Man shot and killed caring airsoft rifle

[Japlabot]

Incident 2: a group of nogoodniks (terrorists, revenge minded gangsta's) wants to mount a small-scale terror attack. One makes the call professing a fake gun, and another carries a real weapon with which to spray the group of cops that gathers. A similar deception is used when a small bomb is set off to attract a crowd, then a second larger one is used to take out the responders.

The scheme is pointless because the trap could be set whether the person with the "fake" gun dies or not. If the terrorists were not particularly suicidal they could just call something else in without anyone having to hold a "fake" gun. The situation can only be assessed given the information they have and what's in front of them. If they had the infrmation from the despatcher and they still felt it could be real fair enough, but they may have seen the situation differently if they didnt' have this information

[siah1214]

How the hell are the cops supposed to know this:

www.m16-airsoft-guns.com

was a fake? Not saying that that is what he was carrying, but lord knows there's plenty of airsoft guns that look just like a the real world counterparts. In the dark, you couldn't even see the red ring even if it was there! Early morning doesn't always have the best lighting.

Here's a simple concept:

Point a gun shaped object at police, get shot.

Don't point gun shaped object at police, don't get shot!

If you haven't figured that out by now, well, natural selection will take care of the rest.

[AndyAmo]

Here's a more complete concept; anyone carrying a gun, anyone owning a gun can be shot on sight by the police. No questions asked.

[chrisj1968]

This is all part of a greater problem http://www.infowars.com/army-manual-outlines-plan-to-confiscate-firearms-detain-americans/

I have the PDf file on my PC that states that. 3 cities in California alone are filing for bankruptcy. It has been pushed for a long time. military on our streets in missouri with tanks,against the 1800 law of posse comitatus...

RedDawn was a good movie to tell the truth. we have foreign military troops training for riot control in the US http://www.rt.com/news/troops-russian-drills-america-214/

But as usual, the americans are only concerned about their smartphones, PC's, who's in rehab etc.

[mokthraka]

well if the tip was indeed red then there would be no doubt

plus as someone else said, there were plenty of non lethal methods that the officer could have used

so it would be impossible to paint the tip of a real gun ORANGE. Obviously.

[mokthraka]

This is all part of a greater problem http://www.infowars.com/army-manual-outlines-plan-to-confiscate-firearms-detain-americans/

I have the PDf file on my PC that states that. 3 cities in California alone are filing for bankruptcy. It has been pushed for a long time. military on our streets in missouri with tanks,against the 1800 law of posse comitatus...

RedDawn was a good movie to tell the truth. we have foreign military troops training for riot control in the US http://www.rt.com/news/troops-russian-drills-america-214/

But as usual, the americans are only concerned about their smartphones, PC's, who's in rehab etc.

RT...? Seriously, even my extremely liberal political science teacher said we couldn't use RT because half the stuff is bull****.

[majortom1981]

yeah I doubt a person with a mental disorder would care enough to blacken the tip

How do you know the airsoft gun wasnt thesane brothers?

[nominak]

Quick ban guns.

You will have to excuse myself. My sole purpose in life is to troll on the internet. You will notice most things I say are one liners and mostly say ban this, ban that, bla bla bla. Take him with a grain of salt ;)

Fixed that for you.

[chrisj1968]

so it would be impossible to paint the tip of a real gun ORANGE. Obviously.

then why have the law of orange/red tips? just let the cops shoot everyone! well, not like it isn't happening anyway

[Charisma Veteran]

Here's a more complete concept; anyone carrying a gun, anyone walking around in the street acting crazy and brandishing a gun can be shot on sight by the police. No questions asked.

Fixed that for you.

[giantpotato]

Here's a more complete concept; anyone carrying a gun, anyone owning a gun can be shot on sight by the police. No questions asked.

So cops would be free to shoot each other no questions asked. Sounds like a well thought out plan.

[DocM]

It's obviously a judgemen t call, and cops have shot other cops who were acting deranged.

