Angered farmer fires shots near Bush protesters

[Contrary1]

Anybody hear about this? I looked around and found no mention of it on our "news" outlets. I have included 2 different sources, so I tend to believe it happened.

"A FRUSTRATED local farmer fired shots into the air today near hundreds of protesters who began their second week of demonstrations against the Iraq war outside US President George W Bush's ranch.

Larry Mattlage, who lives next to the Bush ranch where the president is spending a five week vacation, complained about the 200 protesters, media and government security officials occupying the road outside his own residence after firing a rifle into the air several times.
"Five weeks of this is too much. We live here, this is our community," Mattlage said in footage shown by CNN television, while insisting the gunshots were just him "getting ready for dove season".

"I shot at a bird, and missed it a while ago," he said.

Asked if the gunshots had another message, Mattlage told reporters: "Figure it out for yourself..."

More...
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,16264378-23109,00.html
http://japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=8&id=346313

[fudge stripe cookays]

1. Um...

it's been all over DU all day.

FSC

[flordehinojos]

2. i saw that footage shown by CNN television--but then did not see it in the

afternoon or the evening news at CNN or anywhere else.

the guy sounded like a BUSH GOON.

[orleans]

13. cnn headline news is running it every twenty minutes or so tonight

over & over, a quick blurb--they show the guy & the cops. maybe that matt or whatever his name is should get a town petition and demand that bushie move somewhere else--he's obviously a bad neighbor who appears to attract a lot of attention; if the folks in crawford don't like it then run georgie out of town!

[liberaltrucker]

3. Getting ready for dove season????

Yeah, right. You don't hunt dove with a rifle, you use a SHOTGUN, ya dimwit:grr:

[Silverhair]

6. It WAS a shotgun.

According to most DUers, it was a shotgun.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4351008

[BrightKnight]

4. A violation of Texas gun law:

http://www.nraila.org/GunLaws/StateLaws.aspx?ST=TX

(Tex. Penal Code Sec. 46.01 et seq. and Tex. Gov`t. Code Sec. 411.171 et seq.)

"It is unlawful to display a firearm in a public place in a manner calculated to alarm."

"It is unlawful to discharge a firearm in a public place or on or across a public road."

[Silverhair]

5. Since when is private property a public place?

If the farmer was on his own land, and NOT shooting in the direction of the protesters, he was probably legal. I say probably because I don't know all the details.

[efhmc]

7. Wrong, one is allowed to fire on ones property if one is outside the

city limits.

[BrightKnight]

9. I think that you are wong in this case.

You simply can not shoot across a public road in Texas. It does not matter if you are shooting from a Wal*Mart Parking lot, your front lawn, or the back 40.

--------

Similarly, displaying a firearm in a public place in a manner calculated to alarm is illegal. The people that he was trying to alarm were on public land. This is not required. A public place can be your front lawn, Wal*Mart Parking lot, etc..

======

I don't have a problem with him simply shooting skeet, bottles, etc.. I have probably done a lot more shooting in rural Texas than he has. deliberately intimidating people and shoot across roads is not acceptable behavior.

[Texas_Kat]

10. Apparently he was shooting on his own property

Not 'across a road", and "not in a public place".

[efhmc]

11. As I said if one is shooting on ones own property and it is not in town,

then it is okay, Shooting in our ranch goes on all the time but we cannot shoot outside our boundaries and by Cindy's own words, the shooting was within the landowner's own limits. Shooting toward the road or outside ones own perimeters is strictly forbidden.

[orleans]

14. according to one of the articles i read after googling

a reporter was phoning in and said the guy was shooting the gun up in the air and cindy sheehan said well, okay, as long as the bullets land in his own yard he has a right to do that.

(personally, i think the guy is jerk)

[formernaderite]

8. I can imagine getting ticked off about the noise and commotion

particularly if you own a ranch near no where. However, I'm sure he's getting plenty pissed at both Bush(for moving there) and the protestors(for visiting).

[efhmc]

12. Ranchers, not farmers. There is a BIG difference in Texas. I thought

you might want to know. I have been to Crawford and I am pretty sure that none of these folks are either one. I could be wrong but I think that they are all wanna be's like baby bush.

[Eloriel]

15. I've got a neighbor exactly like that

He got mad that one of our rescue dogs was barking and so he shot off one of his rifles or something. Scared the beejeesus outta me. We called 9-11. Thank heaven his wife called a little later to complain, and I asked her about that horrible gunshot which sounded so clase, and she said her husband was trying to shut up our dogs. (The dogs didn't GET your coded message, dumbass.) I guess I should be glad he didn't shoot AT the dogs. And we've got really good dogs that don't bark unless there's something in the woods they NEED to bark at. We have no control over what's in the woods (and no control over the dogs' barking, either, alas, but it barely happens once a month or so).

"Figure it out for yourself..." I hate passive-aggressive answers like that and the asses who give them.

[rasputin1952]

16. This guy is a real idiot. You have several hundred people in an area...

and the PotUS next door, and he thinks it is fine to pop off a few rounds....:wtf:

For starters, the SS probably didn't like the notion that this guy is discharging a firearm relatively close to the president. Local law enforcement have enough on their hands w/o this idiot starting a riot/getting beaten half to death/scaring the crap out of people etc.

This clown was trying to make a point...he did, he's an idiot, and he should be treated as such...:)