Pennsylvania Firearm Owners Association
Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 25
  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    PRMD,just a hair south of PA at York co, Maryland
    Age
    51
    Posts
    3,107
    Rep Power
    17987

    Default I am my mother's bodyguard

    I've never been able to figure out exactly how my mother feels about me carrying, both at home/on the property, and when we do stuff in PA. A few times she has rolled her eyes about it ( keep in mind she was at the OC dinner just north of here on saturday- shes not an anti by any stretch). But today she showed me how much she values it. She comes home from work and walks in and says " there's someone at the property next door", refering to the foreclosed abandoned place next door. And she wants to go see who it is, figuring it's someone from the bank, but not sure. She needs me. " You are armed and I don't know who is up there and the police take forever to get to here". I'm kinda like " then don't go up there", but she insists. I tell her that by law I can't leave our property with a handgun strapped to me. She is like " do it anyway". I'm saying " uh, no, but I can legally OC a big knife", but then I am thinking how stupid that would be ( no knives to gun fights), and I sure as heck am not carrying my shotgun over there. So I offer to stand at the driveway at the top and will run to her if she starts screaming for help. She agrees.

    Well we almost didn't even get up there in time, as a stupid hen is in the dog yard and 2 dogs are attacking it. I fired a warning shot into the ground, which made the dogs immediatly disengage and run back all scared ( last thing I want to do is shoot one of my own dogs over a chicken). Chicken hen was almost dead, died as I carried her. Dogs got lots of yelling at as they cowered in their deluxe doggy shelter. Dad comes home, hadn't even noticed the gate was open at the foreclosure next door- he heard the shot when he was getting the mail and thought my one friend was over and we were target shooting, and therefore got distracted.

    Finally, my mom and I walk up the driveway and the person who was next door is pulling out in a pickup just as we got up there. I stood in my MD legal spot. Turns out it was a contractor hired by the bank to go check on the property to see if the house is damaged, etc. Mom talks to the guy while I stand in my MD legal spot and watch and pick up bits of the convo. No problems, guy was nice,etc. They discussed the overgrown land and about the pipes in the house, and also how we had closed the gate and put a beware of dog sign on it due to junkies out here who might go and break into the house.

    Oh yeah and I was thinking of SAF and Gura's lawsuit just filed over MD carry lisc's, and how maybe in 2 years I wouldn't have to stand on the driveway. Be nice to get unlisc'd open carry too.
    LOL, I am a woman...

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Carbondale, Pennsylvania
    (Lackawanna County)
    Age
    38
    Posts
    993
    Rep Power
    442

    Default Re: I am my mother's bodyguard

    That was pretty dumb IMO. Your mother was trespassing, what happened if the legal owner of the house got into a tussle with your mother? Or if the legal owner of the house had a gun. You should tell your mother that she is not the sheriff of of the neighborhood because you are armed no matter how long it takes police to get there. This wasn't a case where your hearing screams or a girl running around the property naked with 3 guys trying to put her back in the basement. Not wise, not wise

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    PRMD,just a hair south of PA at York co, Maryland
    Age
    51
    Posts
    3,107
    Rep Power
    17987

    Default Re: I am my mother's bodyguard

    Legal owner is some bank. We have been watching the property from our fenceline for 15months. Yes my mother might seem stupid, but around here some neighbors do watch out for eachother. She has greeted new neighbors. I guess going to a new neighbors to say hi is trespassing? She just wanted to know if it was someone from the bank, but if it turned out to be junkies or something, she wanted me around. She's not young, so she isn't going to be running fast.
    LOL, I am a woman...

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Carbondale, Pennsylvania
    (Lackawanna County)
    Age
    38
    Posts
    993
    Rep Power
    442

    Default Re: I am my mother's bodyguard

    Quote Originally Posted by XD40coyote View Post
    Legal owner is some bank. We have been watching the property from our fenceline for 15months. Yes my mother might seem stupid, but around here some neighbors do watch out for eachother. She has greeted new neighbors. I guess going to a new neighbors to say hi is trespassing? She just wanted to know if it was someone from the bank, but if it turned out to be junkies or something, she wanted me around. She's not young, so she isn't going to be running fast.
    No theirs nothing wrong with being nice to neighbors you've had for years or bring a pie to new ones. How it came off to me was that shes a busy body snooping no offense. I don't really know most of my neighbors but if I saw someone walking around their house I would watch from a same distance and or call the police. If you look at it from a 3rd party's view it doesn't look good. A woman wanted someone to break the law by carrying a gun somewhere they can't while she is breaking the law the trespassing. Now it seems to me that your mothers good intentions don't jive well with the law.

