NORRIDGEWOCK, ME — Police surrounded a man’s home with sharpshooters and armed troopers and demanded his surrender through a megaphone after someone saw a tattoo of a gun on his stomach.
Michael Smith works the night shift and sleeps during the day. On the morning of March 18th, he was disturbed when he heard a loud racket in his front yard. It was a tree removal service backing into his driveway preparing to chopping branches around power lines.
Mr. Smith groggily stepped outside in his pajama pants to tell the tree trimmers to come back another time. They told him it was not a problem, reported the Morning Sentinel.
The only problem was that one of the workers saw Smith’s stomach tattoo and perceived it to be a real gun. Even though no threats had been made, the worker called police to report a “man with a gun.”
It should be noted that it is not a crime openly wear a handgun in the waistband in Maine. At home or in public; shirtless or clothed; quiet or shouting; open carry is a recognized right in that state and no justification for police intervention.
Despite this, Maine State Troopers picked up their rifles and produced a life-threatening standoff in front of Mr. Smith’s house.
After Smith had once again gone to bed, he was jolted awake by a loud commotion in his front yard. This time it was the sound of police loudspeakers. State Troopers and Sheriff’s deputies were outside aiming guns at his house and making demands.
Smith got out of bed again and surrendered to the police in his front yard, saying, “I got plans today. I didn’t want to get shot.”
The whole thing had been an embarrassing overreaction. Still, police stood by their dramatic response.
“Obviously it was a misunderstanding and he didn’t have a weapon, but we had to respond to the initial report as if he did,” Maine State Police Trooper Scott Duff said to the Morning Sentinel. “We take all precautions when we don’t have the details.”
“Man with a gun” calls — or MWAG — are infamously prone to dramatic police overreactions. Innocent citizens all over the country have been subjected to being harassed, handcuffed, proned out, had guns pointed at them, and otherwise bullied and threatened while doing absolutely nothing illegal or wrong.
If armed police officers were treated in such a way every time they were spotted with a pistol on their belt, they might understand the unfairness of this type of response.
I think I’ll start reporting a MWAG every time I see a police officer.
Dear IC,
If I was in the USSA currently, I sure as hell would!
If this is done frequently enough, consider the effect it would have. It would normalize the MWAG phenomenon. Even the question of whether the MWAG had a badge would be sidelined. The repeated false alarms would take the heat off Mere Mundanes who carry.
A very good thing.
The current war on anonymity makes it a dangerous thing to do. I can’t remember the last time I saw a pay phone.
True. Sad but true.
I’m trying to think of another tactic that would have the same effect.
Still working on it.
On second thought, even if MWAG incidents involve Mere Mundanes, the frequency would still normalize both open and concealed carry.
The repeated false alarms I mentioned don’t have to involve LEOs, they can also involve MMs. What matters is the false alarm aspect. The Cry Wolf aspect.
I have my doubts. Cops around here respond to every single house alarm, and I imagine 90% of them are false alarms. If it gives them something to do, they are all over it.
I would just enjoy a TWAT team showing up in the neighborhood WMart on a MWAG call only to find that the reported “heavily armed gang member” turns out to be one of theirs. How sweeeet would that be?
Burner cell phone.
Landline in the places you frequent, just “borrow” a line. Lots of places will let you make a local call, and an unguarded phone with a brief 911 call?
Especially if you get to leave…
“Yes, what’s your emergency?”
“HE’S GOT A GUN! HE’S GOT A GUN!”
“Where are you, sir?”
Police in NJ are REQUIRED to respond to a 911 call… 😀
Inconsistencies, I noticed the same many years ago. I’m re-reading The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, just cause it’s been a long time since I read it and because it’s a good story. Right away in the story the hero is seeking a public pay phone. They’re hard to find and he rightly points out, for a good reason, big brother can’t track you with a coin phone. Yep, RH had it down and now it’s really come to pass. 20-30 years ago I had friends I only spoke to with pay phones simply for the principle of it. Now I talk to them face to face when somebody wants to drive a few hundred miles. Of course the NSA, CIA, FBI and all the rest know the true terrorist doesn’t use email or phones, the very reason they go through such expense and effort to plant someone in a group. The spying on the average citizen is just a way for these immoral power freaks to justify their salary. Same reason the FBI has to “create” a terrorist now and then, no matter they must seek out somebody with limited reasoning ability.
Dear Eric,
Sheeple the world over are conditioned to hold many “Myth of Authority” based delusions, and to consider them “normal” and beyond question.
I mean really, think about the mentality of the worker who sicced the LEOs on him. WTF was he thinking???
His mentality is routinely depicted as “normal” in cop-sucker films and TV shows. A character enters a crowded public venue. He is carrying concealed on his belt. His jacket rides up and a couple of the sheeple see his handgun. They whisper hysterically to each other, “He’s got a gun! He’s got a gun!”
If the character is a LEO, the next thing that happens is he flashes his badge, and says, “It’s okay, I’m a cop! I’m a cop!”
The sheeple breath a sigh of relief. One of them helpfully tells the others, “It’s okay, he’s a cop!” and smiles, sheepishly.
If the character is a Mere Mundane, the next thing that happens is the LEOs show up SWAT mode and do what they do, post 9/11.
So what’s wrong with this picture?
It’s not actually the LEOs per se, but the sheeple. They “manifested” the LEOs in the outer world, via their inner belief in the Myth of Authority. Without that, the LEOs would not exist in the first place.
“He’s got a gun! He’s got a gun!”
Seriously???
You’ve got a gun. I’ve got a gun. Everybody’s got a gun. More guns, less crime. What’s the BFD??? WTF are the damned sheeple getting all hysterical about???
I’ve mentioned this before, but it bears mentioning again.
Just thought of a better (more insulting) term than “COP-sucker”
v. “COP-rophilia”
n. “COP-rophiliac”
Coprophilia is a sexual fetish people feel when they come into contact with feces. Coprophilia can be said to be liking the smell, taste, or feel of feces in a sexual way.
Mr Pavlov wrote the book for current prol training we are getting. How else do you get. A SWAT team for not violating the law.
I guess it would have been poor form t knock on the door.
The inconsistent response by LE as seen here and other places across the country is disturbing.
A simple misunderstanding can escalate things quickly to the point where people/property is damaged/destroyed.