I think it was a phase around 12... "my buddies made me do it!"
Posted on 10/15/2005 10:00:10 AM PDT by kiriath_jearim
'Youths shot at our house with airgun’
By Louisa Barnett
A mother this week branded Borehamwood a lawless town' after youths terrified her family by firing an airgun at their front door.
Susan Good, 43, of Grantham Green, was sitting in her front room watching television with her 14-year-old daughter, Danielle, on the evening of September 29, when they heard a loud bang at her door.
One of her daughter's friends, a 16-year-old who does not wish to be named, was standing outside when the airgun pellet shot past him and into the door.
"I didn't know what was going on," said Mrs Good. "I just heard this piercing noise and jumped out of my chair."
Mrs Good ran out of the house to a nearby alleyway, where three youths were standing. One of the boys was holding an airgun rifle case but they denied firing the shot.
She said: "I followed them back to their house but they just started screaming at me and calling me names, so I went home to call the police.
"My friend's daughter then approached me and said she saw one of those boys picking up the gun from the bushes."
Mrs Good called the police to report the incident at 10pm but they did not arrive until an hour and a half later.
"I was so angry," she continued. "My door was shot with an airgun and the police couldn't even make it a priority. When they came, they didn't even go round to the boys' houses, even though I told them they were seen with a gun.
"Borehamwood is a lawless town because the youths seem to run riot with no redress at all. Do the police think it's acceptable for youths to walk around with air rifles?"
A police spokesman said: "When the call came in, it was on a shift handover. Officers were dispatched to the incident shortly after the initial call. Unfortunately, they initially went to an address in Bushey in error.
"Another unit was then instructed to attend and arrived at the location at 11.21pm. We accept there was a delay in this matter and one of the senior officers will shortly be making contact with the lady concerned."
An 18-year-old man was arrested on Wednesday in connection with the incident.
If you outlaw bb guns, only outlaws will have bb guns.
The get rid of your guns and rely on 911 to save you crowd suffers another set back.
Kids paint-balled my house last year. I wasn't terrified. The paint washed off the next time it rained.
"If you outlaw bb guns, only outlaws will have bb guns."
****
True. Just look at BB King.
Utes with air guns.
The Britts sure have become a balless bunch of late. 'Tis a pity.
Of course my solution would be to send the kids to juvie for a couple of months and to teach others safe gun handling instead of more gun bans.
Terrified?
Okay lady, cut the Oprah watching and get out and about once in a while....
Sadly enough the Youths will be placed on Prozac and the "terrified' one will go untreated.
---The airguns that are common in the UK can penetrate an inch or more of flesh, so we're not just talking about some bb gun/toy.---
There's a move afoot in Britain to severly restrict or outlaw airguns. This story should be seen in that light.
Perhaps I also, but terrified????
I think this lady had a fair amount of guts. Somebody fired an airgun round into her front door. She goes out and ventures down a dark alley where three young yobs are brandishing what looks like a rifle, confronts them, and chases them home. Then she calls the police.
What more could she do? In England people aren't even allowed to defend themselves against armed housebreakers, let alone juveniles out on the street. And it took guts to inform the police, because no doubt these same kids will be hanging around her house again at night, resentful, and the police unlikely to respond in less than an hour and a half.
Isn't there a total ban on guns in Britain?
After all there has been British media talk of banning knives also.
A reporter was arrested and booked in England last month for having a penknife in his pocket while driving in his car. He foolishly agreed to let himself be searched.
I am no expert on British gun laws, but I believe that handguns have been totally banned, rifles almost so, along with automatic shotguns. Double barreled shotguns and airguns where left, though still with a number of restrictions. Knives are very restricted even now.
My daughter lives in MD and commutes into DC for work (she used to live in Philly). When discussing personal security with her, my wife pointed out how lethal a ball point pen is if you jam it into the ear of an assailant. Done properly it can be fatal. Is the Brit media aware of this new public danger? Is the writing on the wall?
I think it was a phase around 12... "my buddies made me do it!"
Every necessary or convenient utility when named should be preceded by the word "nerf" THEN we all could rest at ease and enjoy life.
