back to article Police use RIFLE AND TASER to relieve man of iPhone case

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has armed itself with rifles and tasers to confront a man who appeared to have a handgun in his belt. According to The Globe and Mail, the “gun” was actually an iPhone case, probably of the sort US authorities have warned against using on the ground that they're stupid and dangerous. …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    stupid Canadian volunteers to give away rights

    He should have exercised his limited Canadian freedom to bear a non-arm. Of course if they had the right to open carry handguns, there would be no iPhone case problem.

    1. LaeMing
      FAIL

      Re: stupid Canadian volunteers to give away rights

      For anyone for whom open gun carriage is important, there is a perfectly good country to move to.

      Somalia.

      1. Disko
        Thumb Up

        Re: stupid Canadian volunteers to give away rights

        As a bonus they also open carry many transmittable diseases, further enhancing Darwinistic reduction of the genepool.

    2. Trevor_Pott Gold badge

      Re: stupid Canadian volunteers to give away rights

      I can carry my guns around. In a locked case. With the ammunition in a separate locked case. This is the correct mode of transportation for firearms, just as it is the correct storage method for firearms.

      I can unlock my firearms in my own residence if I take appropriate security precautions. This allows me to clean and maintain these devices.

      It is not recommended (and is in most cases illegal) to unlock both the firearm and the ammunition at the same time excepting in designated areas such as firing ranges, or designated hunting grounds.

      You are not allowed to acquire or retain firearms unless you have a license for that class of weapon. In order to get a firearms license you must learn and demonstrate understanding of firearm safety, including (but not limited to) all of the above.

      This is exactly how firearms should be treated. It is sane. It is rational. It allowes Canada to maintain a higher per capita gun ownership than the United States without anywhere near as many firearms-related deaths (intentional or otherwise.)

      Philosophies on the ownership and utilization of firearms which are less safety oriented have proven outright disastrous for those nations which have employed them. When dealing with firearms safety come first last and always.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: stupid Canadian volunteers to give away rights

        TP suggested "...Canada to maintain a higher per capita gun ownership than the United States..."

        I hesitate to offer Wikipedia as a reference, but unless it's completely bonkers then you're simply wrong.

        USA has 3x the per capita gun ownership rate of Canada. As one would expect.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_of_guns_per_capita_by_country

        If you don't accept this reference, then feel free to provide another.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: stupid Canadian volunteers to give away rights

      <Rant alert and in no way do I count the whole of the US populace in this, but excuse me while I rail against> Colossal idiocy. No wonder 'Murica has such a problem with gun related deaths. The US culture around guns is bizarre and stupid. Instead of treating them with the respect and caution they require, they're bandied about, discharged and treated like toys. The whole talk about gun control in the US is a non-starter. What they need is a culture change where education, licencing, checking, psychological profiling and a general change in attitude and where, for example, posting youtube videos where a bunch of dense feckers whooping and hollering and 'bro-ing' while firing guns is seeing as source of danger that should warrant a quick visit from local constabulary and not seen as fun and 'awesome'. US could learn a lot from Canada.

      I remember a while back where my Mrs visited some of the Canadian police departments. One thing that struck her was the very low numbers of deaths listed on all the stations board of remembrance despite a lot of police being armed and the wide availability of guns. I won't say what a lot of them said. but one coppers short response says it nicely: "Oh, we don't have the same gun culture as the US so its rarely a problem"

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: stupid Canadian volunteers to give away rights

        I must admit I'm a tad surprised (and disappointed) with the downvote you received.

        Gun culture in the US *is* insane, at least when it comes to licensing, and the NRA whose sole response appears to be "more guns", whatever the latest atrocity is.

        1. Gruezi
          Joke

          Re: stupid Canadian volunteers to give away rights

          Oh I'd say the downvote had nothing to do with gun control. It was probably due to the fact that the comment was badly formed XML.

          Here, have a:

          </Rant alert and in no way do I count the whole of the US populace in this, but excuse me while I rail against>

          ;)

          1. Vector

            Re: stupid Canadian volunteers to give away rights

            </Rant> should probably suffice.

        2. Mark 65

          Re: stupid Canadian volunteers to give away rights

          My opinion of gun control in the US is that they've never gotten away from the image of the gun toting cowboy a la John Wayne or The Man With No Name. What sensible reason is there for an ordinary member of the public to open carry save to effectively implicitly threaten everyone around them? The loons photographed walking around supermarkets with side-arms being a case in point. Nutters.

  2. Mark 85
    Devil

    A rifle at close range? I would think a shotgun would be better. Sheesh.....

    And 'dispose" of it safely"? Is there special handling required for a case?

    1. Cirdan

      safe disposal of gun replica

      And 'dispose" of it safely"? Is there special handling required for a Phone case?

      YES!

      Small children must NOT get this as they might not drop it when commanded by police ending in a tragedy and a shattered law enforcement officer.

      Scissors, with extreme prejudice.

      ...Cirdan...

