BANG BANG BOOM

[hso]

gunfire in town nowadays is much more prominent than a backfiring car.

I can't remember the last time I heard a car backfire.

Friday at 10am was the last time I heard a gunshot at the wrong place/time (I ended up providing aid so the gunshot victim could get to the ER).

 

[edwardware]

People never learn. Really. As a clinical hypnotherapist I know intimately how easy it is to manipulate people with propaganda. . .

I would put it slightly differently: people (almost) never change their fundamental assumptions about the world around them. If they believe mankind can be perfected by just a few more laws (statism), they'll legislate themselves straight to hell and never stop to wonder why the world's burning around them.

These sorts of assumptions rarely change, and usually only in response to tremendous mental trauma.

 

[OneFreeTexan]

More than one neighbor shoots regular, and has for over ten years,,, I shoot also....wife can tell the difference between, pistols, rifles,,,rimfire, shotguns, so she knows who is shooting and what they are shooting....All summer a contractor has been replacing a road bridge in front of our property,,driving steel piling,,, driving steel sheeting, etc... My wife was curious cause some sounded like gunfire...she went to learn.. Now she can tell which equipment is making the noise, and what they are doing.

 

[FROGO207]

Like the under hood view. You do know there's too much crome there. It'll just make the tires squeel on you.

 

[orionengnr]

"I have lived in and left California 4 different times. Every time I move I get painted with the same broad brush by people assuming that I am a leftist looney from La-La-Land."

I have only one question--why do you keep going back?

I lived in CA once, for about 20 years, first ten in the Bay Area and the second ten in the LA area...for my job.
I was able to transfer (to Chicago, uggg...but still an improvement) in 2001 and have not been back, not even to change planes...and I work for an airline.

FWIW, my neighbor moved in a year ago, coming from CA. I did not judge him; I welcomed him.

But an awful lot of Californians have moved to Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado and bring their politics with them. All those states have turned blue.
Bunch of people came here with the Toyota move and are trying to trying to turn Texas purple, and then blue.

Oregonians were the first to coin the phrase, more than 20 years ago..."They are trying to Californicate Oregon". Probably got it from the Red Hot Chili Peppers song "California".
Regardless, it is real.

 

[Dibbs]

Now that you mention it I haven't heard a car backfire in years..... Has electronic fuel injection eliminated that sort of thing ? Lots of folks these days would probably interpret that noise as gunfire because they have never heard backfires. I've heard a lot of it back in the day. Some of it from tri - power pontiacs, too. A 64 & 65 GTO to be precise. Buddy of mine was into them big time. What model Pontiac was this ?

My guess would be backfires have partially been eliminated by new electronic ignition's elimination of the distributor cam gear, as spark distribution and advance are completely module controlled, now.
I remember the Bonneville, only too well, had a '64. 389, Quadrajet, flooring it was like flushing the toilet, 3 or four gallons of gas. Got about 6-8 MPG, but who cared, when gas was 50 cents a gallon? Remember taking on a guy with a newer Monte Carlo and a "High Output" 350,
that 396 clobbered him, it wasn't even close, all through 0 to over 100. Fuel line was the diameter of your thumb.

 

[jmorris]

but like the younger patrolman said, wonder why they come here?

Same reason a child messes up every room in a house if allowed. They already messed up the place they were originally in so instead of cleaning up the mess they created, they just move on to mess up another nice area.

Figured the kid analogy was more “highroad” than cancer...

 

[Flechette]

Same reason a child messes up every room in a house if allowed. They already messed up the place they were originally in so instead of cleaning up the mess they created, they just move on to mess up another nice area.

Figured the kid analogy was more “highroad” than cancer...

I use the locust metaphor.

They fly into a place, destroy everything, and then pick up and move somewhere else.

 

[jjadurbin]

Gunshots can sound like lots of things and vice-versa. I don't see anything wrong with a concerned neighbor that truly believed she heard gunshots. As has been said, gunfire in town nowadays is much more prominent than a backfiring car. I see the cops responding in a way that didn't impose any problems, while finding the actual cause of the sound.



Maybe she came there because she feels safer there than she did in California. Maybe gunshots were common in her previous neighborhood. Hard to judge folks when you haven't walked in their shoes. Had it been crime involving a real shooting, would you have preferred she close the curtains and turn up the T.V.? IMHO, part of being a responsible neighbor is looking out for your neighbors, being capable of observing and noticing/reporting anything suspicious and out of the ordinary. That's what I would call gunshots or a car back-firing several times that sounds like gunfire, in a generally quiet neighborhood.

Agreed. I'm easily annoyed but try to never jump to conclusions. I learned several things including how professional some of our new patrolmen are and I think the private, 27 years, asked why they come here meaning this spot in the hills where a one acre lot is considered small and down the hill there's a community maintained range where the calibers are posted as "any and all" unless it "comes on wheels, please leave it at home." The range fee is suggested "five per day if you police your own brass," the contribution box is bolted down and never been violated. The weather here is just now getting nice enough to spend a day outside shooting, and cruel as it might be, we couldn't help from laughing over the question of what this lady will do when the valley really lights up, which it does. With the right wind conditions, the big bore stuff makes a hard echo against the mountain.

 

[jjadurbin]

Because they've screwed California up so bad they can't stand to live there?

Which side of the valley are you on? East or West?

That seems to be the strange reality ...we do however have gotten two neighbors in the last few years who got locked by career and lifestyle ...and then escaped. If you know the Peaks, we are located on the Reservation border.

 

[jjadurbin]

"The majority of people I know in California aren’t unAmerican lunatics hell bent on destroying this country or your neighborhoods."

