Hoplophobia (pronounced /ˌhɒplɵˈfoʊbiə/), from the Greek hoplon, or weapon, is defined as the “fear of firearms”
A Manchester-by-the-Sea man who allegedly had a cache of weapons in his home told police he was preparing for Armageddon, authorities said.
Armageddon? SHTF? OMG OMG and he had a stockpile of dried and canned goods as well? and medicine! Last time I checked it was called “Being Prepared”
Gregory D. Girard, 45, was arrested Tuesday night for allegedly storing several tear gas grenades and explosive pepper ball projectiles. He was also charged with the illegal possession of four police batons.
Police batons are illegal devices? Considering you can buy them off the internet and get them shipped straight to your home I highly doubt it.
In addition to the grenade-type devices, police found approximately 20 weapons, including high-powered rifles, shotguns, and handguns. All of the firearms were purchased and registered legally within the past 10 months, McKiel said.
So… why was he arrested???
Police also found a large collection of camouflage clothing, knives, bulletproof vests, helmets, and eight pairs of handcuffs in Girard’s home. They also discovered stockpiles of medicine and non-perishable foods. An illegal indoor shooting range was also found in the attic, police said.
To be fair, an indoor attic shooting range is pretty stupid (not that I wouldn’t like one with the proper ventilation and safety measures to make sure no shots go where they shouldn’t). Sounds like it was just a makeshift one where he shot at a ballistic plate (see video below)
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkfLJGCg_fQ[/youtube]
The video is laughable.
Looks like the cause of the arrest is “Spousal Hoplophobia” :P. He is better off without her.
He has an impressive collection. Hope this all blows over for him and he gets his guns and freedom back.
Boston Globe Full Story – HERE
Hat Tip: ViewFromThePorch
Comments
21 responses to “Spousal Hoplophobia – The Real Problem”
In the other articles I saw on this the police readily admit that the firearms were purchased legally. I don’t believe you can legally purchase or possess tear gas, in the form of a grenade or otherwise. Someone somewhere else pointed out that in some localities possession of the retractable type of police baton is not legal. And it seems like I recall reading somewhere that that type of heavy ballistic plate is not legal for non-military/LE (I can’t say that with 100% certainty).
Being prepared is one thing, but what would be the need for tear gas grenades and several pairs of handcuffs? Those don’t sound like defensive items to me.
As to the why was he arrested? Aside from the possession of illegal items, how about reckless endangerment? Reckless discharge of a firearm within city limits? From the accounts I’ve seen or heard, it wasn’t HIS house that he was shooting in, it was some type of apartment or condominium. I would think the potential was there for the death or serious injury of a neighbor.
I’m all for the legal and responsible ownership of firearms, but, like the guy with the AK-47 pistol, I think this guy is not the face of responsible gun ownership. I think this guy took a big leap from the motto of the Boy Scouts, “Be Prepared,” and moved on to something closer to, “Everybody’s out to get me, I’ve got to be prepared to get them first.” I think he’s got more than a screw or two loose.
Tear gas (CS gas) is considered “Non Lethal” and by the looks of it is available all over… Same idea as what were were talking about before with the 37mm ammo. Here is one example http://www.keepshooting.com/selfdefense/teargas/clear_out_teargas6oz.htm … It seems to be put in the same group as pepper spray. Maybe the law holds tear gas and pepper spray that is is “grenade” form differently though, I don’t know?
It wouldn’t surprise me if some locales ban body armor and police batons.
I just re-watched the video and you’re right, it does look like he lives in an apartment. I thought before that the apartments were just “near” his house that the showed.. but I was mistaken. Like I said in the post.. definitely stupid he did that.
He must make some pretty good money as a computer consultant in order to buy that all in 9 months.
I guess I was thinking that tear gas, as in CS tear gas, as is used by the military, wasn’t available for civilian purchase. I thought civilian stuff was OC (pepper) based. Looks like some civilian stuff contains CS, at least in part. I know that part of the deal with CS is that it’s a powder (at least the military type I’m familiar with was). It was vaporized in grenades by an incendiary inside the grenade. It looked like this was the type of grenade he had, and might be part of the problem. The “grenade” you linked to appears to be nothing more than a pressurized aerosol can that sprays its contents out.
You’re right, he must have dumped a good bit of cash on this stuff to accumulate it in such a short period of time. His wife’s a psychiatrist; I’m sure she makes good money. I would say the fact that he accumulated so much in such a short period of time might also be evidence of this guy being a tad irrational. We don’t know his background, but it seems awfully strange for a computer consultant to suddenly amass a small arsenal in the span of 9 months.
