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Defensive Gun Use of the Day: Shovel This Edition

Dan Zimmerman - comments No comments

Remember the outbreak of squeegee men back in the late 80s and early 90s? You’d stop at a traffic light and some grifter would sidle up, perfunctorily wipe your windshield and then demand money in exchange for leaving your glass in one piece. While it happened in a number of cities, it was one of the best-loved parts of the gorgeous mosaic that was New York City under David Dinkins’ administration. Along with the race riots, that is. Anyway, a new twist on the scam is back now that a large swath of the country has spent most of the last two months under a thick blanket of global warming . . .

As lowellsun.com tells it,

“A man forcefully demanding money for shoveling the driveway of a woman who hadn’t asked that her driveway be shoveled found himself dealing with a very tough customer in Centralville (Massachusetts) Tuesday night.”

Probably figuring they’d be easy marks, the opportunistic shoveler picked the home of a 79-year-old woman and her 81-year-old husband. But when granny told him to get lost, he became more insistent.

“He started banging on the door louder so they got nervous,” Capt. Thomas Meehan said of the couple who live in the home.

It turns out fear wasn’t all the couple had, though. The woman also has a license to carry a firearm.

“She feared he was going to break in so she opened the door again with the firearm at her side,” Meehan said. “She never pointed it, but she said ‘get off my property. I’m going to call the police.’ “

“He decided to leave,” Meehan said of the man.

Imagine that. The cops later found him, but no arrest was made. And Capt. Meehan told a reporter that the woman broke no laws in displaying her handgun in the doorway of her own home. But we knew that.

[h/t LeftShooter]

0 thoughts on “Defensive Gun Use of the Day: Shovel <i>This</i> Edition”

  1. Then prepare yourself for a war, if you don’t believe the people have to the right to stand for what the people as a whole believe, not what law makers believe. Molan labe!

    Reply
  2. When I lived in the city during the ’90’s this was common. A guy or 2 would knock on my door at night “offering “to shovel .

    They were never dressed for outdoor work though,thin costs no Boots etc.

    Really it was a chance to knock on doors with no tire tracks in the driveway and check out the house .

    Worst case ( for them )some would agree and they would do a crap job and make a couple bucks. Nobody home, break in.

    Reply
    • If they’re doing it at night, nobody answers, and they break in, “‘worst case’ (for them)” would seem to be getting dead.

      It is funny because the squirrelbad guy gets dead.

      Reply
  3. The window “washers” didn’t start in the ’90s. Maybe that was when they made national attention (i.e., when Rudy Giuliani got rid of them and other miscreants). I drove a cab in NYC while I was in college in the’70s. Stuck in traffic, you were almost helpless to stop them from wiping your windows with a filthy rag and leaving it worse than it was. And then intimidating you into giving them money. Putting the car in park, opening the door, getting out and threatening them with grievous bodily harm usually worked for me. But then, I was pretty scary looking in my younger days.

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  4. It’s a tidge late for that; my daughter’s 25, and I got snipped the month after she was born.

    She’s always been kinda coltish, though…

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  5. Sounds like a line being drawn in the sand to me. A line that divides law enforcement AGENTS from representatives of justice. Our duty to defend our natural rights comes from a place these jack-booted thugs know not.

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  6. I wanted a hog/coyote gun that I could ruin if I had to & not worry about it. I chose the Ruger American.

    .270 out of the box would not eject spent cartridges without a LOT of effort. Called Ruger; they had UPS at my door the next day. 1 week later UPS delivers the rifle. Ruger included the W.O. of the work done (polished the chamber) and an extra mag. This was a better experience than I had with Savage on a 17HMR that wouldn’t fire (I had to pay the frt to the factory and no explanation was given of the repair).

    At the range with a 15-20 mph 25 deg cross-wind (approx). After sighting in the Nikon 4.5-14 BDC at 60 yds, then at 100 yds, I managed less than 1.25″ MOA at 100 yds shooting Rem Core-Lokt 130gr. I’m confident that when mother nature gives me a calm day I’m going to decrease that MOA by at least the .25″. After adding a slip-on Limbsaver the lack of recoil is amazing. I don’t see how I could be any more pleased with a rifle that cost me $319 at Dick’s.

    The trigger is crisp and perfect for my taste. The bolt could be smoother, but this is picking nits.

    Reply
  7. Granny did the whole “get off my lawn” thing even better than Clint.

    I once had a squeegee man come over to me and ask if he could clean my car windows. When I said no, he said “please, mister, I’ll do a good job.” He sounded so sad and sincere that I couldn’t resist.

    He did all the windows and both side mirrors. Suffice it to say that my windows never looked as clean and shiny as they did that day.

    Reply
  8. They do not have a responsibility to obey a law that is in complete contradiction to the Constitution of the United States or the Bill of Rights. Do you think that you can just create laws that strip us of our liberties and that we should become surfs and celebrate our enslavement?

    Reply
  9. No, and furthermore HELL no. IF I ever get married and have kids (hopefully in that order) that’s not going to happen. I haven’t given much thought to the matter but I”m not naming my kid after a brand name ANYTHING. That’s the kind of thing that ghetto/trailer trash does.

    Reply
  10. And for every individual gun owner who is prosecuted under this unconstitutional law, shall have cause to sue the state for damages when the law is found in violation of the constitution and overturned.

    this law may turn out to be _very_ expensive for the state and taxpayers.

    Reply
  11. When I lived in a state that had unreasonable regulations and limitations on Guns, I moved.
    So be it for the morons that stay. Vote with your feet.

    Reply
  12. My local news, then TTAG,then TAGG two or three times a day, then TTAG last thing at night. I’m going to have to start spelling it out so my wife doesn’t think it is The Truth About Girls.

    Reply
  13. I wouldn’t trust Adam Winkler’s opinion about gun control any more than I would trust Henry Winkler’s opinion about reverse mortgages.

    Reply
  14. I wonder why the drum mag was ditched. It looked more compact than that 32-rounder along with having double the capacity. TTAG reviewed the Calico and reported problems with its helical drum so maybe a mag design like that is just not sufficiently soldier-proof.

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  15. Not sure it’s good he is gone. While his pounding on gun control was over the top, it was over the top to even reasonable people.

    It was easy for most to dismiss him.

    We may end up with someone who wants “reasonable measures” and may be capable of swaying viewers, which Piers was not capable of doing.

    Just sayin’

    Reply
  16. *hums last bars of the most popular birthday themed song in the world with TTAG in the name*

    Oh me? No, I didn’t say anything. Piers who? Never heard of him.

    😉

    Reply

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