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Police Seize Home Arsenal Fire Alerts Authorities to Nearly 500 (legal) Weapons
The Asbury Park Press ^ | 12-03-02 | Michael Clancy

Posted on 12/03/2002 6:32:19 AM PST by Iron Eagle

Edited on 05/07/2004 7:38:55 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]

Published in the Asbury Park Press 12/03/02 Fire alerts authorities to nearly 500 weapons By MICHAEL CLANCY STAFF WRITER FAIR HAVEN -- Three dump trucks removed an arsenal of live ammunition and almost 500 weapons -- all of them apparently held legally -- which police found in a home after the fire department responded to a chimney fire and the homeowner threatened the fire chief with a rifle, authorities said yesterday.


(Excerpt) Read more at app.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: banglist
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To: nepdap
Avoiding chimney fires is the main job of chimney sweeps. Everyone with a woodburning fireplace should have their chimney regularly inspected and cleaned if necessary.

Good advice. My Mom & Dad had their fireplace chimney cleaned every year without fail.

81 posted on 12/03/2002 8:05:25 AM PST by Catspaw
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To: Iron Eagle
Arford, a 59-year-old budget analyst at Fort Monmouth, then grabbed an unloaded M-1 rifle that was leaning against his bookshelf and attempted to point it at the chief, McGovern said.

What exactly does this mean? "Attempted to point it?"

If it was unloaded, why would he point it at him?

I'm guessing that he grabbed it to take with him, and the chief, being a East Coast authoritarian kind of guy, decided to claim that he "attempted to point it" at him because 1) he resisted leaving his house, and 2) he doesn't like "civilians" (hint: police officers are civilians, too) owning firearms.

82 posted on 12/03/2002 8:08:34 AM PST by B Knotts
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To: Iron Eagle
When Fire Chief John Feeny ordered Arthur L. Arford to leave his smoky home in a residential area of Colonial Court about 4 p.m. to make way for firefighters, Arford told Feeny the department had no right to force him off his property, said Detective Joseph McGovern. Arford, a 59-year-old budget analyst at Fort Monmouth, then grabbed an unloaded M-1 rifle that was leaning against his bookshelf and attempted to point it at the chief, McGovern said. Robert Frank, a volunteer firefighter and off-duty police officer from Little Silver, grabbed Arford and the rifle before he could raise the weapon, McGovern said.

Attemted to raise the weapon? The officer grabbed Arford before he could raise the weapon? Even a lousy lawyer will have fun with this.

83 posted on 12/03/2002 8:11:37 AM PST by Joe Hadenuf
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To: B Knotts
You missed this part:

When Fire Chief John Feeny ordered Arthur L. Arford to leave his smoky home in a residential area of Colonial Court about 4 p.m. to make way for firefighters, Arford told Feeny the department had no right to force him off his property, said Detective Joseph McGovern.

It was the FIRE CHIEF, not the police chief. Firefighters are unarmed.

84 posted on 12/03/2002 8:12:40 AM PST by Catspaw
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To: B Knotts
Take careful note of the trolls on this thread. They will leap to a conclusion before all the facts are in. Their ilk will do anything to further their big government goals. Excuse any behavior.

Keep an eye on them. They aren't conservatives. They are just socialist trolls.

85 posted on 12/03/2002 8:13:52 AM PST by Dead Corpse
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To: Catspaw
With that many weapons in his home, if he was trying to "raise a weapon" to "attempt to point" it at someone, why would he have not grabbed one that actually had ammunition in it?

I agree with the other posters in that the more likely chain of events had this guy grabbing at the nearest firearm to at least TRY and save something of his collection from the fire.

If you want to swallow the liberal spin in the newspapers, hook, line, and sinker, you may wish to reconsider your contributions here. This is a place for freedom loving conservatives.

86 posted on 12/03/2002 8:18:06 AM PST by Dead Corpse
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To: blackdog
Sorry about your finger but your post sure gave me a big laugh. This article from The Onion seems right up your alley. :-)

Make A Hand-Turkey

87 posted on 12/03/2002 8:21:29 AM PST by DumpsterDiver
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To: B Knotts
What exactly does this mean? "Attempted to point it?"

It seems that NJ firefighters can moonlight as psychics.

I'd be curious to know more about the M1, though. If it was an original gas trap version or a WWII Winchester or an original Guadalcanal Garand, he'd be a fool not to grab it and get it away from the water and flames. Same thing with an M1C or D or National Match M1.

Now, was he a deranged malcontent or a panicked collector? Hard to tell from the info here, but that sure doesn't stop some FReepers from assuming facts not in evidence.

88 posted on 12/03/2002 8:23:00 AM PST by Trailerpark Badass
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To: Dead Corpse
Oh, I see--I'm not a conservative because I happen to believe the firefighter's description of events as being accurate and not dwell in some paranoid, drooling world where one views the government (which, apparently, includes a suburban fire department) as inherently evil, thieving and corrupt.

Thanks for the lesson on what "conservative" means.

