Posted on 08/05/2005 1:03:26 PM PDT by Rebelbase
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) Jason Williams keeps his gun a .22-caliber squirrel-killer with a scope propped by the sink.
He bags the varmints as they raid his pear tree and chomp his fig bush in his woodsy backyard just blocks from Crabtree Valley Mall. It's a family practice going back decades.
But newer neighbors do not cotton to Williams squirrel hunts. In a single July week, they called police three times.
"As it stands, I have fired four rounds, killed four squirrels and been visited by four police officers," said Williams, who is 41. "The first time, they SWAT-deployed. This is silly."
Hunting squirrels, rats and pigeons is perfectly legal in Raleigh yards provided you get a 90-day permit like the one Williams keeps taped to his front door.
The law dates to at least 1959, when Williams' Brookhaven neighborhood was outside city limits and the nearby mall was a cow pasture.
Granting special permits was a nod to people who thought they had a "plethora of pests," said City Attorney Thomas McCormick.
Times and neighborhoods have changed. Brookhaven might still be quiet and wooded, the sort of place where families spend eight or nine years and still are considered "new-ish."
But residents note that 80-plus townhouses are going up nearby, and Glenwood Avenue is one of the busiest streets in Raleigh.
"It certainly is far from rural," said Bee Weddington, who lives in the neighborhood. "I hate the squirrels, too, but I don't like guns. I'm not one of those crusaders, but there's always a chance you could harm some animal who's a pet, or a person, or a child."
Weddington, who is not one the neighborhood complainers, said legalized squirrel hunting surprised her. Only nine people have the permits citywide.
Williams, though, has a stack of permits dating back to the 1980s, when Brookhaven was annexed. When neighbors called the police, he sent them copies by registered mail.
The squeamishness about guns bothers him. By city law, he can use no rifle larger than a .22-caliber, and he must use rat shot, which will travel only about 25 feet.
"You could shoot your buddy in the (behind) with one and it would feel like a mosquito if it cut through your pants," he said.
A forestry consultant, Williams has been hunting since age 5. He keeps his guns in a safe including the rifle, when not actively pursuing varmints. He aims for animals on tree trunks so the round will strikes the bark if it misses the squirrel.
And rat shot, he says while demonstrating, can be fired from his rifle only one round at a time.
"You're not going to be bursting out in the back yard going 'Bam, bam, bam, bam. Oh, sorry Bob. I hit your head.' It's just impossible," he said.
So far this year, squirrels have torn through hundreds of pears he had been planning to can, scattering the rotten fruit across his yard.
He tried putting out deer corn for them, but they ate through a garbage can to get to a larger supply. He tried non-lethal have-a-heart traps, but he couldn't catch them.
If neighbors would ask, Williams said, he could show them that his hunting is responsible and safe.
"Yankees," said his girlfriend, Dawn Wiggins. "This isn't Brooklyn. Were not popping people over here. One he fired, I was sitting in the house, and I never even heard it."
The last time police visited, Williams said, the senior officer shook his head and walked away, cursing wasted time.
Williams feels for the police. There are criminals to catch, he said. Leave the varmints to him.
Do you still have the Sheridan?
Then move back north where you belong.
SO9
What makes it worse is that it usually is shot in a rifle and the rifling scatters the shot, leaving a hole in the middle where the target is, and leads the barrel something horrible. A good air rifle would be better - and quieter.
1/2 liter coke bottle: works like a (muffled) charm.
Exactly. Best used in a .22 smooth bore, but usable in any .22. I did my first clay target shooting with a bolt action .22. I hit 4 of 5 targets at a "father son" outing. Which got me enough points for second place. The GIRL who got first just caught a whole passel of little fish. She had been, or was to be, I'm not sure of the exact timing, my "babysitter", although more like my cook, and game playing buddy, in the summers. She was also the daughter of my Dad's best friend. :) I really didn't ming that she beat me, I wouldn't' have wanted the prize she picked anyway, so I still got the "first pick" of the prizes I was interested in anyway. :)
I hadn't seen her for decades, but she came to my Dad's funeral, with her mother and sisters. Her Dad had passed away a few years prior.
