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Stormtrooper Arrested
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.
Stormtroopers don't come out the way they went in.
"Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
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.
This is why TK-421 isn't at his damn post.
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!
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.
Those charges make no sense. Perhaps there is missing information here, but how exactly is walking by a school loitering, and it sounds like the principle did more to disturb the school than the storm trooper. After all, we all know that walking by a school with a plastic laser rifle is totally equivalent to shooting up a school.
I guess this is what we get in a society where everything must be punished.
APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
The stormtrooper was easily and clearly observed brandishing a blaster (obviously a danger to people.) This of course is totally different than the numerous calls from parents and students about the recent appearance of the moon during all hours of the afternoon. The moon visible near the school is clearly a celestial body, and poses no harm to the students. This morning we've even observed its brilliant glimmer from th$T22$@@%%^[CARRIER LOST]
Good people go to bed earlier.
I can see why the police would come and check it out... if they don't and something bad happens because of mr. TK-421, anything at all, it's their ass for not taking that call seriously. And I suppose that in some messed up version of reality there was also cause to take the guy in for some questioning... But why the hell charge the guy? Loitering and "disturbing a school"? Sounds like charges that they can bring anyone in on. And that's probably the point.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
It's easy to criticize the police over this, but what if this had turned out to be an authentic Stormtrooper? That blaster would have packed serious firepower that would outclass our current military capabilities. Even if the Stormtrooper had no bad intentions, I'm sure that Federal authorities would want to dissect that weapon to find out how it works and keep it out of the hands of the terrorists and/or unfriendly countries.
Possibly the stupidest thing I've heard this year .. and considering the year so far ... that's saying a lot.
Did he have "Free Candy" written on the side of his TIE Fighter?
If you post as Anonymous Coward, don't expect a reply.
Batman getting pulled over in Lamborghini.
http://jalopnik.com/5895956/im-batman-getting-pulled-over-in-a-lamborghini/
Those charges make no sense.
Yet the individual arrested now has a record, misses work, possibly loses their job, and if prosecuted by the DA, has the expense of defending himself against the charges. All without recourse.
I don't know how it is in Lynn, but down here in Texas, weapons are banned in school zones. Walking through a school zone with a real gun, or even having one in your car while parked on school premises, is grounds for an arrest, last I checked. There are obvious common sense reasons for why those sorts of laws are in place (i.e. "think of the children!"), but I won't claim to understand the legal basis on which they are founded, nor will I assert that they are in any way constitutional.
Even so, he didn't have a real gun, and it doesn't sound like he was acting in any sort of a threatening manner, so the real failure here is on the part of the principal and the police to exercise some common sense in allowing a harmless citizen to exercise his freedom to walk around in public as he should please...even if it means in a stormtrooper outfit.
I wonder if it would have helped if he'd had a friend. The 501st has a rule "never troop alone", which they came up with after observing that under identical circumstances many people will think one stormtrooper is a little scary but two (or more) stormtroopers are awesome.
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
I don't know if you noticed or not, but most of our presidents since Woodrow Wilson tend to use that particular document to wipe their asses with.
If the guy had been dressed as a redshirt with a phaser, nothing would have happened.
Fascism: An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. See also: NAZI's
"There are obvious common sense reasons for why those sorts of laws are in place"
"Unobvious common nonsense" would be more accurate.
Sounds a lot like screwing around to me, wasting everyone's time over absolutely nothing.
From what I understood the guy was not on school grounds. So, legally define the area of "outside schools"? The middle of the woods is "outside schools"...
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Oh, everyone's noticed. That doesn't make it OK, there, Champ. If everyone walking down the street for the past few days has been kicking you in the nuts, does that make it perfectly fine if it just continues to happen?
Of course not. My natural assumption would be that Star Wars was not just a movie, and there was an actual frigging Stormtrooper in my sights! I totally understand the Principal taking this seriously. What baffles me is why the Principal thought the police would be able to do anything about it. Why the hell didn't they call Luke Skywalker?
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
I don't know about the rest of the country, but Mass has really become a police state. They have amassed complete power, and are able to basically arrest anyone at any time if they feel like doing so. The laws are made such that almost everyone is breaking the law on any given day. This gives the police the power to circumvent the law, human rights, innocent until proven guilty, etc - they can racially profile, or whatever they want. For example, Mass is the only state (FL has a similar law, but is only about a tenth the duration) where someone can go to the police station and say "I think my husband has a drinking problem". an hour later, they will walk right into your house and take you out in cuffs, bring you to the courthouse where upwards of 95% of the time they determine that you need help - with no proof whatsoever - and ship you off to Bridgewater prison for up to 90 days. Bridgewater is a cesspool of germs and filth, which makes even hardened criminals cringe - where you're treated worse than a rabid mutt in a kennel - completely devoid of human rights or care of any kind. I couldn't even describe it in a way that would convey the actual horror of the whole thing.
