Two North Dakota State University students got a scare when armed police officers mistook their telescope for a rifle.
WDAY-TV reports that Levi Joraanstad and Colin Waldera were setting up the telescope behind their Fargo apartment Monday night when they were blinded by a bright light and told to stop moving.
They couldn’t see who was shining the light and presumed it was a prank by other students.
An officer on patrol had spotted the two and thought the telescope was a rifle. He also thought Joraanstad’s dark sweater with white lettering on the back looked like a tactical vest. He called for backup and the officers confronted the students.
According to WDAY, Joraanstad said at first the pair didn’t take the situation seriously, certain it was just some friends fooling around.
“… we were kind of wondering, what the heck’s going on? This is pretty dumb that these guys are doing this. And then they (police) started shouting to quit moving or we could be shot. And so at that moment we kind of look at each other and we’re thinking we better take this seriously.”
Police say the two were never in any danger and that it was a situation of “better safe than sorry.”
Gosh, I hate it when that happens to me. I remember the last time I pointed a weapon at someone holding a stick – after all, I mistook it for a rifle so better safe than sorry. In my case, I’m glad the cops understood and let me go about my business, even though I had brandished a weapon. Better safe than sorry, you know.
I had missed it when it happened, but the LA Times reminds us on one incident with the Stockton Police Department that ought to calibrate your expectations concerning police.
The more than 600 rounds that Stockton police fired during a rolling gun battle with bank robbers last year that left a hostage dead by officers’ bullets was “excessive” and “unnecessary,” an independent review found.
The Police Foundation, a research group based in Washington, D.C., released a detailed report Monday on how Stockton police responded to the July 16, 2014, armed robbery of a Bank of the West branch, where three gunmen took three women hostage and fired at officers from a speeding SUV.
The group found that 32 officers unloaded more than 600 rounds during the hour-long rolling gun battle, which spanned three counties, 63 miles of highway and reached speeds of 120 mph. One of the hostages, Misty Holt-Singh, was killed when she was struck by 10 police bullets, authorities said. The two other hostages jumped or were thrown from the vehicle during the chase and survived.
Police officials said they fired on the vehicle to potentially save lives because the men in the car were shooting indiscriminately. The gunmen disabled 14 police cars with gunshots, the report stated.
[ … ]
The report said that a few officers engaged in “sympathetic fire,” in which officers fired their weapons because others were shooting.
In some cases, officers opened fire while colleagues were in front of them. The report highlighted an example during the final standoff, in which one officer lay prone on the ground and did not shoot while an officer next to him, standing, fired “round after round.”
“‘What’s your target?’ the prone officer yelled, thinking he was missing something,” the report stated.
“‘The car!’ responded the officer,” according to the report.
Good Lord. This is even worse than the New York Police in the empire state building three years ago. 600 rounds, indiscriminate shooting, lack of muzzle awareness and discipline, rolling gun battle in a urban and suburban settings, lack of awareness of their backstop, lack of precision fire, and the list could go on.
Ridiculous.
From reader Mack, in other news, the anti-gun movement’s intellectual elevator runs a few floors short of the top.
Lori Haas, director of the Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence’s Virginians for Responsible Gun Laws campaign, says that requirements for a concealed carry permit are too lax, especially compared to the hundreds of hours of training required for police officers.
“We feel that the current regulations regarding concealed handgun permits in Virginia are woefully inadequate in regard to training,” said Haas, referencing online concealed permit classes that count toward a permit. “The notion that someone can sit in front of a computer and learn about firearm safety and be considered able to physically, actively handle an active shooter situation is fantasy.”
Uh huh. Well, no more so that believing the police will protect you. Apparently it was safer for the hostages in the Stockton gun battle to jump out of moving cars than be around when the police got busy.
But okay, I’ll bite. So if Ms. Haas wants you to have more tactical training, then get more tactical training. No, not training she or the state approves, but training you think you need to do the job of self defense. And collectivist Haas can kiss our collective asses.
Babeu was on a helicopter tour of Mexican drug cartel scout locations in caves in the side of mountains throughout the desert about 70 miles inside the U.S. border. Essentially, that means U.S. sovereignty is gone for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of square miles throughout the American southwest.
Babeu was leading the helicopter tour with Dr. Ben Carson, a GOP presidential candidate, after briefing Carson on everything happening at the border.
Among other things that Babeu showed Carson and Breitbart News on this helicopter tour were how this far inside the border on high ground there are scores of scout sites where cartel operatives serve as lookouts for smugglers bringing drugs, people and other contraband into the country.
“If they can operate up to this degree, 70 miles north of the border, in law enforcement we call that a clue,” Babeu said in a brief exclusive interview outside the helicopter after landing back at the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office. The lack of United States sovereignty this deep into the country is highly concerning to Carson, who told Breitbart News that this shouldn’t be happening.