I don’t know the full story here, but you had to suspect that I’m not going to support someone’s right to bear arms if they’re not responsible in exercising that right, or if they’ve gone beyond their rights and started violating the law with their firearms, or by possessing illegal weapons. It’s not even the illegal stuff that worries me. It just seems like he might not be a very mentally stable person.
I’d like to have his budget for my rec room though.
Uh what happened to innocent until proven guilty. You guys have rushed to the side of the news media and the police and this female pretty quick.
Notice that they didn’t say assault weapon in the report? Notice that he’s only charged with have OC grenades and police batons? Notice that they didn’t discover this because of noise complaints from neighbors?
Wow, if this is how the gun community rolls then count me out.
I’m not sure what you’re objecting to. It seems pretty clear that he was in possession of prohibited items. It seems clear that he was firing his weapons inside his apartment, endangering his neighbors. I mean, what are you looking for? I didn’t say he was guilty of anything beyond those things. I never claimed that his firearms were illegal.
But I think that responsible gun owners should speak up in criticism of those who act irresponsibly. I sort of liken it to the argument about radical Islam. People like to point out that there’s very little outcry from Muslims about the terrorist acts perpetrated by a small percentage of the population of Muslims. I think that’s a valid point. If the responsible members of a group don’t speak out against the actions of those that act in a manner counter-productive to the goals of that group, the belief among others is that the behavior of that small fraction of the group is acceptable or condoned by the rest of the group. It doesn’t do the gun owning community any good if the general public thinks that a person hording illegal tear gas grenades and firing rifles at targets inside an apartment is representative of the average gun owning citizen.
“I would say the fact that he accumulated so much in such a short period of time might also be evidence of this guy being a tad irrational. We don’t know his background, but it seems awfully strange[…] I’m not going to support someone’s right to bear arms if they’re not responsible in exercising that right[…]”
I agree that the pro-gun community should check its own when they violate the law or endanger others, and in this case the guy did just those things, unless there is total fabrication on the part of his wife (which is not improbable).
However, I think saying that this guy might be a nut just because he didn’t buy his guns the way you like is wrong. This guy doesn’t deserve our support of what he did outside the law, but no Second Amendment supporter should be faulting him for buying or owning guns, let alone saying it might be OK to take them away and lock him up because they find his buying habits distasteful.
I know when I got my first gun and got into shooting, I found I really liked it. I had disposable income, so over the next few months I bought several more, and ammo to go with them. I even bought equipment and components to manufacture my own ammunition! All within 12-18 months. Did I buy all that fast enough to be irrational in your judgment and have you come for my guns and my liberty?
If purchasing several guns in within a year was the only thing he had done, I wouldn’t really think anything of it. But when taken together with the rest of the circumstances – the fact that he was stockpiling multiples of tear gas grenades, handcuffs, police batons, kevlar vests and helmets; holding target practice indoors; and the statement to his wife about shooting people instead of talking to them – it seems like the sudden urge to amass many weapons points to him becoming irrationally paranoid. I think he’s seen too many zombie movies and they finally got to him.
Yeah, we just don’t know enough to make judgments here. I do have a few observations:
1) I don’t like how the police spokesman said something to the effect of, ‘the community is safer without these types of weapons being out there’. That makes me distrustful of everything else they reported.
2) I think it was Massad Ayoob who recommended that everyone who has a firearm on hand should also have handcuffs on hand. The idea being that should you be forced to shoot someone it shows a mindset of defense and containment later in court. Six pairs does seem excessive. Also, it does seem like an odd Armageddon item. How many people do you plan on cuffing during the zombie apocalypse?
3) On a gut level, that guy just gives me the creeps. That doesn’t make him guilty of anything, but it does mean that if he approached me and said he wanted to practice his handcuffing technique on me, I might run screaming.
Think historically, assuming you’re old enough. Beck before they invented OC spray, there was Mace, which was pretty much tear gas with artificial flavorings.
Legal for civilians?
In the ’70s, I used to ride a commercial bus frequented by a Down’s syndrome kid who used to board the bus, get real loud if “his” seat was occupied until the hapless passenger relocated, sit down, write in four color pens on the window: “Help Police Pleh Ecilop,” “Bourbon Creme De Menthe,” (something I could never read because it was in yellow), and “Bourbon Peppermint Schnapps.”
THIS kid had a tear gas pen. In MASSACHUSETTS.
