What the hell is wrong with people?

Hey kid, what do you expect? You get back what you put out. That's the Law of Karma.

If your self image is "Skeletor", who we all know is the Evil Destroyer, the baddest due in the universe, you should expect life to give you some negative feedback.

Spend a few days in self contemplation while tuned to the Cartoon Channel. You will probably find that you are not Skeletor after all. Maybe You're really Sponge Bob, or Tweety Bird, or Stimpy, or maybe Cartman.

However, if you decide that you are really a PowerPuff Girl, or Hello Kitty, get that M-1 and blow the TV to Hell.
 
I guess I should mention that Skeletor is nothing more than a character in my favorite childhood cartoon. Sounds like a cool name too so I use it for an online name. You might be surprised if you saw me, my hair is 3/8" long, I shave every single morning, and I always wear a white undershirt. Overall I look pretty clean cut and even sane. I had that meeting today and all went extremely well. I read my statement which made the point that this issue with my teacher and I is more of a vandetta then anything else. My dad was there and he makes quite the interregator. The teacher, who is in her early 20s, is in a band called The Strap-Ons. I got online and found a dedicated website for it. I'll just say that lyrics involve flag burning, shooting heroin, and smoking crack. My dad made the point that she is really in no position to judge what I say. Here's a link to the site, my teacher is the one refered to as "the sex kitten". She's at the very top right of the photos section. http://www.thestrap-ons.com/
 
My art teacher always wore a bow tie, lived with his mother, and spoke with a lisp.

If I had your "Sex Kitten" for an art teacher, my pencil would always be sharp and and my paintbrush wet and ready.
 
were Jesuits. I think we've had different learning experiences.

(but it was the BEST four years of my life.)

Skelator? I'm very glad it went well.
 
OK Skeletor, sounds like you should be able to get through this, with the support from your parents.

But I too think that you (and your dad) are gonna need a lawyer to negotiate the "sale" and the zero tolerance (which is a euphemism for zero thought, zero responsability, zero culpability) maze. It's there to insure that the administrators can't be wrong, because they needn't decide anything, just follow the dumb rules.

And your art "teacher"'s example would be funny if it weren't so sad. The school rules regarding drugs would presumably suspend or expel someone quoting the songs.

Unless your ex-marine neighbor is qualified and wants to take responsibility (with your parent's consent) for teaching you safe and responsible operation of a firearm, which should be strict range rules all the time, get some classes. Habits and instinct come from repetitive interaction between mind and body, not reading a manual.

"Now about not knowing how to handle the weapon. I already knew how it worked and how to operate it after reading so much about Garands online in preperation for actually buying one. I had my retired Marine neighbor show me how to field strip it after I got it."

This isn't what is meant by properly handling a weapon, at least in by book. Any street punk and a lot of the goofs who accidentially shoot themselves or others know this much. You need some things tatooed onto your brain by a hard-ass instructor. They include things that sound simple, but aren't simple to do ALL the time without them being pounded into you, which is best done when first learning. Some examples are:

"Treat EVERY firearm as though it was loaded, ALL the time."

"Check whether a firearm is loaded EVERYTIME you pick it up, or put it down, even if you "know" it isnt."

"Don't depend on the safety."

"NEVER point a firearm at something/someone unless you fully intend to shoot it/them."

"Know how far a round can travel, and take that into consideration at ALL times."

"NEVER store or transport a loaded weapon."

Before you think of some example where these rules aren't valid, and there are a very, very, very, rare few, the idea is that you are totally aware of any instant that you aren't following these rules, and instinctively follow them whenever possible. You also immediately recognize when someone else isn't being safe. This takes training. Most anything you see on TeeVee involving firearms like gesturing with pistols is B.S. Wave a firearm at me, and you are either recklessly endangering my life, or about to intentionally shoot me. There is no middle ground here. Lots of folks would shoot you first if they thought the latter. This is serious stuff, and the egregious lack of it's teaching is a big reason why there's such misunderstanding of firearms today, IMO.

Now I'm off the soapbox, and I second the suggestion that you don't further discuss the particulars of your case on the forums until it is completely and permanently resolved. Any lawyer would tell you the same, I think. Good luck, though with a good lawyer, you shouldn't need luck to come out of this OK.
 
I'm not worried about talking about anything on the forums. Everything that I have said here is already on a taped conversation that I had with a detective, I have nothing to hide. About the firearms training, I hadn't really talked to my neighbor about really training me but he was a marksmanship instructor in the Marines so he was certainly qualified. Even when there wasn't a 30.06 round in the house I still cleared the weapon before and after handling and only removed the safety for dry-firing (I got the ammo about an hour after the Garand was taked). As far as the lawyer goes, that shouldn't be necessary. The school is on my side after the meeting, but the higher ups are the ones who will be sorting this out. If I'm not allowed to go to school on tuesday then there will be a lawyer involved.
 
Some examples are:

"Treat EVERY firearm as though it was loaded, ALL the time."

"Check whether a firearm is loaded EVERYTIME you pick it up, or put it down, even if you "know" it isnt."

"Don't depend on the safety."

"NEVER point a firearm at something/someone unless you fully intend to shoot it/them."

"Know how far a round can travel, and take that into consideration at ALL times."

"NEVER store or transport a loaded weapon."
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My dad hammered all of those into my brain before I was 10. Good job dad (if you're reading this)!

Also (a corollary to your penultimate point):
Always be sure of your backstop.
 
