Anyone have an issue with this?

[Rosco Shooter]

Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

 

[BigSky!]

Should one be able to do that without worrying about how others feel about it? Maybe. When I read the original post I just shook my head and thought "what an idiot". With as inflammatory of a subject as gun ownership, and more specifically, the right to carry is, why would "one of us" do something that would draw such negative attention and feedback? This is the type of UNNECESSARY behavior that makes us lose fence-sitters. What a worm.

 

[cbore]

Just all wrong any way you look at it. People like this give responsible gun owners a bad rep.

 

[Coyote56]

Totally bad form

 

[diyj98]

Stupid on his part and in some locals he could have been charged with brandishing. He may have beat the charge, but why stir up the problem to begin with.

EDIT: Grayfox beat me too it!

 

[16thVACav]

Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should.

I often have to remind myself of this point just before clicking the "Post Quick Reply" button.

 

[JH1951]

Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should.

I often have to remind myself of this point just before clicking the "Post Quick Reply" button.

As do I, 16thVACav!
But here we actually may have consequences for stupid behavior, and we learn to accept the definitions of right and wrong that apply to playing in this sandbox. If we do not, we disappear.
Out in the real world, consequences for stupid behavior may / may not apply. So, people do not learn good behavior when it comes to playing with others. Nor do they get put away / disappear.
This site is a good case study for how to influence good behavior. My parents ran a household somewhat like this. It did no harm to anyone, but it did not promote or reward stupid behavior.

 

[gwpercle]

You know...I bet if the guy had walked a few yards into the woods , where he wouldn't be so easily observed, no one would have noticed.

It's like having to urinate, do it in public with folks watching and you will get in trouble.
Walk into the woods , stand behind a tree and there is no problem....
Squirrels and birds don't care what you do.

 

[Old cop]

The worst part is this idiot makes the rest of us look bad. The media will run w/this story and paint all of us w/the same brush, using it as fodder for their gun control agenda. Thinking was never part of what this guy was doing.

 

[Muss Muggins]

. . . People like this give responsible gun owners a bad rep.

I must respectfully disagree. Drunk drivers don't make responsible drinkers or responsible drivers look bad. Abusers of illegal controlled substances don't make legal users of prescription drugs look bad. Nothing this nice fella' did impacts me in any way . . .

 

[RobertJ.]

About the poorest judgment possible. If I had been the responding police officer I would have thought of some reason to arrest him

I certainly agree with the "poor judgment" statement.

But as for the rest? Yikes!

 

[Old Arkansawyer]

Sounds like he's more of a child than his son and when he gets bored
he has to find some way to steal the show and be the center of attention.

Agree, it sounds like a, "look at me", person. Lack of any kind
of judgement. Probably some kind of want to be.

 

[Rustyt1953]

If I'm at a grandchild's soccer game and someone within eyesight is exhibiting that behavior I would be on the phone with 911.

 

[ColbyBruce]

"This is a bit like openly breast-feeding your infant in public."

I have no problem with this and feel that no one should. The rest of us eat in public, so should an infant.

 

[Rastoff]

I see and mostly agree with what just about everyone has said here though I don't think he's stupid, maybe just using poor judgement.

Having said that, allow me to play the other side for a moment and let's look at this from a different perspective...

The way I see this story, he moved away from the general spectator area to a place where people weren't. He then unloaded his gun and was practicing with an unloaded gun. Remember, it was dry firing and trigger control practice. Do you read something else?

If that's the case, and the muzzle was kept in the safest direction, what's the issue? Have the antis numbed us so much that we're doing their work for them?

If he was doing this in the stands, I would have an issue.
If he was waving a loaded gun around, I would have an issue.
If he was pointing it in the direction of other people, I would have an issue.
If he was threatening other people, I would have an issue.

Unless there's something I'm missing, he wasn't doing any of those things.

I long for the days when the mere sight of a gun didn't throw people into a panic, when the police weren't called just because someone had a gun in the vicinity, when you could carry a rifle in a gun rack in the back window of your truck and no one thought twice about it.


Yeah, I get it, you guys are concerned that he's making the gun community look bad. But isn't it really the general atmosphere, that guns are bad, that's making something that's really nothing look bad?

 

[oink]

Then there the part where if he's stupid or crazy enough to do that what else is he crazy or stupid enough to do. Idiot!

 

[ameridaddy]

My state of Virginia is open carry, but you do what he did and you're busted for "brandishing".

 

[shouldazagged]

Bloody stupid attention seeking. Wally World Commando behavior.

And yes, I do think it complicates things for us responsible gun owners by reinforcing the antis' preconceived opinions that we are crazed cretins. They vote.

 

[Sevens]

Yeah, I get it, you guys are concerned that he's making the gun community look bad. But isn't it really the general atmosphere, that guns are bad, that's making something that's really nothing look bad?

No, I'm just really not buying this any other way. If he was dancing around on his tippy-toes swashbuckling with a ninja sword, I'd be thinking the same thing: idiot.

Go home, do this in your basement, in your garage, in your living room. Don't do it off yonder past the youth soccer game.

 

[vipermd]

I see and mostly agree with what just about everyone has said here though I don't think he's stupid, maybe just using poor judgement.

I remember the time when having a rifle in my trucks back window was not a concern to the general populace. We do not know about this " The soccer field was adjacent to a wooded public park." Can you hunt there, can you target practice there? These are things we do not know. I have been on fields that were adjacent to state game lands in PA. so he may have been justified, to go to the public Park at halftime to practice his draw and dry fire. Maybe he should have used more discretion and moved farther back into the woods, just as if he needed to urinate. Unfortunately even though something you do is legal where you are doing it, that does not mean you can not end up in a discussion with a LEO. I do not practice open carry off of my property, I could legally,but do not wish to cause a scene that forces a confrontation ( friendly ) with the local LEO's.

We do not know the whole story, did someone follow him to see what he was doing, and then disliked that he was drawing & dry firing, so therefore called LEO. Many things we do not know. Should he have been arrested- NO, did he use bad judgement- Yes. As stated above, just because you can do something does not mean you should. It seems just about anywhere in the US you can do something that is legal, but upset people because, regardless of legality, if they do not like it , therefore it must be bad/wrong/etc because only their opinion counts. Be Safe,