Oh Boy, Packers & the Police

[the_idle_threat]

A young black man fires a gun in the air when attacked by gang members. He must be a gang-banger and a thug. Couldn't be self-defense, could it?

The assumptions being made here say a lot more about the posters than about Cory Rodgers.

Welcome Idle.

Why pull a gun? Did the "gang members" he was bumping heads with pull a gun? Why was he carrying a hot pistol? I know a lil something about gangs and while I have no proof I have a bad feeling about this one. Had it been legally owned was one thing but the pistol he had could have been used in a murder. Why carrying it?

Thanks for the welcome, Mad. Most of your response has been addressed by other posters by now, but I would add these points to address issues raised by you and/or by others:

- I have seen no indication in any medium that the gun was illegal. It may have been used illegally (carried concealed w/o a permit and discharged within city limits), but it was not a "hot" weapon.

- Both violations were minor. The first was simply the lack of a concealed carry permit, which in Texas is like lacking a fishing license. The second was a violation of a municipal ordinance, just like discharging certain fireworks or having a campfire at the park where it is prohibited. Most cities have an ordinance prohibiting discharge of a weapon within city limits, and they are invoked on a case-by-case basis depending upon whether or not the shots were found to be fired for self defense.
If the police cannot determine whether or not the gun was being carried illegally (concealed w/o permit ... as opposed to retreived from a vehicle where it may haver been kept legally even w/o a permit) and if they determine that the shots in the air were fired for self-defense, then there may be no charges brought at all.

- I don't buy the arguments some are making that he is a thug because he had a gun. I think a thug would have shot at the gangbangers---this guy simply fired a couple rounds into the air to scare away assailants. Sounds like the kind of thing I would have done if faced with gang members making aggressive demands on my time and money, wielding pool cues and who knows what else, and following me outside.

Idle, welcome....what I get from your comments are as follows...
1) Pulling out a loaded pistol and cranking shots into the cieling is like not have a fishing license in Texas....or was it in self defense you can attack the cieiling....

2) When you head down to the corner saloon you pack heat and at sign of trouble are fully prepared to draw like Val Kimer in Tombstone?

Rastak, thanks for the welcome. If that is what you get out of my comments, then I think Rodgers should pistol whip you for being so stupid.

[MadtownPacker]

Rastak, thanks for the welcome. If that is what you get out of my comments, then I think Rodgers should pistol whip you for being so stupid.

Hahaha, I like your style man.

Though I gotta admit that Val Kimler line left me rolling.

[the_idle_threat]

Rastak, thanks for the welcome. If that is what you get out of my comments, then I think Rodgers should pistol whip you for being so stupid.

Hahaha, I like your style man.

Though I gotta admit that Val Kimler line left me rolling.

Actually, he might have me pegged with the Val Kilmer line.