Stormtrooper Arrested

[Jo Jo 4,808]

http://www.whdh.com/story/29243765/stormtrooper-arrested-outside-lynn-school

 

 

[Conandoodle 1,817]

What do we think about this? Was he doing the wrong thing? Did the police handle the situation appropriately? What are your thoughts my friends?

[chilligan 1,302]

Difference in culture is too great, suffice to say you could hear the story and guess the country in which this event took place.

[Robin Graves 6,054]

At least he was only arrested, cops these days just as soon pull their pistols and empty a full clip into some poor guy...

 

To be fair in Belgium I think we got a law that forbids people from walking around fully masked (except for Carnival/Halloween) So he would have gotten into trouble here to.

 

I say if you got no buisness at a school building, don't go there. Especially if you're wearing a costume, ESEEEECIALLY if you're carrying a prop gun, post Columbine.

[Hobojebus 11,341]

At least he was only arrested, cops these days just as soon pull their pistols and empty a full clip into some poor guy...

 

To be fair in Belgium I think we got a law that forbids people from walking around fully masked (except for Carnival/Halloween) So he would have gotten into trouble here to.

 

I say if you got no buisness at a school building, don't go there. Especially if you're wearing a costume, ESEEEECIALLY if you're carrying a prop gun, post Columbine.

No he's a white storm trooper so they'd just talk, a shadow trooper would get gunned down though.

Can't they just leave our brave lads alone?

[Robin Graves 6,054]

Cops probably tought: "It's a stormtrooper, the guy won't hit anything he shoots at anyway"

[RogueCorona 1,043]

Paranoid idiocy at its finest.

[Vigil 687]

At least he was only arrested, cops these days just as soon pull their pistols and empty a full clip into some poor guy...

 

To be fair in Belgium I think we got a law that forbids people from walking around fully masked (except for Carnival/Halloween) So he would have gotten into trouble here to.

 

I say if you got no buisness at a school building, don't go there. Especially if you're wearing a costume, ESEEEECIALLY if you're carrying a prop gun, post Columbine.

Haha. You said, "Clip." 

[Robin Graves 6,054]

yeah, so?

[WonderWAAAGH 7,153]

I like his excuse. "I just bought this used ice cream truck, and I was going to show it to my friends."

[Robin Graves 6,054]

Only thing he could have done to make it worse would have been to shout "Admiral Ackbar!" when the cops came.

[Wraith666 1]

At least if the cops had shot him his blaster proof armour would have..........wait, no it wouldn't!

[Cununculus 661]

If a guy hangs around a school with a gun which looks real enough (which is not difficult) you should know there is a very high chance you get the police. In any country.

sure, a stormtrooper looks funny and there is a very high chance the person is just an enthousiast. But that is not a consideration a police officer is allowed to make.

As comparison:

If a child calls the police about a bomb in his school, they will close the school and search for it. Even though they know there is a very likely chance the kid just called so he could have a day off. Again, not a consideration they're allowed to make.

[Vigil 687]

yeah, so?

It's called a magazine. 

[Robin Graves 6,054]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clip_(firearms)

[WonderWAAAGH 7,153]

That link affirms that magazines and clips are completely different.

[Robin Graves 6,054]

ineed it is and to "empty a clip (into something)" is a figure of speach meaning shooting your gun empty.

A clip is a device that holds ammo.

 

So i fail to see what Vigil finds so amusing/wrong about that.

Edited June 7, 2015 by Robin Graves

[WonderWAAAGH 7,153]

Probably the fact that most guns don't use clips these days. If it's an expression, it's a highly inaccurate one.

[Gadge 4,294]

Yeah used to annoy me too.

 

I think its more of 'one of those things' that annoys you more if you're firearms trained.

 

The magazine holds the bullets/rounds.   The rounds themselves were often in the past on a 'stripper clip' to aid fast loading.  Thats what a clip is, for example on our sa80s we had bandoliers of ten round 'stripper clips' and a loading tool...  put the tool on the magazine, insert the clip, push down.. ten rounds loaded.

 

Clips were also in use in WWII with rifles like the lee enfield which worked with a removable (but never actually removed) ten round mag that was 'charged' with two five round stripper clips.

 

In this pic here you can see me shooting a modified soviet SKS, the 'magazine' is the banana curve black bit on the bottom.. the 'clips' are stacked beside me.

