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Irresponsible Gun Owner of the Day: Mountain City Police Officer Jody Putnam [Not Shown]

Robert Farago - comments No comments

Quite why Mountain City Police Officer Jody Putnam decided to shoot a squirrel inside a Dollar General store is something of a mystery. Phobia? Substance abuse-related cognitive issues? Officer Putnam’s subsequent decision to mace the mammal is similarly strange, given that the store had customers inside it at the time. I suppose Mountain City’s 2,383 residents (as of 2000) should be grateful that Officer Putnam went rogue on a squirrel rather than a two-legged varmint. Still, you gotta wonder, as wsav.com did, if there’d been some warning signs about the former Captain at the Johnson County Tennessee Sheriff’s Office leading up to this incident. And, as wsav.com didn’t, what happened to the squirrel. In any case, Officer Putnam’s job loss is the rodents’ gain. Then again, our IGOTD now has some time on his hands and a score to settle . . .

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Robert Farago

Robert Farago is the former publisher of The Truth About Guns (TTAG). He started the site to explore the ethics, morality, business, politics, culture, technology, practice, strategy, dangers and fun of guns.

0 thoughts on “Irresponsible Gun Owner of the Day: Mountain City Police Officer Jody Putnam [Not Shown]”

  1. Birdshot is OK for self defense if you’re expecting an attack by pheasant… *tongue in cheek*

    I prefer buckshot, but I wouldn’t want either flying at me, both will get your point across.

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  2. “why were they assuming evil intent in the first place?” – CALIFORNIA…

    I grew up here. I Airsofted here, I own here, I shoot here. I hate it here. Everyone has FUD, the media and politicians are full of sh**, and here in Los Angeles, we have NO LTC, no Open Carry, and numerous draconian legislation that takes a law degree to understand.

    We used to have Unloaded OC, but that went out the window when those knuckle heads decided it would be a good idea to rub it in a bunch of tree huggers faces at Starbucks’ across the southland. *slow clap* worked real well… *eye roll*

    We’re continuing to loose more every time they open the doors to the discussion. I’ve spent many hours and dollars fighting, and every time the dust settles, it seems like everyone is always saying “Well it could have been worse” well…. It is worse. A 13yr old just died because of the nonsense. He wasn’t causing a problem, and it was a fake a long gun. How many more times is being a n owner of firearms, going to come back and bite us in the ass because someone decided that simply owning a gun makes you loony tunes.

    The death of this teenager is on the hands of the disarmament culture. Period.
    $0.02

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  3. Jody? Really? If you wanted to put a chip on a boy childs shoulders Jody will do it. Why not Sue? Or did the man in black threaten legal action?

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  4. I’ve mentioned this earlier…but those guns are sold with an orange tip in the front to dispel any realism that would cause some kind of police error. Why would the kid break the tip of his Airsoft rifle off??? I find it particularly suspicious that the front of this gun is broken and in fact think that the two officers involved may have something to do with that.

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  5. I had a pretty nice concussion about a year ago. Being knocked out like that REALLY sucks.

    You spend days throwing up, and motor skills are lessened for weeks. I guarantee while the firefighters had him pinned he had NO idea where he was, and was scared for his life.

    What you get for robbing a place at knife point…

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  6. So let me get this straight. Our troops overseas have to wait until they’re fired upon to fire back on terrorists that will stop at nothing to kill every Westerner on their side of the ocean, but a cop in the US can fire on a US resident (and a child at that) because “he felt threatened”. We give more of the benefit of the doubt and more leniency to terrorists in their backyard.

    Proving the main duty of police is to go home at the end of their shift. The way I see it the police operate in a warzone and anyone not in a blue (or tan/black) uniform is an insurgent.

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  7. Maybe I read it wrong but I thought the cops approached from behind and ordered him to put down the gun, and when he turned they shot him. I bet if they had approached him head on and he saw them with guns drawn he’d still be alive. Alas…

    And how many criminals walk down the street with an ak? I mean, he wasn’t wearing a black trench coat or joker outfit. 😛

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  8. My shopping method:
    1 – What is the purpose that needs to be filled and is there alot of ammo/parts availability? (right now, i can only afford needs, not wants; owned my first gun just last year, so im fairly new to the gun scene)
    2 – Look at popular video/article reviews to see what’s out there. Hickok45 and Nutnfancy are usually my first two stops (yes… i do in fact enjoy nutnfancy’s videos. :P). TTAG is third. Google search reviews and forum findings after those.
    3 – After getting a list of potential firearms, i put important/relevant specs/features and notes into an excel spreadsheet and see where each firearms ranks in meeting my purpose and being affordable.
    4 – go to the nearest gun range to see if the firearm i want is there. Try it for the next 2-3 range trips. Prevents splurge purchasing, but more importantly I familiarize myself with the weapon, and reorganize spec/feature importance with the experience from the range.
    5 – go price researching, and have a goal / maximum price in mind, and if I come across it either through gun shows/online methods (gunbroker, etc), i buy.

    Some examples of where I first came across guns that I have/desire:
    Conceal carry & Home carry – Glock’s heavy market presence (shows up in youtube, coworkers, friends, forums,… everywhere)
    Target practice – youtube, especially nutnfancy
    Conceal work carry – TTAG. coach guns are fun 😀
    Home defense – youtube, esp hickok45 videos

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