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Pro Tip: Open Carry and Random Rifle Fire is Illegal in California

Dan Zimmerman - comments No comments

Every year, the calls go out as the end of the year nears: please don’t shoot your gun into the air to celebrate the new year. It seems that plea wasn’t heard by a Fresno man, Juan Rolons. Cops who were on patrol heard the sound of gun fire and . . .

They responded to the area and saw a man walking with an AR-15 rifle.

Perhaps Mr. Rolons wasn’t aware that California had outlawed the open carry of long guns back in 2012. He clearly didn’t want to run out of ammo while ringing in the new year, as he was also toting a full ammo can when police found him.

Detectives confronted the man in the street. At first, he was uncooperative and acting intoxicated police say.

Finally, he began listening to the officer’s commands before the situation escalated.

We’re certainly pleased to hear that Mr. Rolons walked away from the encounter without any additional orifices. Now that he’s sobered up though, he has some legal issues to deal with. The report indicates he’s facing a weapons possession charge, so there’s a decent chance he has a criminal record that prohibited him from owning a firearm. We’d guess that additional changes such as discharging the rifle within city limits, reckless endangerment and illegal open carry may follow soon, too.

 

 

0 thoughts on “Pro Tip: Open Carry and Random Rifle Fire is Illegal in California”

  1. I was browsing a local gun forum and saw that a dealer had just acquired a huge collection of high-end guns and was selling them off at ridiculous prices. I bought a Sig X6 B&W for less than they were selling for new when Germany was still allowing the Sig Mastershop guns to be sent to America. I can easily sell it for 2.5 times what I paid for it but it shoots so well I will never sell it.

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  2. A weapons possession charge does indeed sound like he was already a prohibited possessor. Thank goodness for such laws, like those barring felons from possessing firearms, because it’s a slam dunk case to throw them back in prison.

    I know, I know, “anyone who can’t be trusted with a firearm, can’t be trusted to walk the streets.” I get it; the problem is that the public doesn’t. You can’t just lock up for life on the first offense the scum that we all know will become career criminals. Just about eveyone gets a second chance. Hell, even in Texas, not only do we have such a law, it’s even named the “Second Chance Law”, as I recall. (This one pertains to DWI offenses up to .14 BAC.)

    So we let the felons out, bar them from guns, then send them right back to prison via the express lane when they invariably screw up again and prance around with a gun.

    Recidivism is voluntary. Here’s to stupid people making stupid decisions.

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  3. I never feel like open carrying an AR with an ammo can and shooting into the air when I drink. I must be drinking the the wrong stuff.

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  4. It’s not illegal to open carry a firearm in CA. It’s illegal to open carry in an incorporated area. Otherwise hunting would be banned. At least with firearms.

    And I’m not aware of any state that allows you to randomly discharge any firearm within incorporated areas.

    Reply
  5. The wind’s gettin’ a bit choppy. You can compensate for it, or you can wait it out, but he might leave before it dies down. It’s your call. Remember what I’ve taught you. Keep in mind variable humidity and wind speed along the bullet’s flight path. At this distance you’ll also have to take the Coriolis Effect into account.

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  6. None of this sounds like it is going to be useful to beginners. Need to get some basics straight first, then one can wrap themselves around this stuff later.

    Please don’t confuse the newbies.

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    • Kinda what I was thinking, Mama.
      If someone has graduated to a skill level where the Coriolis Effect is something they need to be concerned with – they have long since stopped being a beginner.
      Interesting physics anyway, fun for academic reasons alone.
      ????

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  7. “In most of these cases we’re talking about some 2 to 6 inches at 1,000 yards …”

    According to my math, the difference in velocity of two points separated 1,000 yards north-south on our Earth’s surface would only cause your bullet to hit about 1.34 inches left or right from expected point of impact. What other effect makes up the difference and produces “2 to 6 inches”?

    Here is my simple math:

    We can interpolate between the data points that Jeremy S. provided to estimate the difference of east-west velocity for two points that are 1,000 yards apart north-south. One degree of latitude is about 69 miles or 121,440 yards. Therefore the difference in east-west velocity, in m.p.h per yard of north/south separation, is about:
    (1,037 – 733) mph / (45 degrees latitude * 121,440 yards per degree latitude)
    = 0.00005563 mph / yard of north-south separation

    Thus, if you and the target are 1,000 yards apart north-south, your difference in east-west velocity is about 0.05563 mph. Now we have to translate that to feet per second to see how many feet east-west the bullet moves during the transit time to fly 1,000 yards north-south:
    0.05563 (miles / hour) * (5280 feet / mile) * (1 hour / 3600 seconds) = 0.08159 feet per second.

    Assuming that a typical rifle bullet has an average velocity of roughly 2,200 feet per second during its 1,000 yard flight to its target, the bullet would be airborne for about 1,000 yards * (3 feet / yard) / 2,200 feet per second = 1.364 seconds. Thus, the bullet would “drift” about 0.08159 feet per second * 1.364 seconds = 0.1112 feet which equals 1.34 inches.

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  8. In utter seriousness, I offer the following mission to a well-heeled soul with plenty of money and time on his hands. Buy a fairly flat large plot of land, with one dimension of at least 1000 yards. Have a barn or build one at one end. Assemble a shooting bench on the other, facing the broad side of the barn at an angle of exactly 90 degrees and approximately 10 feet above grade. Make sure the broad side of the barn is at least 20 feet high. Paint a bull’s-eye at least 20 feet in diameter filling the broad side of the barn. Measure the exact distance from the bench to the barn and the azimuth(?) the shot will take.

    Fire away.

    Calculate.

    Publish results.

    Become even richer and more famous.

    Reply
  9. Anyone have better info/links/video on why shooting North/South deflects the bullet in the same direction? The physics in my head (and on a sheet of paper) say they should deflect opposite. The analogy in the article isn’t helping me.

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  10. Lack of gun control? LACK?! What is this “lack” of that you speak, Mr. Murphy?

    Everywhere I turn I’m restricted from:
    – certain types of handguns
    – certain types of rifles
    – carrying
    – ammunition via the InterWeb
    …and that’s just a few.

    Lack of control? Methinks not.

    From the shining socialistic cesspool, Kalifornia.

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  11. mine was manuf in ’70. it had already been transfer barred and magnaported by the time i bought. i never changed the big fat wood grips the po had installed. i’ve got the old grips and the sealed bag of old trigger parts. over thirty years later gun is still strong like bull.
    they shipped them back from the mod in a yellowish box. original white boxes are dumb expensive because of that.
    it caused one of my narrow escapes to cry until the range master offered some non- magnum loads. that ended the tears and sniffles. magnum loads were less than fifteen dollars a box, range re- loads even cheaper but the non- jacketed rounds piled lead at the far end of the trapezoidal ports. i’m happy to find factory boxes under forty now.
    .44mag is a great cartridge. it’s fun in the deagle and the 94ae.
    but the ruger was my first, it would be the last i’d part with.

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  12. P.S: California outlawed the open carry of UNloaded long guns in incorporated areas 2012; it banned the carrying of LOADED long guns in 1969.

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