  3. Henry Wertz 1 Gold badge
    Trollface

    "And 'dispose" of it safely"? Is there special handling required for a case?"

    Yeah, don't point it at anyone on the way to the trash can.

  4. psychonaut

    is the earpeice in the open end of the barrel of the gun? press the trigger to answer.....

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      I like it!

  5. thames
    Coat

    To add a bit of context to the story, in the Canadian press it was stated that police were responding to complaints that someone was wandering about the beach with a pistol. Until they had determined otherwise, they had to take the report seriously. They did however recognise the item as a phone case when they saw it.

    As for disposing of it "safely", what they meant was to smash it up with a hammer before tossing it in the garbage bin, as they didn't want to have their time wasted again if some other half wit picked it out of the bin and started using it himself.

    Mine's the one with the phone that cost less than some of the idiotic iPhone cases people buy.

    1. Vector

      Which is a far better response than US authorities would have had. They would have stood off 20 feet from him then shot him when he reached for it.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    When I was a kid, I had a number of very realistic looking toy pistols. All my mates did too. We used to carry them everywhere, pretending to be soldiers or spies. Nobody batted an eyelid.

    I think it's a little sad that kids can't do that any more.

    1. Ken Hagan Gold badge

      That was certainly true in the UK a few decades ago, but the assumption then would have been that the realistic firearm in the hands of a small child was a fake. If you can't make that assumption then you probably don't allow the sale of such toys.

    2. Valeyard

      me too

      but to everyone else except me it looked like a stick ;)

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        I'm sorry.

        My grandfather had a myriad of tools to that could be used to turn a gun-shaped stick into a very-gun-shaped stick, but it was still a stick. My brother and I didn't get to shoot any of his guns until we were in our teens.

        1. Valeyard

          Re: I'm sorry.

          we just swapped sticks with each other if we were jealous of a particularly good one

          "here you can borrow my stick for a while it's a bazooka"

          *holds out straight thick branch and looks longingly my friend's new find of a stick with an exact 90 degree bend*

  7. JimmyPage Silver badge
    Facepalm

    Jeez

    there are some morons around

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I rather like the dry reporting..

    ".. and quickly established be was only armed with an iPhone".

    It has a slightly sarcastic tone to it, nice.

    Also note that the Canadian police didn't go in with guns blazing, but that may have something to do with the fact that the risk for Canadian police is a bit lower. I am by no way inclined to condone recent US mishaps, but a contributing factor is that policing in the US *is* indeed a heck of a lot more dangerous do to gun ownership - expectations matter when it comes to threat response.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I rather like the dry reporting..

      "policing in the US *is* indeed a heck of a lot more dangerous do to gun ownership'

      No, its a heck of a lot more dangerous because values, ethics, morality and education are too expensive.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: I rather like the dry reporting..

        There are stupid people everywhere but in civilised countries we don't give them guns.

      2. stairway

        Re: I rather like the dry reporting..

        I can personally wager that working in a foundry is far more dangerous.

        here in the U.S. The media is as much to blame for over-playing events as the cops are for over-reacting to situations.

  9. JaitcH
    Thumb Down

    Just another dumb Plod on a horse

    Toy 'guns' have been with us since 1865, as gun manufacturers suffered business challenges after the US 'Civil War' and found success, after making a few changes to their factories and began to build cap guns instead.

    Canada, as another poster wrote, has extremely stiff gun laws (even bows and arrows) but these less than smart horse riders should know that 'coloured' guns are restricted and therefore anything resembling a gun, especially those with a 10 cm tip of orange colour, is easily discernible.

    Canada doesn't have 'carry' laws either - and it is extremely unusual to see a real gun on the streets other than those used by our Plod. Security guards very occasionally have gun permits but most of their weapons are actually chemical types (gas or liquid). Canadian society shares much in common with the USA and proves that culture affects the use of weapons.

    Cops with guns doesn't equate with killing civilians. The Chinese police carry guns as do many of the police in Laos, Kampuchea (Cambodia) and VietNam but their use is very infrequent. There has been ONE case of a police gun being used in VietNam this year (on civilians) and that was to stop a robber escaping on a motorcycle in SaiGon/Ho Chi Minh City. In VietNam we are even unable to buy matches (think pipe bombs) and sparklers have only been available for two years.

    Given Cameron's 'Nanny Society' it's surprising even 'cap guns' are permitted. I was taught in the British Army how to make very effective explosives from the contents of the average UK kitchen. In fact, an ordinary light-bulb plus one other common household fluid will effectively 'clear' an average-sized room, as our training sergeant proved.

  10. Retnemmoc

    Apple Wise Up!

    Why would those idiots at Apple made a case like this in the first place??

    With all the gun violence of late one would think they'd realize the potential hazard to users & they would most definitely be considered negligent, since a reasonable person should have known the potential harm that could come from using this case.

    Are they trying to kill off their customers?

    Wake up Apple and quit letting 12 year olds design your idiotic cases!

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