Fake rifle brings all-out police response

[The Straight Story]

Fake rifle brings all-out police response


PORT ANGELES, Wash., Dec. 18 (UPI) -- Police in Washington state surrounded an apartment building after a 911 call about a man brandishing a rifle, which turned out to be a realistic fake.

A Port Angeles man and his friends were playing with the replica rifle, similar to lookalike rifles used by police for training, the (Port Angeles, Wash.) Peninsula Daily News reported Friday.

"Based on the initial information, it appeared to be something that looked like a semiautomatic rifle," said the deputy police chief, Brian Smith. "It was an extremely realistic … rifle that any reasonable person would think was a functioning weapon."

After surrounding the building, police communicated with the men, and determined there was no danger, the Daily News reported.

http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2009/12/18/Fake-rifle-brings-all-out-police-response/UPI-65551261184368/

[Orrex]

1. A few weeks ago, a guy's LEGO pistol brought out the SWAT team

The article:
http://www.lugnet.com/jump.cgi?http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/posted/archive/2009/12/04/swat-team-brings-in-the-big-guns.aspx

And his blog about it:
http://blog.jeremybell.com/2009/12/03/so-i-got-arrested-by-the-swat-team-last-night/

[rd_kent]

2. Were these guys DOING something that made someone call police?

Just HAVING a gun should not = a 911 call.

[Orrex]

4. Back in about '87 a couple of friends and I were fooling around with a toy gun in my front yard

It was a cap-gun styled like a .38 snub, and it looked reasonably realistic in those days before the orange-painted barrels. We were pretending to be hitmen or ninjas or whatever and jumping around in dramatic "he shot me" poses. Etc.

Eventually two police cars zoomed up and asked us to go into my back yard because we were distracting drivers on the road. All in all they were pretty cool about it, even joking that the gun really did look good.

I imagine the reaction might be slightly different in today's climate.

[Moosepoop]

30. Reminds me of a story...

About 15 years ago, my stepson and his friend (both around 14 years old) sneaked the friend's father's starter pistol out of his house on Halloween night. The pistol looked and sounded quite real. Those two teenagers had a scam going on -- they would find trick-or-treating kids who were without adult supervision, and one of them would approach a kid with the gun and pull a "stickup" for the kid's bag of candy. When the kid would refuse with "Yeah, right" or whatever, the one with the gun would then point the gun at the other teen (who would be across the street, acting like a bystander) and pull the trigger. BANG! The "shot" teen would grab his chest and collapse as if dead. The terrified kid would invariably drop the bag of candy and run. The two teens got quite a candy haul.

They ended up stopping by our house eventually (my stepson didn't live with us). They showed us the starter pistol and recounted their escapades with it. We immediately confiscated the starter pistol, which sent my stepson's friend into a panic as it belonged to his dad. We said that it would be returned -- but only to the boy's father. Both boys got in a lot of trouble over that evening. Relieved to say, they both outgrew their teenage assholishness, and matured into very good and responsible adults. I like to remind my stepson of the incident every once in awhile, he's ashamed of it now.

I still think of those poor little kids who were probably traumatized that night -- I hope they eventually realized that it had to have been a scam and that they didn't really see somebody get shot to death!

[Arctic Dave]

6. Unfortunately in today's world it is better err on the side of caution then

hear an hour later some dumb ass shot up a mall. This is one of the main reasons I dislike these idiots and their open carry fetish. If you want to carry be descrete. Pretend like you're carrying 100,000 dallors cash, be low key about it.

[bridgit]

9. Well, I think it's the guys that *DO DO* big deadly shit with guns that brings cop-eyes into the mix

[Cirque du So-What]

12. The article clearly states that the rifle was being 'brandished'

and that is more than merely 'having' a gun. Brandishing a weapon - even a fake one - is illegal. I'd say these idiots are lucky they weren't arrested; musta been 'give a dumb-ass a break day' or something.

