GA citizens in an uproar!

[wolf_fire]

I believe you misunderstood my point. I never said he shouldn't carry or shouldn't be allowed to carry, what I said was I understand why the parents would be concerned.

Please explain it to me, because it sure sounds like hoplophobia, which like other phobias is irrational.

 

[Radar_Rider]

21 April​

18:43 Liz Malone

• Reports a man lifted his shirt to show her the gun in his waistband. She states that he is 'a little overweight' and didn't look like he was there to exercise.

18:49 Liz Malone

• Calls back to say she sees him again by the athletic fields and "COMPLAINANT SAYS IT LOOKS LIKE HE IS JUST WALKING AROUND THE PARK"

22 April​

17:44 Joseph Jason

• Reports a man has a gun in his waistband. CALLER DID NOT WITNESS THE GUN, THIS IS THIRD PARTY INFORMATION.

17:50 Cheryl White

• calls to report white male drinking out of a water bottle and walking in park with gun in pants.

17:56 Cheryl White

• wants to talk to someone about man with gun.

17:58 Jeff Jones

• reports a man at Fowler Park with all the soccer fields is holding a bottle of water in his hands and a gun in back of waistband.

18:05 Telly Helms (Head of Forsyth Parks and Recreation.)

• Wants to speak to S.O. (call went to voicemail)

18:27 Jean (Gene?) (No Last Name given)

• reports a man with handgun in pants ("Q. HANDS ON THE GUN? A. NO") "CALLER SAYS HE KEEPS PUTTING HANDS ON THE GUN //CALLER IS RETIRED NYPD// SAYS THERE ARE KIDS ALL OVER THE PLACE AND THIS IS WRONG."

18:29 Jodi Benson

• reports man with gun in park "subject was arrested yesterday", caller transferred to non-emergency line.

18:37 Jason Joseph

• calls on line 10 "CALLER IS ADVISING THAT HE IS NOT CARR(Y)ING THE GUN PROPERLY // HE IS SCARING THE CRAP OUT OF PEOPLE."

18:38 Carla Muller

• reports armed man with gun going onto the fields where kids are playing.. now he's in the baseball diamonds.

18:41 Terry Joseph

• calls on line 10 (no specificity listed on report)

18:48 Matt Haze

• reports that he is uncomfortable. A man is "just wondering around with a gun in his belt."

18:50 Matt (NLN)

• reports a man walking with a gun in his belt and wants deputies dispatched, the man is sitting down, down by the main gate.

18:51 Michelle Kirkland

• reports a man walking around with a gun and is scared. "COMPLAINANT IS SCARED ABOUT THE MALE WALKING AROUND WITH THE GUN // MALE IS NOT THREATENING ANYONE WITH THE WEAPON // COMPLAINANT FEELS THREATENED"

18:51 David Coon

• reports man walking around with exposed gun. "CALLER DEMANDS TO SPEAK WITH A DEPUTY / PEOPLE ARE SCARED//"

18:52 Justin (NLN)

• Reports a man at the field has a gun and was told to leave by the coaches but comes back.

18:54 Carla (NLN)

• Reports a man is still walking around with a gun and wants a deputy to let the families leave.

18:55 Paul Clewell

• reports a man with a gun is at the playground and has a gun tucked in his pants. "PER COMPLAINANT THIS SAME MALE TOOK HIS GUN OUT LAST NIGHT AND THREATENED COMPLAINANTS NEIGHBOR/ S52" ((n.b. Signal-52 is Assault in some departments))

18:57 Liz Krupit

• reports a man with a gun walking around Fowler Park.

18:57 Karen Rob

• reports "MAN BRANDISHING A GUN// HE HAS IT OUT IN HIS HANDS// A BUNCH OF PARENTS HAVE GONE UP THERE TO RESOLVE THE ISSUE// THE KIDS ARE HIDING BEHIND DUG OUTS//

19:05 Faith (NLN)

• reports a man has a gun in his pocket, doesn't look "normal" and is pulling his shirt up to show the gun.

19:27 Liz Crupet

• reports her friend says they have not seen a cop.

