This guy has received a refresher course on rule #2, courtesy of a county magistrate, and it only cost him $567.00.
From the Carlsbad Current Argus:
CARLSBAD — A Carlsbad man pleaded guilty to a charge of negligent use of a firearm after using a scoped rifle to watch Department of Game and Fish officers at work.Holy guacamole batman! This could have ended up much worse for Sr. Montoya, or one of the Game and Fish officers. Scoping armed officers with your rifle doesn't just break a vital safety rule, it is outright stupidity personified.
Conservation Officer Terry Nelson issued the citation to Elias Montoya, 29, after Officer Bryan Nygren observed Montoya using a scoped rifle to watch officers, including Nygren, check fishing licenses on the Pecos River. Montoya admitted to using the scope to look across the river, but denied pointing the rifle at officer Nygren. An Eddy County magistrate fined Montoya $500 plus $67 in court costs.
If you want to observe people, houses, cars, or whatever at a distance, purchase a pair of binoculars or a spotting scope.
Scoped rifles are not spotting scopes and should never be used as one. The Department trains thousands of hunter education students every year. They are taught never to point a firearm at anything they don't intend to shoot, and to treat every firearm as if it were loaded. Binoculars and spotting scopes should be used for observing wildlife or people.For more information on firearm safety, click here.
4 comments:
Reminds me of the opening scene in "Mad Max"
He was probably "monkeying" what he see's soldier's doing on the television news with their M4's and ACOGs.
I remember seeing people look at me through a scope up deer hunting. I used to like my dad's way of dealing with that; he would point his rifle at them and wave. They pointed it elsewhere quickly.
Not only is he not too bright, but he's incredibly lucky that the officers didn't fire on him. Of course, that may certainly have led to gene pool improvement.
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