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You'll shoot somebody else's eye out: Harbor Point man was shooting BB gun out his window just because
By adamg on Fri, 09/25/2015 - 7:43am
Big fake gun. Photo by BPD.
Boston Police report officers responding to about a man aiming an assault rifle out his window at 20 South Point Dr. Wednesday evening found a guy with a Sage International BB Rifle:
The suspect told the officers he had been firing the gun out of his window for fun. There were no reports of injuries or damage to property. The suspect has not been charged with an offense at this time.
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Comments
But come on!!
Can't you see that little orange tip on the end that shows that it's a fake? No? Really? Are you sure? You say it looks like a real gun?
Seriously--in this day and age, wtf is allowing anyone to manufacture toys that look like guns we're seeing on the news every night?
Well...
...I don't see the orange tip. If I was a cop, this guy would be dead. That's one real-ass looking BB gun.
Nope, it's not a toy. It is illegal to shoot them 'across a public way' if I recall correctly.
Without googling it (or using 'duckduckgo', the search engine that doesn't track you!) I'll say it shoots BBs or lead pellets powered by a CO2 cartridge. But, if it shoots airsoft plastic, then I guess that would explain the no charges.
If it's airsoft, I guess it is a toy.
Thankfully
You're not a cop.
That was my point. :)
But yeah--I've seen the Airsoft guns with tips intact and they're ridiculous--unless you are in bright daylight, in a non-stressful situation, who on earth could spot the tips on these very big, scary, realistic-looking guns? A "toy" like this simply shouldn't exist.
Mostly made in Japan and Hong
Mostly made in Japan and Hong Kong. Very popular in those countries along with the UK, Canada and Australia as a sport instead of paintball.
What's in commonly banned in all those countries?
"In this day and age"
I'd like to call out the "in this day and age" phrase, because it's seen so often.
The fact is, this day and age is safer, with a lower incidence of violence, than almost any era in human history.
What's different about now as opposed to other eras in the past, is not that danger is more prevalent, but rather that we have CNN breathlessly hyping every story, and we're all more paranoid about safety.
So call it "hype"
And if you see someone pointing this at you out of a window, feel free to continue calmly strolling down the street, being Judgy McJudgerson when others who lack your sangfroid.
You miss my point.
Someone pointing a rifle, or something that looks convincingly like a rifle, out the window of a house toward a public street is just as police-worthy now as it was in 1895.
or
dope's with internet and an opinion.
It's an AIRSOFT gun
not a BB gun. It fires 6mm plastic, metal (not lead) paintball pellets, around the size of a typical eraser on a pencil tip. It fires at a max of 400 fps (feet per second). You can not hurt someone, unless at very close range, and then bare skin may sting a little. And of course, theoretically, knock an eye out.
The orange tip appears to be missing on this, which is illegal. I can certainly see how it could be confused with a real firearm. There are multiple laws he could be charged with breaking.
*bb pellets are 4.5mm, usually some type of metal or plastic. They do not by law require and orange tip.
*pellet / airguns fire .175 and .22 (some specialty ones can fire much larger calibers) lead pointed and round pellets. They do not by law require an orange tip.
Some jurisdictions, like NYC, Chicago, totally ban bb, pellet/airguns, and airsoft. I believe airsoft may be legal in NYC as long as they're made of clear plastic and have the orange tip, pellet/airguns in some jurisdictions are treated legally like real firearms.
Using any one of these in the commission of a crime is legally treated as if they were a real firearm; rob a store or individual with a airsoft or bb gun, it's treated like an armed robbery, a felony.
AIRSOFT or BB
is IRELLEVANT - it can still be easily mistaken for a real weapon. That's the point here (and why the ADULT who thought pointing this thing out his window was a good idea should be charged).
It would actually be nice
for a change to have accurate reporting on specific subject matters. If you want to appreciate how poor the quality of reporting in 'respectable' media outlets are on a daily basis, just read, listen or watch something regarding a subject matter or situation you're intimately familiar with. I can almost guarantee you you'll be shaking your head. It's then not unreasonable to extrapolate and question all the reporting and news.
BB Guns
My father keeps offering to bring his BB gun on each subsequent visit to shoot the squirrels as they climb the tree behind our place. Sure they're headed to our roof and then the attic of our building, but I still don't want that used with the other triple deckers so close by.
May I suggest archery?
May I suggest archery?
Arrows are much more
Arrows are much more dangerous than bbs or pellets.
A compound bow or crossbow deals a lot more damage with a projectile than a bullet because of the very large and deep wound tract.
Squirrel Treats
Make little meatballs using d-con and peanut butter. Squirrels love them. Just place them way out of the reach of kitty and fido.
Ideally
We get the building repaired so they don't have a way in.
