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Stormtrooper Arrested

Posted by Soulskill on from the they'll-be-back-and-in-greater-numbers dept.

Kexel writes: Nope, not an April Fools joke. A forty-year-old man in Massachusetts bought a Stormtrooper outfit, and then walked through a neighborhood near a school to show his friends. The principal saw his fake blaster and called 911. The man was then arrested and charged with disturbing a school and loitering. A police spokesman said the man "used bad judgment." I guess this shows you what not to do when geeking out on Star Wars.

13 of 535 comments (clear)

  1. Fear of guns by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Maybe schools should require some kind of basic course to familiarize kids with real guns, so they don't grow up into these principals who can't tell the difference.

    1. Re:Fear of guns by clonehappy · · Score: 5, Insightful

      would you be able to distinguish it from a real gun from 100 feet away?

      No, and does it even fucking matter? Guns aren't illegal.

      This guy's a moron, and maybe it's OK that they ran him in just to make sure he wasn't up to no good, but fuck pressing charges. And the principal? A pussy who has no business being in charge of anyone, let alone our children. And we wonder why kids are growing up so soft...look at these "role models" they see in schools! Nanny-state limp-wrists who soil themselves at the sight of a plastic gun.

    2. Re:Fear of guns by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The police don't care. They get to arrest someone so they're happy. Anybody else find it ironic that a guy got dressed up in a storm trooper costume(soldier of a facist, police state) and then got arrested by soldiers of what many would argue has become a fascist police state?

      hahahaha.....

    3. Re:Fear of guns by OhPlz · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I must have missed the part where he had an actual firearm. No firearm, no grounds for arrest.

    4. Re:Fear of guns by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      open carry is allowed everywhere. gun laws are unconstitutional and should not be obeyed.

      Next time I see some dipshit open-carrying his rifle into Chipotle, I'm going to sneak up on him in the parking lot and tackle him. At best, I'll be a hero. At worst, I'll be wrong. But the guy carrying might learn a valuable lesson: even if open carry is illegal, it's still not socially acceptable. And I'll have plausible deniability either way.

      At worst, you'd get shot.

      On second thought, make that at best.

    5. Re:Fear of guns by spire3661 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You do realize that if he can justifiably shoot you for attacking him, right? Assault is more socially unacceptable than open carry.

      --
      Good-bye
    6. Re:Fear of guns by Noah+Haders · · Score: 5, Insightful

      its legal to open carry a TOY, even in Mass. Ffs the dude was dressed like a storm trooper.

    7. Re:Fear of guns by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Contrasting it against a white stormtrooper outfit, yes, even if I was some dumbass who didn't know what a stormtrooper was.

      The principal may have been a dumbass, but the real problem here is the cops. The principal was somewhat justified in reporting him, since she didn't know if the gun was real or not. But the cops knew it was a toy, and arrested him anyway. As soon as they realized it was not a real gun, and didn't even look like a real gun, they should have said "This is not the stormtrooper we are looking for. You can go about your business."

  2. A police spokesman said the man "used bad judgment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    O_o
    And the police used what? Not to mention the principal! About the only sane person in the middle of all this seems to be the poor guy that got arrested!

  3. Real Headline by XxtraLarGe · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Idiot Principal Wets Himself, Calls Cops on Guy in Stormtrooper Outfit with a Fake Gun

    Hoplophobia is just a natural extension of zero tolerance (a.k.a. zero common sense) that has infested the school system.

    --
    Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
  4. Re:Maybe we SHOULD fear guns by operagost · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They'll be right down the hall from where quaint notions like the rights to life, liberty, and property are exhibited.

    --

    Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
  5. Re:No Recourse by Iamthecheese · · Score: 5, Insightful

    America: If you can't afford lawyers, fuck you.

    --
    If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
  6. Re:Could you tell a difference at distance? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Jeez. When I was in college -- in Canada -- a teacher brought a rifle to class and fired it, multiple times.

    He was a physics prof, and he was demonstrating the use of a ballistic pendulum to determine e.g. bullet velocity. Nobody cared. Mind, this same college also had a pistol club, and a range on campus. And no, it wasn't a military college.

    Kind of ironic that the state where one of the signal events of the American Revolution (ie, Boston Tea Party) started is now populated by bigger pansies than the United Empire Loyalists who left. "Home of the brave." snort