I thought this would be a worthwhile video. Take heed and protect yourself from the silly things that might lead to trouble. This video has a few tips about not displaying humor oriented firearm bumper stickers and t-shirts. I know many will not agree with these thoughts but it’s not all about truth and justice when the legal system becomes involved.
No joke. I watched a show on an old case here in AZ where a guy shot some nut job in the woods. The shoot was iffy/borderline justifiable. But the prosecution made a huge deal out of the 10mm caliber used. To your point… our legal system can go full retard for sure.
A million years ago, my first job when I got out of college was in the intel community. Nothing exciting, for sure. We had a counterintel brief, and most of it boiled down to ‘be the gray man’ and ‘situational awareness.’
NOTHING on a vehicle…no colleges, sports teams, stupid stick figure families, gun stuff, political endorsements…nothing.
Sound advice. I do appreciate the guys who are “in your face” with their gun stuff too however. It’s good to torture lunatic leftists. But it’s not my thing to put my shooting out there for the world to see. (besides here on M4, of course)
IIRC, not too long ago this sort of thing came up with a guy involved in a HD scenario and his “molon labe” inscription on his lower became a factor in the decision?
Basically the same as open carry for “look at me” affirmation.
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Yup, anything you put out there can be used against you. Something you meant as a smart ass comment or a joke can get real serious in a prosecutors argument.
It’s a shame, but you gotta be thinking proactively and “long view” in today’s world. I don’t put stuff on my cars or often on my person, but if a prosecutor dived into my M4C content I might have some “splainin’ to do”. Should my life ever get placed under the microscope I’m sure I’ve provided ammo to the enemy, but I TRY to minimize it these days.
Ummm no.
Those that think that are complete morons.
I can NOT conceal carry in many places, I can however legally open carry in most of those places, like schools.
Only an idiot would argue that shootings do not happen in gun free locations, so if I can only open carry in those areas it isn’t about “look at me”, its about, “I’m able to protect my family”.
The anti gun fools that constantly bitch about open carry remind me of clowns like “Beto” down in Texas that say “I’m pro gun, but…”
As to the topic in the OP, I agree its best to avoid bumper stickers.
If open carry is your only option… by all means. However concealment is probably wiser more often than not.
Take that recent mall shooter for example. Had he seen the good guy in the mall open carrying, it’s conceivable that the good guy could have taken the first bullet when the nut came out of the bathroom. Not to go down the “what if?, what if?” worm hole too far. But not drawing attention from mental cases and having an element of surprise does have some value.
So I should remove my “KILL EM ALL…LET GOD SORT THEM OUT” bumper sticker?
I think I can cover it with a new one “Support Higher Education: Send A Cop To Middle School.”
As with everything, comes with advantages and disadvantages. It both deters and attracts potential problems.
But really comes down to this, the SAME people are armed, why is being visibly armed a “rights” problem for some? If people can be openly gay, I can be openly armed.
So everyone should probably respect the rights of others and enjoy the fact that you have the right. I can lawfully open carry a slung M4 in my state. But so far I haven’t really needed to so I haven’t, I understand that it might make some uncomfortable which can translate into fewer people respecting my rights, especially when they vote. But at the same time, there is merit to rights not exercised are those most at risk and the activist crowd sometimes keeps this stuff on the front burner. The trick is how to do it without alienating a bunch of people.
There are things I make sure I do, and more important things I do not do, when I am open carrying a handgun. For example I tend to be very polite in my daily interactions and I don’t dress like a “Nam vet” or go full Tactical Timmy. I don’t want any “normal” person to feel like they need to be concerned. I’m usually khakis and polo (office casual) and most people seem to assume my firearm is occupation related.
A buddy of mine gets one of those big “Oregunian” stickers to put across the rear in his truck window, I tell his is an idiot to put that shit on his truck and that he would be begging to have his truck broken into or his house targeted. He thinks about it and goes, “Maybe you’re right.” Well, duh. Fast forward 3 months…he pulls up with a “We the People” mural with 45LC cartridges across the whole back of his tailgate. I just shake my head, “Yeah, looks great dude.”
Im not worried. 15 years as a cop Ive never seen anything of the sort actually happen. Obviously Arizona is different than somewhere like Portland.
Ive taken many many reports of guns and equipment stolen out of cars. 90+ percent of the time it happened because the vehicle was left unlocked and the dude walking down the street at 0-dark-30 trying door handles happened across the open car containing a gun. The rest of the cases involved leaving expensive items or nicer looking bags in plain sight and the suspects broke the window and snatched the bag out of the seat. Ive never taken a case or actually heard of one locally that we could actually even half way determine was caused by the bumper sticker being a “come steal a gun here” beacon. Again, location matters. There are A LOT of vehicles driving around the Phoenix Metro area with gun stickers on them.
As far as trial goes, Ive never seen stickers or the such brought up in a criminal case. But then again I cant remember any bad self defense shootings. Ive had a couple that weren’t the best examples, but they were still good shoots. I have had a premeditated murder try to be disguised as a self defense shoot though.
Agreed concealment is probably better in many situations, but the “you do it to be an attention whore” posts are frustrating because that is a bold faced lie that ignorant people parrot over and over when many times there are many other reasons they are not aware of. The first time I OCed was after shoulder surgery where there was no chance of using my weak side arm to move a cover garment for about 6 weeks so it was way faster and easier to just OC.
I’ll leave the mall shooting alone to not drift the thread any further.
I’ve seen a couple where people lost handguns and had HK logo stickers and crap like that on their vehicle.
Years back on TOS a guy who lost an AR and had a giant “Molon Labe” w/ boltface logo across the rear window of his pickup. Black tint with white lettering.
I guess they took him at his word.
I don’t put stickers on my vehicles. Gun related stickers are like auto part stickers - cool to stick on a toolbox or something in your mancave.
Andy
I agree. No stickers of any kind on my vehicles, NONE. I’ve never worn any kind of LE tee shirt or gear off duty. I alway CCW but I’ve never worn a firearm in public when I wasn’t on the job.
I don’t use stickers on my truck, as a matter of fact I’ve taken all the stickers off my Tacoma, and the badges too.
I’m reminded of hearing some shenanigans some Terrorists pulled off as I was driving through the parking lot of my local mega hardware store, just fuming about the event and I spotted some hipster loading his car up and he had one of those “Coexist” bumper stickers. I gave that SOB an earful of shi+ for that.
I’ve also read that having a gun or right wing bumper sticker in Austin will get you keyed.
I don’t need that in my life.
I have zero stickers on my vehicles. I dress most of the time in jeans and a button down shirt.
The only “tactical” thing I wear are Solomon boots, this is do to an old ding in my right foot and Solomon boots give me a pain free foot after a lot of years of pain.