Why talking about or showing off your guns online is a bad idea...

[Bill Mattocks]

For those who do not believe that what you say or do online attracts any attention, I offer this:

http://www.nj.com/news/local/index.ssf/2009/05/parsippany_man_arrested_for_we.html

According to Coughlan's profile on Myspace.com, he graduated from William Paterson University in 2005 with a bachelor's degree in sociology. A graduate of Parsippany High School, he worked as a maintenance engineer at a Basking Ridge hotel and expressed plans to earn a master's degree in the near future.


He is described as a fan of foreign languages, karate, the military and guitars. Photos found on the profile also show him as a gun enthusiast.

Now where do you suppose the police got evidence that Coughlin had illegal high-capacity magazines for his weapons?

 

[Twin Fist]

i lost all my guns in a boating accident, while on the lake. Hit a wake, and they all went over the side

 

[tellner]

Bill, I'm in favor of this sort of thing. If a person is willing to brag about committing crimes in front of millions of people he is too stupid to own firearms.

Twinnie, do you really think your inpet lies would fool a detective for more than, say, the time it took for them to ooze out of your mouth? And are you dumb enough to add obstruction of justice, impeding an investigation and perjury (if you said it in Court) to your crimes? If you are, then you are too stupid to own firearms.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

Bill, I'm in favor of this sort of thing. If a person is willing to brag about committing crimes in front of millions of people he is too stupid to own firearms.

Valid point - I had not considered it from that point of view. However, I posted it more as a point to consider for those who discuss what they may have or do with regard to the guns they own. I think there are still many who do not *really* believe that anyone with a badge is reading what they say.

 

[seasoned]

Valid point - I had not considered it from that point of view. However, I posted it more as a point to consider for those who discuss what they may have or do with regard to the guns they own. I think there are still many who do not *really* believe that anyone with a badge is reading what they say.

Every day, with members of this forum.

 

[Tez3]

Parsippany

That is a very cool name!

 

[Bill Mattocks]

Every day, with members of this forum.

Yes, but I doubt the LEO contributors to this forum are the sort taking notes and preparing search warrants based on what others here say. I was more thinking of the lurkers who read all sorts of message boards without posting, or who simply glean from online search engines, rss feeds, etc.

I have my own co-hosted websites, I read my logs. I know how many hits come in from various .mil and .gov sites, and that's not including the ones that use commercial services to cover their incoming IP addresses.

Online discussion forums are "I know what you did last summer" and it seems many still do not get that.

 

[jarrod]

Bill, I'm in favor of this sort of thing. If a person is willing to brag about committing crimes in front of millions of people he is too stupid to own firearms.

Twinnie, do you really think your inpet lies would fool a detective for more than, say, the time it took for them to ooze out of your mouth? And are you dumb enough to add obstruction of justice, impeding an investigation and perjury (if you said it in Court) to your crimes? If you are, then you are too stupid to own firearms.

i absolutely agree with the first paragraph, but i think it was fairly obvious that TF was just kidding around.

i know you guys don't exactly get along great, but maybe we should all treat each thread as a brand new conversation, & not drag muck muck around from previous conversations. it might help us all understand each other a bit better rather than just perpetuating name calling & generally bad vibes.

jf

 

[Deaf Smith]

At Glocktalk some idiot always ask now and then to post your gun collectoin.

Now if I was a thief.....

And yes, showing pictures of you as Rambo will not help you at all if you are charged duing a self defense shooting.

Deaf

 

[Bill Mattocks]

And yes, showing pictures of you as Rambo will not help you at all if you are charged duing a self defense shooting.

Personally, I've always thought that having posted statements like "If anybody breaks in my house, I don't care if they give up and beg for mercy, I'm going to shoot them dead anyway," is terribly wise. And yet, some folks do...

 

[MA-Caver]

i lost all my guns in a boating accident, while on the lake. Hit a wake, and they all went over the side

I hate it when that happens. :lol:

Valid point - I had not considered it from that point of view. However, I posted it more as a point to consider for those who discuss what they may have or do with regard to the guns they own. I think there are still many who do not *really* believe that anyone with a badge is reading what they say.

Every day, with members of this forum.

Yes, but I doubt the LEO contributors to this forum are the sort taking notes and preparing search warrants based on what others here say. I was more thinking of the lurkers who read all sorts of message boards without posting, or who simply glean from online search engines, rss feeds, etc.

I have my own co-hosted websites, I read my logs. I know how many hits come in from various .mil and .gov sites, and that's not including the ones that use commercial services to cover their incoming IP addresses.

Online discussion forums are "I know what you did last summer" and it seems many still do not get that.

Maybe I'm being naive but I do trust the LEOs on this forum to be discreet and respectful of the privacy that is here.
Besides you have got to WANT to give any LEO/Investigative authority *ahem* REASON to want to monitor your posts and such. Granted rumors of certain words being flagged i.e. nuclear, jihad and so forth calls attention but a quick search or a read on the post/individual will lower the red-flags unless it honestly truly incites others to rebel, riot, commit crimes, etc. etc.
They have to amass enough evidence against you to even warrant doing anything. I'm sure much of our conversations here on MT have raised numerous red-flags based on the wording and such... but I personally am not going to worry about it.... nor will I deign to lose sleep over it.

