This really happened.

[eelgrass]

A friend of mine told me a story about a friend of his. His friend decided recently to take the family on a Sunday drive. They took a few guns and headed up on Forest Service land to do a little shooting. They decided to take an old dirt road that dead ended at an old played out rock quarry. A good place to shoot.

They got about a mile in and there were a couple trees across the road, so they decided to do some plinking right there. Not an ideal spot, but they could make it work. They set up a target and were shooting when a Forest Service LEO drove up.

It just so happened that they were standing on the road at the time they were shooting. The LEO wrote him a citation for shooting from the road. Kind of chicken sh!t, but whatever.

Now here's the scary part. He took the guns they had and ran the serial numbers. One gun came back as not registered to him and unknown. The LEO said he would have to confiscate the gun. My friends friend insisted that the gun was "legal" as he had purchased it from a dealer less than a year ago.

The LEO ran the numbers again, and it came back OK. He said he must have entered the number wrong the first time.

What's this Country comming to? This was in California, but on Forest Service land, so it could happen anywhere?

Eel

 

[EVILNR]

Shooting on a FS road = big no no. Was asking for it. Esp. in California. But yes, I have seen some overzealous FS enforcement
even in north Georgia. Tried to pin a forest fire on me.

 

[txhunter58]

Unregistered guns are confiscated in California? Glad I live in Texas

"It just so happened that they were standing on the road at the time they were shooting. The LEO wrote him a citation for shooting from the road. Kind of chicken sh!t, but whatever."

Nothing chicken sh!t about upholding the law. They broke it and have no valid complaints there.

txhunter58

venor, ergo sum (I hunt, therefore I am)

 

[RELH]

Eel, can you be more specific as what type of firearm this involved?

RELH

 

[eldorado]

One of the most common firearms violation. They should have known better. The LEO was just doing his job.

Eldorado

 

[1911]

Just because you can write something doesn't mean you should write something. Chicken Chit. If the road dead ended in a quarry, in the middle of BFE, they were out of the vehicle and had been stationary for quite some time, and they were not pursuing game, then hammering them on this violation is letter of the law enforcement. That law is written primarily as a safety regulation and anti poaching tool. If neither of these was an obvious concern then what was the point. The power of discernment and discretion to apply come to mind.

 

[eldorado]

Yes, the LEO has the discretion to write the infraction but when the infraction is blatant on several counts then there's no alternative other than to write up the violators. The LEO was in his right in enforcing the law regardless if no harm was intended.

Eldorado

 

[CAforkedhorn]

1911 I'm glad you have common sense! Eldorado is a democrat so he needs the ticket money to help fund all the entitlements and welfare so yeah, he'd write that ticket every time.

 

[eelgrass]

RELH, sorry, I don't know what gun(s)were involved. He did say that one reason they were using the road was so he could collect the empty brass more easily, so I assume some kind of semi-auto centerfire.

He was not crying about the citation for shooting from the road, that I heard. Being chicken chit was my own opinion.

What if you're out hunting with a gun you inherited and a warden checks you? Should he be able to confiscate your gun because it doesn't check out on his computer?

Maybe RELH is onto something that we're not aware of though. He's pretty canny in these matters. I have only second hand info.

1911, bless you for having common sense. Now I KNOW, you're not related to D13er!

Eel

 

[tailchasers]

Was your friends name Ted?

"Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway."

 

[eldorado]

Interesting how some here talk a big game about respecting the rule of law yet are quick to defend poachers and law breakers.

Eldorado

 

[elkun]

eldorado,. ill bet if we look close you are not what you think you are, big time law boy...

 

[velvetmonster]

The LEO did what he did. Discretion goes both ways...both in favor of leniency and strictness. If you break a law, no matter how trivial, you still broke it and shouldn't boob if you get caught.

As far as the gun confiscation...wouldn't have happened. There is no requirement for firearms to be registered in California. All new and used gun sales are now recorded, but any firearm that pre-dates this registration requirement does not have to be in the system. There are thousands of guns in California that the state has no record of.

 

[RELH]

There is one form of firearms that have to be registered for possession in CA. Those firearms are ones that CA. placed under the "assault weapons" class of firearms. When that law went into effect, no further sales where allowed in CA. if the weapon had certain features on it.
At the same time the ones that were already in private hands were "grandfathered" in as long as the owner registered it with DOJ.
Failure to register it and getting caught with it later will result in confiscation and possible criminal charges.

We still see "black rifles" sold here as the makers either added or deleted certain items on the firearm to make them CA. legal. I do not feel like going into the penal code statues and giving the exact items that make certain black rifles come under the "assault weapon" class and had to be registered when that law went into effect years ago.

When the owners registered them, the make, model, caliber and serial number and name of owner went into a computer file with CA. DOJ and a LEO can verify within seconds if the weapon is legally registered.

All guns purchased after the law was enacted is entered into the file at time of purchase when the dealer calls DOJ to register the firearm. The ones most encountered not being registered are ones that were already owned when the law went into effect and the owner failed to register it during the grace period to be grandfathered in.

RELH

 

[ShowThemToMe]

I seen 5-6 people shooting not more than 30' off the Daniels Canyon Hi-Way today!

The Targets were about 15' in front of them!

Thing that crossed my mind was the backstop/background was rocky & could have Ricocheted back towards them/traffic!

A USFS Official coulda Shined His Badge!



[font color=red size=redsize=18"face"]SHOW THEM TO ME![/font]
If You Love Your Country,SHOW THEM TO ME!




It's been a long hard ride
Got a ways to go
But this is still the place
That we all call home

 

[HorseCreek]

+100 Eldo!


Traditional >>>------->

 

[eelgrass]

velvetmonster and RELH, you are both right! The firearm in question must have been a "black rifle". I didn't think of that.

Eel

 

[BuckSnort]

>Just because you can write something
>doesn't mean you should write
>something. Chicken Chit.
>If the road dead ended
>in a quarry, in the
>middle of BFE, they were
>out of the vehicle and
>had been stationary for quite
>some time, and they were
>not pursuing game, then hammering
>them on this violation is
>letter of the law enforcement.
> That law is written
>primarily as a safety regulation
>and anti poaching tool.
>If neither of these was
>an obvious concern then what
>was the point. The
>power of discernment and discretion
>to apply come to mind.
>
>

+1... Well said 1911.. Hey Eldorado, if you got a ticket for speeding 1 mph over the speed limit you would biitch like a mofo.. Same principle here...

Disclaimer:
The poster does not take any responsibility for any hurt or bad feelings. Reading threads poses inherent risks. The poster would like to remind readers to make sure they have a functional sense of humor before they visit any discussion board.

 

[BuckSnort]

>Just because you can write something
>doesn't mean you should write
>something. Chicken Chit.
>If the road dead ended
>in a quarry, in the
>middle of BFE, they were
>out of the vehicle and
>had been stationary for quite
>some time, and they were
>not pursuing game, then hammering
>them on this violation is
>letter of the law enforcement.
> That law is written
>primarily as a safety regulation
>and anti poaching tool.
>If neither of these was
>an obvious concern then what
>was the point. The
>power of discernment and discretion
>to apply come to mind.
>
>

+1... Well said 1911.. Hey Eldorado, if you got a ticket for speeding 1 mph over the speed limit you would biitch like a mofo.. Same principle here...

Disclaimer:
The poster does not take any responsibility for any hurt or bad feelings. Reading threads poses inherent risks. The poster would like to remind readers to make sure they have a functional sense of humor before they visit any discussion board.