Tattoo brings SWAT in Maine
Old Trooper sends a link from a local CBS station in Connecticut which reports that a SWAT unit in Norridgewock, Maine descended upon a man’s home there because a tree trimming crew had seen him wielding a scary gun;
Turns out the “gun” the tree crew had seen on Michael Smith of Norridgewock was just a life-sized tattoo of a handgun on his stomach.
Smith, who works nights, was asleep when the tree crew contracted by a utility to trim branches near power lines, woke him up at about 10 a.m. Tuesday.
He went outside shirtless and yelled at the workers to leave. When he’s not wearing a shirt, the tattoo looks like a gun tucked into his waistband.
OK, maybe it wasn’t a SWAT unit, but they were armed with SWAT-type black scary rifles. I don’t suppose they could have just knocked on his door with a warrant instead of making a big show of force. But, it’s New England, so….
Of course, here’s the picture that the media uses for their story;
Category: Gun Grabbing Fascists
Fuckin candy-asses. How many of the tree cutting crew pissed themselves?
Hey, The Lurker formerly known as Curt, wouldn’t you think a tree trimming crew would be more hardy, manly men than to worry or be scared about someone with a tattoo? I mean if the guy went outside to yell at them, shirtless, they had to see it was a tattoo and not a bulging, real handgun. Pu–ys! Or maybe they are the “liberal tree loving, hugging tree trimmers”, who think anything “looking” like a scary black weapon, must be capable of going “bang”. Retards!!!
Sparks, that is EXACTLY what I was trying to say!
Maybe the crew didn’t speak enough English to understand this Misguided Child of Uncle Sam. Perhaps our Marine should study Spanish
Ugh! The stupid is getting worse day by day.
Think we are only getting a partial story here. Cops get called, told by caller they are being threatened by a man with a gun (seen the Tat and from a distance, yes it could look real).
Cops respond in force due to nature of the call.
Now we all sit back and judge the cops for doing their job.
rb325th In no way do I disrespect the police for doing their job here. No way. I just think the tree crew sorta over reacted. I don’t know, I wasn’t there but I think, even from a distance, I could tell a flat tattoo from the “pant’s bulge” of a real weapon. The guy was sleeping so maybe he had a nocturnal erection and “that” was the “bulge” they saw! If it was, kudos to that guy, wish I were hung like that! 😀
Hung like a Gun is the name of my new band!
(Sex pistols was already taken.)
Yeah, I agree with RB. The idiot in this is the home owner. If you’re going to yell at people you don’t know, and you have a tattoo that makes you look like you’re strapped, then wear a damn shirt. Maine might be in New England but its pretty pro 2A. The cops thought they were responding to an armed & dangerous perp. They did what they needed to. Nothing to see here.
Former 11B Good point. I guess if you are going to sport a tattoo like that…maybe you should wear a shirt outside.
At the very least, don’t walk into a liquor store with that bad boy visible, you’re going to get yourself shot.
The call could have been merely a man with a gun. That would do it in some parts of the country. Either that or the treecutters have some ‘splainin’ to do if one reported that the homeowner threatened them with a gun tat. “I thought he was going to cut his tat off and throw it at us! And he was yelling so loudly we heard him over the chainsaws! Oh my Lord! It was horrible, horrible I tell ya!”
Just when I think it can’t get any sillier, someone does this!
Thank you, 2/17 AirCav!
Yes, I agree, he should cover that thing in some way. And the media needs to learn the difference between a photograph and a tatt.
In the whispered words of Colonel Kurtz, “the horror…the horror”.
I can’t believbe what I’m reading here. The guy works nights. He was sleeping and was rudely awakened by chainsaws, voices, the sound of a truck, or some combo of those. He goes outside on his own property and he’s the idiot?
Project much there Hondo? Who called him an idiot?
Edited: Sorry about the mix up on the names there… No idea why I called you Hondo, but you are still projecting as no one as of yet called the homeowner an idiot.
Read a little closer rb, Former 11B in a post above says “The idiot in this is the home owner.”
Defensive much there rb? 😉
No, not defensive just having a bad day and unleashed a heat round unintentionally at others. Though I could not see 11B’s comments above when I made my comments, still I was out of line.
It’s not like he pulled out his tattoo and threatened anyone with it.
Depends on how far into his pants he reached.
Yea that’s my whole point Jonn! What if he unzipped, reached WAY down and pulled out the real “weapon”. That brought the fear and horror to the tree trimming crew. It would have scared me! 😀
Okay, the cops did what they needed to do…IF there was a threat! Maybe the tattoo looked like he was strapped, but if I’m carrying AT MY HOUSE and yell at somebody, that’s not a threat…
That reminds me of a story I have heard since I was a kid. My hometown is a ranch town (as in cattle ranches) in eastern San Diego County, California. Yes, there are lots of ranches and other ag in SoCal, you just don’t see it on TV.
Some years ago (late 80s or early 90s), SDG&E decided that they would route a new powerline and access road through one of the larger and older ranches. The rancher, a crusty old cowboy with a heart of gold and zero tolerance for bullshit, said, “Not gonna happen.”
