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So I see the neighbor kid riding his bike carrying a gun.....


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I call the police, non-emergency, to ask if this is a normal country kid thing being a former city person.

 

No big deal.

 

Nope, the sheriff comes out an hollars at us and tells us to learn get up to speed on country life.......

 

The neighbor's upset because he thinks we called the cops on his kid (again).

 

The first time it was because his kid threatened to scare our kids with his gun. :001_huh:

 

Can't win.

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You don't have to answer this, for privacy reasons, but I can't help but wonder where it would be considered OK for a kid to carry a gun. :confused::confused::confused:

 

Because I really, really, really don't want to move there. :eek:

 

Depends on the age. I obviously wouldn't let my 7yo carry a gun around but my 17yo and his friends carry one around quite frequently. One of the beauties of being in the country - nobody cares! Squirrels make great target practice. :001_huh: (Or so ds says.)

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You don't have to answer this, for privacy reasons, but I can't help but wonder where it would be considered OK for a kid to carry a gun. :confused::confused::confused:

 

Because I really, really, really don't want to move there. :eek:

 

Where I'm from, a lot of kids start hunting by the age of 10. It's not unusual to see kids in camo carrying their hunting rifles. But riding a bike down the street while carrying a gun? That would be odd unless it was a bb gun or a toy gun.

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The SHERIFF hollared at you?

 

Not acceptable. Even if you are raw, green, and gullible. The sheriff gets to be patient and calm as he explains things. I think I'd be raising a stink about that.

:iagree:

 

That is not ok. He does much more annoying things in the course if his day. If that annoyed him, he needs to pack it in.

 

And if a kid ever threatened my kid with his gun (even just verbally) I'd be all over that. And if my kid threatened another with his gun, said gun would be GONE. My kids don't have them but I grew up with kids that did and you did. not. do. that. or your dad took your gun away.

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:iagree:

 

That is not ok. He does much more annoying things in the course if his day. If that annoyed him, he needs to pack it in.

 

And if a kid ever threatened my kid with his gun (even just verbally) I'd be all over that. And if my kid threatened another with his gun, said gun would be GONE. My kids don't have them but I grew up with kids that did and you did. not. do. that. or your dad took your gun away.

 

And though guns are a common thing around here, I completely agree with the above. Not cool!

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Depends on the age. I obviously wouldn't let my 7yo carry a gun around but my 17yo and his friends carry one around quite frequently. One of the beauties of being in the country - nobody cares! Squirrels make great target practice. :001_huh: (Or so ds says.)

 

Where I'm from, a lot of kids start hunting by the age of 10. It's not unusual to see kids in camo carrying their hunting rifles. But riding a bike down the street while carrying a gun? That would be odd unless it was a bb gun or a toy gun.

 

:eek: :eek: :eek:

 

Yikes.

 

No one can carry a gun where we live. And I like it that way.

 

I recently started a thread asking for ideas about where we should move. It never even occurred to me to mention that we don't want to live in a place where a kid would be allowed to carry a gun around the neighborhood.

 

Maybe it's time to resurrect that thread! :D

 

Thanks for the info!

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Where I'm from, a lot of kids start hunting by the age of 10. It's not unusual to see kids in camo carrying their hunting rifles. But riding a bike down the street while carrying a gun? That would be odd unless it was a bb gun or a toy gun.

 

This. Kids carry guns on the farm for protection from animals and snakes sometimes around here, but riding a bike with one does seem odd.

 

BB guns look almost too real these days. My 15 year old son was out practicing with his and scared the begeesis out of the FedEX guy who hadn't expected to see a kid in the backyard with a gun.

 

Sorry, that made me laugh. My dd practices archery in our backyard, and I sometimes wonder what passerby might think (we have a privacy fence, but some neighbors can see in).

 

 

The sherriff had no right to yell at you no matter what you asked. :grouphug:

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I live in a rural area of small town NH. I would FREAK OUT if I saw a kid with a gun.