89 posted on 12/03/2002 8:23:13 AM PST by Catspaw
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To: B Knotts
I'm guessing that he grabbed it to take with him, and the chief, being a East Coast authoritarian kind of guy, decided to claim that he "attempted to point it" at him because 1) he resisted leaving his house, and 2) he doesn't like "civilians" (hint: police officers are civilians, too) owning firearms.

Perhaps the Fire Chief is playing along with the cops who tackled the guy *before* he could threaten anyone with that *unloaded* rifle. It was a dumb thing for the guy to do, touching a firearm with cops nearby, but that does not necessarily translate into "threatened the fire chief".

In any case, once the cops followed the firemen into that house, once they saw all those guns, there was no way that all that hardware was *not* going to be confiscated, pending an investigation at minimum.

90 posted on 12/03/2002 8:23:50 AM PST by Charles Martel
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To: bullseye1911
A safety instructor leaving loaded weapons lying about indescriminately? I don't believe that.

Having a gun available is a different matter and not what is under discussion here.
91 posted on 12/03/2002 8:30:48 AM PST by justshutupandtakeit
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To: Catspaw
Free Republic is great. Before coming here, I thought that conservatives did view government as an evil, but a necessary one. I thought that's why "conservatives" advocated a limited government with strictly defined functions which it is not supposed to overstep. At least, that is what I took from my readings of The Federalist Papers and other documents from our nation's founding.

I'm learning that "conservative" means something far different than what I thought.

92 posted on 12/03/2002 8:31:27 AM PST by Trailerpark Badass
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To: Catspaw
I really don't think it has anything to do with luck... but more with awareness. I lived in the country where the local firehouse was a significant distance away. Chimney fires were not an uncommon way of life and if you didn't want to completely lose your home, you learned quickly how to take care of business on your own.

However, in that same light... everyone used the services of the local chimney sweep on a regular basis. Prevention is key.
93 posted on 12/03/2002 8:32:29 AM PST by myrabach
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To: Catspaw
That is a lesson freely available here at the drop of a hat or a remark that "well maybe the government is not TOTALLY evil ALL the time." You statist you.
94 posted on 12/03/2002 8:32:43 AM PST by justshutupandtakeit
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To: Trailerpark Badass
I'm learning that "conservative" means something far different than what I thought.

It means a thousand different things to a thousand different freepers, each calling upon their definition or redefinition of "conservative" when it suits them and if helps to buttress their argument. Being called "a liberal" or "socialist" because one takes an unpopular or contrary stance is a common debating trick on FR. I've been around here too long to let it phase me.

95 posted on 12/03/2002 8:34:59 AM PST by Catspaw
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To: Catspaw
I was siding with the other guy, if you couldn't tell.
96 posted on 12/03/2002 8:39:59 AM PST by Trailerpark Badass
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To: ctdonath2
[Depends on who is in the house. If no children are around, many in fact do leave guns and ammo around (some very deliberately, some just because stuff tends to spread). 'tis not an indication of instability; actually, one could argue that having to lock the stuff up is an indication of the instability of others.]

Those were my thoughts. An unloaded gun is of little use.

Now if there are children around - yes, I see the point of locking them up. Of course, when I was a child we had loaded guns hanging on the wall and standing in the corner. I do admit children of today and of my time, as a whole, are quite different.

To me the only real guns safety is realizing what a gun is, what it can do, how and when to use it.

97 posted on 12/03/2002 8:41:53 AM PST by nanny
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To: myrabach
I lived out in the country & had a wood stove I used to heat most of the house. I tended it well & watched it like a hawk. After I sold the place and new folks moved in, they stoked that baby up right before they left for work--the metal ductwork got hotter than hell, the house caught on fire & the place burned to the ground, or pretty near.

You can't always predict that after you put out the chimney fire in the wood stove or fireplace that the fire's out. In the case of my former abode, the fire took hold where the duct went through the ceiling of the 1st floor & got into the subflooring of the 2nd floor. It didn't break out for about six hours (at least that's when the fire department was called when a neighbor noticed flames). If it's a chimney fire, it can go through the cracks created from the chimney fire, into the wood frame of the house--and around here, wood in old houses are tinder-dry--and have the fire smolder for hours before getting enough head on it (or to a good oxygen source) so that just dousing the fire with a garden hose isn't going to cut it.

Then there's the matter of smoke inhalation. I've had it once and it's not something I'd go through again, and I was young & healthy (although I was pregnant) when I caught a big snootful of smoke. If someone has any respiratory or heart problems, it is definitely risky.

98 posted on 12/03/2002 8:48:09 AM PST by Catspaw
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To: Trailerpark Badass
Oh, I'm sure you were. I was just pointing out that on FR, the definition of conservatism mutates frequently, depending on the argument presented.
99 posted on 12/03/2002 8:50:03 AM PST by Catspaw
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To: justshutupandtakeit
"...And I suppose you leave ...ammunicition lying about your home?..."

And what do you suggest people do with ammunition ?

100 posted on 12/03/2002 9:00:01 AM PST by gatex
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