Running shooting thread 2023

Happy memorial day

 

Memorial day. Serious question, has any one here bought a gun in the last two years, or bought a more powerful gun in the last two years specifically because of political rhetoric?

 

You're probably asking the wrong audience.

 

I got rid of my guns about three years ago. Raising two young boys. The likelihood that one of them gets a hold of one and does something stupid over the next eighteen years is far greater than the probability that I would ever need one for self-defense, and I gave up hunting long ago. The odds one of them does something stupid with a gun go way, way down if there aren't any in the house. So there aren't any in my house anymore.

 

No, but I bought a new rifle for a Montana elk hunting trip. And a sub-compact 9mm. Oh, and a .50 caliber air rifle and a .22 caliber pellet rifle for hogs and deer and squirrels and rabbits, respectively.

 

Why do you need a tiny 9?

 

When I’m at our hunting camp, I usually carry due to snakes, hogs and being about 40 minutes from the nearest PD (when a guy was murdered a mile from our place a game warden was the first LEO there - two hours after the call).

Anyway … I’ve started wearing a chest rig (not a plate carrier) when I’m on the tractor because pulling from a traditional holster was too difficult while on the Kubota. My existing pistols were too bulky for the rig. So I sacrifice some accuracy with the shorter barrel for an easier way to carry and deploy. Killed a three-foot copperhead with it last month.

 

Your detail, and description has me appreciating your answer. Much like as I grew up, but nothing like where I am now.

 

I figured that might have been your answer. I just figured you’d already have the tools for the job.

 

Another interesting case out of New York that'll probably get some play in the usual circles this week.

A 65-year-old man is confronted by a mugger outside his apartment building. Surveillance footage shows the man retreating in a defensive posture while the mugger continues to advance in an erratic and threatening manner. The mugger waved an object that was later determined to be a pen, and the man flashed a gun to try to get him to back off. The mugger does not back off and, eventually, the man pulls out a .38 and shoots and kills the mugger.
The man, Charles Foehner, told police that he did it, and how he did it, and those facts are not in dispute. The DA says they will not charge him with homicide.
However ...
During the investigation the police got a search warrant for Foehner's apartment and found 26 guns, including an AK-47, and some body armor. Foehner, who has no criminal record, says he had them for protection because he's fearful of street crime. Only a few of the guns are licensed, so while he's not being charged with murder he is being charged with criminal possession of a firearm in the first degree and faces 25 years in prison.
The judge, saying there are "too many shootings" in New York and expressing concern that the man was carrying a gun in the first place, doubled the bail request by prosecutors.

So the tl;dr version is, guy stockpiles weapons out of a fear of crime; has those fears validated and uses a weapon in self defense; gets a pass for shooting someone but is facing life in prison for having the gun in the first place; and a judge who seems more concerned about a guy having the tools to defend himself than the fact he actually needed to use them.

 

He didn’t NEED to use them. Dude had a fucking pen. Don’t want to go to jail? Don’t buy an illegal automatic weapon.

 

So it's his civic duty to allow himself to be mugged and possibly killed?
Pen, knife, unarmed, whatever, the mugger was still advancing on Foehner in a very threatening manner even after Foehner had his gun pulled. The mugger is closing his distance, obviously has some ill intent, and then is moving toward Foehner when he's shot. All the while, Foehner is doing everything he's supposed to do to get out of danger — retreating, brandishing a weapon, probably telling the guy to back off. It's not until the last possible moment that he fires his gun, when he's literally backed into a corner in a dark alley. What are his options in that situation?
If you watch the surveillance video it's pretty clear that Foehner did need to use his weapon in that situation or he would have suffered great (and possibly lethal) harm. Textbook case of self defense, which is why he's not being charged with murder or manslaughter.

The rest is interesting from a legal and societal standpoint, especially in light of other recent cases up there (the subway thing and the bodega owner who was charged after stabbing a robber). It feeds into the growing narrative of a war on self defense, that even if you lawfully defend yourself then possessing the tools to defend yourself are illegal.