 

I saw a man drive down my driveway, camo gear on, gun rack and rifles in the truck. Scared the heck out of me. I had all kids run to their rooms. I also ran to my room and yelled out the window when he knocked at the door. I only opened the window when I noticed his guns in the car.

 

He was a really nice guy...... Just hunting in the neighborhood when he stumbled upon my potbellies running around a mile away from home. He was returning them.:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

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Are you sure they were real guns? My son and his friends are really into airsoft wars, and they walk and ride around the neighborhood with their guns and gear to get to the fields where they have airsoft wars. The guns are very realistic looking, but they are supposed to have an orange tip.

 

It was probably alarming to some of the neighbors at first but they all know what's up now.

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I want my guys to have their rifles with them. We have a local cougar.

 

Dh was almost caught by a mad pitt bull. Teach him to leave the gun at home.

 

And btw, my dds might possibly be better shots than the guys. I'm the worst shot in the family and I ain't too shabby.

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You don't have to answer this, for privacy reasons, but I can't help but wonder where it would be considered OK for a kid to carry a gun. :confused::confused::confused:

 

Because I really, really, really don't want to move there. :eek:

 

Anyplace in the South, or West, except maybe California. :D

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Welcome to the neighborhood. :glare: :glare: I'm sorry. Is this the same kid that you were warned to stay away from? Makes me wonder why they warned you, maybe because they're protecting him not you. Sheesh. To get yelled yet because you ask a question? Sounds like Clan County. I'm sorry. I so hate the "you ain't from around here..." mentality.

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Riding a bike is quote weird, unless it was a larger hunting one with a strap (so he had it across his back) if he was holding a gun in one hand and maneovouring the bike with the other, then to me thats scary and weird (unless giant snake/cougar/whatever is near him and he's stopped said bike).

 

I'm from Aus, but I have a friend who moved out to the US ages ago, she lives in the boonies (i.e. middle of pretty much nowhere, town is pretty much 1 bar (which doubles as corner shop/PO etc & sheriffs office) her son frequently either has smaller gun in backpack or larger one strapped across him when riding, as he meets his father sometimes for target practice (after her DH has finished work) and its a fair distance to walk. She prefers him to carry some sort of weapon on him at all times, as their is dangerous local wildlife that tends to wander too close to some of the farms, or even on the roads. And she was quite anti-gun before she moved out there :D But she saw in full the practicality of it when an un-armed teenager was attacked, and ended up with quite severe maulings to his leg, he only got lucky when a farmer was close by and heard the shouts.

 

And as OP said - Any sort of toys are looking more and more real these days. I live semi-rural in Aus, but I could go to the $2 shop in the nearest town and come out of there with a pretty darn good replica of a handgun, as well as some scary looking fake swords.

 

In the actual events - I probably would of done the same thing. New town, new situations, its one of those things where you live and learn. Whenever I show my blonde-ness or make a mess of things, the next thing I concentrate on is trying to fix it up, so for the neighbour, I would either decide if I don't actually mind him, to befriend him and make it up to him, if he's not a nice person in general (aside from being grumpy/upset over the situation) then I would figure out a way we can avoid each other but still be civilised adults.

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Wow, I grew up rural, and around guns, shooting guns, lots of kids started hunting by 12.... But I've never seen a kid just out and about with a gun. That would freak me out. Though as other posters have said, are you sure it was a real gun? A paintball gun or a cap gun or something would seem much less weird to me, and those are very real-looking these days.

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Welcome to the neighborhood. :glare: :glare: I'm sorry. Is this the same kid that you were warned to stay away from? Makes me wonder why they warned you, maybe because they're protecting him not you. Sheesh. To get yelled yet because you ask a question? Sounds like Clan County. I'm sorry. I so hate the "you ain't from around here..." mentality.

 

Yes, this. But it's odd because my family is generations hill billy deep here.

I would have expected the sheriff to be a little more objective and less judgmental.

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I want my guys to have their rifles with them. We have a local cougar.

 

Dh was almost caught by a mad pitt bull. Teach him to leave the gun at home.