...my neighbor down the road is a real black powder freak and lived in LA for more than a decade, retired airline pilot. He showed at the range one afternoon with a custom range bag that read: ASK HOW I BEAT HARRY.

Yup, I'll bite. He said Harry, as in Harry Houdini, had only escaped from chains and water torture and straight jackets and the usual ho hum -- but without cheating or tricks or help from anyone -- he had escaped California and LA.

 

[lemaymiami]

From a cop's point of view.... We always told folks (particularly the Nervous Nellies...) to call in with anything suspicious - knowing that 99% of the time it would be nothing at all - it's that 1% that will keep you up nights. If the officers that responded were sharp - they made a point of contacting the complainant and told him(or her) that it was only a backfire - not a gang fight...

On nights when firecrackers were the problem (take your pick of holidays down here in south Florida...) we'd have the dispatcher only issue one case number for the evening - then simply note everywhere someone had to go to make sure it was "only fireworks". This was years ago during the height of the cocaine wars down here when a firecracker call might just turn into something serious since more than a few of our local idiots were in fact heavily armed and very short tempered... Can't say I miss that form of excitement at all...

 

[jar]

ha! Been there done that before! Problem is you have to have an inconspicuous car! First time I got away with it, years later I did the same thing with something much more exotic and um well I got caught that time lol. It’s hard to hide from the radio when you have a super unique car.

Back in ‘69 I raced my 68 SS Camero against a 67 GTO with 3 deuces on a 389. I raced every night, so I don’t remember who won. But I do remember getting chased by the cops afterwords. I got away by parking in someone’s driveway and shutting off the lights.

I had a 67 Camaro and friend had a Goat. Unfortunately I do remember who won.

 

[fpgt72]

All I can say about backfires are....give it a try in a downtown parking garage.

The area was pretty busy after that happened.

 

[jmorris]

Around these parts it’s people that moved out to the country that call 911 to report gunfire every Sept 1st. They must be so flooded with calls they now print reminders in the news paper that dove season is about to start so they know to expect gunfire.

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

I'm lucky to live in rural Kansas, hardly anybody from anywhere wants to move here. People shoot around here all the time, don't bother anyone.
You do see California plates down in Lawrence tho, college town ya know...

 

[buck460XVR]

As a responsible gun owner, I hate it when non gun owners want to stereotype me as a "Bubba" or want to stereotype any type of "Black Rifle" as an "assault weapon". I also hate it when fellow gun owners refer to other gun owners as "Fudds". I see the same mindset when visiting these type of gun forums. It seems we hate to be stereotyped, but love to do it.

 

[jmorris]

I have come to like the term “MSR”, modern sporting rifle.

To “them” we all look alike. “Fudd” has a definition, means you are one of the Jim Zumbo type of gun owners, you believe in the 2nd Amendment the same way a “RINO” believes in conservative policy’s or only the ones that suit YOU. Get rid of the rest you don’t care for, forgetting others rights.

Its a divide and conquer attitude but even worse because it’s not only short sighted but self imposed.

 

[murf]

the cali invasion has come to prescott, also.

we shall see if the commie laws come with them.

murf

 

[fpgt72]

Around these parts it’s people that moved out to the country that call 911 to report gunfire every Sept 1st. They must be so flooded with calls they now print reminders in the news paper that dove season is about to start so they know to expect gunfire.

About a mile up the road we have a "subdivision"......houses sitting on ~5ac of land for people that wanted to move out to the country.

When the division started getting full county cars came out all the time.....around there a day without gun fire is like a day without sunshine. Someone is always shooting something. Finally they did the same thing....shooting in the unincorprated areas of the county is legal....as long as you are not shooting over roads....bla bla bla.

We had a busy body down there that would still call......county had to come out....Their house was for sale about a year later.

I freely admit to buying tannerite just for the fun of it......another neighbor a few streets over took to the hobby of fireworks....real in the ground commercial fireworks.....about every night you could expect at least one kaboom....the horses even got use to it.....but not this woman.

Her husband had to be the most hen pecked guy I have ever talked to.....he had really lost the will to live.....but he did shoot clays with me from time to time.....bet he never told the wife.

 

[earlthegoat2]

They don’t seem to understand the reasons why they moved away from there. They will tell you things like high taxes, high cost of living, bad infrastructure and schools and they will have no idea what the causation was or that they were part of the problem.

 

[Kleanbore]

I once had a 1971 four cylinder German sedan. Carbureted, pre-catalytic converter days.

It had something called a "gulp valve" to reduce emissions. They went bad from time to time.

When that happened, the car would backfire when decelerating, particularly when the atmospheric pressure was low.

I remember taking my foot of the gas one day just as I was driving past one of the security guards at the defense plant where I worked.

BLAAMMM!

He jumped, and down went his hand for the gun that he wore.

Old S&W "Victory Model", by the way.

 

[Outlaw75]

That seems to be the strange reality ...we do however have gotten two neighbors in the last few years who got locked by career and lifestyle ...and then escaped. If you know the Peaks, we are located on the Reservation border.

Well, all I can say is tell them to stay out of the Westside. I live in the northwest, about a half a mile or so from the Peoria city limit and I'm constantly hearing gunshots at night. I've only know of a few to actually be related to criminal activity, most seem like they're people a little farther out who're hunting coyote at night.

 

[jar]

Well, all I can say is tell them to stay out of the Westside. I live in the northwest, about a half a mile or so from the Peoria city limit and I'm constantly hearing gunshots at night. I've only know of a few to actually be related to criminal activity, most seem like they're people a little farther out who're hunting coyote at night.

The four legged kind?

 

[Outlaw75]

The four legged kind?

Yes, should have made that clear.