Over 30 years ago I was a sniper's target at a shopping mall. I wouldn't hesitate to drop a dime on anyone I saw with a rifle taking aim at people down below. Rifles are great for target shooting or killing game, but neither activity occurs in an apartment building.

[rd_kent]

14. "brandishing" WTF does that really mean?

[bridgit]

17. waving about in a threatening manner

[rd_kent]

19. And we know thats what they were doing? Or did a neighbor just see a gun and call police?

[bridgit]

31. you asked the question i answered it, if it offends your eye then pluck it out

but that is the base def of what a jury of *your* peers made be charged with determining so maybe think otherwise about stuffing your loaded weapon up someone's nose so close their wife & children can see the fucking bullet - in public - just to be inside the white lines on the road everybody else drives on - it could be a way to go,

it could be the smarter way to go

[Paladin]

21. Try Wrenching Yourself Into The 21st Century.

Slaughters by gun-wielding lunatics in this country are now so common, they barely register as lead-off news reports anymore. If people are edgy about public displays of firearms by non-law enforcement individuals, they have good cause.....

[rd_kent]

26. Try wrenching some common sense into your head.

Were they in the front yard pointing at cars passing by? Sure, call the cops. Were they in their back yard or inside not bothering anyone and a neighbor saw them and called the cops? See what I mean? Context is EVERYTHING and this "news" story has none. We do not know what they were doing to earn a visit from the cops.

[uppityperson]

28. I gave you another link that says this...

http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20091218/NEWS/312189983

A Port Angeles man unintentionally caused a scare by playing with a fake rifle while with a group of friends near an apartment building Thursday.

Five Port Angeles police units blocked the apartments near the intersection of C Street and Lauridsen Boulevard after a 9-1-1 caller reported a man or a group of people brandishing a "rifle of sorts" at the back of the apartments, Deputy Chief of Police Brian Smith said.

Why don't you call the PA police dept and ask them?

[HysteryDiagnosis]

3. Fake healthcare reform offered by the repubs almost brings about

acceptance and accolades. Sorry, but it's true.

[rd_kent]

5. Huh?

[HysteryDiagnosis]

7. Their version of healthcare reform (if there was one) would be

fake as well. I think it would be, you?

[uppityperson]

10. are you sure you are in the right thread?

[HysteryDiagnosis]

13. Uh, no. Please don't get all uppity on me, I've been outside

working and I am sort of tired.... and stupid.

[uppityperson]

22. No problem, just trying to follow along, rather free flowing thoughts

How is it outside? Cool and damp here.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

29. Cool and dry here.... but the incessant rain we have had has

turned this mississippi delta into soup.... been spreading gravel with a shovel. I really need to rest for awhile and get coherent again.

[rd_kent]

15. Yeah, I guess so. WTF are you talking about?

[HysteryDiagnosis]

16. I'm leaving. I'll let the door hit me in the ass. Too tired to make any

sense now. Toodles.

[uppityperson]

8. Local paper link, pict. This is where Rassam was caught smuggling explosives into USA

http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20091218/NEWS/312189983
"Fake guns typically have orange caps that distinguish them from a live weapon. This gun did not have an orange cap."

Here is a pict of the rifle with an orange cap. The one in the story did NOT have orange cap
http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=PT&Date=20091218&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=312189983&Ref=AR&maxw=350

[bridgit]

18. Yep, and a Google look-down shows a quick skip all up through the sound and back into open ocean

[uppityperson]

23. "Google look-down shows a quick skip all up through the sound and back into open ocean" Huh?

[bridgit]

32. Huh Wha? We are talking "PORT ANGELES, Wash" from the OP, right?

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl Zoom out...it's right there right or no? You'll need to key in "PORT ANGELES, Wash".......from the OP

[petronius]

33. Are you talking about Ressam?

Since he was in a car (coming off a ferry) he couldn't have skipped back to the ocean. If that's not what you meant, add me to the list of the confused... :shrug:

[bridgit]

34. Cars, ferry', look: we have people in the sound, on islands, and we think differently...

as to access to them, and I am sure people in locales such as Boston and Miami have similar views - however - as Lib/Pro as the reputation of SF is even *they* have gun turrets and battlements; relics to this day memorializing offensive incursions from the Pacific Ocean...nevertheless: uppityperson (1000+ posts) posts: <Sat Dec-19-09 12:50 PM

"Local paper link, pict. This is where Rassam was caught smuggling explosives into USA"

In an over-arching sense, there is a disinterest advertised by splitting Talmudic Hairs without producing any further knowledge, esoteric or otherwise, with respect to The Creation of Light!

