Walmart Wichita Falls incident
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It’s a common question we get and it isn’t limited to non-gun-people: Why do you carry a gun every day? Having your EDC as an actual, honest-to-God EDC is a foreign concept, even to some people within the gun world.

Sure, they go plinking or they hunt, but they don’t carry. If you carry every single day, you’re either paranoid or looking for trouble, right?

Wrong.

On Friday evening, a man visited my local Walmart within hours of my own trip to the store that day. His behavior at the Wichita Falls Walmart was neatly summed up by one witness:

“This guy had a purpose; I knew he had a purpose when I looked into his eyes,” Walmart attempted theft witness Jamie Pruett said. “He wasn’t there to rob or steal something—he was there to hurt and kill people.”

TexomasHomePage.com described the incident:

According to WFPD Public Information Officer Sgt. Harold McClure, officers responded to an attempted theft call about 11:20 p.m. Friday to a possible theft.

McClure said store surveillance footage showed a Comanche County [Oklahoma] Sheriff’s Office unit dropped San Antonion Ken Esparza, 38, off at the Walmart Friday night.

When they arrived, officers were told a man was attempting to break into the gun cabinet and was armed with a baseball bat. They were also told it was possibly an active shooter situation.

So here we are at nearly midnight on a Friday night at a popular Walmart in a reasonably large northern Texas town, and there’s a guy using a baseball bat to break into the gun display. A guy who was apparently dropped off at the Walmart by an out-of-state deputy.

LEOs arrived and confronted Esparza:

Officers said when they reached Esparza, they say broken glass from the gun cabinet and a gun missing from the cabinet and Esparza holding a baseball bat. That was shortly after Pruett came face-to-face with the suspect.

An unstable guy with a bat. Check. Unstable guy who now has a gun. Check.

walmart ammunition sales
You find the most fascinating people at Walmart, too. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Let’s back up a second. Remember how he reportedly got to the store in the first place, courtesy of a Comanche County deputy? Here’s how that happened:

As for why he was dropped off in Wichita Falls, Comanche County [OK] Sheriff Kenny Stradley said the deputies were called to a Lawton [Oklahoma] mall about Esparza allegedly stealing a knife.

Stradley said no charges were filed from that incident, and he said Esparza didn’t meet the criteria of a threat to himself or others at that time.

Stradley said Esparza told deputies he was headed to a Texas city, so Stradley told deputies to drop Esparza off at the Walmart in Wichita Falls instead of letting Esparza walk on the road.

So they did. To be clear, a Lawton, Oklahoma LEO picked up an apparently disturbed robbery suspect, put him in a cruiser, got on the interstate and drove him almost an hour south, just over the state line, before dumping him in front of the nearest Wally World. My local Wally World.

WFPD Public Information Officer Sgt. Harold McClure released this “no duh” statement regarding the incident:

“A person in Esparza’s mental condition should have never been brought in from OK and dropped off in Texas at a Wichita Falls Walmart, placing our citizens in extreme danger and forcing WFPD officers to deal with this highly volatile situation, which they handled with professionalism,” McClure stated.

Thanks, Oklahoma. Nicely played.

In the end the man was arrested and is being charged with everything from aggravated assaulted with a deadly weapon to making a terroristic threat.

In case it needs to be said, this is why we carry. I’ve been questioned why I tote a gun if I’m just running over to Walmart. This Walmart. You know, the one where the guy hell bent on hurting people was dropped off by none other than Oklahoma law enforcement (we’re just over the Red River state line here, in case you’re wondering).

This is why we carry all the time not just when it’s convenient or when we feel like it. This is why we dress around the gun not the other way around. You have no way of knowing when something bizarre like this will happen…when an apparently lazy Okie LEO will dump a violent criminal into your jurisdiction. Come on, who could have predicted that?

If you’re among the crowd who rationalizes and tells themselves they don’t carry every day because it’s hot or uncomfortable, get over it. Make it work.

There are a number of gun guys working in non-permissive environments who find a way to carry, whether it’s using belly bands, ankle holsters, whatever. They make it work.

I carried for years in scrubs. You can do it, too. After all, isn’t your life worth the minor inconvenience of holstering up before you leave the house? It isn’t paranoia when they really are out to get you.

 

 

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133 COMMENTS

  1. To be fair, it is difficult to carry in scrubs. I had to resort to a NAA mini-revolver.

    Still, the main point is: EDC means every day.

