Good Samaritan arrested on gun charges

[Huge Grant]

For those of us who have a lock box in the car, here is something to think about. A young man carrying a pistol in his car was driving down the street in San Mateo, saw a man assaulting a woman and stopped to assist... and was arrested for his troubles.

http://www.mercurynews.com/san-mateo-county/ci_18335475?source=most_viewed

Wow. Makes you not want to be a hero, eh?

[Olav]

What's the "ready fire position"?

[21SF]

That is so lame, I dont comprehend the majority of californian mentalities.

[Calgunz420]

There's no problem helping someone in need but come on now, just because you do have a firearm legally doesn't mean you can go and handle things like the wild wild west especially in San Mateo.

Want to be a hero call 9-1-1, write down or remember a description of suspect.( tattoos/license plate/ clothing)
Sucks if the they released the guy that started the assault and charges the "hero" with some serious felony charges.

[Coded-Dude]

further promoting the crime rich police/nanny state.

[goodlookin1]

Sickening.

I hate this state. Good is bad, and bad is good.

Isaiah 5:20

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.

[bluenoise]

From the article, it sounds like the good Samaritan was a little too gung ho to get involved with his gun. It's a shame his actions overshadowed those of the guy shoving the woman. It would be different, IMO, if the assailant was in the process of pounding on the woman, but it sounds like the guy shoved her once and walked away.

[DaveFJ80]

From the article, it sounds like the good Samaritan was a little too gung ho to get involved with his gun.

That's what I was going to say, after reading the article. However, we all know the news media likes to spin gun violence or any type of firearms story into a negative direction.

But then if you have witnesses who said exactly what they saw (guy comes out of a truck with gun drawn and chasing after somebody yelling "don't you dare!" then you know the guy was completely in the wrong and deserved to get arrested.

It's one thing to draw your firearm out if you truely need it (bullets flying, all hell broke loose right in the middle of the street and you can't get away without being shot at). But to just drive by and see something going down that's none of your business and you feel the need to draw your firearm and go chasing after somebody (when you're not LE), then you're asking for it.

Just my $.02

[The Virus]

That guy is an idiot and is lucky the cops didn't shoot him.
From reading that article it sounds like the guy was gung-ho and looking for a reason to pull his gun.

[rugershooter]

Reserving judgement until more details come in. The article doesn't specify exactly what he was charged with or exactly why the author and police thought it necessary to point out that he doesn't have a ccw.

[kazman]

Good move coming to aid of someone he thought was being assaulted. Bad move carelessly brandishing his firearm and running down the street with it. Just adds more fuel to fire to the anti-ccw crowd.

[bill_k_lopez]

My father had a few things he always used to drill into me about guns. One of those was never pull it out and point it at someone unless you are willing to shoot and kill them with it.

I remember drawing on a guy I found in the alley between my apartment and a neighbors apartment. She had a habit of leaving the windows open and undressing or walking around in next to nothing (she was a GREAT neighbor). Any way, I catch this guy one night with his head, arm and shoulder in her window. I told my wife to call the police and I went out the back door, gun drawn and got the drop on this guy. I racked the slide and told him to get out of the window and on to the ground. He hit the floor and ran. I never saw someone run so fast. The cops showed up did their thing and (getting to the point of the story) one of the cops told me "you should have shot that bastard if you saw him going through the window".

I had to really think about that - could I justify shooting a guy for getting a little over zealous, maybe just walking home one night from a bar, seeing my hot neighbor half undressed walking around - bad judgment call on his part - decides to stick his head through the window to get a better look? I could have ended his life over something really stupid. I could have ended my life over something stupid (jail etc).

The guy in this story had no business yanking out his piece and running down the street like some action hero - its the fast & furious syndrome, too many movies and video games. You want to get involved - go fist to cuffs with the guy, or call the police. Maybe you pull if the guy is on top of her beating her and is intent on killing her, or he obviously has a weapon and someones life is in danger, but just because you saw the guy shove her?

No - this guy is one of the people who shouldn't own a gun.

I haven't pulled a gun out on someone since that incident, and that happened almost 20 years ago. I wouldn't hesitate to do it if I had to - but with age comes better judgment (or so you hope).

[rjh4758]

That guy is an idiot and is lucky the cops didn't shoot him.
From reading that article it sounds like the guy was gung-ho and looking for a reason to pull his gun.

Going by what was stated in the article this guy was looking for a reason to use his gun. If someone is getting assaulted and you want to man up and stop it go ahead . But you never pull a weapon on someone unless your life is treatened. And NEVER go chasing the guy down the street waving a gun and yelling at him. You look like a deranged mad man with a gun. You are now the attacker!

If he would have stopped after the attacker fled then I might be able defend what he did. But how did he even know what the situation even was as he pulled up guns blazing? Then to pursue someone down the street like a cop chase scene out of a movie. Anyone ever here of a vigilanty? If the article is right this guy has what is coming.

Now by no way get me wrong, I am as progun and pro CCW as anyone here. I think the world would be a much safer place if we were all allowed to CCW but guys like this make the rest of us look bad.

[Huge Grant]

Another article on the incident:

http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/peninsula/2011/06/armed-confrontation-rattles-downtown-san-mateo

Wow. Definitely sounds like a kid who shouldn't even own a gun, let alone ccw or lockbox/car carry. If it's true that he actually tried to pull the trigger on the guy hiding behind the newspaper machine he deserves more than just gun charges. And crying while being put in the patrol car? Sheesh, makes you wonder if we need a maturity test instead of safe-handling...

Definitely not a good story for the pro-ccw in CA.

[RollingCode3]

That guy is an idiot and is lucky the cops didn't shoot him.
From reading that article it sounds like the guy was gung-ho and looking for a reason to pull his gun.

+1 The guy in the article is a bit time idiot.