 

And btw, my dds might possibly be better shots than the guys. I'm the worst shot in the family and I ain't too shabby.

 

Can you give me pointers on gun buying? I need one for DH for hunting. One for me for possums in the chicken yard. I have no idea and I'm a little nervous about going to a store without any knowledge.

 

My dad would rather bequeath his daddy's rifle. It's feom some war. But it still fires good.

 

Boy, I sound really interesting. :D

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Riding a bike is quote weird, unless it was a larger hunting one with a strap (so he had it across his back) if he was holding a gun in one hand and maneovouring the bike with the other, then to me thats scary and weird (unless giant snake/cougar/whatever is near him and he's stopped said bike).

 

I'm from Aus, but I have a friend who moved out to the US ages ago, she lives in the boonies (i.e. middle of pretty much nowhere, town is pretty much 1 bar (which doubles as corner shop/PO etc & sheriffs office) her son frequently either has smaller gun in backpack or larger one strapped across him when riding, as he meets his father sometimes for target practice (after her DH has finished work) and its a fair distance to walk. She prefers him to carry some sort of weapon on him at all times, as their is dangerous local wildlife that tends to wander too close to some of the farms, or even on the roads. And she was quite anti-gun before she moved out there :D But she saw in full the practicality of it when an un-armed teenager was attacked, and ended up with quite severe maulings to his leg, he only got lucky when a farmer was close by and heard the shouts.

 

And as OP said - Any sort of toys are looking more and more real these days. I live semi-rural in Aus, but I could go to the $2 shop in the nearest town and come out of there with a pretty darn good replica of a handgun, as well as some scary looking fake swords.

 

In the actual events - I probably would of done the same thing. New town, new situations, its one of those things where you live and learn. Whenever I show my blonde-ness or make a mess of things, the next thing I concentrate on is trying to fix it up, so for the neighbour, I would either decide if I don't actually mind him, to befriend him and make it up to him, if he's not a nice person in general (aside from being grumpy/upset over the situation) then I would figure out a way we can avoid each other but still be civilised adults.

Yup, DH was over there last night patching things up. They're not happy with us and not likely to be for a long while. But avoiding is pretty easy.

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Are you sure they were real guns? My son and his friends are really into airsoft wars, and they walk and ride around the neighborhood with their guns and gear to get to the fields where they have airsoft wars. The guns are very realistic looking, but they are supposed to have an orange tip.

 

It was probably alarming to some of the neighbors at first but they all know what's up now.

 

There were dead squirrels attached to the handles, pretty sure.

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Wow, I grew up rural, and around guns, shooting guns, lots of kids started hunting by 12.... But I've never seen a kid just out and about with a gun. That would freak me out. Though as other posters have said, are you sure it was a real gun? A paintball gun or a cap gun or something would seem much less weird to me, and those are very real-looking these days.

 

He's out most days hunting. He has been asked not to come on most of the properties here in the valley, but there's one kind neighbor and they live right past our place. So we see him about 15 minutes after the school bus runs down the road, coming back up the road usually on his garden tractor to go hunting or trapping down at the creek.

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Yes, this. But it's odd because my family is generations hill billy deep here.

I would have expected the sheriff to be a little more objective and less judgmental.

 

 

 

But it really is the "you ain't from around here."

 

We live in an area like yours. I would not call the cops on a neighbor kid. I might say hi to the sheriff as I went running by him in the morning, and maybe even stop to ask, in a nice way, if it was normal for kids to be walking around with guns. I would probably phrase it, "Wow, things are so different here than where I'm from. We couldn't walk around with guns in my hometown!" :001_smile: Basically you acknowledge that you are the outsider, that you don't understand the locals, and you need to be enlightened.

 

I know it sounds weird, but you have to approach it carefully.

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We live rural. It's common for our neighbors to be out target shooting in their fields. There is a teen down the road that is always out with his air soft gun sitting in a tree or stalking his sister around the yard. I wouldn't be surprised to see him riding his bike around with his gun. It definitely would not alarm me to see neighbors walking around with guns.