    No one wants junkies anywhere near them or their home, not me, not you, not your mom. But let's say they were junkies and you weren't there, what happens then if your aren't there? If your mom is older and like you said can't run fast then IMO you should have a talk with her.

    Too many times I've seen a person with good intentions gets the short end of the stick. Something sorta similar, it was late and the person A's neighbors were underage kids boozing, fighting, playing loud music. Person A went on Person B's property to yell at them and the police were called. Person A got cited for trespassing. Your mom is willingly entering areas where junkies may dwell, that has a lot more dire consequences.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    Lubbock, Texas
    Age
    40
    Posts
    2,893
    Rep Power
    1283728

    Default Re: I am my mother's bodyguard

    Quote Originally Posted by XD40coyote View Post
    I've never been able to figure out exactly how my mother feels about me carrying, both at home/on the property, and when we do stuff in PA. A few times she has rolled her eyes about it ( keep in mind she was at the OC dinner just north of here on saturday- shes not an anti by any stretch). But today she showed me how much she values it. She comes home from work and walks in and says " there's someone at the property next door", refering to the foreclosed abandoned place next door. And she wants to go see who it is, figuring it's someone from the bank, but not sure. She needs me. " You are armed and I don't know who is up there and the police take forever to get to here". I'm kinda like " then don't go up there", but she insists. I tell her that by law I can't leave our property with a handgun strapped to me. She is like " do it anyway". I'm saying " uh, no, but I can legally OC a big knife", but then I am thinking how stupid that would be ( no knives to gun fights), and I sure as heck am not carrying my shotgun over there. So I offer to stand at the driveway at the top and will run to her if she starts screaming for help. She agrees.

    Well we almost didn't even get up there in time, as a stupid hen is in the dog yard and 2 dogs are attacking it. I fired a warning shot into the ground, which made the dogs immediatly disengage and run back all scared ( last thing I want to do is shoot one of my own dogs over a chicken). Chicken hen was almost dead, died as I carried her. Dogs got lots of yelling at as they cowered in their deluxe doggy shelter. Dad comes home, hadn't even noticed the gate was open at the foreclosure next door- he heard the shot when he was getting the mail and thought my one friend was over and we were target shooting, and therefore got distracted.

    Finally, my mom and I walk up the driveway and the person who was next door is pulling out in a pickup just as we got up there. I stood in my MD legal spot. Turns out it was a contractor hired by the bank to go check on the property to see if the house is damaged, etc. Mom talks to the guy while I stand in my MD legal spot and watch and pick up bits of the convo. No problems, guy was nice,etc. They discussed the overgrown land and about the pipes in the house, and also how we had closed the gate and put a beware of dog sign on it due to junkies out here who might go and break into the house.

    Oh yeah and I was thinking of SAF and Gura's lawsuit just filed over MD carry lisc's, and how maybe in 2 years I wouldn't have to stand on the driveway. Be nice to get unlisc'd open carry too.
    I'm with Mickey on this one. I think that it's putting your mom and someone else at unnecessary risk. I'm all about looking out for your neighbors property and have ALWAYS known all of mine. First thing I did when I moved to a new place was meet the neighbors and throw a cook out or drinking session first change I got. Still, there's a difference between watching out for your neighbor's property and an abandoned house that belongs to the bank. I think in this particular instance, it would have been better to sit out and watch, even if it's with a pair of binoculars and be a good witness. If it's some vagrants and junkies, they'll come back soon enough. You can call the cops while they're there, if they're not still there when the cops get there, then you give them a very very good description who it was, and they'll find them.

    I just think it's too much of a risk, with not really much to gain. Sure you might save the house some vandelism, etc, but it's not your property or job. I know in lots of states, if the bank or property owner hasn't personally asked you to watch over that property, you'd be SCREWED if something happened there. The first thing they'd probably ask if something did happen was why did you go over there and fire your weapon? Then, when you answered that your mom was over there and was in danger, they would ask why she was over there. They would probably then charge her with trespassing, and say that you shouldn't have been over there in the first place because your mom shouldn't have, and who knows what could happen. Some crazy stuff like that happens sometimes, especially in states where they have some liberal people like in MD. I just don't see the point, and I think that you and your mom should be very careful about the whole situation. It would be TERRIBLE to at the very least lose your right to bear arms, but it would be WAY WORSE if you took someone's life, were held for civil damages, etc.