“We should stop them at the border,” Carson said. “They shouldn’t be 70 miles inside the border. We should stop them at the border. As the sheriff indicated, if we were to take like 6,000 troops and put them at the border, you wouldn’t have those people coming inside the border.”
Seriously? You mean actually stick troops on the border and give them robust rules of engagement where they shoot at bad guys? Gosh, I wish I had thought of that!
Because they thought his crutch was a weapon. No, I’m not kidding.
No charges filed. Meanwhile, gangs run free and citizens have to deal with more onerous laws every day on their right to own and carry real weapons – not the prosthetic leg kind.
PARKERSBURG, W.Va. – A disturbing video of a West Virginia state trooper pushing a woman to the ground after she engaged him while he aimed his pistol at a dog is going viral.
In the video, just moments after seeing the trooper draw his gun on the dog, the woman is heard shouting, “You can’t do that,” before confronting the officer. The officer then grabs her by the arm and pushes her to the ground.
It is unclear why the trooper drew his pistol at the dog. Troopers were reportedly there after receiving a call about two neighbors having a dispute.
Here is the video.
I speak doggy, so let me translate for the trooper and any other LEOs who might be reading this and regularly face animals.
Dog: “Hey asshole – yea, I’m talking to you! Who are you and what are you doing in my area of operations? Are you a threat or are you here to play? I like to play, but I want to make sure you aren’t here to hurt someone before I trust you. No one properly introduced us.”
That’s about it. The dog’s tail was still feathering around, without biasing right or left (which can be an indicator of other things). No teeth were shown, no lunging occurred, no aggression other than coming out to meet the new person in his area.
If I had been there and assuming I had five minutes with the dog, I would have had him the back yard playing around and running after sticks while the bullies did the boring work of sorting out human psychology. We would have been buddies. There are certain things you do, and certain things you don’t do. It’s always better to have someone properly introduce you to the dog rather than take the only connection you have with the dog and throw her around. Dumb move. Really boneheaded. This is grammar school level stuff, and school boys know how to do better.
Never put your hands towards the dog’s hindquarters unless he knows you well – that’s threatening (Sort of like you wouldn’t walk behind a horse unless you know the horse well, and the horse is a mare or gelding and you let the horse know you are going to do that. Never walk behind a stud unless you want to die). Patting the dog on the head is a privilege you don’t have unless the dog grants it to you. Rubbing the dog on the back is good, usually, and sometimes if he finds it acceptable, I can rub the side of the dog’s head within seconds of meeting him. This is a good first step, just behind a few minutes of verbal exchange.
Voice commands are critical, and voice inflection, tonality and timbre (or tone color) make or break your communications with the animal. Learn it. Practice it. Do it. Take time with it, and if you live in a dense urban area where you cannot work with farm animals, travel on the weekends to a place where you can, or move permanently. It’s that important.
As for the trooper, you embarrassed yourself and your department. You acted like a little bully boy. Instead, you should have learned to adapt and improvise, since you had the most valuable asset at your disposal you possibly could, i.e., the dog’s owner. You threw away your asset and then had nothing.
Via SWJ, Georgetown University has published a report entitled Lone Wolf Terrorism. In it you’ll find this rich bit of analysis.
… a University of Maryland study found that, while radical Islamic terrorism in the United States has increased since the attacks on September 11, 2001, there has also been a continued, if not greater, increase in individual radicalization from the far right. Overall, homegrown radical Islamic terrorism poses no greater threat to the public than other forms of domestic radicalization, but by unfairly focusing on the Muslim community, the USG risks inciting further divisions.
You learn one thing, and you can suspect another. As for what you can suspect (with a fairly high chance of being right) is that if you are a gun owner or believe in the constitution, you fall into that category they call the “far right.”
What you know with certainty is that the idiots at the “think tanks” still have no clue as to the dangers posed by Islam and Sharia law. Thus they are an irrelevant feature to the national security apparatus, shouting nonsense with no one listening, sound and fury signifying nothing. But we knew that before, didn’t we?
CHARLESTON – A Charleston state senator says he will introduce gun-control legislation in response to recent gun violence in his home city.
Democratic state Sen. Marlon Kimpson said the June 17 shooting at the Emanuel AME Church and more recent gun violence show the need for tightening restrictions on gun ownership.
Reading about gun violence in the newspaper regularly, Kimpson said he hopes the state Senate will give his proposals serious consideration when they return to work in January.
“I don’t think there is any dispute that there is a direct correlation between weak gun laws and violence,” Kimpson told The State Monday. “It is within our power to do something about it.”