 

However if someone *ever* threatened or tried to scare my kids I would be calling the sheriff and DH and I would be over at his house talking to him and his parents in a heartbeat.

 

Any kid that does not have the sense to know that they shouldn't be scaring neighbors with their gun should *not* have a gun. How many kids have gotten into trouble with the police or even gotten killed because of a real looking toy?

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Can you give me pointers on gun buying? I need one for DH for hunting. One for me for possums in the chicken yard. I have no idea and I'm a little nervous about going to a store without any knowledge.

 

My dad would rather bequeath his daddy's rifle. It's feom some war. But it still fires good.

 

Boy, I sound really interesting. :D

 

Let your DH buy his own hunting rifle. You need to get yourself to a gun shop that will let you try out some guns. Here is a decent article to read for a start. Expect that you will be treated as a small child who has no place in a gun shop, but don't let that deter you. Go to several gun shops. See if you can find some nice neighbor who will let you shoot their guns to get a feel for different kinds of guns. See if you can find a gun safety class too.

 

If you just want to shoot racoons, you might even get by with a BB gun but if you have snakes or more dangerous creatures to shoot, you'll want a real gun or even a shotgun which will be a lot scarier to shoot, but the scatter will give you a better chance of hitting what you're aiming for.

 

If the kid on the bike had squirrels on the handle bars, maybe see if you can figure out what kind of gun he has . ;)

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Has this kid threatened you or something? What's the big deal?

 

Just the threat he made on the bus to all the kids in the valley that he was going to scare my kids with his gun, us being city people and all. According to the kid who reported it he was pretty excited about seeing them really scared.

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Anyplace in the South, or West, except maybe California. :D

I live in California. Although it would be unusual, I can imagine seeing a kid riding their bike with their gun where I live. I would probably also assume that the kid had fulfilled their gun safety course (as most around here have), and passed their exam (as most around here have).

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I live in a rural area where kids with guns are a common sight. So stay away from rural Appalachia if you don't like that. We even have special Youth Hunt weekends where kids are allowed to hunt a bit earlier in the season than the adults.

 

My only concern regarding a kid on a bike with a gun would be that he knew proper gun safety and could not accidentally shoot himself or anyone else if he wrecked. If this kid is skilled enough to be out shooting squirrels by himself, then he probably is pretty knowledgeable about guns. Regardless, I would just tell the kids if Johnny comes riding down the road with a gun, go play out back or come into the house until he passes. Not that I would be worried that he would shoot them but just as a precaution.

 

Unfortunately, by calling law enforcement, you have shown Johnny that even the sight of a gun will get a rise out of your family. Yes, he should be a nice kid and not do that. But kids tease and are often unkind to those they don't understand. Not saying that he was right to have threatened to scare your dc, but I do think that the less reaction he gets, the less he will try to scare you.

 

The squirrels on the handlebars are an interesting detail. Is it possible that he is hunting to help feed his family? Way back when I was a kid, we didn't have those plastic streamers to put on our bikes, so we hung squirrel and raccoon tails from the handlebars. But that was just the tails, not the whole carcass.

 

Rural life IS different. There will be lots of people with guns. There will be manure on the roads, and often being spread on top of fields (so the smell lingers strongly for a few days). Farm machinery will be operating at all hours of the day and night during some seasons. Livestock will occasionally get loose and show up in unexpected places. The relationship between humans and wildlife will probably not be what you are used to. There will probably be more wildlife, of a more dangerous nature.

 

Right now I am in the middle of a fox fight. They are killing my laying hens and dd's 4-H project chickens. When I went for a walk yesterday, I carried a pistol in case I caught sight of one. No one other than relatives saw me because my "trail" is entirely on family land. This was not concealed carry, I had it in plain sight in a holster on my hip.

 

If you are interested in getting a gun, do some reading and then check out classes at the nearest gun range. Definitely practice shooting several kinds, since balance and weight distribution varies with each gun and everyone's individual hand size affects which guns are most effective and comfortable for them to use. Also, a gun can be a rather pricey investment. The average "varmint gun" can run from a couple hundred dollars to well over a thousand, depending on how fancy you get. But DO NOT BUY OR ATTEMPT TO USE ANY GUN UNLESS YOU HAVE RECEIVED ADEQUATE TRAINING IN ITS USE. And never remain around anyone who is not experienced in the use of the firearm they are handling.

