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Police Swarm Bungie Office Over Halo Replica Rifle

Posted by Soulskill on from the armed-and-nerdy dept.

sv_libertarian writes 'A panicked person in Kirkland, WA called local police on Wednesday, claiming they saw someone walking down the street with an AK-47. It was actually a Bungie employee carrying an overgrown model of a Halo sniper rifle, which resembles an AK-47 as much as a Volkswagen resembles a Formula 1 racer.' Halo 3: ODST is set to launch on September 22nd, and fans got some new details and early looks at the game during PAX.

13 of 746 comments (clear)

  1. Ah, paranoia by DesScorp · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Maybe Congress can attempt to pass an "Assault Replica" bill.

    I've never understood the logic of banning a gun because it looks scary. American "assault rifles" are semi-automatic. Pull the trigger, and one shot comes out. Politicians want to ban them because they look intimidating next to, say, a standard bolt-action Ruger 30.06. This is like banning a V-6 equipped Camaro because "it looks fast".

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    Life is hard, and the world is cruel
    1. Re:Ah, paranoia by Maxmin · · Score: 5, Insightful

      ammo companies aren't going to increase their production lines too much because the increased buying was caused first by Obama's anti-gun tendencies and has continued because of the extremely large expansion in government power

      Huh? You who didn't notice the "extremely large expansion in government power" during the Bush era deserve to get your playtoys taken away.

      Didn't notice a one of you showing up to Bush's (few) public speaking engagements packin' 2nd amendment heat, not during the time he expanded the federal budget and deficit to new record levels, all the while crossing out sections of new law just cus his lawyers say he can.

      Now that you got a Democratic president, you're all up in arms. Whoop-te-do, you're at least five years late.

      --
      O lord, bless this thy holy hand grenade, that with it thou mayest blow thine enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy.
    2. Re:Ah, paranoia by jcr · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Do you have an example of this?

      There were enough examples of this in Israel that the perps switched tactics. Trying to shoot up a shopping mall became ineffective, since the attacker didn't manage to hurt many people before being shot by several armed civilians. They started using improvised rockets instead, with a range of several miles.

      Hypothetical mass murders being an argument for concealed weapons is weak at best.

      Most of the time, when a firearm is used for self-defense, it's not even necessary to fire it. Just showing it to the perp tends to make them reconsider.

      -jcr

      --
      The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
  2. Re:Death of the 2nd by dunkelfalke · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Bullshit. The Americans are just scared of someone walking around.

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    "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
  3. Re:The police are morons by Rogerborg · · Score: 5, Insightful

    +1 Informative, -1 Angry Ranting Nerd.

    Washington may be an open carry State, but are fully automatic firearms legal there? Are weapons with a caliber larger than .50 legal? Google before answering, and look at the size of the 'weapon' in question.

    Under Washington law, it is an offence to open-carry with the intent to cause alarm. A bystander was alarmed enough to dial 911. It's up to an officer to determine whether that alarm was intentional.

    So the police investigated, determined that no crime had been committed, and left some sensible advice. Advice, not orders. Seems about right to me.

    Next time you hear about some scruffy looking guy dragging a massive gun down the street, and you choose to move towards that person, then you get to armchair quarterback police response to firearms calls. M'kay?

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  4. Still looks like a big-ass gun to me... by NoNeeeed · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Whether it resembles an AK47 or not, it still looks like a scary looking piece of kit to the untrained eye. I know nothing about guns, and while it looks comically oversized, I wouldn't automatically assume it was fake.

    As a part-time theatre tech, I sometimes have to transport fake guns for shows, and I always do it discreetly. Just because I know they are fake, doesn't mean other people will, or indeed should know. It's not like people take classes on gun recognition at school. Unless you have an interest in such things, I don't see why you would know what different guns look like.

    Reminds me of that girl who strolled into an airport with circuit-boards, wires and blinking lights attached to her jumper, and was surprised when security got rather twitchy. It might not have looked like a bomb to you and I, but to the average person bought up on a diet of Hollywood films, where the bombs always have sticky out wires and flashing lights (and beep, just to let you know they are there), it certainly looked suspicious.

    At least in this case the police were a bit more calm and restrained once they figured out what was going on.

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    Paul Leader
    1. Re:Still looks like a big-ass gun to me... by iphayd · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Right, but in this instance the police acted appropriately... They were alerted to a potential threat, contained it, discovered it wasn't a threat at all and left. No charges were filed, and a suggestion was given that would result in a whole lot of police and Bungie staff not having their time wasted.

      To the guy that said carrying the gun was political speech. Bullshit. In this instance, an employee was carrying a piece of equipment from point a to point b. That equipment just happened to be something that the general public took as a threat. The police suggested a way to alleviate time wasted in the future.

      If they were to actually carry this item as political speech, it would be wise to alert the police that you are doing so _before_ you start marching around with a fake gun. Otherwise, you are _very_ likely to be looking down the barrel of a very real gun.

  5. Re:Some people fear guns like they fear bugs by bcmm · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I've seen people get paralyzed because a black beetle crawled across the kitchen counter. I suspect many people have the same irrational fear of guns, [...] It's a phobia which is NOT rational

    The thing that makes the beetle phobia irrational is that the beetle involved is harmless (well, technically I'm probably making an assumption about what part of the world you're from there). Whatever you think about gun control, you surely don't think they aren't dangerous. What exactly would you consider a rational phobia?

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    Damn, my RAM is full of llamas.
  6. Re:Perhaps not an AK47 by P0ltergeist333 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    In an age where it is not unheard of for a citizen to gun down schoolmates and coworkers, I think erring on the side of caution when someone is wielding a dangerous looking weapon in a populated area is appropriate no matter what the gun laws are. And I am not a fan of the police by any means.

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    One of these days I'm going to cut you into little pieces. - PF
  7. Re:Some people fear guns like they fear bugs by ceoyoyo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Which makes being alarmed when a stranger walks down a city street with a huge gun not a phobia.

  8. Re:AK47? by Razalhague · · Score: 4, Insightful

    why would you expect

    I expect people to recognize the gun if they call it by name.

  9. Re:AK47? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Actually, considering that my neighbors are all upstanding, law-abiding citizens, I'd be thrilled if they all carried AKs. That'd be one helluva deterrent for criminals thinking about causing trouble.

  10. Re:Ugh... by L4t3r4lu5 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You're not far wrong... It doesn't look like an AK-47, but it looks scarily similar to a Barret M107.

    http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=50+cal

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