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So this evening I had dinner with a friend at Chili's and as she's driving me home we come to a stop light, in the lane beside us (4 lane road, two lanes stopped at the red light) there's a guy in the back seat of a crew cab truck waving out the window to the car directly in front of us. I notice but think nothing of it. As the light turns green the car we all accelerate to the speed limit (40), and we come up along the side of the truck, I'm looking over and see that it's full of some kids about 18 or so years old and as we come up about even with it the kid that was in the back waving leans out and points an AR15 style rifle directly at me!! My heart instantly skips a beat, and I yell at the driver of the car I'm in to STOP (so if he starts to fire I'm not directly lined up with the business end of that thing!!) I instinctively lean forward and reach back to unholster my weapon and by that time she's slammed on the breaks are we're about even with the bed of the truck and I notice the orange ring around the end of the barrel (it's an airsoft gun). I breathed a massive sigh of realief, and say to the driver "it's ok, keep going" and then explain to her what happened, she hadn't noticed any of this. I quickly copied down the license plate and called the police and informed them of the incident and gave them the LP. I know kids will be kids, but this was incredibly stupid, maybe people including police have mistaken airsoft guns for real guns in the past and people have been killed. I hope an officer finds the truck and explains to the youths the gravity of the situation.
I never unholstered my weapon, as soon as my hand reached it I realized THANKFULLY that the threat was not real, however I did receive a massive adrenaline rush in the mean time

This was all in Georgetown, North of Austin if anyone cares.

I'm glad everything turned out ok, and I hope they get a talking to if not more, it wouldn't be to hard to put an orange little ring around a real AR. Oh it's just a realistic toy, that goes bang.

paulhailes wrote:I'm glad everything turned out ok, and I hope they get a talking to if not more, it wouldn't be to hard to put an orange little ring around a real AR. Oh it's just a realistic toy, that goes bang.

Yeah, that dawned on me later. I genuinely believe it was an airsoft gun though, but still it was way too realistic to dismiss completely. I'm just glad things didn't go south

Airsoft guns can do their own damage. I promise you, if you have ever been shot by one, that it stings like hades. I think that your mind will process that pain as a signal that your life is in danger, and you need to take steps to protect it. A second scenario is that you might have missed the orange ring and believed it to be the more deadly threat. Either way, you might well have followed through on your draw. That kid is so lucky! He could have caused a major disaster in his life, the lives of the people he was with, and in your own personal life. I hope the cops nail him to the wall.

RJ

johnson0317 wrote:Airsoft guns can do their own damage. I promise you, if you have ever been shot by one, that it stings like hades. I think that your mind will process that pain as a signal that your life is in danger, and you need to take steps to protect it. A second scenario is that you might have missed the orange ring and believed it to be the more deadly threat. Either way, you might well have followed through on your draw. That kid is so lucky! He could have caused a major disaster in his life, the lives of the people he was with, and in your own personal life. I hope the cops nail him to the wall.

RJ

I couldn't agree more, I'll be stopping by the station in the morning before work and if they found the kids I think I'll definitely be pressing charges. Even if it's just to scare them into realizing how serious it is. That could have been his last moment on earth.

I had a similar situation happen to a friend of mine, he was out on a bike ride managed to anger some kids in a truck and they pointed an airsoft pistol at him, he thought it was real at the time though and called the police. Some of his friends gave him a hard time saying it was just an airsoft gun, I told him it doesn't matter, at the time you thought it was real and thats all that matters.

I am not discounting the damage an airsoft pistol can do, just pointing out how bad things can get when people are just messing around.

paulhailes wrote:I'm glad everything turned out ok, and I hope they get a talking to if not more, it wouldn't be to hard to put an orange little ring around a real AR. Oh it's just a realistic toy, that goes bang.

Isn't that what orange electrical tape is for?

RPB wrote:

paulhailes wrote:I'm glad everything turned out ok, and I hope they get a talking to if not more, it wouldn't be to hard to put an orange little ring around a real AR. Oh it's just a realistic toy, that goes bang.

Isn't that what orange electrical tape is for?

A valid point, I was only about 3 feet from it though, and I'm very familiar with black rifles, this was definitely an airsoft gun. Had I been unsure though things might have gone differently.

Stupid Kids

(words fail me)

wow... glad this turned out ok - as you said, it could have easily escalated into something terrible.

way to show restraint and outstanding observation skills!

RPB wrote:

paulhailes wrote:I'm glad everything turned out ok, and I hope they get a talking to if not more, it wouldn't be to hard to put an orange little ring around a real AR. Oh it's just a realistic toy, that goes bang.

Isn't that what orange electrical tape is for?

My wife and I Joined the League City Citizens Police Academy about 4 years ago and this enables us to ride along with officers at night when my schedule permits. On one of these rides we stopped for dinner with a couple of other officers and I mentioned how easy it would be to put orange tape or orange paint on the end of a real gun. The response was not very nice, in fact they were not happy with me at all. It made me think about what I would do if someone points an orange tipped weapon at me or my family? I imagine there would be a whole lot of paper work to say the least.

Be safe out there.

SonicmetalicS wrote:

...I know kids will be kids...

That is no excuse for stupid, rude or inconsiderate behavior. It is a direct reflection on their parents' lack of responsible guidance and teachings.

Brian Mobley wrote:

RPB wrote:

paulhailes wrote:I'm glad everything turned out ok, and I hope they get a talking to if not more, it wouldn't be to hard to put an orange little ring around a real AR. Oh it's just a realistic toy, that goes bang.

Isn't that what orange electrical tape is for?

My wife and I Joined the League City Citizens Police Academy about 4 years ago and this enables us to ride along with officers at night when my schedule permits. On one of these rides we stopped for dinner with a couple of other officers and I mentioned how easy it would be to put orange tape or orange paint on the end of a real gun. The response was not very nice, in fact they were not happy with me at all. It made me think about what I would do if someone points an orange tipped weapon at me or my family? I imagine there would be a whole lot of paper work to say the least.

Be safe out there.

I know the downside, and I expect to get pummelled for thinking it even, but once thought if licensees used it to prevent Costco type mistakes by Police ...

Not suggesting it, bad guys with fake guns with orange tips paint the orange part black ...

Just sayin' I would hesitate a bit to pull a trigger with an orange tipped gun pointed at me, but not positive I'd lower my weapon. before I was positive that the orange tipped one was not a threat

the what-if are amazing...that's a crazy intersection during perfect conditions, and what if one or more drivers had seen the gun? it could have been tragic!