Police arrest man for capturing trespasser on his own land.

[Bawanna]

Are we ok here?

[TheTman]

I'm cool, just defending myself. Shut it down if you feel the need, but John should have a chance to reply, to be fair. I suppose he can PM me if you need to close this. Your call Colonel.

[Bawanna]

Nope, won't shut her down, just taking the temperature.

I don't want to get a reputation as a closer ya know.

[garyb]

Been following the debate...seems like a healthy banter among friends.

[muggsy]

I apologize if I offended you T-man, but I try to look at things from more than one perspective. The homeowner did wrong by pointing a gun at the trespasser. The wife did wrong by failing to obey a lawful order of a police officer. The home owner should have called the police first and let them arrest the trespasser. Glenn Beck is on the right, but at times he has a tendency to sensationalize. That's not the kind of person that we need on our side. Let cooler heads prevail.

[TheTman]

Muggsy, you were just being you, no problem.

[TheTman]

OK, not to drag this out, but I'm watching TV at a friends, a program about 2 brothers that have a patch of land in the woods, and they find a spot where someone has been camping on their land, and they take off hunting for the guy with 12 gauge shotguns. I imagine they were going to hold the guy at gunpoint if they caught him. The TV was egging them on, I'm sure the audience was egging them on. Hoping they caught the guy. So why do these TV guys get to chase a trespasser and point guns at him. And this other poor schmoe gets treated like HE's the trespasser. At the end of the show it shows them making "No Trespassing" signs. So I'm not even sure the TV guys's land was marked.
That kind of stuff send mixed signals, about what is ok, and what isn't. The 2 different families were most likely in different states, with differerent laws.

Your land used to be yours. And you used to be able to defend it.
And also if you live in the woods and some one is trespassing and hunting, then they are going to be armed, you damn well better be too. A guy on a dirt bike may have pistol on him, you never now.

If I lived out in the woods and found trespasser, I might not cover him with a gun barrel, but i'd be able to in second. Who knows what this guy is? Escaped Convict? Criminal on the run? Some crazy person just out wondering around? You have no idea who you are dealing with, and I would suggest that you be armed if you are going to see what they are up too. Or call the cops and hope they get there that afternoon. I doubt that's going to be a very high priority call.
If I find a trespasser where I live now, I'm damn sure going to be armed, because the only reason someone would be there is to poach a deer or turkey.

There's just too many crazy people out there to go taking chances without being armed.

[muggsy]

OK, not to drag this out, but I'm watching TV at a friends, a program about 2 brothers that have a patch of land in the woods, and they find a spot where someone has been camping on their land, and they take off hunting for the guy with 12 gauge shotguns. I imagine they were going to hold the guy at gunpoint if they caught him. The TV was egging them on, I'm sure the audience was egging them on. Hoping they caught the guy. So why do these TV guys get to chase a trespasser and point guns at him. And this other poor schmoe gets treated like HE's the trespasser. At the end of the show it shows them making "No Trespassing" signs. So I'm not even sure the TV guys's land was marked.
That kind of stuff send mixed signals, about what is ok, and what isn't. The 2 different families were most likely in different states, with differerent laws.

Your land used to be yours. And you used to be able to defend it.
And also if you live in the woods and some one is trespassing and hunting, then they are going to be armed, you damn well better be too. A guy on a dirt bike may have pistol on him, you never now.

If I lived out in the woods and found trespasser, I might not cover him with a gun barrel, but i'd be able to in second. Who knows what this guy is? Escaped Convict? Criminal on the run? Some crazy person just out wondering around? You have no idea who you are dealing with, and I would suggest that you be armed if you are going to see what they are up too. Or call the cops and hope they get there that afternoon. I doubt that's going to be a very high priority call.
If I find a trespasser where I live now, I'm damn sure going to be armed, because the only reason someone would be there is to poach a deer or turkey.

There's just too many crazy people out there to go taking chances without being armed.

Could be a hunter who got turned around in the woods, or a hunter trying to locate a lost dog. You have a right to order someone off of your property if they are trespassing and you have a right to self-defense if attacked, but you don't have a right to point a gun at someone, because they are trespassing. In most states pointing a gun at someone is considered an assault.

[addictedhealer]

Police arrest man for capturing trespasser on his own land.

Regardless of guns the police had no business reacting to the woman like they did. Yes the husband was wrong for pointing a shotgun at the guy. Yes the trespasser was wrong, and he knew he was. The cops should professionally separated everyone and conducted their investigation.

Filming the police is 100% legal and should be filmed for their sake and everyone's sake.

[TheTman]

The police do not like to be filmed. They don't want someone that wasn't there pouring over every little detail looking for something they did wrong.
It's not illegal to film police, but how many times have we seen or heard of them telling people to stop filming, or they take the camera's and erase or try to erase the video. If police are doing their job professionally and legally they should have no objection to being videoed. It might even work out to their advantage, say someone falsely accuses them of something illegal, they have the tape to show what happened.