That is unless, I'm honestly up to no good.

 

[jks9199]

Gentlefolk,
Let's try to remember that MT is the FRIENDLY forum, and let's try to be kind to each other, huh? This has the potential to be an interesting discussion... if we remember to focus on the post, not the posters.

'k?

 

[LuckyKBoxer]

When I first started posting, I had one post where I made a comment about Morons... I have read multiple posts from Tellner in the last week or so where he has direct racism charges against one person, and now called another Dumb, I guess the rules only count for certain people, or am I one of the few people noticing this?

As for the guy who posted the pictures, that was reckless, and if he was breaking a law and flaunting it, then he deserved to get busted. I think the law is horrible and should be repealed, but thats not the point. The point is the guy set himself up to be prosecuted....bad move.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Note:

If you have a concern about any members posts, hit the Report button, and our staff will look into the matter. It looks like this

.
Don't hit every post in the universe, or you'll get hit with an abuse infraction.
We don't discuss our actions, and we don't publicize them, so don't assume because you see nothing, that nothing is happening.
We're also not here to micromanage members, or burp them when they get all gassy.
You can also put them on your ignore list if they really piss you off.
Questions? Contact an admin, or post in the support forum.

Thanks.

 

[tellner]

No Lucky Boxer. I'm saying that if he thinks a B.S. lie like that would fool an investigating officer and he was willing to add a raft of serious charges to whatever they were looking for then he's an idiot. And I stick by that.

 

[MJS]

ADMIN NOTE

Before this thread gets anymore off track, with all of the side shots, let me address a few things.

1) The folks that post in The Study have all been here for a while. Therefore, you should all be aware of the forum rules, as well as the rules for The Study. If you're not familiar with them, please read them. If you are, please read them again.

2) The staff here do not get paid to moderate this site. We all have regular jobs and lives outside of this place. Much like a Police Officer, we can't be everywhere, all the time. Therefore, if you, as members, see something that is rude, a personal shot, a problem post, etc., instead of talking about it in the thread, hit the RTM and let the mods deal with it.

3) It is not a policy of this forum to discuss any action that mods take on a member, with the rest of the members here. Just because you physically don't see anything, dont assume nothing has been done.

4) There has already been 2 nudges in this thread. Consider this an official one.


Lets get back to the posting please.

Mike Slosek
MT Asst. Admin

 

[Archangel M]

Back on track..I have a hard time believing that the cops were simply fishing the net looking for some guy to zap with "illegal magazine" charges.

I could be wrong but Im sensing that this guy had more "issues" going on here than simply being picked up by "big brother" surfing the net looking for a gun owner to pounce on.

 

[Tez3]

It may be that someone else reported him, maybe even a colleague or neighbour.
I know a lot of companies check up on their employees online and have caught a couple boasting of taking time off to do other things etc.

 

[Carol]

"This arrest again represents the benefits of pursuing an intelligence/community led policing strategy," Bianchi said.Bianchi said his office is working with the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the state police and county sheriff's office to determine whether the seized weapons were used in any other violent crimes.
"This investigation is ongoing and it will take us several days to sort through the voluminous amounts of evidence which was seized. Additional charges are anticipated," Bianchi said.

Up here three (former) martial arts instructors that are also Brazillian nationals beat up two other Brazillian nationals...including beating one so badly that he cannot speak or walk. Bail for them was only set at $2500 each, providing they surrendered their passports.


This guy's bail was set at $200,000. Sounds to me like someone dropped a dime, and there is more of a concern than a coupla high-cap mags.

 

[elder999]

This guy's bail was set at $200,000. Sounds to me like someone dropped a dime, and there is more of a concern than a coupla high-cap mags.

New Jersey's gun law (like a lot of its neighbor's) is for ****. Under that "high capacity magazine/assault rifle" definition, if I were to load the Winchester 39, lever action .22 that I had as a kid with .22 long, or .22 shorts instead of .22 LR, at 17 and 21 bullets in the magazine, I'd be in violation of that law-and it can , in fact, for that very stupid reason,be classified as an assault rifle in New Jersey-should law enforcement choose to do so.

Of course, it's pretty clear that that's not what happened here, but I'm just sayin'.....I'd also like to know when we started limiting the number of guns a person can have. I mean, he can only fire one or two of them at a time, anyway-how does having more than that make him any more of a menace? My dad was an Episcopal priest, college professor,prison chaplain and shrink (yes, all at the same time) and he had waaaaay more than 40 firearms......though, except for the pistols and some old .22s like mine, and a couple of other lever-actions he got from my mom's dad after he died, I don't think many of those held more than 2 rounds of ammo....still.