My nephew called and asked if he could borrow my gas posthole digger and portable concrete mixer. He and his wife recently bought a home. The lots are wide but not very deep. The only thing separating most of the homes in the neighborhood are chain link fences.

This past Sunday, the neighbor who lives across the alley asked my nephew if he would mind not cleaning and working on his guns in the garage where his wife could see him. She is afraid of guns and it upsets her when she’s sitting on the patio and sees him “playing” with the firearms. She has two small kids and says that she’s frightened that my nephew might accidentally discharge one of the guns and hit her kids. Besides, she doesn’t want her babies to see the guns.

My nephew and his bride are new to the neighborhood and want to fit in but he is not going to stop working on and restoring firearms. This weekend, he’s planning on building a wood privacy fence across the back of the property. He said that if the neighbor lady sees him casting and reloading she’s likely to have a cow.

I’m still shaking my head over this.

Personally unless I knew my neighbors VERY WELL, they'd never see my guns anyway...especially a new neighborhood.

What in the world are people like that doing in Texas? I'd tell 'em "Git along little doogie!"

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Wayne
Torn & Frayed

I think the fence is a good idea. It might help settle down the unreasonable neighbor, but it will help keep possible thieves from making a target out of the house. Your nephew won't be home all the time. Why advertise a house full of expensive firearms.

I understand what you are saying. In his defense, it’s not like he was brandishing guns about for everyone to see. The garage workshop is the only place available to pursue his hobby and in Texas if you work in a garage with the door closed you’ll roast a good part of the year. I’ve seen his garage workshop and you really have to be looking to see what's going on inside.

Wonder what those folk do 'bout that there television set...

We lived in town once (a small one) had to put up a privacy fence...Neighbor didn't like me seein him workin' his fightin roosters

Good fences make for good neighbors.


Su Amigo,
Dave

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"IN GOD WE TRUST"

You have a gas powered post hole digger and a portable concrete mixer???

I worship you!
I am not worthy!
You sir have a platinum man card!

As far as neighbors, when mine hears me she hollers over "What'd you shoot this time, coon or possum?"
Regarding your nephew's neighbor, if she's that antsy about the guns she'd probably go off the deep end if she sees him peeing in the back yard. Maybe a wooden fence is the best idea.

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Forum consigliere

Chickens and pigs.

Rents some pigs for the backyard so the neighbors can get the message.

A feller that will rent a pig...well..he's hard to stop.

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Lost it all in a boat accident

Sounds like the neighbors husband could use some man training.
No card for him.

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Dum vivo cano

So the lady calls the police and says, "Come quick, the man in back is doing something awful right in front of my children!"
The policeman says, "Mam' all I see is a board fence."
She says, "Well, you just climb up this jungle gym, stand on the top, and look in the back of his garage, and you can see him right there in plain sight....."

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Science plus Art

You could say you object to having small children around, they run wild, they make noise, messes, etc. Some people take too expansive a view of their sensibilities and have little or no regards for those of others.

I live in a one story dwelling and my super nosy anti-gun pain in the you know neighbor has a three story.He called the cops on me for shooting my pellet gun right after I moved in years back. A fence can't help me, as he observes from his third story lair. He thinks anybody who shoots regularly is a nut case waiting to 'go postal'.


Came home at about 3AM one night. He was peeking through the curtains so I mooned him. My wife about passed out laughing...

Had to like OKFC05's post. I was going to post something like that, only I wouldn't have done it as well.

^^^ This.

Even though I live on a dead end dirt road with five houses on it my "pistol box" is a cheap tool box and rifles are kinda expedited from house to truck.

During the summer I reload & clean guns with the fan on & garage door open about a foot at the bottom.

Personally, I think I may be the one with a bit of paranoia...

While I'd tell her and her male spousal unit that they need to find something interesting to do or watch in their own home and life , I do see letting the neighbors in the suburbs know what ya got as being unwise. They will blab and others can get your time and schedule down , and next thing you know , , ,

^^^ Smart paranoia.I use a cooler and guitar cases,My neighbors are clueless.

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Dum vivo cano

cant we all just get along...........................