19:30 Kelly with Parks&Recreation

• reports he has been told by his coaches that a man with gun in pants is at baseball field and was flashing the gun. Caller was not present at park. ((n.b. This might be Telly Helms, not Kelly.))

Wow! Great info. I wonder how many of these calls are true and how many are panic and exaggeration. I hope people in GA get used to seeing a gun soon. Local press is good in one sense... bad guys see more legal guns around, but bad in the sense that voters see bad media coverage. It will be interesting to see how this pans out. Thanks again, Fallschirmjäger.

 

[tcox4freedom]

Wow! Great info. I wonder how many of these calls are true and how many are panic and exaggeration. I hope people in GA get used to seeing a gun soon. Local press is good in one sense... bad guys see more legal guns around, but bad in the sense that voters see bad media coverage. It will be interesting to see how this pans out. Thanks again, Fallschirmjäger.

Or how many were just blatant lies and false calls by anti's to stir up trouble.


-

 

[TrapperBob]

Quote: Please explain it to me, because it sure sounds like hoplophobia, which like other phobias is irrational."


First, hoplophobia is not an accepted disorder by the American Psychiatric Association. The term hoplophopia was invented by a firearms writer and has no medical acceptance. To be a true phobia the person must be aware of and understand that the fear is irrational and it must cause some functional impairment in their normal life and activities. Prima facie, concern at some level when seeing an unknown person carrying a deadly weapon in a location where deadly weapons are very unusual is rational.

It is not irrational to be 'concerned' when you see someone carrying a weapon where it is widely known that normally reasonable individuals can often lose their tempers and act violently. How 'concerned' you should be is the issue. I would certainly keep an eye on the person if he was one of the parents at one of my kids soccer games to see how he was reacting to the game, at least at the start of the game until I had a feel for how he was going to behave, but I think that calling the police is over-reacting if the person is just carrying a gun.

I think he has every right to carry a gun, but I also have every right to watch him until I feel confident that he's unlikely to be any threat given the volatile nature of some parents at kids games.

Also, while he has the right to carry a gun at the games, carrying concealed at a kids game would be more polite in my opinion. And politeness always matters.

 

[Fallschirmjäger]

If we break it down in order of seriousness, I think we have the following.....

Callers alleging no illegal conduct:

• [*]Liz Malone
  [*]Joseph Jason
  [*]Cheryl White
  [*]Jeff Jones
  [*]Carla Muller
  [*]Justin (NLN)
  [*]Liz Crupit
  [*]David Coon​

Callers that felt emotional:

• [*]Matt Haze (or Hayes?) was "uncomfortable" about a man just wandering around with a gun in his belt.
  [*]Michelle Kirkland was "scared" about a man she said was not threatening anyone with a weapon and felt "threatened"​

Callers relating provably false information:

• [*]Jodi Benson "the man was arrested yesterday"​

Callers that alleged wrong (but not illegal) conduct:

• Jean (or Gene) the Retired NYP-frickin-D cop "There are kids all over the place and this is wrong" (OCGA 16-11-127 eliminated "public gatherings")
• Jason Joseph said he "wasn't carrying properly" (OCGA 16-11-126 prior to 2010 specified certain methods of carry, the Code has since been replaced.)
• Karen Rob said he was "brandishing" and had the gun "out in his hands" (OCGA 16-11-102, GA has no 'brandishing code' but it's illegal to point a weapon)

Callers that alleged illegal conduct:

• Paul Clewell reported the man had threatened complainants neighbor (OCGA 16-5-20, Assault and 16-5-21, Aggravated Assault are Serious crimes in Georgia so I have to wonder why the neighbor didn't report it happening?

>>> Is it just Mozilla Firefox or is the formatting 'off' for anyone else? <<<

 

[TrapperBob]

That's a good summary of the calls, thanks. Yes, the formatting is a bit odd in Chrome as well.

 

[wolf_fire]

Quote: Please explain it to me, because it sure sounds like hoplophobia, which like other phobias is irrational."


