This is outrageous!

General questions and discussions on water warfare regarding tactics and strategies.
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Evangel
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This is outrageous!

Post by Evangel » Thu Apr 16, 2009 5:50 pm

Ok, I just finished my daily training for the upcoming season in my condo complex - sprints, weight training, etc. I went to McDonald's for something to eat. After I got back, I found out the cops were looking for me AGAIN! They told my brother that I was disturbing the peace and that if I was caught outside like that again they WOULD arrest me!

I'm starting to get a wit's end with this, because this is some kind of age discrimination I never even heard of. I think something REALLY needs to be done about this. What's even more disappointing is that it happened in my own complex, where virtually everyone knows me and what my team and I do. I wasn't even in any tactical gear; all I had on was a pair of camo pants, a black t-shirt, and some boots.

This is kind of why I'm considering ditching this for airsoft: if I'm going to get arrested for my hobbies, might as well be a hobby where it happens all the time.

UPDATE: My sister talked to the cops, what it comes down to is: law says I'm too old to be playing with water guns around people. Now WTF is going on in this town (excuse the profanity)???? We need to like, petition or something because this has gotten way out of hand here. This kind of discrimination needs to stop, big time.

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isoaker
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Re: This is outrageous!

Post by isoaker » Thu Apr 16, 2009 6:42 pm

Is it a local law, a state law, for I do not believe it to be a US federal law that prohibits the use of water guns around people? I mean, if you can't use water guns around people, who are you suppose to use water guns around? Wildlife?

'tis a sad day when paranoia over real weaponry wins over freedom to have fun doing truly harmless stuff.

In the meantime, you can either give up water warfare for now (but I think that's unnecessary), try to figure out if this supposed law is actually true and not some make-believe law, and/or find a different area a little bit away to train and hold water wars. Seems like most (all?) your run ins happens in your complex; what about areas beyond or in large public park areas?

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Evangel
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Re: This is outrageous!

Post by Evangel » Thu Apr 16, 2009 7:00 pm

Well, I kinda meant it figuratively. I dunno what's going on, but they said they will arrest me if I cause any more "disturbances." So basically, I can't practice because the police won't let me.

And I tried parks, but people even called the cops on me there too. And when we played C-A 99's team at Boulan Park, OH MY GOD we might as well had all been carrying AKs and RPGs!

But anyway, I'm literally getting scared for my life here. Everyone's making me feel like I MIGHT AS WELL be doing something illegal, since I'm most likely going to get arrested one way or another, unless we take SOME kind of action against this because this CAN'T be fair or justice or anything.

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isoaker
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Re: This is outrageous!

Post by isoaker » Thu Apr 16, 2009 7:24 pm

Here's a query: would your parents willingly support you should you get unfairly arrested? Know anyone else (preferrably older people, of course) who would support you or come to your aid?

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Evangel
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Re: This is outrageous!

Post by Evangel » Thu Apr 16, 2009 8:03 pm

I'm confident my parents would support it. And there are a few neighbors I talk to all the time, they know who I am and what I do, they should know I'm not a threat. And I talked with C-A, and looks like he's about as outraged as I am.

Why do you ask?
Last edited by Evangel on Thu Apr 16, 2009 8:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Black Six
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Re: This is outrageous!

Post by Black Six » Thu Apr 16, 2009 8:24 pm

Because if you get arrested people will care more if adults protest than if kids do. Plus, adults have the funds to hire lawyers and such.

Also, when you were doing this training, I'm assuming you were carrying Soakers? Were you even shooting them at all? This all seems kind of ridiculous and prejudiced.
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Evangel
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Re: This is outrageous!

Post by Evangel » Thu Apr 16, 2009 8:43 pm

I was test firing some of my newer guns, but not shooting at anything in particular. And yes it is ridiculous and prejudiced.

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Re: This is outrageous!

