Crimes that involve firearms are problematic for those of us on the pro-Second Amendment side. Every single instance of such a crime is used to justify still more gun control laws. Nevermind the laws broken by the piece of filth committing the crime. Oh no, it’s proof we just need more laws. Apparently, at some point, enough laws convert the law-breaking into law-abiding or something.
Anyway, there’s a subset of such crimes that are problematic, but for a slightly different reason. You see, some criminals comment “gun crimes” with fake guns.
The repercussions, however, are quite real.
Since Sunday, two people were arrested in Kitsap County for pointing realistic-looking air guns at others — one because she was upset about the noise motel neighbors were making and another because he thought his mother was hiding his stimulus check.
A 27-year-old woman was charged Monday in Bremerton Municipal Court with harassment, a misdemeanor, after guests at the Bremerton Inn on National Avenue called 911 on Sunday to say a woman had pointed a pistol at them.
At about 1:30 p.m. six officers — five armed with rifles — went to the motel and took the woman into custody at gunpoint. An officer inspected the gun, which shot pellets or BBs and not bullets, but described it as “a very realistic Beretta style semi-automatic.”
The woman said three or four women had been arguing outside her door while she was trying to sleep. When she told them to be quiet they swore at her. She said she retrieved the gun and pointed it at them, but two women challenged her, with one saying: “If you’re going to point that at me you better shoot me.”
The woman admitted to officers that the gun looked realistic but said: “I didn’t do anything wrong, because I didn’t have lethal intent,” according to court documents. She was arrested for investigation of first-degree assault and booked into the Kitsap County Jail on $100,000 bail.
Now, let’s be clear. If you point anything that looks like a gun at someone, your lack of lethal intent is kind of irrelevant. You’re going to get arrested and you’re going to go to jail.
And you should.
Kitsap County isn’t the only place this happens. All around the country, people often use fake but realistic-looking guns to try and intimidate people into compliance with their wishes. However, this is colossally stupid.
You see, if I’m having an argument outside your door and you point a gun-looking object at me, I’m going to interpret it as a threat to my personal safety.
In short, I’m going to shoot you.
By pointing that gun, you’re telling me that you’re threatening my life, whether you actually have lethal intent or not. I mean, the guy who points a real gun at a liquor store clerk may not have lethal intent either, but that doesn’t absolve him of using that firearm. I’m going to be justified in drawing my weapon and firing it.
Sure, people get upset when the police kill someone with a fake gun, but it’s difficult to impossible to tell in the heat of the moment.
So yeah, we don’t treat fake guns as if they’re fake guns at the time, which is why using fake guns like this is a case of “play stupid games, win stupid prizes.”
As it should be.
