This whole military training canard is starting to bother me. The reaction described in the OP is more likely a result of lack of training. The most important thing taught in combat training is not to blindly react the first most important rule is to evaluate the situation. In other words, nothing I was taught or experienced in the military would lead me to “hit the deck” without knowing what the threat was. There is every possibility that blindly reacting will get you in more trouble than the threat you are blindly reacting to. Besides once you are painted with a laser designator the shooter can pull the trigger much faster than you can “hit the deck” in short once you see the dot you are already a dead man if the person wants you dead.
No, it most certainly isn’t always a good thing.
I can’t help but depart from this thread with the impression that people who overreact to laser pointers do so because they recognize a situation that will give them an opportunity to tell someone their particular story.
“It’s okay, everybody! I have some sort of training!!”
Exactly. I was under the impression that “knowledge of your surroundings and/or setting” was an important point in the military.
Read post #109 and see if that makes sense to you. He was more apt to bring harm than protect against it. The OP said, “I come to find that it is an off-duty police officer pointing a Taser in my direction”. What if he wasn’t able to come to that conclusion while lying on the floor of his local bar reaching for a gun (and I’m curious how he did)? He could have fired a shot or one of two cops could have fired at him. Jumping to the ground reaching for a gun in your local bar because of a red dot isn’t good survival instinct; it’s just plain stupid.
Not as good as calm cool evaluation then reaction. You would not think the survival instinct is so hot when you are trying to save a drowning person and they express their survival instinct by flailing around and drowning you both. Besides you can’t tell me that “hitting the deck” in a bar in Pennsylvania in response to a dot on your chest is “survival instinct”.
The manner in which the TC reacted is beside the point. His rant was based on the poor judgment displayed by the off duty officer.
And our response is based on our interpretation of the whole situation as presented in the OP. Are you suggesting that we are limited to agreeing with the OP? In the Pit?
I am trying to picture the scene as if it was happening in my local bar…
Lets see, ON-DUTY cops in a bar…nope, can’t picture it.
Guy bringing a gun to a bar… What the hell!!!
Why no, I dont live in America, how did you know?
The Mean Streets of Carlisle, where I thought the only danger was a drunk fratboy puking on your shoes…little did I know that it’s necessary to be strapping at a bar… because of half-lit Barney Fifes playing with their tasers. ::shudder::
Are you including cases where the supposed cause of death was “excited delerium”?
Is having one drink and then driving irresponsible? If so, how come they set a blood limit instead? Do all cops who stop for a beer after work secure their weapons first? Or are they different?
In my opinion, yes.
Because I’m not in charge.
No idea. If they don’t, they should.
Apples and oranges. It’s generally accepted that bringing guns to bars is not a good idea.
“All cops” don’t do everything alike. My friends that are cops do secure their weapons first. Civilians should do the same.
Members of the police force ARE civilians.
Sorry, there’s no rule in English that says this is so.
I will agree that bringing a weapon into a bar is a really, really bad idea. Bad for Airman Doors. He should not do that again.
But the cop should be fired, and immediately. He is supposed to know better. It was a weapon. It was capable of causing exteme pain (anyone who’s seen the demonstrations on TV know this), it was capable of being discharged accidentally (anything with a trigger can be accidentally discharged, especially if be being treated like a toy) and it could cause death (the idiot excuse-for-a-cop had no way of knowing if ANYONE in range had any medical conditions).
Sorry - my overstatement. I just get pissed at cops thinking they are separate from civilians, as some branch of the military. I think cops thinking of themselves that way, and also people referring to them that way, is a bad path to go down.
Then don’t read this thread. 
A lot of machismo there.
I’m going by what studies say. As stated in the post I linked, I am not aware of any study that made a definite link between death and being tased. Unless there’s been a new study in the past two years that does show a link, I’m going with “underliying medical condition”.
You don’t really see guns in California bars, but if people were packing at my local, then, yes, that would be my first assumption. That said, I’ve never been aimed at with a laser sight, so it could very well look different or something. I don’t know.
How is that more likely? I haven’t seen or heard of someone shining a laser pointer at other people for kicks since I was in seventh grade. When was the last time someone shined a laser pointer at you at the local?
If it’s not a weapon, what is it? Even Taser themselves call it a weapon (PDF WARNING).
Laser sights are often attached to handguns, too. This $30 laser sight comes up on a simple Google Shopping search without even having to scroll down. We’re not talking about high-tech shit here.
No, it’s a less-lethal projectile, meaning that it’s less likely to kill you than a slug. Which is not the safety standard I typically apply to toys and bar pranks. YMMV.
That’s a cool story. I would’ve just fired a warning shot, m’self. Taught the kid a lesson. But that’s why it’s a good reason I don’t carry 