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Police Swarm Bungie Office Over Halo Replica Rifle
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.
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Win!
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".
Life is hard, and the world is cruel
...it doesn't look like an AK-47, but that's become the generic term for "semi-automatic rifle with detachable magazine", thanks in part to lazy reporters who don't know the 1st thing about firearms.
.50 sniper rifle, so even I'd wonder if it was the real deal or not.
However, it does look like a whole lot like a Barrett
"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
If you go around with a replica of a BFG-9000, the name of the gun claimed would be probably more similar to the actual weapon name.
Well you never know the tripod could start moving and shrieking Ulla Ulla Ulla and shit. I don't trust these bastards, never have never will.
Bullshit. The Americans are just scared of someone walking around.
"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
+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?
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
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.
Paul Leader
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?
# cat
Damn, my RAM is full of llamas.
Police are permitted to advise people that they would be generally better off doing things even when those things are not legally mandatory; of course, people are also free to ignore such advise, arouse suspicion in their neighbors, have the police called and have the police arrive to investigate. That something is Constitutionally protected doesn't mean it isn't suspicious to your neighbors, and it doesn't mean the police won't investigate when they get a report, and that both the report and the follow-up inquiry won't be perfectly legal.
Nobody called the police. In fact, my friend was carrying the other weapon I bought, a AR-15.
You're obviously a white guy
Yeah, I wish AKs were a common sight in my neighbourhood, so I'd be able to recognize them at a glance.
Haida Manga
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.
One of these days I'm going to cut you into little pieces. - PF
If toy guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have toy guns. Wouldn't that be a good thing?
"And now, they're looking at banning toy guns.... and they're going to KEEP THE FUCKING REAL ONES!" - George Carlin
> no, yes, maybe (tagging beta)
Which makes being alarmed when a stranger walks down a city street with a huge gun not a phobia.
why would you expect
I expect people to recognize the gun if they call it by name.
Heh, too true. (I live in Eastern WA)
Note it is also completely legal in Washington to have a unconcealed firearm without a permit. There was a court case of a felon carrying two rifles to a pawn shop that got stopped and arrested for possession. It had to be thrown out (even though he was in illegal possession) because the cops had no probable cause to arrest him even though he was walking down the street in broad daylight with two rifles. That set the precedent for OC in Washington.
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.
Years ago I was talking to a guy who was a civil war re-in-actor and he told me about traveling from Michigan to New York via Ontario. He pulled up to Canadian Customs and the agent asked him if he was bringing any weapons into Canada. He was kind of taken aback but answered" Well yes, there is a cannon on the trailer with 20 cannon balls and black power for ammunition" this was all in plain sight. The Customs agent then said "but no handguns or unregistered rifles or shotguns?" he replied "no. but I do have a saber in the trunk" to which the Customs agent replied Thank you have a nice trip."
Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
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
Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
black power for ammunition
So he was playing a yankee, huh?
"They were pure niggers." – Noam Chomsky
Have you listened to the 911 call? I have - the caller did not mention race until the 911 operator asked her. When asked, she replied "one looked kind of Hispanic but I'm not really sure." This hardly jives with your idea that she was "some busybody neighbor doesn't like your skin color living on her street."
Agreed, the situation could have been handled much better on both sides. Personally from what I've read I think Gates was just being a twit and the cop didn't do much to help the situation. Before you spew racial vitriol all over the internets, get your facts straight.
Since you apparently have not yet read the transcript I assume you're too lazy to look it up (it was posted on the front page of major news sites for some time after the incident). I'll save you the google time and provide a link:
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/transcript_of_gates_call_1llqzVbjNMc0kloOxegLhO