Fisherman draws on PW who happen to be Airmen

[DaveB]

Dave, you are right.  "The Military" rarely does such things.  Individual idiots who happen to be Airmen have been known to do some pretty stupid things, though.  They may have been acting inappropriately, but I have a hard time imagining a situation that would warrant the response of the fisherman.  It will be interesting to see what his side of the story is, but it sure doesn't look good at this point.

I agree that even military people have errors in judgement. He also has probably had the same issues with people that purposely irritate fishermen or other people on boats. The thing is, either way, the thing you grab is a cell phone, not a concealed weapon. Even if it a misunderstanding, the government will win out on this one, and they are not releasing any details that I can find.

FarmerRick is right, I was not there, so anything I say is only my own opinion, and should not be taken seriously by anyone.

[FarmerRick]

http://uniweb.legislature.ne.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=37-570

Revised Statutes » Chapter 37 » 37-570. Interference with person hunting, trapping, or fishing; violation; penalty; use of aircraft, vessel, or vehicle; destruction of property; liability.

Any person violating section 37-564 shall be guilty of a Class III misdemeanor. In addition, any person who damages crops, fields, livestock, fences, gates, timber, water, or any other property by the use of any aircraft, vessel, vehicle, snowmobile, or other conveyance shall be liable to the property owner.



http://uniweb.legislature.ne.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=37-564

 37-564. Interference with person hunting, trapping, or fishing.

(1) No person shall knowingly and intentionally interfere or attempt to interfere with another person who is not trespassing and who is lawfully hunting or trapping any game bird, game animal, fur-bearing animal, or other wild mammal or bird or engaged in activity associated with hunting or trapping.

(2) No person shall knowingly and intentionally interfere or attempt to interfere with another person who is not trespassing and who is lawfully fishing or engaged in activity associated with fishing.

(3) For purposes of this section, (a) activity associated with hunting, trapping, or fishing shall mean travel, camping, or other acts that are preparatory to or in conjunction with hunting, trapping, or fishing on lands or waters upon which hunting, trapping, or fishing may lawfully occur and that are done by a hunter, a trapper, or an angler or by a member of a hunting, trapping, or fishing party and (b) interfere shall mean (i) disturbing, scaring, chasing, or otherwise driving away by any means any game bird, game animal, fur-bearing animal, other wild mammal or bird, or game fish, but shall not include releasing a non-fur-bearing animal, except a coyote, from a trap, (ii) impeding or obstructing a person who is hunting, trapping, or fishing, (iii) impeding or obstructing a person who is engaged in an activity associated with hunting, trapping, or fishing, (iv) affecting the condition or location of personal property intended for use in hunting, trapping, or fishing, and (v) intentionally placing himself or herself into the line of fire for the purpose of interfering with lawful hunting or trapping.


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I'm not trying to offend anyone and have not resorted to name calling. I am saddened that it seems that waiting for all the facts is not in some people's nature. 

I'm done with this subject.

[DaveB]

The laws should apply to everyone, including the military. We will see if they do. But nowhere in the law does it say it is okay to shoot in the air if you feel they acted inappropriately.

FarmerRick, I apologize to you if you feel I called you a name, I did not see it, and will not allow it to happen again.

[omaharj]

Florida has issued more carry permits than any state (1.7 million), but revoked only 167 (0.01 percent) due to gun crimes by permit-holders.

The info above came from an NRA page. Perhaps mentioning the above statistic and mentioning we have over 15,000 ccw permits in Ne. may present this as a truly isolated inciident.

[SBarry]

I know how normal people turn into complete jerks when on the water, and it seems to double when you add a PWC. "Hey, look at me! I'm hauling ass on a jet ski! Look how cool I am!" Watch them, they are looking at the shore to see if they can show off for anyone.

I've hooked up heavy lures and tried to snag the bastards myself. Many lakes have areas off limits to PWC because of this. I say, wait for the facts.

[omaharj]

After further consideration.... It appears ,at the moment, not to be a high visibilty incident. No sense being proactive and stirring the pot. Instead of getting in front of this, I advocate waiting but being prepared with the three sentences I gave earlier.  RJ I wonder if the Airmen were cited?

[Dan W]

I have spent all day trying to imagine a scenario where personal watercraft, doing whatever kind of stupid crap on the water, even if it rose to the level of a misdemeanor class III offense, could have even remotely presented a deadly force threat to any person on dry land, and I am not seeing it.

[omaharj]

I agree Dan. I'm not an expert on the law,and I don't have all the facts,but the odor is too strong to pass the smell test.

