"Neighbor" Vigilantes Who Arrested Moving-in Couple Are Arrested

[Jackass master]

They made a poor choice of weapons for a personal confrontation OFF their own property. They could easily have blocked the old folks vehicle and waited for the sheriff to arrive. On their own property would be a totally different story. I would not be that concerned about a repo house.

 

[Johnfromokc]

Perhaps you should travel more. The abuse of privacy excesses are largely restricted to departures from American airports.

This is true from my international travels. It was a pleasure travelling in Australia. Quick, polite service at every connection. My daughter had bought some glass dragons in Sydney and they were in her back pack as we were preparing to fly to Adelaide. Australian security wanted to have a look because they couldn't tell what they were from the xray. They looked, and very nicely and neatly placed everything back into her bag. In the U.S., the TSA just dumps you belongings out and shoves them down the slide when you are done for you to re-pack.

American customs is disorganized and rude by comparison. We Americans tend to be arrogant assholes and are to brainwashed to admit we have big fucking problems when compared to other first-world nations.

As to the age limit for crime? there's no age limit for commonsense either. If you're that much of a busybody that you feel it's your responsibility to come out like Rambo whenever someone approaches an empty house in your neighborhood, you should be smart and polite enough to back off when given a plausible explanation for their presence.

It is absoluteky amazing how some Americans can stretch to justify redneck asshattery where guns are concerned.

I'm with Joe on this one - just because you can breathe and have never been convicted of a crime should not be reason enough to own a gun. We have waaaaaaay to many fucking morons with guns here. If you find the actions of this pair of gun pointing idiots justifiable, you are too goddamned stupid to own a gun.

 

[AnitaBeer]

It's a sad day when people can't move into their new homes without being treated like robbers!
These two guys need to have the smarts beat into them as well as the police!
There's no reason for this situation to have happened.

 

[Stone]

Leaving your property and taking a gun for the sole intent to "talk to people to see what they're up to" is a VERY bad idea.

Fact is, when in doubt, call the police and you've done your part.

I don't expect my neighbors to come to my house with guns to investigate something they aren't sure of, I'd expect them to call the police to come and have them check it out. Even though I live in a rural area, when I called the sheriff's department to help with a neighbors loose cow, they were there in less than 10 minutes.

Good post....:thumbup

While I believe in the right to own a gun ( I'm not a member of NRA ), I don't believe in the concept of a citizen having the right to be a vigilante.

I've had the need to escort trespassers off what used to be a small farm and a call to the local police handled it correctly without any incidents.
Just common sense.....and too frequently missing in much of our society.

 

[Joe the meek]

I'm with Joe on this one - just because you can breathe and have never been convicted of a crime should not be reason enough to own a gun. We have waaaaaaay to many fucking morons with guns here. If you find the actions of this pair of gun pointing idiots justifiable, you are too goddamned stupid to own a gun.

Ultimately is the issue is who comes up with the rules and who enforces those rules when it comes to the requirements to own a gun? Simple answer would be the government, but each state can vary so differently on it's own current laws, that I can't help but think it would be a cluster fiasco waiting to happen. All one has to do is look to the TSA on what can happen when an agency is created to "protect" people.

Personally, I do like the idea of a documented annual training class to owning firearms, but to try and nationalize something like that would be close to impossible IMO. That said, it's something I try to do every year (training) on my own just so I have documentation in case I ever have to use my firearm in self defense.

 

[Panacea]

Any two humans approaching the door of a home could potentially commit a crime. How many times have we seen pictures of criminals and couldn't believe the person did their crime? Still, I don't think even mildly rational people would take such drastic action in determining if this is the case.

Does this reflect a lack of trust in the police or is this just paranoid people with guns doing what they do?

Are we so hyped up and delusional that we attack first, ask questions later? I live in a pretty tense and angry city, and I can imagine this sort of thing happening easily. There's racial tension, there's ageist tension- tension of all sorts here. I'm guessing this is pretty common in this country right now, as economic turmoil brings out the worst in most people.

