Reenactors Beware of Gun Nazi

[JaimeH]

MUZZLE LOADERS ARE NOT GUNS! You can buy muzzle loaders off the internet and mail order catalogs. If he had black powder, that was the real danger.

Sorry about the yelling.

[Panzer]

Jamie....it's a GUN...it's a WEAPON....it's not a toy...it's not a broom...it's not a baseball bat....it's a GUN. If he leaves it out in the open where someone can spot it in his car he's a Dic*head........simple!

Wade K.

[coastie]

Just found this thread.

I do work as a High School Security Guard (the bad guy) and have to deal with this type of screwiness. Had I found the gun I would have known exactly what it was and what it could do. Been there, done Civil War/Buckskinning, Living history, etc. Had the kid told me/administrators "I messed up and left it the truck/car" We probably (I hope) called the parents and verified the story and had the parent come down to get the weapon (yes it's still is a weapon) Over and done with (I hope).
But the Security Guard finding the weapon puts it in another realm. We have no idea what the original intent of the kid would have been. Sure after we found it the kid would say "oh I just left it in the vehicle by mistake" to cover his butt. Sure a muzzleloader is a one shot weapon but "one shot one kill" is all it takes.
When I was in High School I carried a knife, so did others, and I knew some kids had guns in their cars, under the seat or on the "Easy Rider rifle rack" in the back of the truck. We never thought about using them against staff or other students, maybe because it was a Catholic school and we had scruples. But it's now a different world and you just don't know who is going to pop a cork and take down someone so you treat every weapon
(excluding butter knives and GI Joe guns) as a threat.
You say this was uneven, yes it was and I would be the first to agree, if the story of the kid was true, but again if I saw the gun it's my duty to report it after that whatever the Administration does it's out of my control.

[dag001]

When I was a kid in the 7th grade (1954), my history teacher was telling us about WWII and that he had been wounded in the leg by a "burp gun". The next day, I borrowed my neighbor's dewatted MP-40 he had brought home as a war souvenier, and carried it to school. I walked the halls with it all day and a couple teachers asked why I had it in school. When I told them it was for Mr. Richeson's history class, there was no problem. I brought it into class and he said "Yup - that's a burp gun". He laid it on his desk and invited the students to come up and check it out.

Man, it was a different world then. If the world then had been like it is now, I'd probably still be in reform school at age 62!
p.s. I later bought the MP-40 with my paper route money - $10.00

[coastie]

When I was a kid in the 7th grade (1954), my history teacher was telling us about WWII and that he had been wounded in the leg by a "burp gun". The next day, I borrowed my neighbor's dewatted MP-40 he had brought home as a war souvenier, and carried it to school. I walked the halls with it all day and a couple teachers asked why I had it in school. When I told them it was for Mr. Richeson's history class, there was no problem. I brought it into class and he said "Yup - that's a burp gun". He laid it on his desk and invited the students to come up and check it out.

Man, it was a different world then. If the world then had been like it is now, I'd probably still be in reform school at age 62!
p.s. I later bought the MP-40 with my paper route money - $10.00

I know we used to bring our fathers war trophies to school: bayonets, artillery shells, and such, not anymore.

[Richardxyz]

I think the boy was a little careless, and should have thought about the situation a little better.

When I was about 17, myself a few friends planned on making a little amateur film in some disused offices a friend's dad had the lease on. I was going to star as an escaped convict and there was going to be lots of guns, airsoft replicas to be precise, pretty harmless stuff, it was going to be a good laugh.

However one day as we pulled up and went in to the office building, the barrel of an airsoft Colt AR15 was poking out of a gym bag. Luckily we left soon after but not before the caretaker of the office complex phoned the police, who scrambled an armed response vehicle to the scene by which time we were long gone. Fortunately they realised that we were harmless. But we had to visit the police station the next day and got off with a strong ticking off by the desk sergeant. To make matters worse one of the office rooms we had decked out as a cell, liberally decorated with pictures from a porno mag I learned a good lesson from that experience, concealment is everything!

[sb98]

What about the black powder? That would be as bad as having the gun on campus I would think. At my high school we had a round bulletin board outside in the middle of campus. Someone blew it up with a pipe bomb. Luckily no one was hurt but they could have killed someone.

The school isn't going to have many choices about what to do with the kid nowadays. Bringing weapons and explosives on a school campus is really stupid. What is the school supposed to do once they know about it? What they will do is cover their ass! If something did go down and they knew the kid had this stuff and they didn't act, there would be hell to pay. Even if the kid didn't do anything some of the other kids' parents would go ballistic if they knew the security guard found this stuff and the kid didn't get in trouble. Unfortunately things have changed a lot in the last few years. The kid should have had enough common sense to know that the school would be forced to act, like it or not. Why put yourself in the position of trying to talk your way out of having a gun and explosives on campus in the first place? Don't get me wrong, I like all that stuff that goes "bang" but you have to be smart about when and where. That's the reality.

Tim

[coastie]

[QUOTE=Tim L.]What about the black powder?

You brought up a good point about the Black Powder, what would of happened if some other kid knew about it and took off with it? and if it was taken while at school on school property and then used to blow up something where would the school be - up a creek, without a paddle.

[Gary Cain]

You're a rare bird Mate! My friend Ian Skennerton packed up and left after the big buy. Where are you located? I spent quite a bit of time out at Lightning Ridge and around The Great Sandy Desert. To go back a while, when I was going to elementary school I used to take my .22 rifle and leave it in the closet till after school then I would hunt my way back home. One time I spotted a real nice rabbit out the window, I asked permission, got it, and plugged him from the window of the class room with about 25 viewers(including the principle who came down to watch!) cheering me on. It's a different world now. But, back then, no one would even think of touching my rifle(not even a teacher without my permission) so it's everyones responsibility to make sure the weapons are secured. As for this kid, who knows? The article is so poorly written I have no idea what happened, for all we know the kid could be a troubl maker and was plotting something. We don't know. And yes legally it is not a 'firearm' (ATF designation), but it is still a weapon and if the thing was loaded(we don't know if it was or not) and if it had discharged and if it had hit someone we would all be saying "what a moron to take a loaded weapon to school" So he was lucky or not that stupid or whatever, what he is though is a poster child for every dips**t who is looking for an excuse to take the guns away.

Gary

Wait a minute.....how did the Security Guard see it? He must have left it in plain view or it was not secured properly.....in which case he deserves a smack....because this is lazy and carless. If he is old enough to drive a pickup he's old enough to secure a WEAPON.....it's not a dammed spud-gun.


And before you start howling.....I work with guns...have been shot at with guns and will be working with guns on a film set tommorrow. So I am no tree hugging hippie! Oh and Cheers! Wade K.

[Gary Cain]

Sorry Jaime,
They are not 'firearms' (ATF designation), but they are weapons/guns.

Gary

MUZZLE LOADERS ARE NOT GUNS! You can buy muzzle loaders off the internet and mail order catalogs. If he had black powder, that was the real danger.

Sorry about the yelling.