thanks

[Douglas Munro]

3 beers, what type of beer? Make a HUGE difference in a court of law.

[Oceanbob]

BTW, I believe the probability of you being prosecuted is minimal. You and your wife cannot be compelled to testify against you, and it appears there are no other witnesses to your act.

This^^^^^^

Add in the fact you were drinking......very bad.....YET he didn't write you up or Cite you........another big thing is he didn't confiscate your weapon.

if it was a big deal you would have a Court Date on a Cite and a receipt for a missing weapon.

Bob

[RickD427]

I am not convinced that admitting guilt was a good idea. If there were (are) no witnesses the best course is to say:

I have no information on any such events you are describing.

The deputies, realizing all they had was a phone call from somebody who claimed to have heard shots, would know they were at a dead end and leave... probably after a threatening lecture. AFAIK, they don't have shotspotter technology and can't nail down shot locations.

My original advice stands: when police arrive, apply super glue to yor lips. If they try to charge, get a lawyer.

To be clear: I am not defending the underlying stupidity. Getting drunk and shooting is possible the stupidest thing on earth. And it's posts like this that make me bite my tongue when I read people claiming that the only right way for the world to exist is where anybody can carry a gun anyplace, anytime, for any reason without any restriction.......

That's cool. There are multiple POV's to every situation like this.

It's just important to note that if the deputies were able to reach the "probable cause" standard for an arrest, and the OP had responded with "zipped lips", then outcome would most likely have been a trip to jail and felony booking.

The PC standard isn't too hard to reach. We don't know what information was provided by the reporting party(s) to the deputies. If they gave proximity information, and the OP was the only person with weapons in the proximity, the standard is met. It's also met if the reporting party(s) identified the OP as the person shooting.

We really like to resolve issues at the lowest level possible, but that resolution isn't possible when key pieces of the puzzle remain unknown.

[Ron-Solo]

Yup, if you did something stupid and may win the proverbial "stupid prize"....


If the impact area was off your property / out of your control you could be charged with reckless endangerment. If there were other structures within 500 yards of your house you were already in violation of the law. How. Your neighborhood is zoned could be another scource of changes. Were you close to a school? Public road? Your neighbors called it in??

reckless endangerment? Someone's been watching too much TV. There isn't a "reckless endangerment" statute in California that I've ever seen

That said, charges could range from 246.3 PC, negligent discharge of a firearm and a potential felony, to a vast array of county ordinances or municipal codes if in a city.

[Ronin2]

reckless endangerment? Someone's been watching too much TV.

Guilty as charged officer! I meant reckless discharge of a firearm but the TV version came out instead. Jack McCoy gets convictions on that statute all the time!

[Win231]

There is no way I'll ever do that again. Stupid stuff you do when your drunk. I didn't mention that it was a .22 I was shooting, not that it matters.

Oh...you were drunk too? You neglected to mention that before.

In that case, I sincerely hope all your guns are confiscated & you spend some time in jail. We have enough morons roaming free now. You're the type of person who inspires more gun control.

[CH483]

OP you shouldn't own firearms period. You sound like a very irresponsible person. I hope they take all your guns away. You give all gun owners a bad name.

You again... Perhaps you should read below.

Gents,

One of the best lessons that I ever learned from my Training Officer was "Once you win the fight, it's time to stop fighting."

Remembering that sage advice has helped keep me out of a lot trouble when the adrenaline started to take over.

The OP's been contrite, he's admitted the stupidity of his actions, he seems ready to accept the consequences of those actions. He's asking what those consequences will likely be.

Let's please give him the best advice that can so that all can move along.

Sage advice

[benjamac]

I'm not going to "cut you some slack". You were drinking and shooting guns at a random mountainside. Would you say the same thing if it turned out that you actually had shot someone? "Hey man, cut me some slack. I didn't know he was out there. It's a long ways away and I'm drinking" GTFO!

Ya man, I'm normally mad chill, but this post is full of problems. OP, you think this was all not a big deal, but when even a bunch of gun guys who love to drink beer, whiskey, and others all say you were being an as*h*le, you need to hear that.

Drinking and shooting - about as smart as drinking and driving.
Shooting at unknown target - super stupid
Posting about your recklessness online - not advisable
Defending your actions and not learning anything - beyond frustrating for the rest of us firearm enthusiasts.

[EspoMan]

You again... Perhaps you should read below.



Sage advice

Me again? This is my first time posting in this thread. Second, I'll say what I damn please. Third, the OP did multiple irresponsible things, not only was he shooting into the mountains like a moron, he was also DRINKING while handling his firearms, so I ain't cutting him a break. Fourth, I did give him great advice, he needs to get rid of his guns before he hurts himself, or worse someone else.

[Huntsprig]

Yup, if you did something stupid and may win the proverbial "stupid prize"....


If the impact area was off your property / out of your control you could be charged with reckless endangerment. If there were other structures within 500 yards of your house you were already in violation of the law. How. Your neighborhood is zoned could be another scource of changes. Were you close to a school? Public road? Your neighbors called it in??

reckless endangerment? Someone's been watching too much TV. There isn't a "reckless endangerment" statute in California that I've ever seen

That said, charges could range from 246.3 PC, negligent discharge of a firearm and a potential felony, to a vast array of county ordinances or municipal codes if in a city.

And it's not 500 yards it's 150 from a occupied dwelling and there is no law requiring you to be a certain distance from a road.
As long as you are one step off the road and not shooting across it, you are legal

[WartHog]

OP have a hissy-fit and delete all his posts?

[Tostadomarco]

Nope, people they said it was a bad idea to post that story here so I took their advice. Not mad just thankful for all the advice.

[huntercf]

There's a flip-side to this "Police Paranoia" POV.

It sounds like the OP provided the responding deputies with enough information surrounding the event so that could make an assessment that the incident was minor enough to handle with documentation and referral. The only way they could have handled at a lower level would be to take no action at all. That's not a realistic expectation given the fact that someone was aggrieved enough to call deputies.

Had the OP declined to provide the deputies with enough information to reach that conclusion, the likely outcome would have been a trip to jail, booking on the felony charge, and the seizure of the involved weapons. After that level of police intervention, it's really impossible to handle at a lower level. At that point misdemeanor charges are about the best that could be hoped for.

The OP handled his interaction with the deputies well (even if his thought processes were very deficient in the initial shooting).

Let's also remember that his statements to the deputies cannot be used to show him guilty of anything in the absence of other evidence. Please refer to People v Alavarez (Reporter N/A, CCA decision of 5-23-2003) and CALJIC 2.72

Agreed, sometimes it is a crapshoot whether to talk or not. If he had come out and said "I want a lawyer" I bet he would have won a silver bracelet price.

If this had been LA or SF county then I would recommend shut up and get a lawyer. SB & Riverside you have some leeway.

Let's look at what the DA has, someone may have heard gun shots, no one saw a shooter, they stop by your house and wife tells them yeah he was shooting out back. They didn't take the firearm, they don't have bullets, they don't have reliable eyewitnesses, they don't have powder residue from alleged shooter's hand(s), not the best evidence to go on and possibly waste resources when they have much bigger fish to fry. IANAL nor LEO but my guess if this was a felony you would have posted this after posting bail.

[Sharp Shooter]

Drunk and foolin with guns....what could go wrong??

OP: If all you get is a hand slap, count yourself damn lucky. And take a gun safety class while you're at it.

Hold my beer and watch this.

[bsg]

One of the best lessons that I ever learned from my Training Officer was "Once you win the fight, it's time to stop fighting."

i agree, although there are those times when you need to remember what round you're in.