SDG&E ignored his refusal and sent their work crew out to start on the new line. The rancher met them at the gate with his .30-30 in hand and his 1911 on his belt. He indicated the property line to them and calmly advised that the first one who stepped on his land was getting shot.
The work crew called 911 and claimed that he was threatening them with a gun. A Sheriff’s Deputy responded and found the rancher with a holstered pistol holding a rifle while standing on his own property and not so much as waving said rifle in their general direction. After hearing both sides, the deputy told the crew, “If I was you, I would stay the hell off his property,” and then left.
Suffice it to say, SDG&E found another route for their powerline.
dam right
I typically don’t visibly carry unless there is a damn god reason, and I concur that if I am and I am yelling at someone, that is not a threat. It’s a promise.
I typically don’t visibly carry unless there is a damn god reason, and I concur that if I am and I am yelling at someone, that is not a threat. It’s a promise.
Two wrongs here. I worked night shift for half my life, and the world doesn’t go away because you’re a nightowl. You put up dark curtains and turn on the air conditioner or a fan or whatever to block out daytime noise. Yes, I’ve had the tree trimmers roaring away outside my window, too. It happens. You live with it, or change jobs. Screaming at the trimming crew is brainless — they’re just trying to do their job, and they do a job that’s usually loud and done during the daytime.
SWATting the irate nightowl was spineless. Even if the trimming crew thought the gun was real… as long as it stayed in his waistband, it wasn’t going to hurt anybody, was it? Who says you can’t go outside armed to confront a disturbance? Unless the nightowl threatened someone on the crew, SWATting him was not the correct answer to the problem.
To those that say the cops did what they were supposed to, I say; how do you know? Did they interview the people who called them to begin with and get the story from them? I don’t know, because it doesn’t say the tree trimmers were arrested for filing a false police report, so we can deduce that they either weren’t interviewed on scene, before the cops went all tacticool on the homeowner, or they lied to the police. Either way, the cops didn’t do what they were suppose to in this story, imho.
Maybe the guy is a convicted felon and that is why the cops did what they did not that the tree cutters would know that.
“[Maine State Police Trooper Scott] Duff said he doesn’t think Smith went outside with his shirt off deliberately or to make it appear as though he had a gun and scare the workers.”
“I think he had been sleeping and was wearing pajama pants,” Duff said. “I’m not sure what his mindset was, but he wasn’t pointing to his gun or anything like that.”
http://www.pressherald.com/news/Police_get_up-close_view_of_man_s_gun_tattoo_.html
From your link you can see the neo nazi tatoos on his left arm.
I’m not the one that noticed it. I read that in the comments on the article and had to look again.
I would not be surprised to learn the tree cutters were not as white as this gent (with Hammerskin neo-Nazi tats) would prefer and his choice of words were not very PC. It’s possible the call to police was a bit more dramatic due to this…..disagreement.
2d printed guns the next great societal threat?
The police believed someone was in danger and they responded aggressively, but safely. Nobody was shot, and nobody was arrested. This whole thing is overblown.
The call comes in from Paul Bunyan. (It appears that Paul’s ox is not very manly …)
So the Sheriff says,
1. do we respond? Yes or no.
2. is there a gun? Yes or no.
3. go in heavy or Barney Fife?
I don’t like it. I think Barney Fife would have been better but in the article they said they recently had issues so once Barney gets shot at or shot, they choose heavy every time. People who shoot at cops mess it up for everyone.
I was a little put off by the creepy beard, nipple ring, and NAZI tats but that’s because I’m old and a little to the right of Attila the Hun.
Did they say “scary” or “hairy” gun??
OK, I just saw the photo of this douchebag and his gun tattoo and any lingering doubt has been removed: this guy IS an idiot. If he’s got Nazi tats as well that just makes him a bigger idiot.
I don’t blame the crew for calling the cops. The tat is realistic enough that it probably did look real from a distance. People don’t just lounge around the house with a gun tucked into their waistband. If someone has a gun tucked into his waistband, most likely he just put it there, and he put it there for a reason – i.e., he has some notion of using it.
I lounge around the house, work around the house, work in my back yard and shop…all with a 1911. Granted, it’s at about 4 o’clock position and in an IWB holster, but still…
Ditto, except I live on 20 acres, so I openly carry on my property. If I go to town or anywhere else, it’s in an IWB holster and concealed.
Edit: If I call 911, the sheriff’s department is usually 15 minutes+ away. I’m too old to fight for that long.
Agreed, gun in a holster is a little different. But, if a gun’s stuffed down the front of someone’s pants, it’s probably not intended to stay there for long.
Where does it say that a handgun carried on one’s property must be carried in a holster? If someone wants to blow his nuts off by carrying a piece that way, oh well. Stupid and illegal are often closely associated but they are separate matters.
I’ve never understood what kind of idiot would get a “gun in the waistband” tattoo in the first place.
A neo-Nazi group in the Sacramento area was known for tattoos of guns in the waistband area. Don’t know why.