Nearly hit by bottle while shooting...!?!

[Brian K]

I've been fortunate enough not to have someone throw a bottle at me while shooting, but last year, in Utah as well, I had a bullet whiz by me. I'm sure it wasn't intentional, I was in an area frequented by people hunting and plinking and there was continual gunfire in the back ground.

As I often work at roadside I have a bigger problem with tractor trailer drivers who fly by at 80-mph and don't bother to move to the further lane, which is law in many states, only to be blasted by a huge gust of air, sufficient to knock over a camera on a tripod ( I sand bag my tripod) and send ground schrapnel flying at me. I really think that some of these guys actually speed up just to mess with me.

I always carry Bear Spray, not intended to use as defense against people, although I guess it could come in handy in that case, but it is not practical, and highly illegal to carry a firearm through multiple states, national parks or into Canada, whereas Bear Spray is legal.

[John Kasaian]

This thread is full of odd ethnic and racist slurs. Even the definition of a "normal" neighborhood seems off-base; then it gets worse. Read back through what has been written here. Some of you guys are in trouble, even without anyone throwing anything at you.

I agree. The ex-mexican remark strikes me as particulary obnoxious. While I'm glad you weren't hurt by the incident, labelling your attackers as an ethnic group for no purpose other than to slur hispanics is nonsense if not vindictive.

[walter23]

I actually read that as sort of a demographic breakdown of the state in response to "isn't it just Mormons" but I guess in the context of this thread I could see how you'd read it that way. All I can say is that reading these posts makes me glad I don't live in whatever lunatic regions of the world that kind of stuff happens in. I've never had an incident while out shooting stuff. Curiosity at most. Occasionally crackheads or hobos making weird remarks (you surveyin? is that a digital?). Non-crackheads in my city are too busy looking fashionable and aloof to visibly notice guys with weird cameras.

I agree. The ex-mexican remark strikes me as particulary obnoxious. While I'm glad you weren't hurt by the incident, labelling your attackers as an ethnic group for no purpose other than to slur hispanics is nonsense if not vindictive.

[Mattg]

I can't imagine living in a country where any moron is allowed to have a gun, being shot at while taking a photograph must be a very fightening experience. It just seems so perverse that people are allowed to endanger other people's lives in such a casual manner (I know they're not "allowed", but they are given the means and seem able to avoid prosecution).

What else gets you shot at, swimming at the beach, taking a wrong turn?

We have a our fair share of morons in Sydney too, and there is a problem with some criminals having access to handguns, but I've never been hassled by anyone even though I shoot at night and by myself. I'd have absolutely no qualms about standing by the side of the road either, as I do on occasions. There are still areas where I wouldn't do this by myself at night but they are few and far between.

[eddie]

Whatever you carry, you'd better know how to use it. And if you use the .45 right, you might well end up doing some really serious time unless you can prove that the schmuck pulled one first.

A bear spray might be as efficient and nobody has ever gone to jail for using it. All you'd have to prove is that you were reasonably afraid.

hhhhmmmm? 45 sounds good to me. as for the pepper spray comment. in NY pepper spray is considered a deadly weapon because you can die or sustain serious physical injuy. so in the eyes of the law you are in just as much trouble pulling pepper spray (and using it) as you are pulling the 45. some advantages of the 45 over pepper spray are that the wind never blows the lead it back into your face unlike pepper spray. and is it is easier to reload the 45!

but i agree, no matter what you pull you better know the law, your rights, and you better be right. just remember it is always better that the judge only hears your side of the story! double tap! another thing to keep in mind it that it is better to be tried by 12 than carried by 6!