I'd pay to see her have a cow.............and of course post the video online as well. Moooooove along

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Lynnie, Professional Pest

Short answer....................NO

Long answer.....................NO

Next question please

I bet she don't like soldiers - especially the ones who had to actually fight in one hell hole or another.

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Buy American
Vote Responsibly

After the fence he'll be needing a flag pole.

You choose your flag,Remember it's for the children.

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Dum vivo cano

When the Founding Fathers drew up the Constitution They added a clause that every neighborhood must have at least one complaining resident. Your nephew has found his neighborhood's one.

take note of my location .....
since coming here, Ive found a few kindred spirits, but far more media poisoned folks who think guns roam the night streets ventilating people with minds of their own.
my standard response has been "grow the hell up"

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it just needs more voltage

I guess someone will eventually try to put me in my place, but I pity the soul that tries to tell me what to do on my property in my garage. Sorry to rub the "can't we just get alongers" the wrong way, but I would get highly irate in about .02 seconds at that Bravo Sierra sheeple request. If she didn't think it was a good idea for her kids to see something she doesn't want them to see, then she would be VERY UPSET at what they heard from me. And I wouldn't have to use a single cuss word. JMO, so don't go hating...........

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Go big or stay home

" WE don't rent pigs!!!"

She sounds like she might be a little hystrionic, so building a fence is going to reinforce her self serving notions that everyone else should adjust themselves to her needs. I would suggest a blanket or tarp of the very cheapest available, slung accross a piece of wire or rope between two poles that would block her line of sight, only hers, or something that is the quickest and ugliest, most expedient thing for your nephew available. If she again complains, call the authorities and ask that she be warned about harrassment and privacy issues. Don't enable her, she will just get worse, and her husband sounds like he could be co-dependent with her. My view. Flapjack.

Get their phone number and just before going into the garage to clean the guns call them and tell them to get their grub-snatchers in the house so you can clean your guns........

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Have guns...will shoot'em.

You'll never change their opinions on guns. Sounds like she is the type of person who if you don't agree with them, it will slip in one ear and out the other.

Your nephew could tell them its his hobby. If he can show how passionate he is about his hobby with an emphasis on how safe he is with firearms, perhaps they'll leave it alone. She should feel more safe if he can show that he's a responsible gun owner instead of a Hollywood image of a gun nut.

Does your nephew's neighbor sit down to go number one? Sheesh.
Direct your nephew to guide that person's attention to what Freud said about the fear of inanimate objects.

Your neighbor isn't Gladys Cravitz by any chance? She spent a lot of time in the 60's and 70's observing Samantha and Darren

Wait a minute. This neighbor comes to your nephew's house to ask him to not do something in his own home that is perfectly legal because of his wife's phobias and paranoia, and some people actually think that she should be appeased? Wow. Normally I'm an easy-going, non-confrontational type of guy (well, okay, maybe just a little), but I'd tell him to get back across the street, find a pair of big-boy panties to put on, deal with his nutcase wife and leave me the ---- alone. I have great neighbors, and we all look out for each other, but they don't come on my property and try to tell me what to do.

Good luck to your nephew with his fence building project.

You just can't live far enough away from people.

Privacy fence = great idea. Town life is a different ballgame from country living. I live in town, neighbors on all sides of me. Both of my next door neighbors on either side of me have commented on seeing me load guns into my truck or car for a trip to the range, hunting, etc. I can tell that neither are gun owners (even though we live in Montana!!!) and have been a little tentative and "concerned" about the whole deal, but after living next to me for several years I think they've finally tumbled to the conclusion that I'm not only "safe", but a good neighbor in general.

I find that people who don't own or know about guns tend to be timid around them. Mothers with small children are far-and-away the "worst" that way, are often downright paranoid and fearful. I have found that we need to think in 3D about this. Rome wasn't built in a day. Privacy fence, maybe slowly befriend the neighbors (they are probably nice people, just a little misguided!), then eventually offer to take the husband shooting, get him hooked, then take the wife and kids (as they get older) to the range for a range-day family fun-fest. Play it right and he might convert them into gun owners over the long term!