Kimpson’s proposals would:
Require background checks to be conducted through the State Law Enforcement Division and the federal system before a gun sale can be completed
Ban assault weapons, defined as semi-automatic firearms designed and configured for rapid fire and combat use
Close a three-day loophole that allows some S.C. gun purchasers to buy and take home a gun before a background check has been completed. That rule, and other errors in the federal background check, allowed alleged Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof to purchase a gun.
Require reporting of lost or stolen guns
Require state registration and permitting of all guns
The gun control proposals likely face an impossible uphill battle.
[ … ]
But Kimpson said the Charleston church shooting that killed nine African Americans including a state senator has “opened people’s minds to doing things in the State House that have never been done before.”
Perhaps Kimpson isn’t thinking what I’m thinking when he talks about people “doing things … they have never done before.” At any rate, this bill stands a snowball’s chance in hell of passing in South Carolina.
But let’s recall collectivist Larry Martin of Pickens. The boys in South Carolina have work to do. You need to handle Larry, and then you need to pass constitutional carry. Kimpson can stand back and watch in irrelevance.
David Codrea on Trump on immigration. So I’ll tell you now what I think. He will do an about-face in order to keep all of that cheap Hispanic and Latino labor because business likes it (given that we are supplying corporations with welfare by allowing them to underpay their workers and send them to hospitals as their primary care physician). What he’s saying is well crafted to fool. At any rate, my prediction is that he will disappoint you if you put yourself in his camp.
“the brothers don’t need to attack them in military bases or secured buildings. they can now turn up in their houses. in their homes. this is war, what did you expect? u think u can bomb the islamic state and we don’t do nothing back? soon, very soon you will see.”
Bring it. I look forward to putting a .45 230 grain fat boy in your stomach. And your buddies too.
Mike Vanderboegh on the new Pew poll concerning gun control so-called “conservatives” support. Yea, I saw this too, and I’m not sure what to make of it. Either the poll was a well crafted lie because of the way the questions were posed, or a majority of Americans really do support universal background checks and registration. Either way, it doesn’t matter, which is why I hadn’t posted on this. I agree with Mike. Come and get ’em. Are you prepared for civil war?
The problem is that Mr. Murthy isn’t a real doctor. He may have passed his boards, but that doesn’t mean anything. I know a few engineers who passed the engineering boards and who are a hazard to the safety and health of the public because they’re incompetent.
Mr. Murthy hasn’t spent his life like my family physician, diagnosing prostate cancer and high blood pressure, dealing with the health issues men and women face, watching the elderly die in his care, and working a full day at the office only to work until midnight at home because of the obscene Obamacare paperwork (like my doctor does) our totalitarian president has heaped upon him.
I’ve explained what I would do with one of these doctors who ask questions with which they have no business, but that sidesteps the real issue here. The issue is that if Mr. Murthy was a real doctor he would treat patients and sit by their bedside as they pass away, find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease, or some form of cancer.
Mr. Murthy is just another collectivist who looks exactly like the one who nominated him. We know his stripe, we’ve seen a thousand just like him in this administration. In the end it doesn’t matter what post he holds or doesn’t hold. He will pass from the world having done no good for mankind, in spite of the title “doctor.” He will not weep over patients, he will not cure disease, he will not pray over their suffering. He has sold his soul.
He’s just a little boy. Nothing more.
Via Uncle, switching calibers. Dude. I don’t care what caliber you shoot. Learn to hold the gun the right way and lock those elbows. And just to think, I’m not even a SWAT member and know this!
States should take a closer look at how people with mental health issues are flagged in a federal background check system required for firearms purchases, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said Wednesday.
Jindal was speaking during the last stop in a five-day trip to Iowa — his first since a man opened fire in a Louisiana movie theater, killing two women before turning the gun on himself.
“There was a shooting in Lafayette and the shooter in that case, I believe, should’ve been involuntarily committed to a mental health hospital and shouldn’t have been able to buy a gun,” the Republican candidate for president told the Westside Conservative Club at the Machine Shed Restaurant in Urbandale.
In 2013, Jindal signed off on two laws that improved Louisiana’s reporting requirements to ensure the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check system was receiving information when a person lost their gun rights due to a mental health issue. He said other states should follow Louisiana’s example.
“I’m not for taking any rights away from law-abiding citizens,” Jindal said. “Those that were involuntarily committed, those records were supposed to be going into the national background check. That wasn’t always happening.”
My goodness he has a lot of faith in the “mental health” profession and system for someone who isn’t trying to take rights away from law abiding citizens (and I like the word “peaceable” better than “law abiding”).
As I’ve said before, “As for those who believe in the so-called mental health “sciences,” you may as well believe in voodoo and bow down and worship totem poles or cut your wrists like the prophets of Baal for a god who isn’t there. The mental health “sciences” is the refuge of collectivists and scoundrels.”
Thanks for outing yourself as a collectivist, Bobby. It’s always easier when y’all self-identify.
10 years, 5 months ago