Around here the attitude towards seeing someone armed is more relaxed since it's perfectly legal to carry an exposed firearm in public - pistol, rifle, shotgun etc. as long as you don't point it at someone unless it's in self defense. We have no brandishing law, and a concealed carry permit is only required if it is indeed concealed. Sling an AR-15 over your shoulder etc. and by state law no problem.

[nominak]

There is 0 reason for a civilian to own/carry an assault rifle. Even if they're only semi auto.

[c.grz]

There is 0 reason for a civilian to own/carry an assault rifle. Even if they're only semi auto.

That's your opinion.

Also, I've worked with many police departments and I've seen several real weapons that are painted to look like toys. At several 100 feet away it's hard to tell a real one from a fake one, red tip or not.

[Arceles]

Assault rifles... great. Next time I'll try to bring my rocket launcher :D

[DocM]

There is 0 reason for a civilian to own/carry an assault rifle. Even if they're only semi auto.

There is 0 reason for a civilian to own/carry an assault rifle. Even if they're only semi auto.

Let's look at the AR-15.

It works like any semi-auto hunting rifle - 1 trigger pull, 1 shot. No difference.

The cartridge is the 5.56mm NATO - derived from the .223 Remington, a small game hunting cartridge used to shoot coyotes, woodchucks and other vermin. Very little difference. I had a .223 rifle when I was 12 - made spending money dispatching woodchucks that had invaded crops.

The main advantages it has are a larger magazine, the handle, and weight - they're light.

Limiting the size of a magazine has been tried and found wanting - it takes <3 seconds to swap in a full one.

So, it comes down to weight, the handle and the REAL reason people get twitchy: it's looks. Same types get angry at SUV's and sports cars, so pfffftttt....

[MDboyz]

Don't blame the officer for this. Blame his own family knows the sistuation and couldn't control it. What happened if he got his hand on the real gun?

Also, if the officer confronted the guy, and he pulled out the gun poiting at the officier. In the split of second, there is no time to think if the gun is real or not.

[DocM]

Assault rifles... great. Next time I'll try to bring my rocket launcher :D

If you have a good record, $200 for the Federal tax and fill out the right ATF forms you can buy one. Machine or gatling guns, full-auto pistols or rifles, grenades, etc. etc.

[killer2239]

Miller pointed the pellet gun at police and was shot by officers.

Enough said. Just because some voice on the phone says its an Airsoft gun, the officers are supposed to take his word for it and possibly just get shot by what looks like a real gun? I do not blame them at all for defending their own lives.

[SirEvan]

i don't know, that red tip on the end of an airsoft gun is usually a pretty big give away to me

Yup....especially when you get some black paint and paint over the end of it. Big give away.

[Original Poster]

People often blacken that red tip to make them look real for various reasons, so cops have to assume they are. Not to mention that a lot of Airsoft guns look very real to start with.

The non-lethals like Tasers only have a short range, well within that of a firearm (noting the disguise issue above), so their main use is against someone who is not armed or only has a knife, club etc. They are also not reliable - earlier this week we had a post about a guy that had to be zapped 3-4 times and was still combative.

they could of used a take down shot.... they didnt have to shot to kill, shoot to disable... they could of shot his hand, leg, arm.. if he was REALLY considered a threat and had prior warning a sniper would of been involved.

[Hell-In-A-Handbasket]

I dont see a wrong, cops cant go on the word of a random person, or a red tip on the barrel

It could have been a real gun with a painted tip.

If the caller didnt want the cops to shoot when a gun is pointed at them, the caller should haven taken the gun from the metally distraught person.

[Breach]

A proper investigation would establish two facts:

a) Whether this information was relayed to the responders.

b) Whether the responders acted accordingly in accordance to the situation with or without that knowledge

The rest is forum rubbernecking.

[Hell-In-A-Handbasket]

There is 0 reason for a civilian to own/carry an assault rifle. Even if they're only semi auto.

The british would have loved you

[Hell-In-A-Handbasket]

Also to note

Alot of the airsoft guns on the market have orange tips, but they are just plastic covers that are easially removed