[eddie]

This thread is full of odd ethnic and racist slurs. Even the definition of a "normal" neighborhood seems off-base; then it gets worse. Read back through what has been written here. Some of you guys are in trouble, even without anyone throwing anything at you.

yeah! whatever! seems to me that you can call a spade a spade. if it was a mexican then say it. a german say it. F@#$ that PC shit. if a mexican stole my stuff or threw a bottle at me that is exactly how i will tell the story. if it were a white guy i will say that! maybe the ethnic groups should do a little bit in changing others perseptions about their group by working to change that....like family values! if Mama from group "X" would give her son a beating for acting like an asshole or a thief then maybe the son will stop those actions....if he stops the actions then others would not be so inclined to slur group "x"

[Brian K]

Matt if you drive in the American west often you'll notice that the vast majority of road signs in rural areas, even suburban areas, are full of bullet holes. Those bullets didn't politely stop after they hit the sign, most of them kept going and for quite some distance, also consider how far the bullets that missed the sign went. America is a gun crazy society, one politician's solution, after another Columbine like school gun slaughter, is to arm all the teachers. That's the American solution to too many guns in the hands of too many people, give them more guns. Like a teacher doesn't have has much chance of going "postal"(the commone expression coined by postal workers who brought their guns to work and killed co-workers).

When I'm on a shooting trip, photography not guns, I wear bright red jackets, I also wear bright red as I shoot at the roadside very often. I was wearing red when the bullet blew by me, but a bullet can go a very long distance and follows an arc, the shooters might not have known, or seen that some guy was half a mile away behind a ridge and as I was at lakeside I guess they thought the bullet would just end up in the lake. But it did make me wonder, a foot or two left or right in my choice of camera angle and I might not be here.

As for the whole "Mexican" aspect of the OP's story, they probably weren't mexicans, they might have been digital photographers, most likely from Luminous landscape, who were enraged to see someone using a dark cloth, clearly not a drone like convert to the digital ideology.

[Jim Jones]

[QUOTE=Mattg;224162]I can't imagine living in a country where any moron is allowed to have a gun, being shot at while taking a photograph must be a very fightening experience. It just seems so perverse that people are allowed to endanger other people's lives in such a casual manner (I know they're not "allowed", but they are given the means and seem able to avoid prosecution). . . .
QUOTE]

Firearms are tools, and useful tools. It's been only three days now since I've had cause to use one for varmint control. Firearms are inherently safer than automobiles, chain saws, and many other tools. Being stupid isn't illegal. If we outlaw firearms, automobiles, chain saws, and the undesirable people who misuse them, where will it stop? I'm old enough to remember a country that began eliminating "undesirable people" in the 1930s. This insanity was finally halted in 1945 at the cost of millions of more desirable lives. It's better to tolerate a few morons in a free society than to lose the freedom to travel, photograph, and make the most of our lives.

[Greg Lockrey]

Firearms are tools, and useful tools. It's been only three days now since I've had cause to use one for varmint control. Firearms are inherently safer than automobiles, chain saws, and many other tools. Being stupid isn't illegal. If we outlaw firearms, automobiles, chain saws, and the undesirable people who misuse them, where will it stop? I'm old enough to remember a country that began eliminating "undesirable people" in the 1930s. This insanity was finally halted in 1945 at the cost of millions of more desirable lives. It's better to tolerate a few morons in a free society than to lose the freedom to travel, photograph, and make the most of our lives.

Here, here Jim. Beautifully put. My sentiments exactly.

[John Kasaian]

yeah! whatever! seems to me that you can call a spade a spade. if it was a mexican then say it. a german say it. F@#$ that PC shit. if a mexican stole my stuff or threw a bottle at me that is exactly how i will tell the story. if it were a white guy i will say that! maybe the ethnic groups should do a little bit in changing others perseptions about their group by working to change that....like family values! if Mama from group "X" would give her son a beating for acting like an asshole or a thief then maybe the son will stop those actions....if he stops the actions then others would not be so inclined to slur group "x"

eddie,

There was no mention of any ethnic group in the original post. The photographer clearly didn't identify who had thrown the bottle, only a description of the vehicle. If the perp in fact was a mexican or hispanic (or any other identifiable group) then the description would be more pertanent to the issue. What I find objectionable is how handy the term "ex-mexicans" if found when the topic of violence comes up. In my town there are gangs of hispanics, asians, blacks and whites all equally dangerous and obnoxious. Bad guys come in all colors and origins. So do the good guys. Off handed remarks such as that made about "ex-mexicans" is ignorant and insulting to people from mexico.

Hell, its racist.

Fortunately we are still within our rights to be "ignorant and insulting" but we shouldn't be surprised when someone else points out that such comments are in fact "ignorant and insulting."