Well, no, but I'm 6'1"/220 and have a Glock nearby. If I were an unarmed, single woman on the other hand and three teenagers had shot an airgun at my house I might be terrified.
And to think that crime is still rampant in Britain.
I just had a "terrifying" thought. What if one gets approached by law enforcement and is asked "Is that a pistol in your pocket or are you just happy to see me"?
How would one answer and avoid having to do time?
Terrified?
I would think that would come when the door has been broken down, intruders are present, and a mussel is at one's throat.
Of course, marriage, being armed, or both could help alleviate the concerns of one so easily terrified.
That in my opinion is balless!
By the way, an "Air gun round" weighs approximately 17 Grains in .177 caliber and a whopping 23 Grains in 22 caliber. You make it sound like an "Air gun round" is equivalent to a naval artillery round and she is lucky her door wasn't taken clean of the hinges and everyone in the house torn asunder.
Are you English?
Well for crying out loud!
Only one with premeditation for wrong doing would tote such a weapon of mass destruction!
I trust he hid his lethal car key's before being approached by the officer? ; )
Did you read the article. The perp was arrested.
I know there is, but you don't defeat that kind of thing by ridiculing the victim or excusing the people that did it. You defeat it by giving people justice. People everywhere want to live their lives in reasonable peace and safety. If the people have law and order and safe streets then they won't have much desire to ban guns.
"I want an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle!"
We were playing 'soldiers' and I started up a tree to be a 'sniper'. My 'buddy' below took aim on my butt and hit a bullseye. I came out of the tree, disarmed him and proceeded to beat the cr@p out of him.
Wow! Must have been one of those .50 Cal sniper BB guns the Brady Bunch is always screaming about...
An airgun just isn't a dangerous weapon compared to other household items. You could do a lot more damage with a cricket bat or a brick then you could do with an airgun. It is STUPID to consider banning those toys.
Don't bring an airgun to a fist fight.
Don't let you unarmed opponent get within your circle of reaction.
You mean like my nerf Ruger?
Or like my nerf K-Bar?
What about my nerf mobile?
Not likely. The story says it was dark out. It's not likely that she had much opportunity to examine the gun or the gun case.
What would she do when the three youths started calling her names? Beat them up? You have one woman against three yobs, and her young daughter sitting back home in the house. It seems to me that she did the right thing.
Or like my nerf K-Bar?
What about my nerf mobile?
I think they all would pass prudent government inspection!
Is your nerf Rugar loud?
Perhaps a nerf silencer would be appropriate if it has been made an issue of with it's noise.
The muzzle velocity of some of the better pellet guns is very respectable, about like a .22 short. If I shot my solid wood front door with my pellet gun, depending on the pellet I used, you'd have to dig the pellet out of the door.
What gun exactly is that. It looks a little like an AAS410E with a custom stock and one of those lead dust collector things on the muzzle.
I have the perfect noise solution with my nerf ruger. I stick it up the south end of the miscreant before pulling the trigger. Sort of an all natural silencer.
Well, if someone shot me in the face with an airgun, then hit me with the plastic stock, ummm... I can PROMISE you that they would not walk away from that fight.
I had a .22 air pistol when I was a kid, and that bugger could tear through about 3/4th of a phone book. Not a 16 inch cannon capable of sea to shore bombardment, but also not something to monkey about with either.
OK. Was that before or after you discovered it was an air pistol?
When I bought my house a small pane of the front window had a bb hole in it. I thought it was funny and kept it for a long time without fixing it.
It never ocurred to me to be frightened about it.
Although one mother visiting our house reacted with fear wondering "is this a bad neighborhood ?" when I talked about it once.
What kid hasn't shot at least one window, and then had his but whooped by his paw, while growing up ?
I dunno Elmer. maybe you could drop dat wascally wabbit with your airgun, but my experience is that I have a tendency to go berserk when someone inflicts pain on me. This is going back quite a few years, but I've been in some pretty messed-up fights.
But then, maybe I've mellowed out since then.
Anyway, I'd never assume an attacker would be stopped by the invent of a single LR .22.
Hell, I wouldn't assume an attacker would be stopped by a single 9mm bullet.