 

[Tim]

Leaving your property and taking a gun for the sole intent to "talk to people to see what they're up to" is a VERY bad idea.

Fact is, when in doubt, call the police and you've done your part.

I don't expect my neighbors to come to my house with guns to investigate something they aren't sure of, I'd expect them to call the police to come and have them check it out. Even though I live in a rural area, when I called the sheriff's department to help with a neighbors loose cow, they were there in less than 10 minutes.

I completely understand your point and maybe I wasn't clear enough with my post.

I said in an absolute worse case, meaning if things looked real suspicious. I also pointed out that if it were a high crime area... Again, I was only pointing out a worse case scenario
I know in my area I wouldn't even consider taking my gun out of the house to a neighbors unless it sounded like a fox was in his chicken house again.

 

[Johnfromokc]

Does this reflect a lack of trust in the police or is this just paranoid people with guns doing what they do?

The latter.

Are we so hyped up and delusional that we attack first, ask questions later? I live in a pretty tense and angry city, and I can imagine this sort of thing happening easily. There's racial tension, there's ageist tension- tension of all sorts here. I'm guessing this is pretty common in this country right now, as economic turmoil brings out the worst in most people.

This is all part and parcel of the world as viewed by angry white TEA-Publicans. They are becoming increasingly shrill and ignorant and void of common sense. They are pissed off that Obama is president and think "liberals and the liberal media is ruining America. Their latent racism is surfacing. They deny this of course, but that is the truth of the matter. How can any rational human being justify "sneaking" up on people with AR-15 rifles (or any weapon for that matter) and detaining them?

 

[Joe the meek]

How can any rational human being justify "sneaking" up on people with AR-15 rifles (or any weapon for that matter) and detaining them?

Unless it's on your property, you can't.

That said, you ever want to end a conversation short with someone coming up on your doorstep over the weekend to talk to you about Jesus Christ without you having to say a word? Meet them with a "black" rifle LOL

 

[Johnfromokc]

Personally, I do like the idea of a documented annual training class to owning firearms, but to try and nationalize something like that would be close to impossible IMO. That said, it's something I try to do every year (training) on my own just so I have documentation in case I ever have to use my firearm in self defense.

It would be EASY to implement annual competency training for firearms. The states have zero problems requiring continuing education for professional license holders at the license holders expense. Hell, I have Electrical and HVAC contractors licenses in two states and have to meet annual requirements at my own expense if I want to keep them. No reason gun owners shouldn't have the same requirements. Annual reminders of laws and the responsibility of gun ownership and use would go a long way toward preventing idiocy of this magnatude from recurring.

 

[Tim]

Does this reflect a lack of trust in the police or is this just paranoid people with guns doing what they do?

I have to address this point.

There are some areas, like mine where it would take the police a long time to respond. Here it's 45 minutes at the earliest. When my car was totaled in front of my house with 3 cars involved and injuries, it took the police 45 minutes to get here. And this is considered a major thorough fare (state road) and we had it completely shut down.

When you know the police can be up to an hour away, you tend to think differently when it comes to self protection.

If I had a prowler on the property and I feared for my families life, my weapons would be my protection until the police arrived.

 

[Tim]

This is all part and parcel of the world as viewed by angry white TEA-Publicans. They are becoming increasingly shrill and ignorant and void of common sense. They are pissed off that Obama is president and think "liberals and the liberal media is ruining America. Their latent racism is surfacing. They deny this of course, but that is the truth of the matter. How can any rational human being justify "sneaking" up on people with AR-15 rifles (or any weapon for that matter) and detaining them?

I wonder if this being in rural Georgia had anything to do with how this played out.

It wouldn't be a far stretch to see this playing out completely different if this were an old white couple in redneckville.

 

[Joe the meek]

It would be EASY to implement annual competency training for firearms. The states have zero problems requiring continuing education for professional license holders at the license holders expense. Hell, I have Electrical and HVAC contractors licenses in two states and have to meet annual requirements at my own expense if I want to keep them. No reason gun owners shouldn't have the same requirements. Annual reminders of laws and the responsibility of gun ownership and use would go a long way toward preventing idiocy of this magnatude from recurring.

