the Law

J

Jordan

New member
Imagine you live in, or are visiting, a rural area where open shooting is legal.

You hear someone shooting and among the sporatic "POP,POP, POP" an occasional but obvious full auto burst. You don't know if it's an approved class III weapon, if it's one of those "Hell Fire" things, or if it's an illegal convert.

Do you:
a) mention it casually to your LEO buddy next time you see him and figure he'll handle the tip appropriately?
b) think to yourself, "Lucky bastard!" and go about you business never thinking about it or mentioning it again?
c) phone in a tip to LE immediately thinking, "If the shooters *are* legal it will get sorted out no problem. If not, well...I've done the responsible thing" ?
d) hop in your car and race towards the sound hoping to make a new shooting buddy?


Now let's try another one.
You're where ever.. say in a friends backyard. And you distinctly smell marijuana smoke wafting over the neighbors fence. Same options (basically)--

Do you:
a) mention it to a LEO buddy someday?
b) ignore it?
c) call in the tip to LE immediately?
d) run and knock on their door to meet them thinking "Here's a fellow citizen for personal freedom!!"

The reason I ask is both of things have happened to me (several times really) and I'm curious how you folks would handle them.

I'll watch the trend of the thread awhile before I grace you with my opinion (you knew I had one!).
 
Part A: B with D leanings. If it is legal to open shoot it really is none of my business (unless I'm in the impact area). If I happen to find out who it is I would then make a judgement call on if I wanted him as a shooting buddy. If he has a Class 3 then great, but if he made his own fully auto then I don't want to be anywhere near him if the alphabet soup boys come calling.

Part B: B only. It isn't hurting me but I don't want to participate in it.
 
Mind your own d*mn business.

They aren't hurting anyone, so why butt in?

I was at the range with a buddy. As we were leaving, I noticed a rifle with a barrel length that looked to be less than 16". I asked him if we should inquire. We both looked at each other and said, "no, none of our business." Now, we don't know if this thing is a registered weapon or not, and we didn't care. It's his business.

Pot smoker - mind my own d*mn business.

[This message has been edited by fight4yourrights (edited May 18, 2000).]
 
I would mind my own business and say good for that dude.

------------------
Thane (NRA GOA JPFO SAF CAN)
MD C.A.N.OP
tbellomo@home.com
http://homes.acmecity.com/thematrix/digital/237/cansite/can.html
www.members.home.net/tbellomo/tbellomo/index.htm
"As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression.
In both instances there is a twilight when everything remains
seemingly unchanged. And it is in such twilight that we all
must be most aware of change in the air - however slight -
lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness."
--Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas
 
I had noticed a Norinko Mak90 Sporter with a threaded barrel and mentioned the possible legal remifications to the owner (at a store). My announcement did not produce any alarm.

Fingering anyone for a gestapo or a related institution is plain wrong, IMO. Follow the Golden Rule.
 
Part A: Innocent until proven guilty and let someone else prove him guilty. As far as I know he's legally & safely exercising an inalienable human right. He’s in a legal shooting area and people can legally own full-auto weapons... what right do I have to call foul?

Part B: (This will probably make me lose any friends here). You said that the smoke is wafting into my yard (maybe I'm taking it too literally). To me, that's like someone shooting full auto... into my yard! He can do whatever he wants in the privacy of his own home as long as it doesn't cause me grief... but he has no right to inflict his vices upon me and my family. He'd get a pleasant, mature visit from me first (I always believe in giving someone a chance to make things right), but, if the problem persisted, yup... I'd call the cops. Sorry if this pi$$es some of you off, but I think personal freedom goes hand in hand with tact and intelligence.
 
JJR: Please tell me it's not as bad as somebody shooting full auto into your yard! As for the rest, you shouldn't lose any friends over it. Your yard is YOURS, man. ;)

By the way, Jordan was going to let us know where he stands. :confused:

[This message has been edited by Ledbetter (edited May 18, 2000).]
 
For the shooter: leave him alone.

For the smoker: if I had kids, the cops would be on the way. Don't want that influence around the little ones. Since I don't have kids, probably do nothing unless they start dealing from the house, or if their activies start attracting the dangerous type.

Doing drugs is not a right, and it is against the law. The two situations are not comparable because of that fact.
 
