Happy 4th of July to Us....Dodging Bullets in Georgia

[speckledhen]

We had a special kind of fireworks here today. Awhile ago, my DH and I were standing around, listening to the guys logging our extra acreage down our hill, and heard someone shooting close by in the opposite direction down the mountain, when a bullet pinged off a metal post right near where we were standing between our bantam coop and the garden, coming from the gunfire way down the hill. If we had been standing on the other side of the garden, less than 20 feet away, one of us could have been hit. I had just a few minutes before that put my treasured blue rooster in my avatar, my Suede, back in his pen, from where he had been free ranging with his hens, right in the vicinity of the bullet strike, so he was also in danger. Would have just been swell to have my sweet old guy live to be almost 6 years old and killed by a stray bullet.

DH yelled down the hill a few un-DH-like choice words to quit shooting up the hill like a moron. Called the sheriff, told the deputy we knew what house the bullet probably came from at the base of our mountain, off the road that runs past our driveway. DH said he knew there was a small caliber and also, a shotgun, being used.

We were right, about where it came from, who was doing it and what weapon. Kid in his 20's was shooting at squirrels in his corn with a 22 and a shotgun. Said he "knew there were houses up there somewhere, didn't mean any harm." Um, you jerk, play innocent, will you? You were raised here your whole life and this house has been here since 1993".

This guy has burglarized half of them. Deputy said to call back if he did it again and they'd do more than warn him. So, Happy 4th of July to me. It's too hot for this crap, don't you think?

 

[dewey]

That's insane! I'm glad everybody's ok.

 

[redhen]

. Why the heck do they let them get away with that crap? He should have been arrested/fined right then!

 

[speckledhen]

Because, though it's illegal to fire off fireworks, it's not illegal to shoot. You just have to do it in a safe manner. This one was probably alcohol fueled shooting to boot. We are so surrounded by woods that its amazing the bullet made it all the way more than 1000 ft up the hill, through the woods to my "yard". This could have been a very bad day for us and that kid.

 

[chickened]

Cynthia, he can be charged with unlawful use of a firearm, wreckless endangerment and several other crimes. My neighbor shot through a deer in his back pasture and hit a home in the woods and lost his right to own a gun for 5 years, probation and was fined 10,000.00 for unlawful use of a firearm. The other charges were dropped in a plea bargain.

The sheriff is being lazy. The kid may be just stupid also and the sheriff knew that... this was his freebie.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Georgia has some very interesting gun laws so the sheriff is right. He cant prove that was more than just an accident an no one was actually hurt so without more he can only warn him.

 

[sumi]

Is a bullet in her yard not enough proof? If I pulled a stunt like that kid did, I'd be in big trouble. Our country may be a bit lawless, but things like that are not excepted or excused here.
Thank goodness no-one got hurt...

 

[speckledhen]

rebel is right, that's the way it is around here. Makes me crazy when I hear shooting at 11 p.m. till midnight and can't figure what in tarnation they could be shooting at when it's pitch black dark outside.

What I have to worry about right now is the illegal fireworks burning down the woods we are currently logging and putting a halt to any more piddly amount of money we may be able to squeeze out of there. It's been so dry except for one day of rain that they banned all of them in three states, though it's already illegal to do them in Georgia anyway. Folks go over into NC and TN to buy them and bring them back here.

Sumi, there are bullet casings all over my property, from 9mm to 22 to shotgun shells. I've been picking them up for 10 years now. The former owner used to sit on the deck and shoot at crows and one particular tree that lies directly behind my bantam coop.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Is a bullet in her yard not enough proof?

Nope. Its proof hes stupid but not criminal.

 

[Bunnylady]

rebel is right, that's the way it is around here. Makes me crazy when I hear shooting at 11 p.m. till midnight and can't figure what in tarnation they could be shooting at when it's pitch black dark outside.

What I have to worry about right now is the illegal fireworks burning down the woods we are currently logging and putting a halt to any more piddly amount of money we may be able to squeeze out of there. It's been so dry except for one day of rain that they banned all of them in three states, though it's already illegal to do them in Georgia anyway. Folks go over into NC and TN to buy them and bring them back here.

Sumi, there are bullet casings all over my property, from 9mm to 22 to shotgun shells. I've been picking them up for 10 years now. The former owner used to sit on the deck and shoot at crows and one particular tree that lies directly behind my bantam coop.

I think speckledhen means South Carolina; the only fireworks that are legal to sell or own in NC are sparklers and the kind that sit on the ground. Any that shoot up or move in any way are illegal here, too. You'd have to be really clueless to accidentally start a fire with something that is sitting just a few feet away from you - but come to think of it, I have known some people who probably could manage it.

Somebody nearly shot me in my own yard, once. I was on a path along the edge of my property, and I heard a gunshot simultaneously as something small went ripping through some foliage a few feet to my left. I yelled, and heard a couple of young voices react in shock. They were maybe 100, 150 feet from where I was, but the woods around here are so dense, they couldn't see me (they call it poquoson). When I got to the spot where they were, I saw 2 boys, maybe 12 years old, hightailing it in the other direction. They were so spooked, they left the .22 behind (makes me wonder who the gun belonged to!) I don't know which of us were luckier that my guardian angel was on duty that day!