# DC Police bring a gun to a snowball fight **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 20, 2009, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dc-police-bring-a-gun-to-a-snowball-fight/521965 "2009-12-20T17:12:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SanibelMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@SanibelMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanibelMan)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dc-police-bring-a-gun-to-a-snowball-fight/521965/1 "2009-12-20T17:12:10Z")
So in the middle of this historic blizzard in Washington, DC, a bunch of hipsters got together to have a snowball fight in the middle of the city. They’re happily pitching snowballs back and forth at each other for a while, occasionally taking aim at passing cars. At one point, a cop drives by and gets stuck, and dozens of people help push the cop car on its way. But then comes along a Hummer, and when it gets pelted, the driver gets out, starts yelling… and [waving a fucking gun around!](http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2009/12/19/did-d-c-cops-overreact-to-snowball-fight-14th-and-u/) It turns out he’s an undercover detective, and he feels threatened enough by getting hit with snowballs to get out of his Hummer and start waving around his piece. Look, I know hipsters are fucking annoying. And it’s really dickish to throw snowballs at cars. But look, I know it’s tempting, but you really can’t shoot them for throwing snowballs. Snowballs are made of snow, you see, whereas bullets are NOT made of snow and can kill people. Unlike snow. Just so we’re clear. [Police are investigating.](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/20/AR2009122000881.html?hpid=todays-paper) Sure they are. ---
**Author:** ![fifty-six](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@fifty-six](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fifty-six)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dc-police-bring-a-gun-to-a-snowball-fight/521965/2 "2009-12-20T17:15:14Z")
The Hummer should be able to take a snowball. And why in the hell would anyone need a Hummer in DC? ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dc-police-bring-a-gun-to-a-snowball-fight/521965/3 "2009-12-20T17:22:56Z")
You need a Hummer in DC to drive over all the cars that are abandoned on the roads whenever more than 2" of snow falls. I’m not really surprised that people in DC, who don’t know a lot about driving on snow, abandon their cars. What floors me is that they don’t bother to pull them to the side of the road first. Hence the Hummer. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dc-police-bring-a-gun-to-a-snowball-fight/521965/4 "2009-12-20T17:30:29Z")
I think that the undercover cop was an ass. But it’s still pretty stupid to throw anything at a car. He was more wrong than the hipster snowball throwers, but they were being assy as well. ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dc-police-bring-a-gun-to-a-snowball-fight/521965/5 "2009-12-20T17:32:32Z")
He needed that gun in case fat muslims tried to break into his house. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dc-police-bring-a-gun-to-a-snowball-fight/521965/6 "2009-12-20T17:40:48Z")
Buncha white guys target a black guy in his hummer. Hilarity ensues. I’m not all that outraged over the brandishing. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dc-police-bring-a-gun-to-a-snowball-fight/521965/7 "2009-12-20T17:42:19Z")
Reminds me of [I am the only one in this room who is professional enough to carry a…BOOM!!!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=am-Qdx6vky0) ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dc-police-bring-a-gun-to-a-snowball-fight/521965/8 "2009-12-21T01:08:08Z")
Isn’t brandishing a weapon at people a crime? Oh wait, it was a cop\*, so he gets a pass. Nevermind that if I were to do the same I’d be thrown in jail (and rightfully so). - - Clarification: asshole cop ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dc-police-bring-a-gun-to-a-snowball-fight/521965/9 "2009-12-21T01:46:48Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > I think that the undercover cop was an ass. But it’s still pretty stupid to throw anything at a car. He was more wrong than the hipster snowball throwers, but they were being assy as well. No, he isn’t an ass, he’s a criminal. The people throwing snowballs at his car were. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dc-police-bring-a-gun-to-a-snowball-fight/521965/10 "2009-12-21T01:49:56Z")
> [@fifty-six](#): > > The Hummer should be able to take a snowball. And why in the hell would anyone need a Hummer in DC? To compensate for his small cock. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dc-police-bring-a-gun-to-a-snowball-fight/521965/11 "2009-12-21T01:51:22Z")
> [@Cliffy](#): > > No, he isn’t an ass, he’s a criminal. The people throwing snowballs at his car were. > > –Cliffy Can’t he be both, like the late Earl Warren? ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dc-police-bring-a-gun-to-a-snowball-fight/521965/12 "2009-12-21T01:53:08Z")
> [@fifty-six](#): > > The Hummer should be able to take a snowball. There were two. It didn’t stand a chance. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dc-police-bring-a-gun-to-a-snowball-fight/521965/13 "2009-12-21T02:02:46Z")
Some guys really aren’t open-minded with snowballing after hummers. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dc-police-bring-a-gun-to-a-snowball-fight/521965/14 "2009-12-21T02:04:05Z")
They pull a snowball, you pull a gun. He gets some snow in one of yours’ face, you send one of his to the morgue. … That’s the Los Angeles way ---
**Author:** ![Belowjob2.0](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Belowjob2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belowjob2.0)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dc-police-bring-a-gun-to-a-snowball-fight/521965/15 "2009-12-21T02:05:36Z")
White America, where are your leaders?! I remember a time when white families disciplined their children and didn’t allow them to run around committing acts of random violence and menacing polite society! Are there no decent white people who will speak out against these out of control youths randomly assaulting passers by? I weep for our nation. 😛 Actually, it would have been cool if the cops had responded with massive force, arrested everybody, charged them with felonies for attacking motorists. That this didn’t happen is a very clear sign that the power in DC is now firmly in the hands of SWPL type white folks. The cop’ll keep his job, though. Throwing objects at moving autos is a felony, and the cop will say that he had no way of knowing whether the projectiles were rocks or ice or snow. He’s in the clear. I would love to have seen mass arrests though. Not because arrests were merited for a snowball fight, but because that’s how it would have went down if the ethnicities were reversed. ---
**Author:** ![Belowjob2.0](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Belowjob2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belowjob2.0)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dc-police-bring-a-gun-to-a-snowball-fight/521965/16 "2009-12-21T02:08:46Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > Some guys really aren’t open-minded with snowballing after hummers. We have a winner! ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dc-police-bring-a-gun-to-a-snowball-fight/521965/17 "2009-12-21T02:33:16Z")
Throwing snowballs at people with guns is like bringing a really small gun to a gunfight. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dc-police-bring-a-gun-to-a-snowball-fight/521965/18 "2009-12-21T03:52:57Z")
Why pull a gun when he had a perfectly good Hummer to run them over? ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dc-police-bring-a-gun-to-a-snowball-fight/521965/19 "2009-12-21T05:02:16Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > Why pull a gun when he had a perfectly good Hummer to run them over? It was rendered ineffective due to the snowballs! Do try and keep up man. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dc-police-bring-a-gun-to-a-snowball-fight/521965/20 "2009-12-21T05:11:53Z")
The MPD were just displaying their keen love of history, you see. The Brits brought musket-fire to a snowball fight at the Boston Massacre, so this officer thought he’d bring a handgun to this one. (Though, in fairness, the Redcoats had good cause to open fire on the colonists that day - they were being pelted with ice and rocks, not just snow. And a rock to the brow can kill. If memory serves, that was how John Adams was able to defend the men successfully.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dc-police-bring-a-gun-to-a-snowball-fight/521965.md?page=2)