      • Rick’s a professional, Dr. ‘Tard.

        Unlike you, a rank amateur sorry-ass excuse of a troll… 🙂

      • Hey Shit-For_Brains. Are you suggestion a “janitor” at a hospital is not an honorable job? What an elitist cock-sucking attitude you have there.

        • These days its a pretty risky job, active shooters and criminals would be the least of my worries. Super bugs / antibiotic resistant bugs, and now Kung Flu / WuFlu going around, nasty places. A year or so ago, the entire family got some nasty stuff from a cancer treatment hospital that put us in bed for several weeks. That’s the VA standard of care, they send you to the worst and nastiest place in town. It was some place in Houston and extended family ended up dying there because he caught pneumonia while getting a tumor removed.

          Indeed its an honorable job, but shit, tool up with a properly fitted TB mask and wash your hands non-stop. The sewers below a hospital likely harbor the next dooms day plague.

          Then again, not everyone chained to a hospital bed is a horrible criminal. I was cuffed to one back in 2010 when cops got the wrong house and act like retards in plain cloths. I never did pay for that MRI since the county caused the bill and I never requested the MRI to begin with.

        • HEY !!!!!…… What did you just SAY!!!!!!! WITH THAT FILTHY MOUTH OF YOURS !!!!!. My Mother just finished reading your comment and wondered why this site doesn’t monitor the FILTHY MOUTH’S of people like you.
          Even though I agree with what you had to say LETS NOT LISTEN TO YOUR FILTHY MOUTH in the process.

        • Wow Arc you were cuffed to a bed for your own good? Color me surprised…

        • “Even though I agree with what you had to say LETS NOT LISTEN TO YOUR FILTHY MOUTH in the process.”

          Then don’t listen. IOW, go somewhere else. If mommy can’t handle letters arranged in certain orders, which when spoken make certain sounds, then the problem isn’t here buckaroo. It’s with mommy. It’s that mommy ain’t actually an adult.

          If you don’t like “freedom of speech” then use “freedom of association” to go somewhere else where the speech doesn’t offend you. We’re not here to defend your mom’s virgin eyes/ears from things she doesn’t like.

      • So you’d know his vocation exactly HOW clown? Get used to the FACT that folks have recourse to self defense , and that is whether or not authoritarian Leftists such as YOU like it or not.

      • What kind of pu$$ makes a crack like that???….I can only IMAGINE what this queer looks like sitting behind his keyboard…

      • Dr. Cool apparently received his knowledge of concealed carry during his time as a faculty lounge lizard while majoring in gender studies at WhatsAMatterU. Graduating in the goat position Dr. Cool demonstrated his expertise for anyone within earshot, mostly those desperately trying to escape his pleas for a handout. I must admit it is an embarassment to see someone whenever he opens his mouth this type of vomit issues forth in such quantities. One would think he was running for th VP slot for Bernie.

    • “To be fair, it is difficult to carry in scrubs. I had to resort to a NAA mini-revolver.”

      Have you considered a belly band?

      • Geoff PR,

        Some healthcare workers have to tightly hold patients, essentially hugging their patients as part of transfers, diagnosis, treatment, and therapy. For those workers, a belly band is out of the question because their handgun in their belly band would frequently be digging into their patients.

        Those healthcare workers could probably use ankle holsters and maybe — MAYBE — belt holsters located at the 5 O’clock or 7 O’clock positions (small of the back) while wearing scrubs.

      • Hospitals in Florida are not in and of themselves gun free zones (GFZ) unless they have a psych ward, for example. Then even with a CCW you are forbidden to carry. Yes, an ankle holster or even belly band might work at the office in scrubs, but since all hospitals I work at have a psych ward that won’t work there.

      • There are a number of gun guys working in non-permissive environments who find a way to carry, whether it’s using belly bands, ankle holsters, whatever. They make it work.

    • As an EMT with a fire department and a wilderness SAR team leader I always carried concealed. That was 25 years ago, and it was for two reasons. First that I believe in it, and secondly because those who trained me explained that a number of the city paramedics kept handguns concealed in their gear bags. Not because they were wanting to be cops or shoot anybody but because they understood they went into high crime areas where even medical and rescue people could be targeted by criminals.

      The hospital scrubs problem would be easier to solve today I think then back then. So many small, thin, flat handguns now. Much easier to conceal. Start by being physically height-weight proportionate, and consider that belly band holster. Or for the female medical staff, the bra holster offers them a unique gender advantage. In either case the baggy nature of scrubs could be an advantage.

      Big problem will always be hospital administrators and their lawyers. Far better to their thinking to ban firearms and accept the rare violence done to the staff.

      • Indeed. Hospitals in my area will fire staff for possession of a firearm. They do take security seriously (metal detectors, screening, badge access etc.) but they’re highly antigun. It has it’s own form as part of the onboarding process – no sign, no hire. If you’re ever caught with a firearm it’s instant dismissal. Yay zero tolerance policies. Healthcare in general is quite anti-gun, unfortunately. Lots of bleeding hearts and foolish smart people.

        • This. I’m boosting, helping stand, cleaning, and frequently getting hands on with aggressive patients every day at my current job (RN, Neuro/Trauma ICU). There is virtually no way to conceal a proper handgun in my scrubs. Anyone close will feel my belly band, ankle holster, with the loose way scrub pants fit, and over my sock for a 12 hour, very sweaty shift? Not a chance. Pocket carry? MAYBE, but I need my pockets and even my LCP still bulges them out quite a bit. IWB would inevitably print or become horribly uncomfortable after a few hours. As such. I’m unfortunately forced to keep my work carry piece in my work bag locked in my locker, which is thankfully only 50 feet away most of the time.

        • Yeah…..”foolish smart people” don’t exist….. if their anti gun, then their just fkn stupid…. sorry but the truth hurts in this instance…
          And, I’ll add to that, the fact is, there are WAY too many people in positions in hospitals they have NO BUSINESS to be in….
          YAY AFFIRMATIVE ACTION…. lol

        • Good luck Freezy, here’s hoping you never need that piece in too much of a hurry. Thanks for doing what you do.

          >>George WashingtonGl: Yeah…..”foolish smart people” don’t exist….. if their anti gun, then their just fkn stupid…
          Definition of smart: Having or showing intelligence
          Definition of foolish: Lacking or exhibiting a lack of good sense or judgment
          Intelligent people lacking good sense & judgment exist. I’ve known some brilliant people who fail to exhibit common sense. Guns are just another area where otherwise intelligent people react emotionally in the manner they’ve been programmed. Having dialogue and getting them to reason past their cognitive dissonance is the answer – though you will not always be successful. Still a better choice than writing off everyone who disagrees as stupid.

    • I haven’t worn a shoulder holster in decades. I never liked them. I’ve never worn scrubs. I wonder if a shoulder holster with a smallish handgun would work under scrubs?

      • As someone who has scrubs for most of my adult life, I believe that the belly band, or a chest band version (that you reach the firearm from above via the V neck) is the only really workable option, if your work environment allows any kind of carry anyway.

      • I don’t think it would be a good solution. Scrubs are usually pretty thin garments. Even the straps on the back might show. Then how do you get to the gun? Pull your top off? Stylish, but I think a belly band or ankle holster would be better. Or if you really want to carry in that place on your body, a conceal holster undershirt.

    • Correct, just do what you need to do, don’t publicize what resources you have available at any given moment.

      But you might want to consider another option if you’re working near the MRI suite…

    • No it’s not.

      Scrub pants with belt loops, daily belt and IWB. Keep your scrub top untucked. Hides my G19 same as street clothes.

    • mini’s are always a good idea as a last resort…just drop it into your pocket along with your keys…

    • I’d like to take this time to point out in this Walmart themed article, to shop at Walmart people. Walmart has dicktape on sale all month in honor of mexican pride month.

    • When I worked at a gun store we had a doctor customer who wore scrubs with belt loops and carried a G19 with a red dot before that was cool. It can be done.

    • a one shot ,five round NAA, is better than a bat,knife, or big fists n feet…. but it kicks hard so one good shot is all u really get make it count by practicing and shoot very close.

  2. Must been that the Oklahoma deputy is a Biden supporter, trying to influence the upcoming election in Texas. Hope he gets fired and charged with aiding and abetting a criminal. Make sure this clown of a deputy never has access to a gun ever again.

    • The way I read it the deputy was following the boss’s orders. Maybe the boss needs to be fired and the deputy needs a stint as a meter maid.

  3. “I carried for years in scrubs. You can do it, too.”

    A few years back, I had a fascinating conversation in the recovery room of a local hospital where I was picking up my dad from a hernia operation. My dad’s surgeon was grousing about buying and carrying a gun, the news at the time was the nutball who tried to murder his psychiatrist, in another hospital environment. I encouraged him in his endeavor, and suggested he get training and a secure place to store it.

    His questions for me was carry options when wearing surgical scrubs.

    Folks are coming around to the necessity of carry in non-conventional places…

    • yea I don’t like it that all the hospitals here all have signs up no weapons allowed concealed permits not honored either so I have to leave my weapon in the car and go unarmed

      • Pretty sure we have those here, too, but I’ve never stopped to read them. If the day comes I have to defend my life, *then* I’ll read them and be concerned, but first I’ll still be alive. Otherwise, concealed is concealed. I’ll return my gun to my car once my business at the hospital is complete.

        • /\this. Concealed means concealed. I work security at several hospitals. At least once a week some numbnuts comes in open carrying and will get pissed and start spouting about how the law is written. I am then forced into an uncomfortable position of explaining that its private property and he’s trespassing if he doesn’t move it out to the car. If its concealed we aren’t forced to have this conversation, I won’t say shit when I see one printing but my hand is forced when its out in the open.

      • Truckman, there is an alternative. I lost my dad last September. I called 911 for him the previous June. He never came home again. Hospitals, rehab facilities, extended care facilities… All had “no firearms” decals on the door. I walked past them with a handgun, reload, knife, Surefire and PX. Fuck ’em they can’t take a joke. Besides, in Florida, unless it’s a government building, those little signs have no criminal liability. All they can do is ask you to leave. And unless it’s a courtroom the government buildings don’t have metal detectors. So I ignore those too. As for courtrooms. I haven’t had testify in court in five years.

  4. That whole situation is just…whut?

    So OK LE picked up a guy trying to steal a knife at a mall in OK, and instead of arresting him, they give him a ride to Texas and just drop him off there? Dafuq?

    The quotes from the original news article are so badly written it was a bit hard to follow along. *sigh* journalists

  5. Not enough information. Did the retailer in OK decline to press charges? Did the suspect request a ride? Citizens request them all the time. If he was transported against his will the Comanche County S.O. has a serious problem. Did the suspect display behavior in the deputy’s presence that would warrant what we in Florida call a BA 52/Baker Act? Those questions just off the top of my head. The answers could lead to more questions.

    • Another possibility, did the retailer refuse to pay to have the suspect arrested.
      This very thing is happening in NY.
      Google “Albany business owner has to pay to have law enforcement arrest criminal”

  6. We have a similar “In State” problem. Detroit and other Wayne County LEOs have made it SOP to drop off troublesome homeless people from Wayne County at the downtown homeless shelter in Ann Arbor (Washtenaw County). Many complain that the cops just tell them to get out of the car without even letting them know where the hell they are and drive off.

    • In 2016 a mentally ill man was caught by police or sheriff’s deputy in Marysville in someone’s shed. The police dropped him off at the macomb county border near rail road tracks. He walked them to Mt Clemens, where he accidently happened to find our Crisis facility. I was working that day. He was lost and asking for directions, I knew right away he had health issues. He started telling me about his few days of walking and living in sheds, so petitioned him. He had walked away from his AFC home near Port Huron and was being searched for by his guardian. Police assumed he was homeless and sent him south.

    • That is what happens in Montana as well. The small towns send the homeless veterans and other mental detectives into the cities, and it lowers quality of life in the cities. The liberals profit from the social services and city government being expanded, and the conservative cops get job security, as every call for a junkie is justification for budget increases.
      The purpose of the 2nd Amendment being a natural right and not a government privilege, is obvious out here, when the local governments endanger We Citizens, because the government can profit.

      The best smoking cessation tool besides self control is a junkie veteran with a knife, trying to hurt you for a smoke. I pulled my 5.7 and he dropped his knife, and then his nose was broken, by hitting himself.

  7. In California, they dump homeless in areas where the well off white people want so their neighborhood doesn’t have to deal with the problem they created. I hear now they are trying to take working people’s money to buy up properties to stick the homeless people in so they don’t come back into the well off areas.

    • Makes sense to me!! Those who keep voting for people who promise to take our money, need to have their money taken. Those who only wish to be left alone should only be left alone. You, OTOH, seem to believe in magic.

      • The rich create the problem using government then take the money from the lower working class to pay for the fix. Before those paycheck to paycheck residents go broke, from the rich communist elite’s programs, they move to states like Texas. Then those in Texas who want power manipulate the new residents to vote for helping the newbies of Texas to make them comfortable.

    • @ Chief Censor; They also need to do this with illegal immigrants and dump them at Nancy Pelosi and Diane Feinsteins house.

  8. This raises a bigger question… how often is that sheriff having people delivered across the state line instead of arresting them in Oklahoma? I’d bet this isn’t the first one.

    • Sounds like a plan to dispose of criminals, and they don’t even have to pay to take him through the legal process and jail. Let Texas deal with them. I have a feeling someone will be looking into this now.

    • It is standard Leo sops out in the PNW, to remove the homeless veterans and other mental detectives from the small towns, and send them to the cities. Then, the conservatives have the nerve to say it is only the liberals, who are ruining the quality of life for us White working class, who the homeless will be forced on.
      I watched a man in a wheelchair tell the Missoula city council that they were endangering poor people, by doubling down on failed policy. He volunteered for neighborhood watch and asked about his concealed pistol permit. A week later guns were banned near the city council and in parks. I had to buy a 5.7x28mm, so I could protect myself from junkies and cops, while I jog in the parks. The man in a wheelchair is now my friend.

  9. An asshole from a shit hole city in south Texas doesn’t commit a crime in Oklahoma. Isn’t violent in Oklahoma. Doesn’t express any intent to hurt himself or anyone else while in Oklahoma. Wants to go back home to Texas. What exactly should the Oklahoma sheriff have done? Lock someone up because he may commit a crime in the future? Lock up all Texans who stray into Oklahoma? Turn him out on the streets in Oklahoma? We don’t want Texas crap on Oklahoma streets and he didn’t want to be here. If he had committed a crime in Oklahoma he would have been arrested in Oklahoma but he didn’t, so the best thing was to send him home to Texas.

    • Isn’t it illegal to try to steal a knife from a mall in Oklahoma? Because that’s how he ended up meeting the Oklahoma deputies.

      • Hey now, we can’t let facts get in the way of a good rant thats SOLE purpose is to start a dispute over which state is better then the other.
        This idiot thinks the TX and OK TTAG posters are going to dance for his amusement. Keep trying troll.

        • There it is.
          Why dance for the trolls when it’s SO much easier, AND more enjoyable to make the trolls dance for US.
          Dance to the tune your Lil’ organ grinder boss Mikey Bloomturd is playing monkey. If you impress him, he may give you a banana.

      • Stores do not always press charges for small thefts. Could be the cops couldn’t hold the guy for the original offense.

        • There is a difference between ‘not holding him’ and ‘driving him to a place an hour away, over the state line’.

    • Easy question, DL! If you’re not going to take him into custody, then leave him right where you found him. Is that too complex?

    • okay, I’ll play.

      Right in front of a wal-mart?

      How about take him to the fucking sheriff’s. Do something, anything other than what the fuck this story is about. Pathetic that you could defend a tyrant for doing this.

      • dropping him off at a Walmart sounds like a really bad idea…but dropping him off at a sheriff’s station would be an admission of what they did…sounds a lot like they wanted to keep it on the QT…

  10. Sounds like a new level of service: from police arriving too late to delivering a criminal right to your doorstep.

  11. Kat is back!

    Can you please write more articles justifying killing your spouse because of “abuse”?

  12. As a person that has carried a knife of some kind for most of my life, I don’t understand the question…..aside from other people’s’ paranoia that is.

  13. What most people don’t understand is that from the LE perspective, it is EXTREMELY difficult to place a person into a 24-72 hour medical detention for mental evaluation. If there is a “mental inquest warrant,” usually sworn to by a relative before the necessary legal representative, it is a rather simple but often dangerous process. However, unless someone is holding a gun to their head or on the edge of a bridge threatening to jump, most jurisdictions place almost insurmountable obstacles to get anything done. Just because someone acts a little “crazy” doesn’t cut it regardless of what the officer thinks the subject MIGHT do!

    So why is this? I suspect two reasons. It would be easily subject to abuse by LE and more likely, it costs a lot of money to process such people through the legal and medical systems. When you place someone in mental detention on your own and the county/city/state gets a bill for thousands of dollars, often to have the subject shortly go back on the street with a bottle of pills, the LE officer will soon be getting heat from the “powers that be!” If the subject hurts someone, well that’s tough for the victims. If he gets treatment, often ineffective, everyone suffers including the subject himself..

    • So the fuck what. Difficult does not mean impossible, and as much as I dislike redcoats, it’s certainly a better option than dumping them somewhere and pissing them off more. Police who do this shit should be fired without eligibility for any government job every again. Selfish fuckers.

  14. So a little back ground…
    Los Angeles has “Skid Row” to dump questionable mentally ill people. Canadian law enforcement drive a couple our outside town and dump them by the side of the road (best done in icy winter conditions).
    Along the Red River… Wichita Falls officers have been known to cross north up to Lawton and dump their unwanted. Lawton area officers see no issue returning the favor and dump their nutters down south, as in this case.
    Who started this dumb game? Does it matter after this going on for decades, decades.
    Last year a Texas officer decided to BS their Lawton counterparts by definitely honestly discovering an unknown mystery person who was definitely going to shoot up the “Joker” movie, right there in Lawton…
    Hey, did you know Wichita Falls was home to a Air Force Base; while Lawton was the same for an Army base…
    Dear dumb dumbs, this isn’t proof the sky was falling. This was just some friendly rivalry and screwing around. And no, no one really cares, except the numpties doing their best Chicken Little imitation.

    • You are correct that it has been going on for decades. See my post below as well. I don’t miss it.

  15. I carry a single stack 45, three knives, a spare magazine, keys, folding cash, coins, ear plugs, a lighter and a watch. My wife says she thinks I’m “a little boy” and gently teases me for being prepared.
    She is also glad I do it.
    After the Colorado cinema shooting atrocity, I got my permit. I made a promise to myself that if ever I was in a position like those folks, I would be able to return fire. Like the guy in that movie said, “I may be killed, but it won’t be for a lack of shootin’ back.”

  16. The old saying that it is better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it just above covers any question about carrying a concealed gun.

    • Also, Guns are like parachutes. If you don’t have one when needed, then chances are you won’t ever be in need of one again.

  17. Illegal aliens are likewise routinely bused off to other locations so as to save money. Smaller towns can’t afford to arrest and house them in their local already overcrowded little jails, and they seriously can’t afford to house, feed, clothe, and provide medical care for them outside of said jails, so the easy solution is just to ship em’ off to anywhere else, preferably some nearby sanctuary city or state, and keep the peace locally. Sheriffs are directly elected by the people in the areas they serve, and so that is who they are properly motivated to look out for. What happens outside of their jurisdiction is not their problem.

    Sheriffs have been firmly ordering unsavory criminal types, drifters, troublemakers, and so forth to get out of their towns / counties for a very long time, at least dating back to the days of the so called wild west. Just part of keeping order within their jurisdiction, as again, what happens outside their jurisdiction is not their problem. It often just works out to be cheapest, quickest, and simplest to simply transport the unwanted off to anywhere else, like the big Wallyworld just across the state line, and problem solved.

    In this case, the local business where the guy tried to steal a knife didn’t want to press charges, so the sheriff didn’t really have much in the way of real world workable options. So… just drive him out of town and drop him off anywhere convenient outside of their jurisdiction, and then he isn’t their problem anymore. Done.

  18. On the few occasions I forgot my gun. I turned the car around and went home to get it. The one time you forgot it, is the one time you will need it.

    • I feel you man. I wish the wife would okay some fun funds so I can get one to keep in the truck just for this reason lol. I might be working in several different states soon I’m thinking about an ar pistol for my get home bag.

  19. Hey, it was just another one Lawton didn’t want to deal with! We sure didn’t want him in Stephens or Cotton county!

  20. Before I retired as a LEO, I observed two officers from a neighboring jurisdiction dumping a very intoxicated, undesirable individual on the side of the roadway in my patrol area. They put him out of the car and drove away toward a turnaround about 1/2 mile up the road. I stopped and put him in the backseat of my car drove to their city (about 2 miles) and let him out just as they arrived. I told them if I caught them doing that again I would charge them with littering! Knowing they were caught they laughed and apologized, I laughed and they loaded him up and drove away.

    • This is my tax dollars at work? Fraud, waste and abuse is a thing. All of you clearly demonstrated why we need to step up prosecution of this. But hey Internet anonymity and all.

      • No shit right. Half assed. You know damn well those cops deserved to be fired, but they got a warning? I believe about as much of this story as a toddler with fudge on his face saying they did not eat chocolate. Either way, Never liked the guy or 99% of his comments here, so fuck him.

      • You’re gonna be real popular when you get to prison for assaulting an officer. Have fun cleaning all the semen out of your ass.

        • Why stop at assault? If the tyrant does tyrant shit, cease his/her breathing.

          Also, netflix & chill?

  21. This is by far the BEST ARTICLE that TTAG has EVER featured.

    Make. It. Work.

  22. Kenny Stradleys crew as well as many town cops or city “Marshalls” in that county have done that for 30+yrs.
    I’ve seen them go from LPD to CCSO to Elgin to Fletcher ……

  23. Just last year a guy accidentally shot himself in the leg at the our local Walmart I never heard anything more about it but he was legal ccw. My local walmart stopped selling handgun and .223/5.56 but now they arent going to sell any ammo at all but still will sell guns. Has this happened anywhere else?

  24. I know some cops in a town about 25 miles away. They told me that when they have a repetitive problem they sometimes buy him a one way bus ticket to the big town about 100 miles away. It usually takes them quite a while to find their way back. Sometimes they even cause less trouble.

    A life long friend and his brother joined the Las Vegas PD when the got out of the Marine Corps. When they had a continuing irritation they would catch him at night, drive him way out in the desert and drop him off. Warning that next time they would have a hole in the desert for him. Never had one cause more trouble.

    So, yes there are ways to deal with problems outside official channels. Cheap and effective.

    I haven’t heard anyone explain why all the psychos on the streets now days. I remember when there were places for them to get treatment and, if necessary, keep locked up besides a general hospital.

  25. This is not unheard of. I think the practice made an appearance on The Wire and I’ve seen it happen to a lesser degree- found some completely drunk idiot stumbling around only to hear that he had been picked up by police in the city over and dropped off. But at least he was non-violent. It’s the kind of thing that used to happen a lot more back in the old days but is just as irresponsible now. The problem is, assuming the ride was willing, what to do about it. Irresponsible, yes, but not criminal or necessarily even actionable unless the Sheriff decides to reprimand the deputy… but the sheriff might be the one encouraging the practice to save on overtime.

    • We provided a handy-dandy link to the original story in the post above. This happened on Friday.

      Walmart didn’t stop selling guns. They stopped selling ammunition for guns they don’t sell.

      That means no handgun ammo and the only long gun ammo they sell is the calibers for the guns they have for sale. They still sell shotgun shells.

      • I don’t care what Walmart carries. If they believe that somehow selling calibers that people use for their handguns is somehow evil, why are you Second Amendment compromisers still buying stuff at such a store? You deserve what you get when you refuse to boycott companies that seek to destroy your Second Amendment rights. Yes, they can sell what they want, but when their CEO seeks more gun control that affects all of us! Your dollars are like votes. Where you vote counts. Let Walmart feel some pain. Too many of you can’t be bothered. I live within walking distance of a Walmart and buy everything I need elsewhere. Screw Walmart and their CEO. Not another dollar from me will they ever get.

  26. Two quibbles Ms. Ainsworth (also, welcome back):

    No one carries “all the time”, so there should be some qualifiers on this.

    This isn’t why we carry. It’s supporting evidence of why but it’s not the base reason.

  27. You know why Texas doesn’t float out into the Gulf of Mexico, right? It’s ‘cause Oklahoma sux!

  28. So, could you tell me what YOUR gun actually did in this situation? Sounds like you weren’t even there when it happened. Are you that much of a snowflake? “Omg, had I been there 3 hours earlier I might have hid in the freezer aisle while trained professionals handled the situation. Thank the sky daddy for my gun that served no purpose in this irreverent anecdote.”

  29. A police officer is on duty 24 hours a day although periodicly relieved of the routine performance of it.

  30. people that claim that only psychotic people carry regularly endangers not only regular citizens but also all legally armed government officials including but not limited to law enforcement and military members since they can now be accused of being psychos for carrying. This can potentially fuel anti-cop and anti-military sentiment and potentially inspire attacks on law enforcement and military members.

  31. While I carry, I stay out of Walmart. Every freak in the land shops there. Not to mention that Walmart’s CEO has declared war on the Second Amendment. I went in with my girlfriend who still shops there. Very clear to me why I don’t miss Walmart. Was glad to be back out of there.

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