Idiots at Catalina Island

C-Sharp":2vml6xzc said:
...But how to insure American citizens maintain the ability to defend against the vagaries of a tyrannical NRA and the wacko gun nuts that they enable? ...
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Simple, have the government (probably each state) issue every person 16 years old or older a firearm and require that they carry it at all times. They could issue the firearm when you get your driver's license. Require annual firearms training and qualification like they do (or used to do) in Switzerland.

In most other countries there are strict rules on how to get a firearm and how it must be stored and transported. In the US the lackadaisical attitude to guns by a lot of gun owners is frightening. I am constantly amazed at the people who get caught by TSA with a loaded firearm in their bag. The usual response is "I forgot it was there."
 
Edit. I just got a call from Deputy Cordero who was the officer in charge and is preparing the case for the District Attorney. He said there was no arrest in Long Beach, and that any further action would have to be cleared by his office first.
Deputy Cordero told me that they downloaded the video and have all the information they need. The good news is that if found guilty, they will have to pay a lot more than what a ticket would have been.
Also, he said the reason they arrived in the lifeguard boat is so that they could have someone else handle the boat while they were prepared for a worst case scenario. They didn't want to pull up on a boat with at least one active shooter without being ready to protect themselves.
 
ssobol":ah62jp3m said:
C-Sharp":ah62jp3m said:
...But how to insure American citizens maintain the ability to defend against the vagaries of a tyrannical NRA and the wacko gun nuts that they enable? ...
Click to expand...

Simple, have the government (probably each state) issue every person 16 years old or older a firearm and require that they carry it at all times. They could issue the firearm when you get your driver's license. Require annual firearms training and qualification like they do (or used to do) in Switzerland.
Click to expand...

Certainly you can't be serious. The US is much more diverse in terms of social, economic, cultural, and education levels than the relatively homogeneous Switzerland. You'd want 16 year old inner city poor kids to be required to carry at all times? Many can't even pass high school let alone be proficient in the use of firearms, or possess the necessary maturity level needed. Heck, there are many 30 or 40 year olds that couldn't either.

Maybe what is really needed is serious background checks, closed gun show and kit gun loopholes along with reasonable controls on assault type weapons.

I'm not anti-gun and respect the rights of gun owners to reasonably enjoy their sports or hobby, but we need to wake up as a country that we really have a serious gun problem in the US. When I was a kid, the NRA was a primarily a gun safety and sporting organization that my father, brother and I were members. It has long since grotesquely morphed into an alt-right geo political lobbyist group that subverts the will of voters who overwhelmingly want common sense gun laws.
 
smckean (Tosca)":28bc9r7o said:
I'm amazed at the courage (stupidity?) of the lifeguard boat. Those idiots on the sailboat might just have trained their sights on the lifeboat crew (yelling something about liberty I might imagine). I think I'd be keeping a goodly distance, following the crazies movements, while I called in a water borne SWAT team.
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I believe it was documented in the statements with the video that there were 4 sheriff's officers aboard plus 2 crew of Baywatch. The officers who would be stationed at Catalina would be versed in dealing with shooters with long guns. I suspect that there were level 4 chest protection gear and several long guns aboard the lifeguard boat as part of the gear the deputies brought. (In the LA area, many of the motorcycle offices have an AR 15 type of rifle on their vehicle). Also the BayWatch lifeguard boats are capable of over 30 knots speed, are laid up of heavy fiberglass laminates, and have extremely talented and trained (Lifeguard, firefighter, paramedic) crew on board. I would not characterize them as "Stupid". I had several SO and LACLG as patients, and knew most of those at the Isthmus, Catalina in years past.
 
C-Sharp":39p4k601 said:
ssobol":39p4k601 said:
C-Sharp":39p4k601 said:
...But how to insure American citizens maintain the ability to defend against the vagaries of a tyrannical NRA and the wacko gun nuts that they enable? ...
Click to expand...