    I also have another kind of "pet peeve" about the situation. Did you honestly feel like it was that necessary to fire a warning shot? I realize that you shot it into the ground, but even when doing that, it's still dangerous. I don't know exactly where you live, but it sounds like you're at least somewhat in town at your mom's house, especially if there's other houses and neighbors. IF you're in something similar to a town, you could fall under their jurisdiction and get in some serious trouble over discharging your firearm there. I just don't see the point of doing that either, it puts yourself at risk with the law, and even you or others (dogs, your foot, etc) that might move into the line of fire at risk. I understand about looking out for your animals and property, but the end result was still the same, the chicken died almost immediately. Would the dogs try to bite you if you went over there and tried to seperate them? If that's the case, then I probably wouldn't want them as my dogs in the first place. If I was worried about it, I would have grabbed a stick, shovel, or something with a handle. It just seems like an unnessary risk, and I hope that you consider this and reconsider warning shots in the future. Discharging your firearm in this way is risky, and talking about it on a public forum may come back to haunt you later, should you ever have to use your firearm to defend your life. Good on you for trying to look out for your mom though.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    moved to warmer weather..., Tennessee
    Posts
    1,232
    Rep Power
    1719203

    Default Re: I am my mother's bodyguard

    Quote Originally Posted by Tomcat088 View Post
    <snip>
    I also have another kind of "pet peeve" about the situation. Did you honestly feel like it was that necessary to fire a warning shot? I realize that you shot it into the ground, but even when doing that, it's still dangerous. I don't know exactly where you live, but it sounds like you're at least somewhat in town at your mom's house, especially if there's other houses and neighbors. IF you're in something similar to a town, you could fall under their jurisdiction and get in some serious trouble over discharging your firearm there. I just don't see the point of doing that either, it puts yourself at risk with the law, and even you or others (dogs, your foot, etc) that might move into the line of fire at risk. I understand about looking out for your animals and property, but the end result was still the same, the chicken died almost immediately. Would the dogs try to bite you if you went over there and tried to seperate them? If that's the case, then I probably wouldn't want them as my dogs in the first place. If I was worried about it, I would have grabbed a stick, shovel, or something with a handle. It just seems like an unnessary risk, and I hope that you consider this and reconsider warning shots in the future. Discharging your firearm in this way is risky, and talking about it on a public forum may come back to haunt you later, should you ever have to use your firearm to defend your life. Good on you for trying to look out for your mom though.
    Ummm... I know the property. You actually have to walk through trees to even see any neighbors. She is surrounded by land and hosted a shooting time before the OC meet/greet last Saturday.

    They do not live in town. She regularly shoots on her property. The dog pens are nowhere near anything else and there is plenty of space for a warning shot into the ground.

    to the other poster who referred to the "trespassing":
    Perhaps you have lived in the city too long. Countryfolk regularly walk over to check out a neighbor's property. It is almost expected. Going into the house? That's a different story. But walking over to make sure that the person who is there should be there? It could be dangerous, but it's part of life. Which is why her mother wanted her to be the "bodyguard" and she rightly refused to leave her own property. There is no way she would've been able to do anything other than call 911 and/or fire a warning shot on her own property as she would've been too far away to help in any other way, from what I remember. And if you read more closely, you'll see that while she intended to go over, she never actually left her driveway due to the other distractions that delayed her.

    While I respect your concern, you made quite a few assumptions about the scenario. And I can assure you, XD40 is a rule follower, NOT a rule breaker!
    Last edited by mingomom; August 2nd, 2010 at 08:46 PM. Reason: forgot something! :)

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    PRMD,just a hair south of PA at York co, Maryland
    Age
    51
    Posts
    3,107
    Rep Power
    17987

    Default Re: I am my mother's bodyguard

    Thanks, Mingo, some people spew troll without knowing the whole picture. Yes, it is rural here. Most times we and the neighbors just live and let live. Nobody has ever complained about the target shooting, and the only time we had a problem with another neighbor shooting was when some guests of their's must have gotten drunk or were just very stupid and started shooting at our property and my mom heard bullets going by her. She had to crawl to safety and call the cops, the 1 cop showed up something like 30-45 mins later, and just caught up with the idiots as they were leaving and reamed them out. No charges were filed, no arrests. The cop probably did search the car to see if the guns were unloaded, I'm sure there was enough RAS for that, or they consented.