Post by marauder » Thu Apr 16, 2009 11:39 pm

You know... if they are this strict on waterguns they are going to be even worse on airsoft and paintball where you live. We need to reevaluate things in this country. No recess at school, you can't play with waterguns in your own apartment area, everyone is suing everyone. We all just need to chill and not be so uptight. It's gotten ridiculous.
Fortunately it's not as bad here as it is up north, from what I hear. In Rochester NY you can't be at the mall after unless you are 19 or older. That means that my girlfriend, who is in college, can't go to the mall after 4.
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Evangel
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Re: This is outrageous!

Post by Evangel » Fri Apr 17, 2009 6:29 am

Whatever the case, I think it's time for me to start taking a stand here. I'm going to bed now, and when I wake up, I'm going back outside to train even more. I'll be wearing the same thing I wore yesterday, doing most of the same drills I did yesterday, I'll just be a bit careful about it.

And if someone STILL has such a big problem with it that they have to call cops on me again, they're just gonna have to arrest me (which they probably will because that's probably when I'm gonna start going off the deep end). And should that happen, when I get out of jail, I'm going right back outside to continue doing exactly what I've been doing. And if god forbid they decide they have to shoot me (which also came up yesterday) then so be it; I have my reasons.

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isoaker
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Re: This is outrageous!

Post by isoaker » Fri Apr 17, 2009 9:51 am

And if someone STILL has such a big problem with it that they have to call cops on me again, they're just gonna have to arrest me (which they probably will because that's probably when I'm gonna start going off the deep end).
Never ever give cops a additional/real reason to arrest you. If you want to be respected, even when things seem unfair, you need to be as respectful as possible. Neighbors who call may be unreasonable, but if the police/cops see you're not doing anything wrong or threatening towards other people or other people's property, they should have no reason nor right to arrest you for anything. If you feel like police harassment may arise if you're training, make sure your parents and any other adults in the area you trust know you're outside and training. That way, if something goes odd and/or police do come asking you to stop, someone else can quickly come out to support you.

That said, if you still choose to go off the deep end, while that is a natural human response, it will only serve to prove those against you correct. If you become truly violent and/or lose your composure, you can be rightfully arrested as an endangerment to yourself or to others. Simply put, losing your cool in this situation just wouldn't be cool.

In the end, if those complaining already know you're only playing with water blasters, what the heck are they afraid of? Do those people cower and hide at home every time it rains? Have you ever spoken to these police/cops about using water guns? What have they actually said/that you are forbidden to use water guns? If that were true, stores would have an age limit--- "Sorry, you must be 8 years old or younger to safely use this toy". :goofy:

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Evangel
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Re: This is outrageous!

Post by Evangel » Fri Apr 17, 2009 11:43 am

I can try to keep my cool, but if they start giving me an unnecessarily hard time (i.e. yelling and threatening), that's going to be easier said than done. The problem is I've ALWAYS been as respectful as I could be, and always got screwed over anyway.

Anyway, while I'm doing this, I talked to my teammates, and of course they're just as outraged as I am, and we all agreed that something NEEDS to be done. What exactly that something is we're not quite sure. What I had in mind is to just try and show everyone that our activities are strictly between us and/or anyone else that wants to get involved. Rather than go door-to-door explaining ourselves like a bunch of nut-jobs, what I had in mind is to get a decent-sized war setup in this neighborhood between just us MTU members (and anyone else we can get involved), initially starting in a wide-open central area where everyone can see us. Hopefully they'll see us attacking each other instead of them or their kids, and realize just what's going on here. And just to make it as "street legal" as possible, I'll try and get my brother and sister to join in to if I have to to conform to our pool's designated resident-to-guest ratio of 1:2.

This has definitely worked in the past, seeing as most of my "friendly" neighbors know me through my water warring operations. Last year most of them saw ALL of us in our full tactical gear and still stopped to say hi. Everyone else didn't really mind at all.

Shadowstrike Prime
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Re: This is outrageous!