 

Edited June 8, 2015 by Gadge

[Gadge 4,294]

But with regards to the OP... its all very well a lot of people saying 'oh but he was carrying a TOY gun'

 

unfortunately its a toy gun that looks very much like the SMG it was built up from the British army stirling SMG.

 

They hardly altered the guns for the film so unless you're up close it would be easy to mistake it for a stirling, more importantly it could be a real stirling with bits glued on as a ruse.

 

Criminals have been known to paint their guns bright orange or the barrels orange (as airsoft guns have to be in some states) in order to make the police hesistate and go 'is that a real gun' for even a fraction of a second.

 

I mean worst case scenario you could easily imagine somebody really twisted using a costume loved by kids to get them all close and then..

 

And from reading the article it sort of implies he might have been breaching some court order not allowing him to be withing 1000 yards or whatever of a school.   He may well have previous convictions or cautions for being around schools.

 

I dunno, certainly not clever.

 

I work for an airsoft magazine and i've got dozens of replica firearms in the house.   I dont even take them from the house to a car without putting them in a gun bag or case as you only need one person to see a 'machine gun' being put in the boot and you've got the armed response unit round your block in a matter of minutes

 

I dont take my blaster out with me if i'm doing my tie pilot costume on haloween...  i'd only take it to conventions and then only have the replica in public in the convention building.

 

I once did a WWII event and totally forgot I had a webley revolver on my belt and went into town and no one actually noticed or said anything (probably because i was in a WWII uniform and most people in the UK recognise it as 'costume') but in theory that could have had me arrested or killed.

[Vigil 687]

But with regards to the OP... its all very well a lot of people saying 'oh but he was carrying a TOY gun'

 

unfortunately its a toy gun that looks very much like the SMG it was built up from the British army stirling SMG.

 

They hardly altered the guns for the film so unless you're up close it would be easy to mistake it for a stirling, more importantly it could be a real stirling with bits glued on as a ruse.

In this country, we have kids getting sent home from school for making "guns" out of toaster pastries and making "pew pew" noises with finger guns. 

That being said, even if you're clearly in costume, if you carry something that looks like a weapon (whether it's a sword, a big knife, a gun, whatever), you should probably expect to have at least a little bit of police contact. If you do, remember to be polite, to be courteous, and to promptly follow all instructions (unless you are receiving contradicting instructions from two different officers, such as, "Don't move!" and, "Get on the ground!" simultaneously). 

 

That being said, I do think a 501st- or near-501st/Anovos-level Stormtrooper costume would be a bit expensive for your average crim to use as a disguise. 

By the way, Gadge, you wouldn't happen to have used the same handle on a certain UK-based airsofting forum/website whose name starts with, "Arnie's," would you?

[Gadge 4,294]

Yep thats me Vigil

[DanDoulogos 753]

If the guy had been walking past the school in full customer, minus the toy gun, instead of loitering in the vicinity, there probably wouldn't have been a problem. 

 

When you live in a country where pretty much everyone has ready access to military grade weapons and munitions, and where it has become vogue amongst the crazies to go on shooting rampages in schools, or movie theaters, sometimes dressed up in costumes from movies like the matrix or Batman, etc., it isn't unthinkable that some guy waiting around a school for the kids to get out, dressed in costume, and carrying what looks like a gun, would be taken seriously. 

 

The principal has to make a call - do I err on the side of caution, or do I pretend I live in a world where this sort of thing never goes south?

 

 

I am glad no one was hurt, and sad that we live in a world where a Star Wars fan gets arrested because he didn't have the presence of mind to consider the two things he was doing that have become inappropriate in this on-high-alert culture (loitering around a school, and carrying what looks to be an automatic weapon).

[Sergovan 1,440]

The News report stated that "he didn't give a reason for being in the area" which is somewhat on the creepy side of it. but I think the guy, who just got his costume, wanted to go where people would come out and go "hey look , its a stormtrooper!" without actually thinking the whole thing thru. He was most likely looking for adulation, but got arrested instead. 

 

What happened to people having conversations with other people?  

[Gadge 4,294]

Come on, you dont think its a bit weird to go for a walk round your block to the local school at school end time dressed up?

 

Like i say, i've got a very accurate tie pilots costume but i dont wear it to go to the shops.  Its for costume parties etc