Anyone listen to the teacher's band ughhh...hippy yuppy punk:barf: Morons like this give Punk music a bad name, though I suppose theyre not quite as bad as the pop-punk that seems to be flooding the market. Though I gotta agree with Ben, if she was my art teacher I wouldnt miss class:D

As for lawyer's aside from the school situation, in context of your friend, you may still need one. Especially concerning the fire-arm. School boards are one thing, but receiving stolen property is no small matter. Especially if its a gun, from a murderer. Lot of bad mojo there. Even if the long arm of the law does over-look that (receiving stolen property is no small matter), if your relationship was that close to your friend, and the detectives are worth thier salt, you will be called in for questioning. Questioning by cops, always have a lawyer. I made the mistake once of not having one, and next thing I know the cops are reading a deposition of me testifying against a friend (which of course I did not).

As for gun-safety/use there is no substitute for a good course. Its like trying to learn a martial art by reading online, you just cant do it. As for dry firing your rifle, one thing a good gun safety course would teach you, is that firing an un-loaded gun is really bad for the firing pin, and a quick way to damage you gun. :D
 
I haven't listened to her band and don't plan on it, the lyrics is enough for me. I agree about crappy punk bands, people just can't seem to get enough Blink182 etc. I used to listen to alot of Descendents and Wire, all of that good stuff. I started listening to some more relaxing music a few years ago, Sinatra mainly. I hope that tape that the detective has doesn't get twisted against my friend, I can't think of how it would be but what do I know. I know for certain that buying that gun isn't going to be a problem, the detective flat out said I wasn't in any trouble.
 
"About the firearms training, I hadn't really talked to my neighbor about really training me but he was a marksmanship instructor in the Marines so he was certainly qualified."

Good neighbor to have, yet another newly revealed detail that you weren't acting as irresponsibly as it might have been imagined from your earlier post. (I might take some heat for this, but just being an ex-marine doesn't automatically qualify one to properly instruct others in firearm safety--but no question in this case.)

"Even when there wasn't a 30.06 round in the house I still cleared the weapon before and after handling..."

Looks like you get it. Good. But no "even" about it--that's what you should do if there isn't a round in the whole state. You've got a proper start.

It may have sounded like I was dumping on you, lecturing you about stuff you already knew, but unless more people understand and treat firearms the way they should, it will certainly be made harder for anyone to own them.

You've got a lot going for you, and you've produced some good hole-cards lately. :) Just keep a low profile, don't let them stereotype you, and you should be fine.

BTW, I didn't mean to imply that I was puritan in my music tastes...I own and enjoy albums by Frank Zappa, The Plasmatics, and many others with "objectionable" lyrics and attitudes. Won't bother to download sound over a modem, but I won't get into a snit over the lyrics, I own discs with better/worse. How someone who obviously revels in their own freedom, and feels the need to confront some societal norms can so vigorously support and employ a school policy that is designed to remove freedom is what's sad. Seems either very stupid or very selfish. Or maybe just stuck in the same system and scared about keeping a job.
 
Anyone listen to the teacher's band ughhh...hippy yuppy punk:barf:
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Now I'm sure I won't bother to download!
Fed, thank's for feeling the pain for the rest of us:)

Makes me want to put on some Jon Spencer or Butthole Surfers to get the thought out of my mind.

Or maybe a nice orchestral like Boulez conducts Zappa...
 
Sounds like its too late for a lawyer, but as far as detectives go I dont trust a damn word one says. Ive heard them say so many damned things that are lies, them and lawyers must be related.

As for the teacher's band, for as bad as they are someone in the band must have some money, as it would appear that theyve put out alot of records. Last time I checked around studio time wasnt cheap. Then again, I suppose thats assuming they actually recorded in a studio. For all I know thier albums could have recorded on a boom box. Anyways the cheez is what really got me about thier music.
 
Sounds like its too late for a lawyer, but as far as detectives go I dont trust a damn word one says. Ive heard them say so many damned things that are lies, them and lawyers must be related.
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You mean like they are portrayed on TeeVee? Scarey, glad I haven't had to deal with one.

Sometimes good recording can be done on the way, way cheap. I've got a couple of discs with stuff Devo recorded around '75 on 4-track in some basement. Great stuff, but you have to like the band, of course. But a string quartet would likely suffer with that set-up.;)
 
skelator


how old are you if you dont mind me saying so?

also you gotta tone it down bro... i mean... I agree that teachers can sometimes not be at one with reality and tend to over react to a lot of stuff... but you also have to be aware that some teachers can be like this and you gotta act "correctly" around them.

sorry about your friend... my advice to you concerning this is that you gotta be a much better judge of character. there are a lot of people out there with loose skrews in their head... and they seem "normal" most of the time and then there are those times when they just trip out and do somethig stupid (like your friend did)

learn as much as you can from it. Think about it a lot. Grow more mature and use this negative experience to grow wiser and gaina greater perspective of the world around you.

I never realized until I was around 21 (kinda late IMO) that sometimes the people that seem the nicest on the outside are capable of the most evil.
 
Originally posted by Federico
Sounds like its too late for a lawyer, but as far as detectives go I dont trust a damn word one says. Ive heard them say so many damned things that are lies, them and lawyers must be related.
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Yep, I agree.

Here is some more unsolicited advice from some one who knows. I posted this in a different forum not too long ago.

"The cops are not your friend....a lesson learned many years ago the hard way.

The cop's job is to make arrests. The prosecutor's job is to get convictions. Guilt or innocence has very little to do with it. It's as simple as that."

It was a big mistake to talk to the police without a lawyer present. There are lots of people in prison who made that mistake. They tried to "explain" things to the cops.

Your mouth is your worst enemy. Never forget that.

I am not anti-cop and I know there are good LEO's out there. But you can't trust that the cop you talk to you is one of the good guys.
 
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