It's big business for the state - this is how we create jobs in MA. It's a vicious machine that chews often innocent people and shits them out with a shade of PTSD. Worse, people are catching on, and using this "section 35" to get rid of their husband as a precursor to stripping them of their money, family, children, career and anything else that you might have worked your whole life to create. Why choose between your cake and eating it too when you can have both - sponsored and encouraged by the state.
No, but the farce is strong in that story. What the fuck has this country come to? We're putting people in charge of our children who have exactly ZERO common sense!
No wonder that the people they teach have none. I'll never complain about youth without a hint of common sense anymore. Apparently they have to drop it to get through school.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Besides, a Stormtrooper would be more likely to shoot himself than to hit anyone at even 10 paces.
Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990 prohibits firearms within 1,000 feet of public, private, or parochial school grounds.
I'm pro gun. I'm anti idiocy.
I'd just wish everyone who wants one has to spend a week with my old drill sergeant. He had some rather ... graphic ways of showing you just WHY guns are no toys and why these things deserve your respect. He taught us certain rules and procedures that, if used properly, make sure you CANNOT harm anyone you do not want to harm. And I think he's got to do something right, in his whole career not a single soldier he trained got wounded by a bullet while under his command.
He retired last Fall with 70.
I think fewer people would get hurt by guns if they had to go through such a training. And FAR fewer idiots like that principal would litter the streets and our courts with idiotic panic reactions like that.
Panic reactions is one of the things that kill people, btw. With or without guns.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
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.
Hmm, a bit of a hoplophobe, I see...
Why should you be familiar with guns? Well, how about because you're much less likely to do something stupid with one (like treat it as a toy) if you know something about them?
Also, you're much less likely to wet yourself at sight of one if you know something about them.
Keep in mind that we have no problems giving 15-year-olds access to automobiles (in some States. 16 in others), which are MUCH more dangerous than guns. Note that there are probably more guns in the US than cars, yet more people killed by cars than by guns.
Plus there's the old "we fear what we do not understand" thing. Knowing something about guns will be more likely to lead to less panic over the things....
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
I'm just waiting for the media headline: "How Would the Police React if the Stormtrooper Was Black?"
Yes it's an anecdote! Were you expecting original research in a Slashdot comment?
Would you be able to be sure the black gun shaped thing was a toy from that distance?
Guns. Aren't. Fucking. Illegal.
So tired of light-loafered nanny-statists piddling themselves at the mere sight of a firearm. Go live in North Korea.
Apparently THEY ARE ILLEGAL at a Massachusetts school!! Source >> https://malegislature.gov/laws...
(j) Whoever, not being a law enforcement officer, and notwithstanding any license obtained by him under the provisions of chapter one hundred and forty, carries on his person a firearm as hereinafter defined, loaded or unloaded or other dangerous weapon in any building or on the grounds of any elementary or secondary school, college or university without the written authorization of the board or officer in charge of such elementary or secondary school, college or university shall be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars or by imprisonment for not more than one year, or both. For the purpose of this paragraph, “firearm” shall mean any pistol, revolver, rifle or smoothbore arm from which a shot, bullet or pellet can be discharged by whatever means.
Any officer in charge of an elementary or secondary school, college or university or any faculty member or administrative officer of an elementary or secondary school, college or university failing to report violations of this paragraph shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars.
So, if you DON'T report it you can be fined and prosecuted at least for a misdemeanor according to the last paragraph. So the principal is screwed both ways and cannot use common sense like the rest of us would...
You're messin' with my Zen Thing, man.....
I don't know how it is in Lynn, but down here in Texas, weapons are banned in school zones. Walking through a school zone with a real gun, or even having one in your car while parked on school premises, is grounds for an arrest, last I checked.
Here's a handy link so you can check again :)
I have a Texas CHL; if I am called in to pick up my daughter at school (sick, whatever), I can have my gun in my car, but I must lock it in the car.
"If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear." - Every fascist, ever
though in most states, that is being amended to allow legally licensed parent to carry within school zones as long as they are dropping off and picking up. the restriction adopted in 1990 has been changed multiple times in the 25 years since then.
"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."
For the purpose of this paragraph, “firearm” shall mean any pistol, revolver, rifle or smoothbore arm from which a shot, bullet or pellet can be discharged by whatever means.