Splitting such hairs, as a for instance; in a heroin drop scenario: is able to conclude - that it is to be considered a fluid moment between the drop of 7 suitcases stuffed with heroin in Brooklyn, and 5 duffel bags stuffed with heroin in MacArthur Park where 'if one' is delivered by sea...or ocean, 'and two' delivered if by interstate highway in a Black Cadillac Escalade with black tinted windows so yeah...

I'm right there with you :shrug:

Though if you would consider: please do not suggest to me that Rassam (and if you're ultimately angling on behalf of his defense that's fine, I support that...cause he needs the re-visitation of a vigorous one) is the only nefarious character ready, willing and able to 'smuggle explosives', or for that matter drugs *and/or* weapons "into USA" as though explosives weren't enough...casue then that is to my mind a form of whistling past the graveyard without even caring to define the parameters of it

It's best I think for some to just stick with the OP, find, and rediscover their outrage there eh fuck it you know what!?

If people care to out-source their freedom & liberty in the course of playing games with toy guns; bringing heat down on their dumb asses then let them do it :thumbsup:


edit: I<if

[uppityperson]

35. Good grief. Adding that Ressam was caught there was to provide info on the area. Would you prefer I

talked about werewolves and vampires?

As for the rest of your free flowing wtf statements and assumptions, wtf?

Ed to add that no, Ressam could not simply do a "a quick skip all up through the sound and back into open ocean" since he was on dry land, waiting to clear customs off Black Ball ferry. Besides, if you know the area, he wasn't IN Puget Sound but only the straits of Juan de Fuca.

And yes, I do live locally-ish to PA.

[bridgit]

37. So set Rassam free he was clearly an innocent man, he wasn't even *IN* the sound

He was in a car that was on a ferry that *bobbed* atop waters able to ultimately effect the effluent *of* the sound *and* the strait well no you're right after all, there goes that argument and Kennedy's too cause a rising tide apparently doesn't by some DUer's reckoning raise all boats but only boats in straits and not sounds :eyes: And if that is to be the tack, my growing sense is that whomever set Rassam up with his maps, plans, explosives, snack-able roadway snacks and money further up north were some real swell folks too and deserve our every kindness, right?

I've worked security for Bill Graham and others in the media/event industry. I've run crews and carried concealed pushing carts with 100's of thousands of dollars between 600lbs of rock-solid Gold's Gym muscle, but when my guys fanned out took up their positions and conducted themselves most professionally I felt safer, Bill felt safer, and the environment was safer for all. Anyone that was worked security has a different way of analyzing patterns. To refuse to see the accessibility to the sound/the strait, whatever, from whatever air or road map or postcard you're referring to, is to perhaps admit that "locally-ish" may not be close enough to the threat no wait - that is what you're saying - there is no threat. Anywhere. No threat important, or threatening enough to rise to...a generalized disregard for priorities

Quite a few DUer's, perhaps a result of their buoyant pacifism in the face of threat, perhaps a result of your's; seem less able to process threat in real-time. I won't refer to it as ignorance. But it is a form of separation. That vigilance is able to close

I do think people go to great extremes in their efforts to represent themselves as good old fashioned peace & beatniks. And they're willing to try to walk every slack-rope in the circus to just to put that forth

In the sound. On the sound. Near the sound. Ferry. Port Angeles. Port Townsend. Barge...what the fuck ever in deed ~