Squirrels are territorial so once you get the family out and away from the house and close up any ways in, you (I, in this case) should be fine.
Oh, really?
'
All projectiles are dangerous and are capable of doing damage. There are a lot of toys on the market that contain ;projectiles also. Furthermore, a good many toys that're considered relatively safe for a 10-12 year old kid have proven to be extremely dangerous in the hands of younger siblings. That's why many toys and games with projectiles on them have long since been taken off the market. Years ago, a Boston Globe Magazine article entitled "Toys that can Cripple or even Kill." succinctly pointed that out.
That gun does look uncannily real, and the idea of shooting even something like that out a window for fun is ludicrous...and dangerous.
I've thought about it
But I wouldn't use it to go after rodents, rather a skill I'd like to learn.
I am fairly certain that
I am fairly certain that shooting squirrels in Massachusetts is illegal. Please don't fire a weapon when living in close proximity to others... this is a city, not a rural community. Wow.
I'm fairly certain
You don't know how to read thoroughly.
Well, you have more sense than my former neighbor.
My former neighbor (we have since moved) who was using a BB gun (or other "gun" that shoots small metal projectiles that are not "bullets" - I'm not wading into the morass of what is and is not a BB gun) to shoot squirrels off of the back decks of our triple decker in Brookline (from a distance of approximately 20 feet).
This was happening during the day when I was not home, but I started to wonder what was up when I suddenly was picking up 2 dead squirrels per week. It was only after another neighbor mentioned hearing little "pings" coming from our house during the day, and I noticed little BB sized dents in my aluminum siding, that I put it all together.
I could not believe the stupidity of this in the abstract - but it was compounded by the fact that the people on the second floor of my building (right in the firing line) had just brought home a newborn.
Needless to say we had a discussion with the neighbor, who thereafter stopped doing this, but truthfully, I think that the only reason was because I mentioned the baby. He didn't seem to think it an issue otherwise.
Wow
That's amazing and I'm happy that you had the result you did with your conversation.
We had a squirrel-shooting neighbor too
in Roslindale. Is this a common Boston occurrence?
Turned out to be a kid in the triple decker next door. He'd been shooting at a bb (or whatever) gun into our backyard when my kids were running around. We didn't know till we found dead squirrels on the ground.
We called the cops, they put the fear of God into the kid & the grownup he lived with. No more dead squirrels.
No
It's not limited to Boston. It's a 'get rid of them varmints' situation.
And also probably
a "shooting stuff is fun" situation.
Boris Badanoff
You get Moose, I get Squirrel!
Minor correction
It's Boris Badenov.
The name is a play on Boris Godunov, one time Russian Czar.
pest trapping
https://youtu.be/sR8_4G-39uU
this is even more ridiculous than
... the pathetic military cosplay "patriot" dudes who lard up the rails on their crap AR-15 knockoffs with all sorts of silly plastic "tactical" accessories, laser sights and other dumb stuff. Don't even get me started on the gear they wear out on the range, sometimes that's even funnier. Unusually high percentage of them live in NH as well for some reason.
Yep, I judge people based on the firearms they carry and there are few things more pathetic than tubby "I'm an operator, really!" cosplayers with crap gear chosen for looks over function and deluded "patriot" fantasies. Many of them can barely operate their stuff safely as well which is another good reason to shun/avoid them when you encounter them.
accurate
I've run into a few of these clowns at my range. Drop-leg holsters, and for some reason they are always really overweight.
Meal team 6 is top tier yo!
Meal team 6 is top tier yo!
A friend of mine..
...refers to them as "tactards".
(with apologies at the half-use of a rather nasty term referring to people with cognitive disabilities, who, let's be honest, deserve a lot more respect than people who have disabilities but still choose to act like idiots)
This guy is an idiot. Even
This guy is an idiot. Even with paintball markers the serious players make sure the markers are hidden in a bag and never visible in their trunk. Airsoft - even more so.
This guy was openly shooting his rifle, which is missing the orange tip (federal law!), from a window! He should get at least cited!
Airsoft guns of this type are very realistic - most are aluminum and are gas- or electric-powered and can reach 800FPS.
terrible sniper
a good sniper never lets his barrel be seen sticking out of a window
I'm about as pro-gun as
I'm about as pro-gun as anyone you'll find on UHub, but this is complete idiocy. There's absolutely no justification for any of this, whether it was an Airsoft/BB/pellet gun, nobody in their right mind would do something like this and the guy should probably be charged with SOMETHING. Get his ass on the books to possibly flag him from making a real gun purchase in the future.
I'm pro-gun control, tcf098, but
this:
is something that I agree 100% with you on. The fact that so many irresponsible, unstable people do get access to guns here in the United States is precisely what the problem is, imho.