On rare occasions, he would let fly a burst at the floor, after which the bus driver would admonish him by name in tones you would use with a five year old and tell him to put it away.
Yeah, I’d say it’s legal. :-)
How come this sounds like a woman setting her guy up for a divorce? The entire thing is hear say. I’ll reserve judgment until I hear his side of the story.
As far as that many weapons being military like? They really don’t understand. What should be apparent to everyone is that many are scared about the economy and the direction of the country. Fix those things and you’ll see firearm and ammunition sales go back to normal.
But even the military and local law enforcement is stocking up so who’s really crazy here? Oh and for the record I’m not preparing for SHTF time…I just have a large recreational stash of weapons and firearms. I keep extra food and medicine around because I like to take advantage of sales.
I don’t really care much about his stockpile (even if I’m jealous), but what irks me is his home made firing range.
From the rest of the way the story read, I would have honestly thought his “shooting range” was going to be a few pop cans and a Red Ryder BB gun.
Side note:
Expandable batons are illegal for most people to carry in Texas at any rate, believe it or not. I carry one daily due to my job, but the law making it legal for me to do so only passed a year or so ago. You can buy one easily over the internet, and in many local stores here in the DFW area as well. Get caught carrying one around when you’re not a LEO or other exempted group and you’ll have to take a ride.
I always thought it was crazy that you could carry a complete axe in your vehicle with no problems.. but if you have just an axe handle behind the seat and the cops could bust you (had it happen to two friends in seperate incidents years ago). I’d rather not get whacked with either, but if I had to choose I’d rather get hit with an axe handle without an actual axe attached :)
“Hope this all blows over for him and he gets his guns and freedom back.”
Well, you can ask Angel Shamaya how that all usually works out. :-(
From what I read, the Shamaya case is a lot different from this one because his guns were illegal, and he threatened his girlfriend’s life. There seems to be a lot of inconsistencies in what he (Shamaya) had and what he was charged with though, so who knows what is even true.
I could be wrong, but I didn’t see any rifle/shotgun sitting on the table that would be classified as an “assault rifle”. I saw hunting rifles and some shotguns (tactical in nature, i.e. the adjustable stock) but nothing that raises any red flags to me. The grenades and ballistic plate on the other hand are very questionable. Converting the 3rd story loft into an indoor shooting range in a duplex surrounded by neighbors was a very stupid idea especially for a rifle.
Kevlar vests/helmets (not illegal to civilians) are legal everywhere. You can pick them up at just about any good surplus store nationwide and they are available on the internet.
The point I’m getting at, I guess, is that if its a crime to stockpile guns and associated ammo…then over half of the citizens in our great country are guilty. Since it is not a crime, I’m going to continue to buy my guns and ammunition in the quantities that I see fit…
A psychiatric eval may not be such a bad idea for this guy but until the investigation is over, I will reserve judgement. We pro-gun/2nd amendment responsible gun owners need to start stepping up and policing ourselves before the government steps in and does it for us…
I totally agree Patrick.
This guy broke the law and makes law abiding gun owners look bad. Simple as that, he should be charged. How a jury finds him is up to the jury.
I own many guns and have lots of ammo, as well as food and medical supplies stored. I don’t shoot firearms inside the city limits, I obey the local laws about owning high capacity magazines (any magazine holding more than 31 rounds is illegal around here) and I avoid gtting thigns sent to my house that are available on the internet but aren’t legal (I know a website where I can order an M203 grenade launcher from Israel and they will ship it in as ‘machine parts’, but I’m not gonna buy one).
I also don’t go around spouting crazy talk about shooting people and martial law. Sounding crazy gets you treated as crazy. I am prepared for stupid people and martial law, but I opsec tells me to keep my mouth shut about what those preps are.
Many on the ‘Net could learn from this guy; being prepared is great, and I recommend everyone make a Plan A and Plan B for ‘what if’, but having your own spouse feel unsafe in her home means you are doing something wrong.
I totally agree. There is the possibility that his wife wanted a divorce though, so she set him up by ratting him out and fabricating some stories of what he apparently said.
Excuse all my grammar and spelling errors, I wrote in haste, as this story is driving me nuts and I can’t wait for this and the Starbucks story to blow over. The less ammo the liberal media thinks they have, the easier it is for me to live peacefully with a closet full of guns.
Yea I recently decided not to post anything more on Starbucks unless there is something groundbreaking. Those weekly Brady protests, and constant “Starbucks appreciation days” are making me gag.