Yesterday afternoon an acquaintance from work arrives home to find his daughter slightly histerical.

It appears that over the course of the afternoon 4 police officers responded to a neighbor's report of a "Kid with a Gun."

Seems that his 16 yr old son purchased a dart gun at the local Wal-mart and was playing with it in the backyard of their home.  Although a small town, most homes are on half acre lots or smaller so neighbors are pretty close.  Apparently the home in question backs up to an apartment complex (of course we all remember that those are prime terrorist targets).  One of the apartment dwellers observed the son playing in the backyard and called it in to 911.

As it so happens I know the responding Supervisor.  The four officers arrive and find one of the younger children (12 yr old boy) playing with a scooter in the front driveway.  The officers call the boy over and proceed to handcuff him and will not tell him what it is all about.

The 16 yr old comes out the front door looking for the youngest boy and the officers (weapons drawn) call him over to their patrol vehicles and cuff him as well.  The acquire the home phone number from the two boys and call the house.  

The daughter (who has been sleeping) answers the phone and can hardly believe it is the police until looking out the window.  She is told to bring everyone in the house out the front door.  She gathers up her remaining brother and exits the front of the house and moves to the officers.

The officers finally tell the children why they are there and the 16 yr old asks if they would like to see the DART GUN he purchased earlier that afternoon.  The two boys who were cuffed are released (spent about 5 minutes in cuffs).  My friend the Supervisor and one other officer enter the house with the 16 yr old and confirm that it was indeed a dart gun.

I trust my friend the supervisor to keep a cool head, but lets not forget what could have happened if the older boy had run out the front door carrying the dart gun.

Ryan

Yes, we must ban all guns - including toy guns - "for the children."

After all, our fine brave police forces can't be expected to tell the difference between a teen with a toy and a gang-banger with a "gat."

Sweet freekin' jeezus.

Let me just clarify my feelings on the subject.  I do not support banning of any firearms.  I do not support registration.

I believe in the 2nd Amendment as written.

I long for the days were the onlooking neighbor wouldn't have batted an eye at a kid playing soldier.

Ryan

In the early days of the "assault weapon" hysteria in kalifornia, the NRA documented a case were some busybody kids looked over their backyard wall and saw a guy sitting in his kitchen cleaning a 10/22. Mommy called the police after they told her he had a machinegun. SWAT did a dynamic entry and the guy got the whole nine yards: arrest, booking, etc.  Didn't matter at all that the gun was legal, but that it was a gun. Last I remember, the cops were refusing to release the gun back to him and he was contemplating suing the LAPD over principle even though legal fees would probably cost $10,000.

That's why you have to get a house on a whole shitload of land, so you dont have nozy god damned neighbors in your business all of the time! dont even get me started on neighbors, My neighbor called the cops on me a while ago for putting up a fence in my yard!! that old scraggly bitch!!!

Did you guys call the person who complained and tell them that they're a freakin moron?  What color was this dart gun?  Let me guess, bright orange, neon green?

Neighbor called the cops on us for carrying a sawed-off shotgun (which happened to be a blank wooden M1 stock) into the house. Pretty mellow response though: just one cop ringing the doorbell and asking to see the item in question. Satisfied with the result, he wished us a good day and rode into the sunset.

Imbroglio, you weren't "the guy" in your story, were you?[:D]

Clearly, the fault lies with the thumb-sucking general public.  Firearms training should be taught in the public schools.  If that were a required course, these kind of incidents would disappear in 5-10 years.

Let me clarify as well - I was not implying that you supported banning et. al.  I too long for the days when pointing a cocked finger at someone and saying "BANG!" didn't get you expelled from school.  I object to the hysterical reactions of our society.  That was what the comment was addressed at, not you.

reidry: Thanks for the post.  I think that the PD should take down the name of the person before they send out a car to investigate. These people are working on the assumption that everybody is a criminal.  A while back, I was at my local range, and I started talking with this guy about cleaning guns.  Anyways, he was cleaning his gun by the kitchen window, and a neigbhor sawed him and called the PD on him. So I guess the watchword, don't show any gun around unknowing paranoid neighbors, unless you want the local PD do a "dynamic entry" into your house.

Oh great.  My wife is pregnant, so I try to keep exposure to chemicals limited.  I decided to clean my guns on the back porch, which is in full view of the neighbors.  Maybe I need to rethink this.

The tip was anonymous.

This was one of the "evil black" dart guns that fires the little pointy tipped darts with string feathers off the rear.  I imagine from a distance it could be misconstrued as a real firearm.  

Personally I have a large collection of toy firearms from my youth, all of which are black.  From a distance no one could ID the typical red plug in the barrel.

Saddens me to think that if I take my child out into the yard and play "Army" I'm likely to have boys in blue show up in my driveway.

I'm to the point where:

I don't transport firearms without cases.
I don't load my vehicle for a range trip in open view (i.e. load in the garage).
I don't clean my firearms where I may be observed by neighbors.

And it's not because I haven't conversed with my neighbors, but because there are several hundred homes in the area and I could be observed by someone I've never even seen before.

It's sad that society has devolved to a point where there is so little trust.  

Ryan

I hope you all remember this thread before going off half-cocked and calling the FBI on "middle eastern looking" individuals acting "suspiciously".