Post by Shadowstrike Prime » Fri Apr 17, 2009 1:48 pm

Have you considered going to the local media with this? A "Cops harass kids playing with water guns" story might be enough to get them to back off.
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marauder
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Re: This is outrageous!

Post by marauder » Fri Apr 17, 2009 3:04 pm

Shadowstrike Prime wrote:Have you considered going to the local media with this? A "Cops harass kids playing with water guns" story might be enough to get them to back off.
Haha, funny idea. Also, isoaker speaks the truth. I support you and your team, go have fun, but don't lose your cool. Some cops WILL taze you if you act even remotely threatening, and then they will charge you with threatening the physical safety of a police officer which you do NOT want.
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Adrian
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Re: This is outrageous!

Post by Adrian » Fri Apr 17, 2009 10:27 pm

Ah crap. I hate to be the jerk here, but I've got a few points to, uh, point out.

Document, document, document. Names and badge numbers of the officers you talked to. If they won't give you those, license plate numbers and the date, cops have to clock their cars out. What they said, specifically. Ordinance numbers for the laws you supposedly violated.

If I thought that I was being treated unfairly I would march on down to the local constabulary, put on my indignant face, and ask to see very specifically the law prohibiting me from touching a watergun. And I'd be very insistant that officers threatened to arrest me and discussed the possibility of ending my life based on my possession of a childrens' toy.

At this point, they can do one of several things. They can show you the law, which will lay to rest any questions on the topic. They can ignore you, at which point you ask to talk to their boss, or you wander around the center of your city's government (usually all the really official buildings are clustered together) knocking on doors and being a pain in the butt until someone is nice and helps you or gets sick of you and helps you. Either way, you win. Or, they will tell you that, as I believe, there is no such law.

Here's where you're going to think I'm a jackass, and I apologize in advance.

I don't believe there's a law anywhere on the books that prevents a teenager from handling a watergun based on age alone. I'm sorry, I just don't believe it. See, a law specifically setting the legal age at which someone is no longer able to use a squirtgun takes a special kind of intentional stupid that not even certain overseas nanny states which shall go unnamed have yet to achieve. And if they haven't achieved it yet (trust me, they're trying really hard), the good ol' US of A surely hasn't gotten close. I think that real or imagined, there have been disturbance complaints against you. In which case the police (and I seem to remember you live in a smallish town) are doing the mental algebra of you + watergun = trouble. In which case, they would have cause to look askance at you when you have a supersoaker in your hands. Cops have long memories (don't ask how I know) and small town cops have longer ones.

I seem to remember (and if this was not you, I will ask your forgiveness in a very public and humble way and feel really really bad for days on end) that you had a thread here less than a year ago about getting torqued off at various circumstances, and threatened to cause harm to yourself or others. Something about a butterfly knife perhaps? It is not much of a logical leap then for me to think that behavior like that could translate into similar behavior in the paint, and suspect that just possibly there was an incident that was bad enough that the local donut cruchers would like to avoid a repeat presentation of. And depending on the severity of said hypothetical incident, they might just be justified in trying to prevent problems from cropping up again.

Maybe I've got this all turned about. You're probably being treated unfairly. Some crotchety old fart saw you taking the sport a little more seriously than most and decided since he didn't like you already, he'd teach you a lesson. Maybe the police just have their designer VS undies in a twist and decided to mess with you. Or maybe you did something like I did, and hosed down a mailbox and someone's mail, and got someone PO'd at you. It happens, and it's happened to me. Or something else occurred.

Anyway, I don't think there's a law on the books setting the legal waterfighting age. And it should be easy to find out the real story with a trip to your downtown.

Adrian
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AquaNinja
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Re: This is outrageous!

Post by AquaNinja » Sun Aug 02, 2009 1:13 pm

This is the stupidest thing I have ever heard how can the police arrest you for practising with your water gun? Seriously what is wrong with our world?!

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