Having grown up in a farming community in rural America and lived in several other rural farming/ranching communities… I disagree. Most don’t ever brandish them. They may have a snakeshot round in the 1st cylinder or 2. But they have them at hand. Even today I’d be surprised if over 50% of farmers and ranchers didn’t carry a firearm with them regularly when checking their own land. And I’d certainly not say that the “overwhelming majority” of rural people would go check on a group of people unexpectedly on their property without slipping at least a .22 in a pocket. Remember how completely freaked out most in the foreign press pool were about this:
Nobody in the little town I was living in at the time knew what the fuss was about. She was an elderly lady, did they expected her to investigate a strange man with only her bare fists or a folded umbrella if he turned out to be up to no good. It’snot like she ever brandished it at him or anything.
I think if someone shoo’d me off their lawn with a gun in their waistband - I’d consider that brandishing. Unless it was 1807 and it was his ranch.
That is some messed up shit right there. Do you get bitten by dogs much? Because I can smell the fear on you from here.
So are you saying the utility workers should not have felt threatened by a shirtless tattooed man with what appeared to them to be a gun in his waistband or that the cops should have ignored them?
I know at my library, dealing with police, they always tell us to err on the side of calling. They can come down and take a look or talk to the person. If there is nothing to worry about, no problem. They were happy to help.
No you may say that the police overreacted or the utility workers exaggerated, but again the story does not give us enough info to tell that for sure. But I don’t think it would be unreasonable to call the police in this situation or to have them investigate just to be safe.
You saying it’s Cowicide?
I’m not sure where you’re from, but I can say with a large degree of confidence that nothing like 50% of the farmers/ranchers in the midwest and great plains are carrying a firearm as a matter of course. I don’t doubt that a lot of farmers/ranchers near the Rockies will tend to have a rifle in the pickup, and Alaskan ranchers would be silly to not have a firearm available in a lot of situations, but those represent a very, very small percentage of rural America.
Seems to me he tattooed an excellent excuse (licence) to get shot by police.
“Gee your honor, I thought he was armed, I thought he was going for his gun not reaching for his ID in his pocket. I regretfully had to shoot him dead.”
“Well he does have a gun tattooed in such a way as to be deceptive… case dismissed!”
Yes.
Unless the utility crew reported that he pointed a gun at them a man standing on his own property with a holstered gun is not a reason for the cops to show up or to feel threatened.
However the article does not say if there was another reason for a police response, such as him making a verbal threat.
From the article:
“They weren’t 100 percent sure what he was saying,” Duff said, “but he was yelling and they thought it could be some sort of a threat. They thought he was yelling something to the effect of doing harm, but when we got a hold of him, it ended up just being a tattoo.”
It was all just a misunderstanding, both Smith and police said."
Sounds pretty clear that they did feel threatened, but it was a misunderstanding. I still don’t see what the harm is in having the police come out and check things to make sure everything is ok. The list of real recent incidents at the end of the article are enough to encourage caution on all sides.
A top hit in those results is perhaps the most awesome tattoo ever:
http://img.fark.net/images/cache/850/j/j0/fark_j00Eyc0Q73MzMPaUoUFxP3AwzLk.jpg?t=Vckx21-I882plthpUyt--Q&f=1395633600
Assuming of course he did lose the arm in a shark incident…
Utility companies should be required to provide advance written notice that they intend to exercise their easement rights when going onto private property.
Don’t show up and wander around my property, particularly if you’ve got heavy equipment and chainsaws it looks like you’re going to start fucking with my trees.
This dude seems like a loser, but based on the info we have, he did nothing wrong in this instance. All the blame appears to be on a ham-fisted utility company who’s employees who made an ill-informed 911 call.
I saw that one, and completely agree.
I always assume that every person I meet is armed. It reminds me to be polite.
That is a frightening assumption. Why do ranchers and farmers carry pistols? That gun wasn’t “holstered” it was tucked into his pants. Of the ones that legitimately carry pistols how many tuck them into the front of their pants? I can see a rifle or shotgun which might have a utilitarian purpose for a farmer or rancher, but a pistol has no such purpose for them, right?
I could be mistaken, but many cities don’t permit the public to carry a concealed firearm, and last time i checked tucking one into your pants was considered carrying a concealed weapon.
Also, the man wasn’t arrested, you don’t have to do something illegal for the cops to be called and to look into the situation.
I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know a lot about the subject, but shouldn’t the above be obvious to any responsible gun owner?
[quote=“redesigned, post:35, topic:26324”]
I could be mistaken, but many cities don’t permit the public to carry a concealed firearm, and last time i checked tucking one into your pants was considered carrying a concealed weapon.[/quote]
Most states allow for licensed concealed carry, with Maine being a shall-issue state. I could be wrong, but I don’t think city laws in general can override the state law - but I don’t know every state/city law out there.
However having it tucked into his pants half exposed would have been open carrying. If you can see it, it isn’t concealed. I believe Maine allows open carry, but I do know open carry can be over ridden by city laws in some states. So again, not not 100% sure on the legality there.
Though at any rate, no one who goes through the trouble of a license just tucks a gun in their pants. It’s a great way to lose your gun and possibly shoot your balls off reaching for it. How one looks and carries themselves will often affect how people react to them.
Does keeping a gun in your waist even work? I don’t know if people really do it, but it’s such a longstanding trope. Seems like it would fall out once you took a few steps.
I saw a picture of one several years ago that was some sort of horrid screaming demon-face where the open mouth was the tattooee’s vulva. My mind boggles and also I can’t seem to uncross my legs now.
The man was on his own property where he is allowed to carry his gun however the hell he pleases (so long as he isn’t brandishing it, i.e. pointing it at people). Conceal carry doesn’t apply on your own private property.
Many people carry pistols and guns, not just ranchers and farmers. I don’t. However, based on your perception, I would suggest you increase your estimation by about about 10,000%.
The police weren’t just checking it out, not making assumptions “until they arrived at the scene.” They sent out trigger-happy, militarized cops with assault rifles and surrounded his house:
Yes, this guy seems like a jerk (neo-nazi?), but he was the one in his bed when an energy company came unannounced to “prune” his trees on his land. When he objected (probably like an asshole) the employees called the cops on false or mistaken grounds. The cops then showed up with a fucking SWAT team… because the guy had a tattoo.
“Wearing just a pair of pants and no shirt, though the temperature was in the teens, he went outside and asked them to leave. The
tree removal company workers reported that as they backed into the
driveway, Smith told them not to cut the trees. They told him it was not
a problem. Smith went back to bed; but as the workers were leaving, one thought he saw a pistol in Smith’s waistband.”
So at what point did the “gun” become a threat? When a guy is heading back into his house and they are leaving? And merely possessing a gun, in a holster, on your own property, is not a threat. Nor is it a crime.
And the list of real incidents is exactly what the harm is. While the police were responding in force to a guy who was doing nothing wrong or illegal, there could have been an actual real emergency.