If it was a smooth bore, it would be. I think there's something in the legal defintion of shotgun that speaks of intended for use as or designed to use, or it might even requir a smooth bore. Of course that brings up the question of why a shotgun with a rifled barrel isn't a destructive device.
He might even be using "gallery loads". Essentially CB caps with frangible bullets. They have no powder, and are propelled by the primer only. The bullets are pressed lead dust, maybe with a binder of some sort, which disintegrate on contact with anything substantial, like sheet rock, Masonite, or a thin metal sheet, which is what the carnival games generally had.
Not as an afterthought at all. All were demonized as "gangster weapons", (sort of like "Assault Weapons" or "Saturday Night Specials" or Cop Killer bullets). Heck the sponsers of the legislation tried to get ordinary *handguns* included. The NRA, in one of it's first legislative lobbying efforts, and its first compromises, short circuited that, in return for allowing the first unconstitutional infringement of the RKBA at the federal level to pass without it's objection.
No, but it will leave more lead deposits in the bore than shooting jacketed bullets (but less than shooting solid lead bullets), so it takes a little more work to clean the bore than normal.
actually Wake County, NC was a red county in the last election
In 1959 the population of Raleigh had to be no more than 50,000-100,000 souls.
Maybe 60% of the population had phone service, there was no 911 and anyone, including teenagers,(the chiiiiildren) could buy rifles and ammunition at the local hardware store or by mail.
The only reason the City Council would pass an ordinance in 1959 restricting varmint control to permit only with ratshot would be to create a highly selectively enforced Jim Crow "tool" against CERTAIN people.
The police force itself could hardly have been more than 200 patrol officers if that.
Methinks I smell a clever attorney definition of the word "is" as in "Is you going to believe me or Is you going to find out the truth about this situation"?
Maybe the Pajama Patrol has some ideas about this?
Best regards,
No kidding! And some air rifles will rival the power of a .22LR.
Many years ago, I had a friend who had a Crossman 1400 that shot .22 pellets, and later a Sheridan Blue Streak. Those were good to kill pigeons and rats out to nearly 50 feet! And I would hate to ever get hit with one of those pellets! You could put an eye out!
Mark
Simple compromise: Buy a pellet gun.
As I posted earlier, those Sherridan 5mm (.20 cal) pellets are really powerful! They can rival a .22LR for short range power.
Mark
Progress man, progress donchya know. Brought to us by......progressives!
He better watch his step or his property may become a candidate for eminent domain status, eh?
Here's an idea, he should convert his little piece of heaven into a shooting range. And invite his neighbors over for some "shots"???
FGS
The Beeman R9 gets about 930 fps with the .177 caliber pellets and is very accurate. It would be good enough for ground squirrels where low noise level is important.
Good Hunting... from Varmint Al
http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/editorials/story/2702217p-9139627c.html
This deserves some response. Maybe it should be crossposted across the country.
Best regards,
Published: Aug 8, 2005
Modified: Aug 8, 2005 1:35 AM
Cease fire
Brookhaven may be one of Raleigh's most forested neighborhoods, but it is hardly the middle of nowhere. And squirrels may wreak havoc on pear trees, but that's hardly an excuse for homeowners to be permitted to gun them down. Who knew that in a major metropolitan area like Raleigh it was still possible to even get a permit to hunt pesky critters? Only nine of the special hunting permits are in force in Raleigh, thank goodness.
One of them belongs to Jason Williams who, by his own description, is a steely-eyed sharpshooter with a scope-mounted .22 caliber rifle. "I've fired four rounds, killed four squirrels and been visited by four police officers," he said.
................
It is past time for citified sharpshooters to hang up their guns. And for the city to immediately and forever cancel its permits for varmint-plugging.
Best regards,
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