Occasionally my regular shooting group gets together at one of the local shops and then we go to dinner.  The group is pretty diverse consisting of a Class II manufacturer, police supervisor, police armorer, engineer, an accountant, an appliance store owner, a dentist etc...

Tonight is the first time I had a chance to talk face to face with the supervisor friend of mine that responded to the call discussed in the [url=http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?id=118887]Original Thread[/url].  

I arrived before him and let him in the front door.  I jokingly asked if cuffed all kids they found playing army in the backyard.  I was very suprised by the reaction.  He took offense to the joke.  He really felt that the level of response and the call in were warranted.

Our conversation attracted the attention of the crowd and the armorer jumped in to join him.

I was stunned.

Both felt that 4 officers responding to a call of a youth with a firearm was completely correct.  

The kicker is that they both felt that in today's society the neighbor was correct for calling in the sighting of the youth toying around in the backyard.  

I feel the armorer is a veteran officer (15+ years on the force, supervisor, trainer, armorer, SWAT, etc.).  He stated that "Society determines what is acceptable."  I felt like I'd taken a punch to the gut.  What happened to life, liberty and the pursuit to happiness?  What about the US Constitution - since when does society determine what is correct, right or acceptable?

Any thoughts?

Ryan

Yeah, why didn't you explain that society did not determine what is acceptable, the Constitution does?

WL

If they send four cops to handle a kid with a toy, no wonder they don't have enough officers to respond to other calls or (my pet peeve) stop red light runners.z

Maybe we should try to know our neighbors and their kids first. Instead of thinking that Joe and his 2 rugrats are the next gen of bombers maybe they're just kids having fun. Get out of the house for a change and know who is who!

 Stepped-init

They probably would have also thought the response had been completely correct had it ended with the kid's brains scattered across the back yard.

Those are my thoughts anyway.

Just the other day I saw a kid in my neighborhood playing with a toy gun (not a brightly colored one) and I thought it was refreshing.