Criminals are now carrying AK47......Umbrellas?

[Irving]

That's a cool umbrella. The people at the mall....not quite as cool.

[Elhuero]

and that, my friends, is why I don't open carry.

40 officers, SWAT, 4 helicopters?

stupid, stupid goshdarn fiddely cops

[rse2fl]

IIRC it is illegal to carry a sword in Massachusetts let alone a rifle. This is one of those stupid "I dare you" items. Like carrying a rubber gun.. or joking about a bomb in your bag.

Folks are on edge .. heck I'm on edge ..

Considering the mall and school shootings recently and the constant "threat" of terrorism against soft targets I might very well have 911'd on this guy myself.

It is a comment on our society that in people's minds they see gun when anything even remotely like a weapon is seen. The Brady bunch has done it's job well.

[Irving]

I've edited my post.

It is a comment on our society that in people's minds they see gun when anything even remotely like a weapon is seen. The Brady bunch has done it's job well.

Sounds like they've gotten to you as well.

[clublights]

IIRC it is illegal to carry a sword in Massachusetts let alone a rifle. This is one of those stupid "I dare you" items. Like carrying a rubber gun.. or joking about a bomb in your bag.

Folks are on edge .. heck I'm on edge ..

Considering the mall and school shootings recently and the constant "threat" of terrorism against soft targets I might very well have 911'd on this guy myself.

It is a comment on our society that in people's minds they see gun when anything even remotely like a weapon is seen. The Brady bunch has done it's job well.

So would you drop a dime( or is it 50cents if you can even find a pay phone?) on everyone you see have a beer/cocktail at a bar/restaurant ?

It's the same thing. Guy has done NOTHING wrong, even if it is a sword..( well ok I'm sure there is some law about just carrying a sword around but does that really need a whole SWAT team ?) How do you know he didn't just buy it at the mall ninja store? or maybe is returning it ?

Just cuz I have a beer with dinner doesn't make me a DUI driver.

And hell by the numbers I'm more likely to get killed by the DUI driver then the guy with a sword. ( you EVER heard of someone getting murdered with a sword? well ok I actually know of two ( kid killed his parents back in the late 80's- early 90's) but I've heard of hundreds if not 1000's being killed by DUI drivers.)

13,636 total murders in 2009
10,839 DUI deaths in 2009 ( 33,808 total traffic deaths)

So Ok you ARE more likely to get murdered period then you are to get killed in a DUI... but I bet the number of those 13,636 people killed with a sword in 2009 was less then 20.

[Elhuero]

If I'm in the mall and I see a guy with a slung rifle I wouldn't call the police, because I'm not scared of guns.

If he shouldered the rifle and started shooting, I'd shoot him. Then call the police.

[theGinsue]

I've spent plenty of time in the mall in that story. People are so afraid of guns in that area that it's almost humorous. I had the cops called on me in Boston - at the "Boston Common while another guy and I were posing for pictures with the cop guarding the State House building . The other guy with me and I were in our Star Wars Stormtrooper costumes. We had our prop/MOCK E-11 blasters (the traditional "blaster carbine rifle carried by the Stormtroopers) in hand but were especially careful to NOT wave them around or point them towards anyone.

We were there for the local Fox TV affiliate to help advertise the release of SW - Episode 3. The folks in the news office called us back in and told us the police were on their way for us because they had received MANY calls about 2 guys in white uniforms waving guns around.

When the police arrive my fellow Stormtrooper reached inside his white armor and pulled out HIS Boston PD badge. We showed our prop guns and were ALLOWED to continue what we were doing but asked to keep the prop guns in our holsters. Geesh!

I always found it so ironic that the place where we started earning our independence and fighting for our freedoms at the point of a gun has some of the most ridiculous and most restrictive gun laws in the nation.

So Boostedxt, where are you from out there? Burlington, Woburn, Lexington, Bedford?

[Irving]

"Hello? There is a man with a RIFLE at the mall!"
"Okay, stay calm, what is he doing right now?"
"Well....It appears that he is looking for deals on an As Seen On Television Slap Chop."
"Get out of there as fast as you can, we'll be right there!"

[KevDen2005]

Rail mount polymer umbrella's............ New From Magpul

I would buy it...I have a little space left on the rail

[rse2fl]

I've spent plenty of time in the mall in that story. People are so afraid of guns in that area that it's almost humorous.

This was part of my point.

I lived in this Godforsaken state for many years (Lexington and Concord ironically). This is the state that removed an antique flintlock from the wall in the State House because it was considered "dangerous" and sending the "wrong message" about the State government.

I'm not making this up.

We had to get permits to carry ceremonial swords in parades. No bayonets on fake/demilled drill team rifles etc. etc....

The entire state was taken over by anti American leftists in the 60s. Non violence is king in the state that fired the first shots in the revolution. It just wasn't the right kind of revolution anymore. There has been some push back recently by gun owners but it is feeble. They have taught the children well. There is no place for violence or the tools of violence in Massachusetts. They really really want to be England again.

As to my calling the cops .. knowing that carrying a sword is illegal and this was clearly a katana handle (stupid "joke" item it turns out) only two possibilities come to mind, one: he wants to intentionally cause fear in those around him and get a "reaction" or he's a nut job intent on actually harming someone. Third possibility I guess .. he's just plain stupid/insane. There is nothing innocent about this kind of behavior. And I'd drop him like a stone if necessary. (but I don't live there and never will again so they're on there own)

As to "dropping a dime" on someone in a bar???????
Huh? Since when is it either illegal or inappropriate to have a beer in a bar? If I see someone stagger out and then get in the driver seat I might very well "drop a dime".

And don't get me started on DUI .. I have zero patience for anyone that drinks/drugs and drives. Zero.

Let's play nice okay? I wasn't looking for confrontation just wanted to express my experience in that state and what those poor folks have been indoctrinated to think.