Actually, the commonly available lead air pellets in the UK only weigh 7 or 8 grains in .177 calibre and 13 to 16 grains in .22 calibre.
The muzzle velocity of some of the better pellet guns is very respectable, about like a .22 short. - GBA
You're right about this, however, the reason that most air pellets available in Britain are so weedy is because the Police only allow people over 17 to own single-shot and bolt/lever-action air rifles with a maximum power rating of 12 ft-lbs or less and air pistols with a maximum power rating of 6 ft-lbs or less. If you want an air gun with more power than that in the UK then you have to apply for a Firearms Certificate, (to do this you need a good reason and special storage facilities), this is the same procedure as that used if you wanted a centrefire bolt-action or .22 rimfire semi-automatic rifle - so its not surprising that few people own full-power air guns in Britain!
Are you English?
Yes, but we aren't all frightened of guns.
In Britain some effective firearms are allowed for ownership by citizens if they get the necessary license, but there are many hoops to jump through for people who wish to acquire them. Below I have outlined the details of British gun laws for you.
Currently, UK gun laws prohibit: all calibres of modern pistols (including single-shot .22 calibre target pistols, but excluding antique muzzle-loading pistols and some new types of modern muzzle-loading pistols developed to get round the handgun ban - these require a Firearms Certificate [FAC]), semi-automatic centrefire rifles, fully-automatic rifles and short shotguns. If you are caught with a prohibited gun in Britain - then under a law passed in early 2003 - you would receive a compulsory prison sentence of 5 years and a maximum sentence of 10 years, (without the chance of early parole for good behaviour). Also possession of illegal or unlicensed ammunition will get you a minimum of 2 years imprisonment in the UK.
However, double-barrelled shotguns, pump-action and semi-automatic shotguns, but both of these must be limited to a capacity of only 2 cartridges, (providing you have a shotgun certificate [SGC]) are legal. Also most calibres of bolt-action rifles, .22 rimfire semi-automatic rifles, pump-action and semi-automatic shotguns (providing you have a FAC) and "high powered" - defined as over 12 ft-lbs - single-shot and bolt/lever-action air rifles (if you have a FAC) are legal, but I believe the government is manouvering to ban .50 calibre single-shot rifles and they have already banned many types of .50 calibre ammunition.
Getting a SGC or a FAC can be difficult of course and the costs of housing the guns to satisfy Home Office requirements can be prohibitively expensive. In Britain since 1946, self-defence or home-defence have not been acceptable reasons to be issued with a SGC or a FAC. Therefore, for example, if you want to own a shotgun you would have to join a clay-pigeon shooting club, or be involved in vermin control (on farmland usually), so as to have a reason to give the Police when you apply for the SGC. But the Police have to do a lot of checks on you before they can grant you one. They come out and inspect your home to see how secure it is and if you've been burgled in the past then that will make them less likely to grant you a certificate. You also have to install a shotgun cabinet in your home, (which has to be steel-plated and attached to the wall, or the floor, like a safe), and the list of security requirements the Police give you for housing shotguns in your home is currently about 12 A4 pages long.
If you don't actually own your home and are living in a rented house or appartment, then you are very unlikely to be granted a SGC or FAC. Also, they can cancel your license if you allow your shooting club membership to expire, if you haven't been to the club in a certain period of time or your doctor is worried about your mental health. The Police can also come and inspect the firearm storage arrangements in your home anytime without giving advance notice and without needing to get a search warrant. It would be illegal for you to take a firearm with you to another home, (if you were going on vacation or something), unless the Police had inspected that property and you had a steel safe-like gun cabinet there. If you were caught with any of these legal firearms without a license then you would get 5 to 10 years in prison.
The only firearms which people in Britain - who are over 17 - can own without a license are: antique muzzle-loading guns (that you promise not to fire), antique guns with an obsolete calibre (so you can't get ammunition for them), or single-shot and bolt/lever-action air rifles with a maximum power rating of 12 ft-lbs or less and air pistols with a maximum power rating of 6 ft-lbs or less.
After all there has been British media talk of banning knives also.
That was based on a suggestion to ban long-bladed point-ended kitchen knives made by some emergency room doctors in a medical journal, but it hasn't been taken any further.
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