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My dad tells of living in San Bernadino and taking the bus with his buddy and their guns as teens to go dove hunting in some fields near the train tracks.No one batted an eye...in the 1940s.

 

His grandsons (my sister's kids) have air soft guns - and are not allowed to leave the backyard with them, as they look too real.

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Just the threat he made on the bus to all the kids in the valley that he was going to scare my kids with his gun, us being city people and all. According to the kid who reported it he was pretty excited about seeing them really scared.

 

Well, bullies pick on the weak. Don't be weak. There really wasn't any cause to call the cops. Kid got just what he wanted from you. Fear. Ignore him.

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Can you give me pointers on gun buying? I need one for DH for hunting. One for me for possums in the chicken yard. I have no idea and I'm a little nervous about going to a store without any knowledge.

 

We used to live above 7000 feet, and we'd occasionally get phone calls warning us about mountain lions in the area. DH required me to learn to use a gun. I hate guns (for my own use). I'm also pretty small, and the kick from a rifle is enough to deter me from practicing with one. DH bought a hand gun for me instead. I got to be a decent shot with that - it was much more comfortable to use.

 

You might start by looking for gun safety courses in the area. You'll have to take one anyway, and the people who teach them might be willing to give you some tips.

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But it really is the "you ain't from around here."

 

We live in an area like yours. I would not call the cops on a neighbor kid. I might say hi to the sheriff as I went running by him in the morning, and maybe even stop to ask, in a nice way, if it was normal for kids to be walking around with guns. I would probably phrase it, "Wow, things are so different here than where I'm from. We couldn't walk around with guns in my hometown!" :001_smile: Basically you acknowledge that you are the outsider, that you don't understand the locals, and you need to be enlightened.

 

I know it sounds weird, but you have to approach it carefully.

Thx.

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Well, bullies pick on the weak. Don't be weak. There really wasn't any cause to call the cops. Kid got just what he wanted from you. Fear. Ignore him.

 

I have to politely disagree with that.

 

She didn't know that there was no reason to call the police. In many parts of the country, there would absolutely be a reason to call the police. Where I live, every one of my neighbors would call 911 if they saw a kid with a gun -- on a bike or not. And the police would show up in about 3 minutes and arrest him. And then they'd go and arrest his parents.

 

So if I moved to a very rural area, it honestly would never dawn on me not to call the police about a kid with a gun. I would hope, however, that the officer I spoke with, would be gracious enough to be nice about telling me that it's a common thing and is nothing to worry about.

 

I mentioned earlier in the thread that we're looking for a new place to live, and that it never occurred to me to ask about things like people walking around carrying guns. It just didn't. Maybe it would occur to everyone else, but I have lived all my life in a place where people do not carry guns around with them, because there's just no need for it, so I would be one of those idiots who was eaten by the local cougar because I didn't know I should be watching out for it. :tongue_smilie: So now I have to revise my List O' Places to Look At to include the "no cougars or wild hogs" caveat, so I won't accidentally move someplace where kids carry guns around with them. ;) Finding a new place to live is a lot more complicated than I thought it would be!

Edited by Catwoman
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Well, bullies pick on the weak. Don't be weak. There really wasn't any cause to call the cops. Kid got just what he wanted from you. Fear. Ignore him.

It would appear the kid in question knows what button to now push with the OP's kids? And perhaps this is more of a bullying issue than hunting issue?

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I grew up "country" and it wouldn't be weird to see a young teen toting a gun on his bike, if he'd just been hunting. However, most are taught the proper way to handle a gun and are extremely serious about it. Threatening to scare kids with a gun would not fly. Not even one little bit.

 

If I were you, I'd brush up on the laws in your town. Some cities have a ban on guns, but most rural counties do not.

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