Posted on 07/16/2012 6:39:45 AM PDT by marktwain
Citizens of Odessa can now rest easy. BB guns are banned in public between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. after the Odessa City Council last week passed an ordinance pushed by Police Chief Tim Burton. Along with the BB gun, it bans airsoft guns and slingshots on a person or in a vehicle (except in a trunk) at night.
Now, we acknowledge a recent spat of vandalism destroyed windows and other property throughout town. Burton said 158 criminal mischief acts occurred in the last year and they were primarily after dark. He called the new ordinance a helpful law to help combat the vandalism.
We're all for helping out our friends in blue, but this is a puzzling ordinance, and we wonder if the city is through.
What otherwise legal item will be up for banning next? Paintball guns are still legal to possess but not shoot and cause nearly as much damage. How about baseball bats? Rocks? Eggs? Car keys?
One group, an adult woman and two teens, have been tied to at least 42 of the BB incidents, all from November to April and apparently the work of a slingshot. The woman also was tied to the egging and keying of a car. Amazingly, police were able to determine this with existing laws and charge the woman with felony criminal mischiefs. In other words, they did good police work.
If folks are already out committing felony vandalism, how will this new ordinance and its up-to-$500 fine really deter them? Aren’t the thousands of otherwise law-abiding citizens the only ones to truly be punished in an attempt to stop at most a few dozen vandals, or really, just a few of their methods?
(Excerpt) Read more at oaoa.com ...
I thought it was a ban on the BB gun completely. The only thing that makes sense to this law is kids shooting BB guns at night while people are trying to sleep but otherwise it seems silly.
Another waste of time enacting a useless law!
Spot on.
Why can’t people understand that BB guns will put your eye out???
I shouldn't need an /sarcasm due to my well known stance on the WOsD, but there it is, just in case.
Man, I hate it when people skulk around at night carrying a BB gun. Why...if I had a nickle for every time I saw that happen, I'd have a nickle.
Pretty soon about all you and I will be able to do is stand in a corner and look like a statue.
Odessa would be better off banning city council members.
“Why can’t people understand that BB guns will put your eye out???”
To rectify this situation, a training film will be broadcast on cable TV movie channels beginning just after Thanksgiving...
Round the clock...
We regularly have our car windows shot out at night by hoodlums so maybe it’s not such a bad idea. On the other hand are the cops going to catch anyone doing it? Probably not...
In Texas isn't that close to everybody?
This entire thing could be replaced with “LEO discretion”.
This is, if an officer sees a juvenile or known adult offender walking around at night, and discovers on their person on in their vehicle a whole assortment of “potential mischief making tools”, including all sorts of things like spray paint, eggs without a recent grocery receipt, and yes, BB guns and slingshots, the officer should have discretion to detain and question.
Importantly, this serves several purposes. Not only to establish identity for future reference, in case vandalism has occurred involving such things, that only comes to light the next day; but also to determine through interrogation whether the juvenile or known offender indeed has a legitimate purpose.
Vandalism is already unlawful. How effective is adding a second law aimed at the same miscreants going to be? Dumb dumb dumb....
Ahh, but we *need* other laws to keep the law abiding citizens in line.
< /sarc >
I love it!!!!!!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