First, hoplophobia is not an accepted disorder by the American Psychiatric Association. The term hoplophopia was invented by a firearms writer and has no medical acceptance. To be a true phobia the person must be aware of and understand that the fear is irrational and it must cause some functional impairment in their normal life and activities. Prima facie, concern at some level when seeing an unknown person carrying a deadly weapon in a location where deadly weapons are very unusual is rational.

It is not irrational to be 'concerned' when you see someone carrying a weapon where it is widely known that normally reasonable individuals can often lose their tempers and act violently. How 'concerned' you should be is the issue. I would certainly keep an eye on the person if he was one of the parents at one of my kids soccer games to see how he was reacting to the game, at least at the start of the game until I had a feel for how he was going to behave, but I think that calling the police is over-reacting if the person is just carrying a gun.

I think he has every right to carry a gun, but I also have every right to watch him until I feel confident that he's unlikely to be any threat given the volatile nature of some parents at kids games.

Also, while he has the right to carry a gun at the games, carrying concealed at a kids game would be more polite in my opinion. And politeness always matters.

Being concerned and then being so hysterical that you call 911 on someone doing nothing wrong only because you are irrationally afraid of a firearm are two different animals.

The ones that "lose their tempers" are the parents at these games. He wasn't even watching the game. So you really think he is going to go beserk over the game that he is not watching?

Concerned... I'm always concerned that there are evil doers in the world. I don't call the cops every time I see someone legally carrying a gun. I certainly don't traumatize young children and hide them in a dugout. Seriously? If these parents truly thought he was a grave danger, and feared for their children's lives, don't you think they should have taken them into their car and driven out of there instead?

And um, yeah, thanks for the psychology lesson. I was well aware of where the term hoplophobia originated.

 

[TrapperBob]

Ok, look, What I said was I understand the reason that parents may be concerned about someone wearing a gun at a kids soccer game. That is a general statement. I did not ever say that the actions of the particular parents in this particular situation were appropriate. I stated reasons why, in general terms, people are justified, and rational, in have some level of concern in that situation. You seem to be of the opinion that no one should ever be concerned to any degree about anyone carrying a gun anywhere, which is ludicrous.

The mention I made of the origin of the word hoplophobia in my post was minor trivia, you missed the point that according to psychiatrists hoplophobia is not a real disorder, regardless of where the term came from.

The particular parents in that particular Georgia situation greatly over-reacted, I absolutely agree. There was no need to call the police. I never said there was. But IN GENERAL having SOME level of concern when a person has a gun in that sort of situation is not irrational.

 

[CharlesMorrison]

The term hoplophopia was invented by a firearms writer and has no medical acceptance.

Kinda like "Assault Weapon".
Created out of thin air to scare the masses!!!!
Booooo!

Link Removed


Sent from behind Enemy Lines.

 

[CharlesMorrison]

To be a true phobia the person must be aware of and understand that the fear is irrational and it must cause some functional impairment in their normal life and activities.

Jesus H Christ man!!!
You just described every elected official known!!!!




Sent from behind Enemy Lines.

 

[wolf_fire]

Ok, look, What I said was I understand the reason that parents may be concerned about someone wearing a gun at a kids soccer game. That is a general statement. I did not ever say that the actions of the particular parents in this particular situation were appropriate. I stated reasons why, in general terms, people are justified, and rational, in have some level of concern in that situation. You seem to be of the opinion that no one should ever be concerned to any degree about anyone carrying a gun anywhere, which is ludicrous.

The mention I made of the origin of the word hoplophobia in my post was minor trivia, you missed the point that according to psychiatrists hoplophobia is not a real disorder, regardless of where the term came from.

The particular parents in that particular Georgia situation greatly over-reacted, I absolutely agree. There was no need to call the police. I never said there was. But IN GENERAL having SOME level of concern when a person has a gun in that sort of situation is not irrational.

The problem with your statement is that we are not talking about some people in this thread. We are talking about the hysterical hoplophobes who contacted the police because of a man legally carrying a gun. :wacko: Therefore, they were irrational. Yes, in general, people should all have some level of concern, but not to the extent these people took it. When it goes that far, it does constitute irrational behavior.

 

[TrapperBob]

Well then, it would appear that our entire disagreement was because I did not make my initial post on the subject clearer. A hazard of electronic communication.