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View Full Version : What to do if you see a drunk carrying a glock in the waistband of his shorts?



BaiHu
10-10-2012, 02:33 PM
I thought this might be an interesting topic of discussion after I saw this on the utubz:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g10QDttdMT8&feature=g-all-lik

When is it a good time to potentially ruin a typically law-abiding person's life?

How much of someone else's problem needs to become our own?

When is it time to know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away?

Personally, I might have shared the info with a manager and let him/her be the arbiter of that particular justice or just not head into the establishment. I just don't know enough of the variables having a) not been there and b) felt my own personal spidey-sense in order to guide me and/or c) be willing to screw someone's life up b/c of my nosy-ness.

Byron
10-10-2012, 03:02 PM
Not criticizing you personally, but just the way society uses language...

When is it a good time to potentially ruin a typically law-abiding person's life?
This is one of my pet peeves.

If a man is carrying while drunk (or driving while drunk, or any other combination of things that shouldn't go together) and you alert an authority, you are not responsible for ruining his life (or even "potentially" ruining his life). He made a choice to get drunk. He made a choice to drive to Applebees drunk. He made a choice to walk into the Applebees carrying his Glock while drunk. If his life is ruined as a result of this incident, that is his problem and his burden to carry.

As for telling a manager, I'd rather tell a real authority. This cuts down on the telephone game (the manager said that some other guy said...) and gives the most accurate details to the people best suited to handle the task.


...screw someone's life up b/c of my nosy-ness.
Noticing a drunk stranger step out of his vehicle holding a Glock which he then stuffs into his shorts? Not nosy.
Bump-frisking every total stranger in a restaurant and then calling the cops when you think you find something? Nosy.

Big difference between the two.

BaiHu
10-10-2012, 03:10 PM
Byron,

I totally understand what you are saying and I'm on board with you regarding the language. The issue I have, is I wasn't there, there wasn't a video and I don't know how accurate the storyteller's details are. If he was flawless, then I agree that he did the right thing.

However, since every blind man tugging at the elephant describes it differently, I'd like to have seen the incident for myself.

Truth is in the eye of the believer.

Byron
10-10-2012, 03:33 PM
Ah yes - I was only commenting from the "assuming an accurate account of details" point-of-view.

If it turns out that "holding a Glock" really means "scratching his back where I also spotted a holster" and "noticeably drunk" really means "saw him yawn widely," then of course that changes things. But if we're putting ourselves into the shoes of the storyteller, then I am operating on the assumption that the story was told accurately. If the story is not accurate, I cannot begin to comment.

But again, this is why I think talking to an actual authority beats talking to some mid-level manager in a chain restaurant. If you think that personally witnessing the troublesome behavior is already muddy enough, imagine how the manager would feel being told about it from a third party.

Corlissimo
10-10-2012, 03:35 PM
However, since every blind man tugging at the elephant describes it differently, I'd like to have seen the incident for myself.


Hmmm... and I all this time I thought that it was tugging at the elephant that made one blind. :p

Sorry, couldn't resist taking the shot. Carry on.

BaiHu
10-10-2012, 03:52 PM
Ah yes - I was only commenting from the "assuming an accurate account of details" point-of-view.

If it turns out that "holding a Glock" really means "scratching his back where I also spotted a holster" and "noticeably drunk" really means "saw him yawn widely," then of course that changes things. But if we're putting ourselves into the shoes of the storyteller, then I am operating on the assumption that the story was told accurately. If the story is not accurate, I cannot begin to comment.

But again, this is why I think talking to an actual authority beats talking to some mid-level manager in a chain restaurant. If you think that personally witnessing the troublesome behavior is already muddy enough, imagine how the manager would feel being told about it from a third party.

Btw, excellent point on first person account to legal authorities.

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MDS
10-10-2012, 06:55 PM
In a similar vein, I was driving my 2yo to day care a couple of days ago, noticed a couple of dudes in the car behind me. The driver put his finger up to the side of his nose, closed one nostril, leaned over the passenger's lap, made a side-sweeping motion with his head, came back up, and dabbed at the side of his nose with his finger while checking himself in the rearview mirror.

I didn't actually see any cocaine.

It's funny how we can get used to some seriously asinine behavior if we're exposed to it regularly enough. Have I mentioned how I can't wait to get out of South Florida?

The troubling thing was that this was a half block from my kid's school. I pulled over, let them pass, and followed them for a half mile until I was reasonably sure they were headed elsewhere. If I had an inkling that they had bad intentions for me or mine, I would think through some action plans. Otherwise, live and let live.

I'd apply the same razor to this situation, if I were present. If I'm even vaguely sensing some bad intentions - where bad can be evil/dangerous or stupid/dangerous - for me or mine, I'd leave or confront or call cops or whatever seems most effective at managing the threat/vulnerability with the least impact on my life. Otherwise...

TGS
10-11-2012, 12:55 AM
I'm the sort of person that dials #77 as well as the safe driver number on the back of a commercial rig when they drive like jerks, so you can tell where my feelings rest with this. I'm pretty sure I got one guy fired who was pushing traffic during a rainstorm on I95 in NoVA, and if so....I'm glad.

I couldn't care less about someone's well being when they make the choice to put me or mine in their path of negligence. I'd rather them get theirs pushed in at county instead of me or mine maimed/dead due to someone else's jackassery.

Alaskapopo
10-11-2012, 02:01 PM
I thought this might be an interesting topic of discussion after I saw this on the utubz:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g10QDttdMT8&feature=g-all-lik

When is it a good time to potentially ruin a typically law-abiding person's life?

How much of someone else's problem needs to become our own?

When is it time to know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away?

Personally, I might have shared the info with a manager and let him/her be the arbiter of that particular justice or just not head into the establishment. I just don't know enough of the variables having a) not been there and b) felt my own personal spidey-sense in order to guide me and/or c) be willing to screw someone's life up b/c of my nosy-ness.

Being drunk with a firearm is a crime in most areas and in my state its equal to DUI. I would arrest him. He is not law abiding he is breaking the law.
Pat

BaiHu
10-11-2012, 02:17 PM
Being drunk with a firearm is a crime in most areas and in my state its equal to DUI. I would arrest him. He is not law abiding he is breaking the law.
Pat

Good to know. I just go by common sense, so I'd never be drunk and carrying (can't carry in NJ anyway), but I didn't actually know it was illegal. Thanks Pat. Any gun in NJ is presumed illegal if you can see it w/o a badge hanging next to it.

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Tamara
10-12-2012, 10:53 AM
Being drunk with a firearm is a crime in most areas...

Not in Indiana. (Oddly enough, while it's a Class B misdemeanor here to deliver a firearm to a person you know to be intoxicated or who is "in the habit of becoming intoxicated" per IC 35-47-4-1, carrying one while drunk is okie-dokie in the eyes of the law. So if you or I were to give a gun to Otis the Town Drunk here in Hoosieropolis, we'd go to jail, while the cops would have to let him toddle off unmolested if his papers were in order.)

BaiHu
10-12-2012, 11:18 AM
Not in Indiana. (Oddly enough, while it's a Class B misdemeanor here to deliver a firearm to a person you know to be intoxicated or who is "in the habit of becoming intoxicated" per IC 35-47-4-1, carrying one while drunk is okie-dokie in the eyes of the law. So if you or I were to give a gun to Otis the Town Drunk here in Hoosieropolis, we'd go to jail, while the cops would have to let him toddle off unmolested if his papers were in order.)

This is why I try not to impersonate a cop or lawyer. Me/mine safety first and then I worry about having someone else control some jacktard.

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