Originally posted by Jordan:

The reason I ask is both of things have happened to me (several times really) and I'm curious how you folks would handle them.


Ummmmmm.... maybe it's obvious to everyone else, but: Were you on the recieving end of one of the lettered choices? :D

I tend to leave people to their own, unless gross negligence is involved. A:I'd hafta SEE the guy lobbing those rounds in an unsafe direction. B:If he's dealing in MY neighborhood, the authorities are gonna hear about it.
Click to expand...
 
I am (for the most part) greatly encouraged by what I see you guys saying! Especially on the second scenario!! I expected 80% "mind your own damned business" response to the first scenario but a real sorry showing (30-40% MYOB) for part two.

I wonder if gun owners are starting to abandon their programming, recognize the "drug war" sham, and now even identify with other groups that have been victimized by the PC bigots.

The Liberatarians on this board should be pleased with these results.

Fight4yourrights: "...saw <16" barrel..none of our business." Good job man! I know too many shooters who would really feel it their DUTY to "bust" that guy... sad.

JJR: In my scenario, it was just the smell coming over the fence... not the smoke. But try not to take either of the given scenarios too literally. It's just the ETHICS of the situation that I'm curious about.

for the record-- i *personally* am no fan of recreational drugs.. but a huge fan of individual choice/responsibility.

[This message has been edited by Jordan (edited May 18, 2000).]
 
When they came for the gun owners, I could do nothing since I don't own a gun...

------------------
...defend the 2nd., it protects us all.
No fate but what we make...
 
Mind my own damn business. If what someone else is doing isn't hurting anyone else, he can have at it (although I would be tempted to make a new shooting buddy with someone who had an autoweapon....never fired one before.)

rbbrew wrote; <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Doing drugs is not a right, and it is against the law.[/quote]

Owning unregistered autoweapons is against the law; why didn't you turn him in for that?

While "doing drugs" may not be a right per se, it is covered under the right to life, expressed in the following manner: my life, and the fruits of my labor, are MINE to do with AS I PLEASE.
As long as you don't cause harm to other people, don't deeprive other people of their property, and don't infringe on the rights of others, anything you want to do should be 100% legal.
But that's not the kind of country we live in...to bad the founding fathers weren't radical enough....

Interesting to note that the Constitution nowhere mentions the basic rights mentioned in the Declaration; life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The right to life is the first of all rights; it's because of this right that murder, assault, and slavery are illegal.

------------------
Shoot straight & make big holes, regards, Richard at The Shottist's Center

[This message has been edited by 45King (edited May 18, 2000).]

[This message has been edited by 45King (edited May 18, 2000).]
 
Both cases, not my problem. I'll stay aware though, watching for signs of escalating problems. In the former case, there are ways of being legal in even anti-full-auto NY; if the guy is legal then he's already gone thru enough hassle; if the gun is illegal then he's probably someone I'd be better off not being aquainted with, much less annoying. In the latter case, while I'm anti-drug I'm (a) pro-neighbor in general (leave each other alone if no problems) and (b) as long as it doesn't involve me it's not my problem (don't know what pot smells like anyway).

As for the related <16" barrel question, I _have_ a short shotgun (14" AOW), and would be quite annoyed if someone called the cops on me, as I've already gone through enough hassle to legally own the thing (fingerprints, BATF approval, sheriff sign-off, paperwork, tax, background check, safe deposit box for documents, multiple copies, etc.).
 
For the first: Lucky bastard! Wish I had that much ammo (no real desire for class III)

For the second: I don't know what it smells like. If they were smoking so much that it was bugging me (smoke bugs me in general) I would try diplomacy to get the smoke going in another direction.

Drug use protected? Perhaps 1st amendment? Or what about the Declaration of Independance?

I do have a hard time understanding people that are pro 2nd amendment but feel it is okay to tell other people what they can or can't do. Unlike gun control we had total prohibition of Alcohol before and we know how that turned out--organized crime, gang wars, etc. Yet we have prohibition on drugs now...notice how we didn't have wars over drugs until we made them illegal? I am not saying drugs are good for you. Though some are far safer than alcohol.

Oh well drugs are illegal, but that doesn't stop 12 and 14 year olds from DEALING drugs in every single public school in the country.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top