The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: WatchManUSA on June 11, 2010, 11:49:56 AM
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m58 - You are closer to the story - any comments to add?
MANKATO, Minn. — A teenager is in trouble after pulling a replica AK-47 rifle out of his SUV to show his buddies at Minnesota State University in Mankato.
The 17-year-old from Waseca has been cited for disorderly conduct and for violating a city ordinance.
Police say a security officer saw a group of people gathered early Thursday by the SUV, one of whom was holding what appeared to be an assault rifle. They also observed him appear to fire.
Police say officers responded with guns drawn, ordered everyone to the ground and handcuffed them. They found the teen had five Airsoft replica guns that fire rubber pellets. The youth and the replicas were handed over to his mother.
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Lets assume this was a realistic looking AK. Guns drawn and everybody on the ground? That makes a certain amount (I guess ::)) of sense. Once it was established there was no threat, why are they charging him with anything?
FQ1
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Because they can.
And because they must be perceived as doing something!
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FQ, He isn't charged with anything, " The youth and the replicas were handed over to his mother."
I think the response was reasonable. Responding to a report of a "guy with a gun", with weapons drawn, just sounds like common sense to me. After establishing that the guns were air soft, the decision to chew his butt, then turn him AND the air soft guns over to Mommy for further mastication (butt chewing ) seems perfectly reasonable, and should be tried far more often.
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FQ, He isn't charged with anything, " The youth and the replicas were handed over to his mother."
I think the response was reasonable. Responding to a report of a "guy with a gun", with weapons drawn, just sounds like common sense to me. After establishing that the guns were air soft, the decision to chew his butt, then turn him AND the air soft guns over to Mommy for further mastication (butt chewing ) seems perfectly reasonable, and should be tried far more often.
From the OP:
The 17-year-old from Waseca has been cited for disorderly conduct and for violating a city ordinance.
FQ13
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From the OP:
The 17-year-old from Waseca has been cited for disorderly conduct and for violating a city ordinance.
FQ13
Still not quite the same thing as being charged with a crime, His actions DID cause a disturbance, and I would bet they have a town ord about fire arms and pellet guns around the school. Based on what I've seen in the local court reports, around here he would get a $25 fine and another ass chewing.
Still seems reasonable.
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Some of those Airsoft, BB/Pellet pistols look very real, M+P has one that has NO orange tipped barrel and from 20 feet away looks exactly like the real thing.
Very dangerous for a kid to whip out, and an LEO to make a split second decision. Folks have been shot holding their cellphones and wallets...
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Another tough issue.
I think most of us here, if not all of us, would like to see the laws and attitudes in the US to change so that someone could show his buddies his new Wingmaster or AK in the school parking lot without there being laws in place that hindered how he carried them in his vehicle and showing them in open view.
On the other side we have the concern of the realities of drug related and other gang activity as a threat to innocents.
There was a time when and LEO might see this guys, realize they were Sigma Delta Chi rather than Crips, pull up to them to chat and compare their 870 to his riot gun.
Work to get the bad guys off the streets and get the attitude changed so that if someone is seen with a gun and not doing anything wrong, the thought will be ...there is an armed good guy.
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http://
The Free Press, Mankato, MN
June 11, 2010
Teen injured in air rifle "fight"
The Free Press
MANKATO — An apparent neighborhood game involving air rifles wasn’t a game to the 16-year-old who was shot in the ankle.
Mankato Police responded to such a call at 9:37 p.m. on Thursday, in the 400 block of Southhaven Drive in Southhaven Mobile Home Park. Upon arrival, officers found the teenager with a small, round wound on his ankle.
Cmdr. Jeremy Clifton said a group of males were playing a game with air rifles that involved participants shooting at each other. The victim, however, said he wasn’t involved in the game.
Cliftonsaid the fellow 16-year-old who allegedly fired the shot will be cited for breaking a city ordinance which bans air-powered weapons from being discharged within city limits. Such weapons include pellet guns, BB guns and paintball guns.
Cliftonsaid police are still gathering information and could consider assault charges.
“These are not toys,” he said. “They have the propensity to cause serious injury.”
The incident involving an air-powered weapon is the second in as many days. On Wednesday, a Waseca teenager was cited for violating Mankato’s ordinance when he showed off an assault rifle that fired rubber pellets in a parking lot at Minnesota State University.
http://mankatofreepress.com/local/x1358980116/Teen-injured-in-air-rifle-fight
A combination of a very liberal (not as bad as the University of Minnesota) and a city that is reacting to poor actions by students and residents. Mankato State University falls under the no firearms on campus rule just like every school in the state. That is what got this kid in trouble. Every student knows it, but some are just too stupid to be in college.
I used to get in trouble for carrying my pocket knife on campus (91-93). These guys deserve what they got. Not because the law and rule are right, but because they knew better ... or should have known better.
I'm on my way to Mankato this afternoon to pick up some parts, and I will be there on Monday working as well. I will sniff around to see if the media has it right or wrong ... as usual >:(
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Lets assume this was a realistic looking AK. Guns drawn and everybody on the ground? That makes a certain amount (I guess ::)) of sense. Once it was established there was no threat, why are they charging him with anything?
FQ1
Because their egos won't allow them to say, "Hey, we over-reacted. Our bad."
By the way, the drawn guns, on the ground and handcuffing IS the proper series of events. However, once the situation is sorted out, a more appropriate response from the officers (in my opinion) would have been, "Dude that thing looks too real to be playing with like that. Take it home before somebody gets hurt."
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If I see what looks like a real gun( and many airsoft look, some even feel exactly like a real gun) I'm going to pull the trigger and ask questions later. point one at me, the very least your going to get is a real gun pointed at you.
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Talks with people from the area bring out that this is a "reasonable" reaction to over restrictive rules and laws, combined with poor judgement by the teen.
Had this been a mall parking lot it wouldn't have gone as far, but on the University campus it was different.
I am impressed that so far there appears to be no charges or fines imposed. However, there are a few gestapo wanna be cops in Mankato that want it made a big deal of.