Simple, have the government (probably each state) issue every person 16 years old or older a firearm and require that they carry it at all times. They could issue the firearm when you get your driver's license. Require annual firearms training and qualification like they do (or used to do) in Switzerland.
Click to expand...

Certainly you can't be serious. The US is much more diverse in terms of social, economic, cultural, and education levels than the relatively homogeneous Switzerland. You'd want 16 year old inner city poor kids to be required to carry at all times? Many can't even pass high school let alone be proficient in the use of firearms, or possess the necessary maturity level needed. Heck, there are many 30 or 40 year olds that couldn't either.
....
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I don't know, based on your assessment, the problem might solve itself.
 
thataway":2zhtor2a said:
smckean (Tosca)":2zhtor2a said:
I'm amazed at the courage (stupidity?) of the lifeguard boat. Those idiots on the sailboat might just have trained their sights on the lifeboat crew (yelling something about liberty I might imagine). I think I'd be keeping a goodly distance, following the crazies movements, while I called in a water borne SWAT team.
Click to expand...

I believe it was documented in the statements with the video that there were 4 sheriff's officers aboard plus 2 crew of Baywatch. The officers who would be stationed at Catalina would be versed in dealing with shooters with long guns. I suspect that there were level 4 chest protection gear and several long guns aboard the lifeguard boat as part of the gear the deputies brought. (In the LA area, many of the motorcycle offices have an AR 15 type of rifle on their vehicle). Also the BayWatch lifeguard boats are capable of over 30 knots speed, are laid up of heavy fiberglass laminates, and have extremely talented and trained (Lifeguard, firefighter, paramedic) crew on board. I would not characterize them as "Stupid". I had several SO and LACLG as patients, and knew most of those at the Isthmus, Catalina in years past.
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I would not say they were "stupid" but if that had been a land based incident, you can be sure that there would have been more that one patrol car rolled up on that scene. There was not an "eminent life threat" here, so it would seem that a second LE boat would have been used to arrive concurrently and from an oblique angle. They did put those officers lives in jeopardy, had the sailboat individuals become antagonistic.

That "Baywatch" crew got lucky this time.

Harvey
SleepyC:moon

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ssobol":181q02t8 said:
Perhaps they mentioned to the shooters that the whole thing had/was being recorded from the clifftop video camera.
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The funny thing is that they were anchored at a dive site named Eagle's Nest. The camera is on a pole next to the nest. You can see the nest and the camera from where they were. If they were looking up, they could have seen the female flee the nest at the sound of the first shot.
Westend_Nest_001.jpg
 
There we go! Awesome!! Thanks. I appreciate the eagles. Just spent a weekend at Reelfoot State Park with the Park Rangers guided tour. The park, and the eagles were spectacular….and... about a month prior to the craziness.
 
How were these photos obtained w/o infringing on this majestic bird's private space?

They are not there for our entertainment, FYI.

Entertainment would be watching asleep people shoot guns from boats near
a beautiful shore; albeit bilious.

Aye.
 
Foggy":21u60pow said:
How were these photos obtained w/o infringing on this majestic bird's private space?

They are not there for our entertainment, FYI.

Entertainment would be watching asleep people shoot guns from boats near
a beautiful shore; albeit bilious.

Aye.
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V E R Y C a r e f u l l y

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

January_2010_834.thumb.jpg
 
There is a difference in seeing a majestic animal whenever we want vs a chance
encounter in their natural undisturbed habitat.

Maybe we wouldn't have to 'help them' so much if we weren't so busy ruining
everything's (and everyone's) environment.

Seems we humans, for being so smart a species, are really insane.
Man is the most insane species.
He worships an invisible God
and slaughters a visible Nature…
without realizing that this Nature
he slaughters is the invisible God
he worships.
—Hubert Reeves, 1932 - , Fr Canadian Astrophysicist
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It feels like something we should not be doing; like witnessing an execution,
seeing 'wild animals' in a zoo or looking into an occupied hotel adjoining room
thru a key hole.

Aye.
 
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