[Dan W]

As some have pointed out , they facts of the case may not be fully disclosed at this point, and I am curious as to just why this case seems to be off the radar

[DanClrk51]

Well its definitely possible that the airmen were being jackasses and negligently rif raffing around with the jet skis so as to cause the fisherman's nets to get tangled. However that would still just be a petty Misdemeanor and not a warrant to draw a handgun and even fire it into the air unless there is more to the story as in: They were jackasses, possibly purposely messing with the fisherman and perhaps he felt threatened and outnumbered as to why he drew and fired a warning shot. Again, none of us were there, we don't have all the facts. Its possible that the airmen threatened him and then once he fired his gun they called the cops on him and turned the tables on him. Anything is possible.
I really don't think its necessary for the NFOA to make a statement about this incident. Its not on most people's minds and it will stay that way unless we make an issue out of it. I think we should just let this one blow over. Which it will if we don't stir the pot. Remember nobody was injured....it will fade and nobody will remember this story in a week. And if this man does get convicted on the charges he will lose his gun rights for life. Selfishly i hope more comes out and that somehow he had a legitimate reason to fire. We'll see.

[sjwsti]

I try to refrain from using the words always and never. But I cant conjure a single scenario where it would be ok to fire a "warning" shot into the air. We are responsible for any projectile we fire from a weapon. Randomly firing into the air, with no way to predict were it will land, would in all incidences be negligent and reckless.

- Shawn

[LM4202]

Well its definitely possible that the airmen were being jackasses and negligently rif raffing around with the jet skis so as to cause the fisherman's nets to get tangled. However that would still just be a petty Misdemeanor and not a warrant to draw a handgun and even fire it into the air unless there is more to the story as in: They were jackasses, possibly purposely messing with the fisherman and perhaps he felt threatened and outnumbered as to why he drew and fired a warning shot. Again, none of us were there, we don't have all the facts. Its possible that the airmen threatened him and then once he fired his gun they called the cops on him and turned the tables on him. Anything is possible.
I really don't think its necessary for the NFOA to make a statement about this incident. Its not on most people's minds and it will stay that way unless we make an issue out of it. I think we should just let this one blow over. Which it will if we don't stir the pot. Remember nobody was injured....it will fade and nobody will remember this story in a week. And if this man does get convicted on the charges he will lose his gun rights for life. Selfishly i hope more comes out and that somehow he had a legitimate reason to fire. We'll see.

This wasn't an incident about airmen goofing around on jet skis.  This was a training exercise conducted by highly trained professionals training to conduct water rescue of downed pilots.  The Pararescue people are the best of the best and highly disciplined.  They've rescued downed aircrew from the worst situations imaginable.  The unit had unarmed personnel in the water at that time that had to be evacuated.  Capt Houchin said the fisherman also threatened to shoot them off the jet skis if they came by again. 

[omaharj]

This wasn't an incident about airmen goofing around on jet skis.  This was a training exercise conducted by highly trained professionals training to conduct water rescue of downed pilots.  The Pararescue people are the best of the best and highly disciplined.  They've rescued downed aircrew from the worst situations imaginable.  The unit had unarmed personnel in the water at that time that had to be evacuated.  Capt Houchin said the fisherman also threatened to shoot them off the jet skis if they came by again. 

Can you reference your source for this? Thanks, RJ

[Ronvandyn]

This will be fodder for the antis.

Fly

Not if we as an organization actively support the State Patrol's review process and the eventual revocation of his permit. 

Even stupid people should be allowed to have a CHP, but stupid people who do stupid things with their weapons should not.

Ron

[OnTheFly]

Not if we as an organization actively support the State Patrol's review process and the eventual revocation of his permit. 

Even stupid people should be allowed to have a CHP, but stupid people who do stupid things with their weapons should not.

Ron

Well...that would help, but it is still a potential "I told you so!" example for the antis.  Even if we paid for advertisement which denounced this act with every Nebraska newspaper, television station, and radio station, it would still be a reason for concealed carry to be abolished in the eyes of every anti.  Just because we support justice does not take away the negative example.

Fly

[Ram Ringer]

I don't  know if this was one of he scheduled training excerises or not, but I do know from working with the folks at the Air and Army Guard base here in Lincoln that they do conduct these excersizes on a fairly routine basis. Normally they use helicopters to snatch downed airmen that may have ejected from aircraft and parachuted into the water. The article says that they were from Offutt so for right now I will take their word for it, but either way the helicopters they use for this search and rescue are stationed here in Lincoln, and the closest lake large enough for this type of work is Branched Oak. I would rather they drive a few airmen from Offutt over here than spend the extra cost of fuel to fly the helios to Offutt. As for the news report I thought they originally said he was from out of state when they first reported this on the media.
Now keep in mind here that I have no actual information on this incident other than I have heard in the media. The info I wrote here is from working with these guys on a daily basis.

Galen

[omaharj]

Bump....Anybody have any new info?