So, now a plastic blaster is a firearm capable of discharging shot, bullets or pellets?
APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
Stormtroopers are only foiled by plot armor and even then one shot Leia. They routinely stomp rebel troopers.
But their best troops lost to the build-a-bear workshop.
Not really. The E-11 was pretty damn good, and a DC-15A would have ripped through the entire school easily. Not to mention the police.
The plastoid armor, however, was shit. Too many known weak spots, unwieldy, horrible color choice. The only nice thing about it was the helmet, or rather its technical capabilities. Still, it was a couple magnitudes below the Mandalorian helmets.
But we digress.
...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
The cops would ask the stromtrooper to take his helmet off and make a split-second decision.
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
He wasn't at the school. He was near the school.
Having said that, I hardly think the principal is an idiot for not waiting until the guy crossed the line onto school property with his finger hovering over the final "1" on the phone.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
So, if you DON'T report it you can be fined and prosecuted at least for a misdemeanor according to the last paragraph. So the principal is screwed both ways and cannot use common sense like the rest of us would...
No he's not... There's a world of difference between:
Operator: 911, do you have an emergency?
Overreacting principal: OMG! There's a guy with a gun on campus!!!1!one! Help! I have the school on lockdown!
and
Operator: 911, do you have an emergency?
Reasonable principal: There's some guy wearing a Star Wars costume here. He has what's probably a prop/toy gun, but I'm required by law to report firearms on campus. Can you send an officer to make contact and make sure it's just a toy?
The real reason he was arrested? A friend of his left a few Android devices for him to pick up. He found someone else's Android devices and took them instead
Those weren't the droids he was looking for.
*ducks the rotten tomatoes thrown at me*
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
True but the police should have just checked it out and went on their way. Dressing up a stormtrooper should not be a crime. I wonder if I dressed as a giant Penguin if I would have been arrested.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
"Yes, spree killers being so well known for their rational behaviour and all. I'm sure no-one would adopt an affectation [wikipedia.org] to commit a massacre [wikipedia.org] when more practical clothing is available."
I have no problem with someone calling the police. The police should have stopped him and asked to see the blaster. When it was shown to be nothing but a toy then they tell him, "cool costume but you might not want to wear it all the time. It can freak some people out. Have a nice day."
End of story.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
Only if Happy Gilmore calls it in.
Need to start a movement to walk by the school in a different costume every day to see what triggers the police response. Think storm trooper man is up for the job?
Must have been one of the new black stormtroopers.
Note you could call the non-emergency number. The law doesn't require you dial 911.
You added the "and serve no other purpose" onto the original statement:
Everything you listed DOES serve another purpose.
BUT none of them affect the operation of the weapon. I spent 7 years in the Army and I can shoot a weapon with a carrying handle as effectively as one without a carrying handle.
I think you're find that many of the times storm troopers failed to hit anything it could be argued that they were failing to hit anything on purpose. The most obvious instance is when the hero's escape the death star, it's clear Vader knew there were people on board the Falcon and wanted to use it to find the rebel base planet. Their escape was allowed because their ship was already lowjacked.
Makes this spring to mind:
RIP Mr. Adams.
B) Eliminate all the stupid users. This is frowned upon by society.
Oh get a grip. The only thing people who carry are afraid of is being in the wrong place at the wrong time and having to watch their loved ones die because they didn't have the means to at least try to defend them or get them to safety. If you feel comfortable with pleading for mercy or waiting on the arrival of 'the authorities' to ensure their safety then that's your choice.
I keep a first aid kit handy because bad things happen sometimes. I have insurance because bad things happen sometimes. I carry because bad things happen sometimes. Being somewhat prepared to take some responsibility for your own ass is not crazy, paranoid or illegal (yet).
"The principal saw his fake blaster and called 911."
When I was growing up, people thought the school principal and teachers were the smartest people around. They don't anymore.
"The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
The law doesn't, but the police do. The last time I called the non emergency number, I was told that the only way to generate a police response was to call 911. The non emergency number exists solely for people who want to complain, but don't want to be arrested for falsely calling 911. The calls are taken and ignored. That's what the person on the other end of the line told me.
Learn to love Alaska
Or someone could have a real gun in a potato sack. If you saw someone carrying a potato sack, and assumed there wasn't a gun in there, a malicious person could carry a potato sack with a gun in it to catch people off guard, too!
Rifles do not make you ineffective at hand to hand combat. In fact, the US Army and Marines teach you how to make a rifle lethal in hand to hand combat.
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.