I think the "beautiful minds" of DU are making excuses for Rassam in the course of trying to make as little a point as possible here at DU though are unable to step back and see it. And I do think that contributes to why the LW has a marginalized place at the table regarding matters of defense. What? Set them all free simply because you're less able to absorb info from the very locale in which you live? I think other people are able to asses potential threat in a more balanced way, in the area where you live, even where you are not. And I think that will be to your ultimate benefit

Actually, and it's not your fault though I'm sorry you stepped into it - ew, yucky :( - but the OP is the sort posted here that always - always - gets a rise out of DU's fringe lefty-left because it involves COPs being mean to well-meaning Americans with toy guns and who can be mean about toy guns but the evil usurpers of the inalienable rights of a 'we the people' unable to understand how *we've* impacted those rights ourselves - and that would be COPs, right? Mothering Fucking COPs! We know they're already crazy fucked up murderers (that deserve to be shot) that have no reason to do what they do. And if they weren't crazy to begin with then they are now after having to deal with some of the most heinous, foolishly deadly behavior society has to offer, wow, never thought of it that way, hm - well, so I guess everyone is murderously vile, stupid, irresponsible or an alloy of disruptive hair-triggered negativities, fine, I accept that...

Toss into that mix, however, people with 'toy guns', or replicas of real ones and offer end-user excuses for that behavior too: is to invite authorities down onto your idyllic little postcard setting in which you've made not points imo; but excuses for irresponsible behavior with toy guns, terrorists with odd intent, the illegal import/export of guns weapons explosives the whole nine, excuses & glimpses into why it is so hard for some to pull back and see a larger picture but you; are; the one; that brought Rassam (of all people, if you're willing to go there you may as well have "talked about werewolves and vampires" in for a penny on for a pound) into a thread about what was it again, oh yes: "Fake rifle brings all-out police response" and in that process lifted the lid off the subject, in the course, of your, identifying yourself, as "locally-ish" Greeter of an area better-just-thought as one of vital international danger & intrique cause there's no defensive footing for it anyhow and so *I* say that was why the passage was scheduled ;) Cause they knew what others refuse to know about their own landscapes: knowledge with respect to the defense thereof, so...I suppose your WTF moment for me, right: no, sorry, wrong...

My fiance was shot and later died from a simple traffic stop his murderers never found. Cops and security people have a different view of situations

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5St4AYcBO7o

And why do people keep saying "Good grief" when in many cases there's so little good about it :wtf:

[uppityperson]

38. I see nothing wrong with police responding to this call.

The "good grief" is for the random free flowing loose run of words which are difficult to understand and ramblingish answer which is not quite clear. And for assumptions such as
"I think the "beautiful minds" of DU are making excuses for Rassam" when I see nothing of the kind here, my mentioning him only to give another reference for the location (again, I could have mentioned sparkly vampires and not-quite-werewolves but would rather not, being a member of Team Tyler's Van.)

Messing around with a "toy" gun that resembles a real one can result in a call to police, nothing to do with "terrorists" but just plain people with guns. I called cops when tweaker neighbors were flashing a pistol around and "joking around" with it next to my house.

[rd_kent]

20. So what? Why should just "having" a gun make the cops come running?

This news story sucks. "Brandishing" without context means fuck-all.

[uppityperson]

24. Smith said the people playing with the gun "didn't have a lot of situational awareness."

Smith said the people playing with the gun "didn't have a lot of situational awareness."

"We spent some time talking to them," Smith said.

[rd_kent]

25. I'm not saying these guys are not stupid, but what were they doing?

[uppityperson]

27. Read the articles, that is all the info I have also.

[bridgit]

11. Life ain't all Some Like It Hot in a world where Dillinger can skip on a bar of soap

[cowcommander]

36. It's an airsoft toy rifle

I own one of those, they should've been more discrete about handling them outside, and situations like these happen commonly, unfortunately. They're shaped like real guns, but only fire plastic bbs. In Britain and Australia, they are heavily controlled and treated like real guns, and in some cases even completely banned outright, like in China where possession of one is punishable by imprisonment.