OK guys....heres my take on trying to explain to the neighbor across the street your right to work in your garage......"Never Argue With A Fool...It Only Confuses Them".......There are just some people that it is totally impossible to talk to....they are out there and they breed......I betcha that neighbor spends a good amount of his time behind his curtains peeking out....trying to "catch" his neighbor across the street..."doing something"..........I used to keep my garage door open during the day...(Im Retired but busy).....and would work out in my back yard...back shop...etc..)..until one day...I walked into the garage and there was a guy standing there looking at my riding mower......so I politely..(yeah right)...asked him what the x&*% he wanted......he said he was looking for ...and he named some name...to repo a boat....I had my .38 model snub on my hip...told him to leave...then called the County PD and warned about a guy riding around in a truck...."looking for a boat"...since then....garage door stays down.....and......38 stays on my hip...

Buy your neighbor a membership in the NRA and a subscription to Soldier of Fortune

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Buy American
Vote Responsibly

I'd tell the idiot neighbor that THEY need to put up a fence or pay for the one that I'll put up - Paying up front, of course.
Otherwise, they can just **** off.

A lot of us spent a lot of time observing Samantha
Darren, not so much....

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In dog years I'm dead.

NO ONE sees me at home with my guns!

As a young teen, I made the mistake of showing pistols to my "friends", within a week they were stolen. It didn't take in investigators long to find them...except the one that one of the kids ran away with. He was caught attempting armed robbery in Richmond, VA. Thank goodness no one got hurt or killed. I felt pretty low about the whole experience.

I haven't read every response, so this is probably repeating another poster, but it does bear repeating: Never let neighbors see your guns. Never never never. This is critical if there are teens in the 'hood. Teen's get crazy ideas, even in high-end neighborhoods.

There is nothing worse than a spoiled teen with too much spare time and the knowledge of guns in the house down the street...

...rant off...

The wife is probably just crazy. Some people have things that bother them. Me? I don't like cats that roam around outside.

If you want to be left alone by your neighbors, just launch into patient but spirited discussions of how the Jews sneak in and steal your blood at night, do they know what happens to a pretty boy like you in an Iranian prison, and how such and such out fit is a good look for them - would they mind posing so that you can feel their muscles... People tend to leave you alone.

'Nuff said.

Neighbors are like dentists, ya gotta have them but they are not necessarily pleasant.

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Jim
Many K and N Frames

Wonder if he could rent a tank, and park it in his driveway a couple of days, with the turret pointed you know where. Offer their kids gun magazines.

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Wayne
Torn & Frayed

Building the fence is fine but I would insist that the neighbor pay for half of it, up front. They don't want to do that? Then they can stuff it.

Charlie

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SWCA # 2294

She sounds like the kind of neighbor with which I would have no desire to 'get along'.

Sign 'em up for a junior membership in the NRA.

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Insert short witty words here

If she doesn't want her kids exposed to the horrid sight of firearms, tell her to keep them inside until they're 21.

If it was me, I'd put up the fence...........but I'd have stenciled silhouettes of Glocks and 1911's all over her side of it.

Fences make good neighbors. I put up privacy fences when my neighbor complained about my dogs barking at his grandkids that were constantly tormenting my dogs. Instead of having to beat his *** I put up privacy fencing. Makes for a better long term relationship.

If he plans on staying awhile build a privacy fence. If not, just keep on doing what he is doing and the hell with them. They are complaining about the guns now but they are watching the nephew and it will not stop there. You can also bet she is telling the world about the neighbor with all the guns so better get a gun safe real quick if he doesn't have one already.

OK, I'm all for getting a long with people, but I would draw the line at having to lay out a couple of grand putting up a fence.

I had a neighbor who was distressed by the Mexicans who lived behind our two houses. He didn't like their music; he didn't like their cars, etc., etc.
One fine day (just before a wedding) they had a goat tethered in the back yard and were digging a pit. He came over to my house to complain about that.
I told him, "Don't worry, the goat will be gone soon".
You know what happened shortly after that. I thought my neighbor was going to explode.

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and what his trumpet saith

My neighbors see my guns..... hanging from my hips, both sides!!! They know I CARRY guns... so if'n a teenager were to try and steal the guns they know I have.... Well, they would have to steal me too! And yes, I carry every waking moment. I mow the lawn with them on, for all to see. It makes for more respectful neighbors!!

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SW40VE AF
2000 rounds so far