Pellet gun target shooting causes major lockdown, SWAT, etc.

[philip964]

http://www.khou.com/news/local/Lockdown ... 59571.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Note to self, do not target shoot near a house under construction when a Homeland Security Officer is viewing it. Reported as active shooter.

Active duty soldier is now in trouble for trying to keep up his skills.

[Oldgringo]

I'm so glad we live "in the sticks" as one esteemed colleague phrased it. Did you see how close together those houses were? Egad! Is there no privacy?

[talltex]

Sure makes my confidence level in Homeland Security skyrocket...a pellet breaks a window in the house he's looking at and he calls it in as "an active shooter with a high powered rifle with a telescopic sight" ? I guess he assumed it had really good silencer also, since he couldn't have heard a normal report. From the video, it appears his report resulted in at least a dozen patrol units and a SWAT unit on the scene and two schools placed on lockdown. Good job!

[K.Mooneyham]

Sure makes my confidence level in Homeland Security skyrocket...a pellet breaks a window in the house he's looking at and he calls it in as "an active shooter with a high powered rifle with a telescopic sight" ? I guess he assumed it had really good silencer also, since he couldn't have heard a normal report. From the video, it appears his report resulted in at least a dozen patrol units and a SWAT unit on the scene and two schools placed on lockdown. Good job!

I'm sure there is an ordinance against discharge of air rifles in city limits and breaking the window could be vandalism, but yeah, "active shooter with a high powered rifle with a telescopic sight" = going way overboard.

[jimlongley]

While I am sure the news portrayed the "makeshift target" (which sure looked like a real target to me) positioned in front of a broken window for the worst possible dramatic effect, I cant believe that anyone would be stupid enough to use a metal box as a backstop, or inaccurate enough to miss by that much. I'm thinking ricochet if "innocent."

And of course the police have stated that the gun was a convincing replica, so without seeing it, who knows, it may have been convincing enough.

OTOH, such statements as "bullets may stray . . ." don't make much of a case for him either.

And of course the print article including that the gun was "a telescopically high-powered rifle" which makes me wonder how I can get one of those guns that are powered by a telescope.

[mamabearCali]

It is a pellet gun.... .....you know those things that *might* have enough force to kill a rat if you hit it just right. Baseballs can break windows too.....should we outlaw a game of catch?

I know pellet guns can be dangerous (if you get hit in the eye primarily), but most of the time they are used in play. We need a good dose of common sense here. People need to get a grip.

[VMI77]

It is a pellet gun.... .....you know those things that *might* have enough force to kill a rat if you hit it just right. Baseballs can break windows too.....should we outlaw a game of catch?

I know pellet guns can be dangerous (if you get hit in the eye primarily), but most of the time they are used in play. We need a good dose of common sense here. People need to get a grip.

While I think the country has become pushed into hysteria by lowest common denominator, and the response here was absurd, pellet guns today aren't like the ones we shot as a kid. I bought one to practice with and people use them to shoot small game.....like rabbits and squirrels. A pellet gun was used to kill two people in Houston a few years ago. The are many youtube vids of the disarmed Brits "hunting" rats with them.The pellet gun I bought, not even an expensive one, shoots .17 cal pellets at the same velocity as a standard 22 LR round.

[cb1000rider]

I'm so glad we live "in the sticks" as one esteemed colleague phrased it.

+1

[AlaskanInTexas]

It is a pellet gun.... .....you know those things that *might* have enough force to kill a rat if you hit it just right. Baseballs can break windows too.....should we outlaw a game of catch?

I know pellet guns can be dangerous (if you get hit in the eye primarily), but most of the time they are used in play. We need a good dose of common sense here. People need to get a grip.

While I think the country has become pushed into hysteria by lowest common denominator, and the response here was absurd, pellet guns today aren't like the ones we shot as a kid. I bought one to practice with and people use them to shoot small game.....like rabbits and squirrels. A pellet gun was used to kill two people in Houston a few years ago. The are many youtube vids of the disarmed Brits "hunting" rats with them.The pellet gun I bought, not even an expensive one, shoots .17 cal pellets at the same velocity as a standard 22 LR round.

The old pellet gun I used as a kid a couple decades ago seemed pretty harmless (well except for the harm I received after inexplicably shooting the wall in my bedroom about 40 times). I just went and picked up a new one for the kids a while back - one of the "whisper quiet" types. I thought it was silly to need a quiet pellet gun - they are already pretty quiet. I gave it a trial run in the garage against a cardboard box backed by some 1/4 hardboard and some plywood. Wow! That thing was louder than my .22!! It also went through the box, hardboard, and well into the plywood. These new contraptions are serious business.

[Oldgringo]

It is a pellet gun.... .....you know those things that *might* have enough force to kill a rat if you hit it just right. Baseballs can break windows too.....should we outlaw a game of catch?

I know pellet guns can be dangerous (if you get hit in the eye primarily), but most of the time they are used in play. We need a good dose of common sense here. People need to get a grip.

While I think the country has become pushed into hysteria by lowest common denominator, and the response here was absurd, pellet guns today aren't like the ones we shot as a kid. I bought one to practice with and people use them to shoot small game.....like rabbits and squirrels. A pellet gun was used to kill two people in Houston a few years ago. The are many youtube vids of the disarmed Brits "hunting" rats with them.The pellet gun I bought, not even an expensive one, shoots .17 cal pellets at the same velocity as a standard 22 LR round.

The old pellet gun I used as a kid a couple decades ago seemed pretty harmless (well except for the harm I received after inexplicably shooting the wall in my bedroom about 40 times). I just went and picked up a new one for the kids a while back - one of the "whisper quiet" types. I thought it was silly to need a quiet pellet gun - they are already pretty quiet. I gave it a trial run in the garage against a cardboard box backed by some 1/4 hardboard and some plywood. Wow! That thing was louder than my .22!! It also went through the box, hardboard, and well into the plywood. These new contraptions are serious business.

Absolutely, they are not toys! The four safety rules apply with air guns just as much as they do with PB's.

[philip964]

May be if we called them small caliber rail guns it would sound more serious. Sheridan's still available to purchase? Always lusted after one as a kid.

[mamabearCali]

Yes, BB guns can be dangerous. Still no need for all that hysteria. Baseballs can kill too. Hammers are very dangerous. Chain saws are down right lethal. Still we should not all hide in our safe room when someone builds something

[Dori]

I'm sure there is an ordinance against discharge of air rifles in city limits and breaking the window could be vandalism, but yeah, "active shooter with a high powered rifle with a telescopic sight" = going way overboard.

Were they inside city limits or in an unincorporated part of Harris County?

Until they release a picture of the airgun I picture it looking something like this based on experience with DHS.

[Excaliber]

This sounds like a Rule 4 fail to me.

[jmorris]

There's a whole scale of air rifles, from BB guns to high-power rifles able to take something as large as a fox.

And then there's the .46 Girandoni Air Rifle. 150 yard range and reputedly could put a round through a 1" plank at 50.
http://home.nra.org/history/video/lewis ... -air-rifle