    Last week at the neighbor's down the hill out back, someone was shooting at 10:30 or so pm. My father and I listened to be sure no one was screaming or anything, and after hearing it was 3-4 shots then nothing for 5 mins then another 3-4 shots, we figured it was just target shooting for groupings- maybe the guy got a night vision scope for fun. You might be allowed to use a night vision scope to hunt raccoons, foxes, and coyotes during the season. I'm not going to run to the DNR booklet to look. Could also be he got special crop damage permits/deer control cooperater lisc that allow night hunting. Unless it affects me and mine, I really don't care if he wants to target shoot at 10:30 pm.

    Really, my mother just wanted to peak up the next door driveway. If it looked or "felt" not right, she would not have gone up there, but stayed on our place and called 911. She wanted me there in case it was crazies that come over to us, or the bank contractor who looked nice, wasn't. Turns out that it was a contractor working for the the bank( as we thought) , and he was a very nice person.

    Regarding the dog situation, I am trying to break them of this sudden bad habit of chicken killing. 2 of the 3 get scared to death at gun shots and firecrackers and this can be a reinforcement tool ( they stay in their "den" when I target shoot). If you don't pound the rule of the pack into a dog at the moment they are being bad, they may not associate the punishment with the deed, and will re-offend. The 3rd dog broke away from the chicken after the shot, so hopefully he too got scared by it and will remember. The shot was fired into the ground and no where near any person, animal, or dwelling.

    As to MD laws and prosecuters et al, this county has a more conservative bent. They actually lock scumbags up and let citizens defending themselves off the hook after a full investigation that usually doesn't drag out. The jury pool tends to be people with some brains, unlike the zombies in Baltimore city who let thugs off the hook for MURDER despite mounds of evidence " cuz he jus a good boy gone wrong, he ok though", and the "stop snitchin" culture. The cops who work this area of their district (Cockeysville precinct) sound like upstanding cops. One actually told a neighbor that he should buy a gun and was telling him the self defense laws of MD. Crime is very low here, even with junkies about. They hit vacant houses, houses under contruction, or when they are sure no one is home. They know that nearly everyone out here owns multiple guns and "we" get crotchety at the mere mention of "home invasion", or "armed fugitives trying to hide".
    LOL, I am a woman...

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    Philly :(, Pennsylvania
    (Philadelphia County)
    Age
    35
    Posts
    545
    Rep Power
    843

    Default Re: I am my mother's bodyguard

    I can see both sides of it as I've been in a very similar situation before and recognize why being armed in such a situation could turn sour pretty quick. In my case I was helping a friend who lives in the country survey some damage that had been done to a long abandoned property by local kids as my friends yearly call to the absentee owner was supposed to be coming soon. Going up there we ended up encountering the new owner (absentee owner had died months previous, we found out) who was armed at the time and had previously had run ins with local kids who thought the place was still abandoned... hate to think what would've happened if he saw strange, armed people coming onto his property...
    Just because 'perfect' is impossible does not mean we should settle for 'broken'.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    PA, Pennsylvania
    Age
    35
    Posts
    828
    Rep Power
    293663

    Default Re: I am my mother's bodyguard

    Quote Originally Posted by XD40coyote View Post
    2 of the 3 get scared to death at gun shots and firecrackers and this can be a reinforcement tool ( they stay in their "den" when I target shoot).
    They do?

  10. #10
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    moved to warmer weather..., Tennessee
    Posts
    1,232
    Rep Power
    1719203

    Default Re: I am my mother's bodyguard

    Dogs get scared; not chickens. The chickens weren't attacking the dogs... or are you deliberately trying to be funny? Hard to tell.

    Quote Originally Posted by mike_yorkPA View Post
    They do?

Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast

Similar Threads

  1. New S&W 380 Bodyguard
    By ratrodfink in forum Pistols
    Replies: 44
    Last Post: August 29th, 2010, 11:21 AM
  2. New S&W Bodyguard
    By cruzans in forum Pistols
    Replies: 27
    Last Post: July 27th, 2010, 05:51 PM
  3. S & W .380 Bodyguard, where is it?
    By Fizzle1985 in forum Pistols
    Replies: 9
    Last Post: July 24th, 2010, 04:55 PM
  4. Anyone excited for the S&W Bodyguard .380ACP?
    By rikilii in forum Pistols
    Replies: 15
    Last Post: March 21st, 2010, 01:09 PM

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •