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My sister's neighbor is flashing his CC gun

15K views 127 replies 61 participants last post by  fireman836 
#1 ·
My parents are down visiting for the weekend. My mother tells me about a situation with my sister and their "odd" neighbor. Over the last weekend, my sister and her husband were on the side lot clearing overgrown ivy. The neighbor comes out of the hous and pulls up his shirt to show them his CC handgun as if to say don't mess with me. Evidently this was not the first occasion.

Question: Is that considered brandishing in PA? I don't think it would be here in Florida as his hand was never on the gun. It is a grey area here because of the intimidation tactic though. Anyone know the answer in PA? :confused:

I want to give here some advise and my gut tells me she shoud inform a LEO and file a complaint. My mother is worried about an escallation of hostility and what appears to be an unstable CC(?) individual.

Thoughts and suggestions please
 
#2 ·
I think she should report the incident to start a paper trail then arm herself if she is not already. If something were to happen in the future she would have a documented report to the fact.
 
#4 ·
She is in a tough spot. If she rats on him, he will know she did it. If she doesn't, he will keep up this behavior. It's not a win for anyone. She is looking to me for answers (knowing my background) but I don't have a ready answer for her

If it were me, I have no doubt as to how it would be handled. I know the laws here enough to make a decision. PA is a totally different state.

He stays on his property and I think he can even OC on his own property but his behavior is most definately meant to be an intimidation.

Another concern to me......is this someone a member on this forum?
 
#12 ·
She needs to arm herself and open carry on her property LOL That will get the message to the neighbor. Seriously, she needs a paper trail with the police.

Isn't PA an open carry state?

If that is the case I don't think that what you described is brandishing, at least the way I read it.

My suggestion is that you talk to your sister and get the information from her or your brother in law first hand. We all know how reliable second or third hand information can be. Nothing against your mom, but getting the description from the person that saw the inccident would be very helpful in my view.

How long has your sister and her husband lived next door to this "odd" fellow, and what has the relationship been like in the past?

I think more info is needed before suggesting that she call the leo's in on this one.
It would still be brandishing due to the way it was revealed. If he was walking around open carrying that is one thing but to have it covered and show it is doing it in a menacing way. That is brandishing.

I have lived next to a crazy person so I get where your question about the relationship previous is coming from.

We had some neighbors who were very nice for a few years and then they found out that we were believers and went to church. Then it was on.

I wont go into the details but they were very, very scarry times. We ended up moving everything into a U-Haul during the night. We moved and quit claimed our place to the lender. 5 acres it was. We sowed it as a seed and now are living on 25 acres.

I swore I would never put up with a crazy neighbor again and that situation is one of the reasons I carry.
 
#6 ·
+1 on her being armed, if not already. Also on filing a complaint, perhaps he is not legally CCing. If it were my neighbor, I would want the local PD to know about it. And in Utah, that is brandishing. I think because of the way it was done, it would be brandishing anywhere.
 
#7 ·
I would think that could be considered brandishing, it's definitely considered that here in my state of WV.

There is a post here about a 9 y/o boy who's step-dad was shot and killed by an odd neighbbor after an argument about the kid being on the shooter's property.

Got to ask what the reasons for the seemingly bad blood between your sister and the neighbor? I'd report him, but then again, that report could just escalate an already tense situation. I feel for you, and hope some kind of agreement can be reached before the gunfire erupts.
 
#8 ·
Isn't PA an open carry state?

If that is the case I don't think that what you described is brandishing, at least the way I read it.

My suggestion is that you talk to your sister and get the information from her or your brother in law first hand. We all know how reliable second or third hand information can be. Nothing against your mom, but getting the description from the person that saw the inccident would be very helpful in my view.

How long has your sister and her husband lived next door to this "odd" fellow, and what has the relationship been like in the past?

I think more info is needed before suggesting that she call the leo's in on this one.
 
#9 ·
She is armed at home anyway. She could not grow up with me in my house without getting the training and the practice when we were kids. My dad is a Marine DI and saw to it that we all had range time from 6 years on up. She has at least one of my old shotguns at home and maybe more. We had so many growing up, she kept at least one.

I feel that she should go to the Township police with a good description of his CC gun to file a complaint. She has seen it 4 or 5 times now and this dude is not very friendly.
 
#11 ·
Do your sister and her husband have their CC permits? I would not be out in my yard unarmed with a neighbor like that.

If I didn't have my permit, I might OC in my yard in such a situation (while I was waiting for my permit to be processed). But I can understand your sis and her husband not wanting to appear to be escalating the situation.
 
#17 ·
In MN it would boil down to intent. If he's saying "Hey, check out the new S&W 442 that I got last week" then lifting the shirt would be legal. If it's (as you said) "I'm carrying, I don't like you, consider yourself warned." then it becomes brandishing, possibly worse.

Knife law works this way also. You have your knife out - it all depends on how you are using it. Your knife is out because you are eating steak & potatoes that's acceptable, but your knife is out because you're engaging in "fighting words" then you are going to jail.

If it were my neightbor, I'd begin by explaining your state's carry law, and end with some advice about not flashing, not touching your gun when you carry, stuff like that. Flashing can create a PR nightmare for your state's carry community.

Hey, I used to live in Wauchula, you know where that is ?? :)
 
#18 ·
The guy doesn't sound like the type to have a permit. She ought to report him, at least if she ever has to take action against him the LE will have a good idea who the BG is in the scenario. Attempting to intimidate someone with a gun is probably not legal anywhere, even OC states. OC is one thing, public intimidation is another. Hopefully the local LE will handle the situation and save your sister some grief.
You might want to ask her directly what the deal is, she probably didn't give Mom the whole story.
 
#19 ·
I'd call the landlord, call the police, then if he does a CCW report him to the authorities that regulate the CCW's. I have rental property and if a neighbor called me about something like this he'd be gone.
 
#21 ·
Actually he said nothing and they said nothing to him. Tey were pulling weeds between the two houses (On their own property) when this all occurred. He walked out of his front door to the corner of his house, stopped when he was only a few feet from my sister and her husband, lifted his shirt to dispaly the gun, and went back inside his house. Not a word spoken. The whole event freaked her out.
 
#23 ·
Ok, that was the one time. In your earlier post you said that this has happened multiple times. Were all of them just like this, pulling weeds between the houses, guy comes out lifts shirt and walks away? I kind of doubt it went this way more than once.

There is still a bunch of information missing on this one IMO.
 
#22 ·
The only thing I would add to "Keep a paper trail with LEO". Does your sisters house have a security camera, if not I would have her get a system. This will not protect her if he starts shooting, but the video would be proof of his actions in case this went to court. Also if this came down to a SD shooting it could keep her out of jail. I would also have her check with a Lawyer to make sure she is protecting herself on the legal front as well in case this nutcase escalates.
 
#24 ·
OK, here's my 2 cents worth. Legal or not it seems to be an intimidation tactic. If this neighbor is indeed deemed "odd" to others as well as yourselves, have his background looked into, he could be a former mental patient, have a criminal background, both of which would warrant it being illegal to even possess a handgun. This type of nutjob needs to be dealt with post haste, these type of things can only escalate.
 
#73 ·
That's the point I was going to make. PA is an OC state but he is CCing. Without a CC permit?? I think I would call the local LEO and have that checked out. Even if he is legally CCing (I doubt that), he is obviously trying to "intimidate". That IS illegal.
Pam
 
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