Don't get me going on all the issues with the inspections department.

 

[Johnfromokc]

I have to address this point.

There are some areas, like mine where it would take the police a long time to respond. Here it's 45 minutes at the earliest. When my car was totaled in front of my house with 3 cars involved and injuries, it took the police 45 minutes to get here. And this is considered a major thorough fare (state road) and we had it completely shut down.

When you know the police can be up to an hour away, you tend to think differently when it comes to self protection.

If I had a prowler on the property and I feared for my families life, my weapons would be my protection until the police arrived.

Rational people can agree that it's one thing to defend your own family against an intruder. It's an entirely different matter to sneak up on people across the property line and detain them.

I have met "strangers" on my own property while I was armed. Never pointed a weapon at anyone. I would not leave my own property to confront someone like these two idiots did.

I wonder if this being in rural Georgia had anything to do with how this played out.

It wouldn't be a far stretch to see this playing out completely different if this were an old white couple in redneckville.

Being from Georgia and having lived in a rural area on 37 acres, I know the redneck human species intimately. If it was the same age white couple, this would never have happened.

Oh, and FWIW Tim - some of the biggest rednecks I know are from western Pennsylvania and Ohio. Maybe I'll post about going up and spending time with my old USMC buddies in a future redneck thread. :tooth

And ironically enough enough, when someone asks me what the state code is, I tell them to ask their local inspector because the state code is what the inspector wants LOL

Don't go taking the almighty road on me. You may be right, but it does no good to prove a point and piss the local inspector off. I may be a yankee, but I'm not stupid.

Joe - WTF are you talking about inspectors for? :wtf::confused

 

[Tim]

Oh, and FWIW Tim - some of the biggest rednecks I know are from western Pennsylvania and Ohio. Maybe I'll post about going up and spending time with my old USMC buddies in a future redneck thread. :tooth

Hell I live in Eastern PA and the Klan is very much alive and well. I love when people talk about racism in the US and how that was in the past. I'm 60 minutes from Philadelphia and 80 minutes from NYC... you would think that we would be a little more civilized here, but I was absolutely shocked with the amount of white trash rednecks we have.

 

[Joe the meek]

Joe - WTF are you talking about inspectors for? :wtf::confused

State licensing.

In theory, a licensing board is great. In reality, they become an organization who becomes it's own money making organization who covers it's ass.

 

[Tim]

State licensing.

In theory, a licensing board is great. In reality, they become an organization who becomes it's own money making organization who covers it's ass.

Here, I started a new thread for this very discussion

http://www.offtopicz.net/showthread.php?83853-Gun-registration&p=2183870#post2183870

 

[Panacea]

I have to address this point.

There are some areas, like mine where it would take the police a long time to respond. Here it's 45 minutes at the earliest. When my car was totaled in front of my house with 3 cars involved and injuries, it took the police 45 minutes to get here. And this is considered a major thorough fare (state road) and we had it completely shut down.

When you know the police can be up to an hour away, you tend to think differently when it comes to self protection.

If I had a prowler on the property and I feared for my families life, my weapons would be my protection until the police arrived.

I suppose I'd frame this in the context of a suburban setting when asking that question, though even then police are sometimes hard to come by...dwindled police departments ravaged by budget cuts can't really save many lives.

 

[Johnfromokc]

I suppose I'd frame this in the context of a suburban setting when asking that question, though even then police are sometimes hard to come by...dwindled police departments ravaged by budget cuts can't really save many lives.

Cops rarely stop crime. They only respond to it and arrest the criminal - and increasingly arresting the victims as in this case.

Gun owners bear serious responsiblity to use common sense in defending themselves. No reasonable gun owner goes around "policing" on property they don't own. These "Stand Your Ground" laws are emboldening the ignorant.

 

[Panacea]

I'd definitely agree. We don't need vigilantes.