Roommate with Guns

In My Humble Opinion
1

Hello all,

This is my first post here. I was wondering if I could get some advice on a situation that I am having with a roommate. First off, I will describe my living situation, which might be a bit unusual to some. I live with four other people, two of which are women and two are men, all four are undergraduate college students (it is a large 5 berm space). I am a young adult male who did not know these people very well before I moved in (a mistake), but I needed a place to live and coming from NYC it is common to live with someone who you don’t know very well. I am now living in Wisconsin.

The story goes like this. I have a roommate that we will call Mark. Mark is not very responsible when it comes to his responsibilities around the house. He also has a gun collection which is not locked in a safe. Myself and one of the women I live with are not too comfortable with firearms to begin with. However, I was very recently told that he had a short stay in jail after being formerly charged with causing injury by negligent use of a dangerous weapon. I confirmed this by googling his name. The report said that Mark had put a bb gun up to his brothers head, after an argument and pulled the trigger, his brother had to have surgery to remove the lodged pellet and reported hearing damage. He was not convicted. Keep in mind that the victim was his brother and, to my knowledge, his parents are very wealthy. This was one year ago.

About 2 weeks ago, Mark purchased an Italian WWII rifle and is currently storing this weapon on his desk in his room. He did approach me about having the firearm and assured me that there was no ammunition in the house and this was the only gun he owned. I understand Wisconsin gun laws but I do not know specifics. I was a little unnerved but I genuinely thought he saw it as a collector’s item and did not give him any grief. This was before I heard about the incident with his brother.

Mark likes to collect things and he has an array of cameras, knives (small and large) and come to find out guns. He also likes to wear this one particularly large knife on his waist when there is company over for parties. I have always thought this to be very unusual.

Last night, one of the women who I am living with knocks on the door to my room and proceeds to tell me that Mark has a gun in the kitchen. I then asked her if it was a toy or his WWII rifle. She told me that it looked like a revolver. I proceeded to confront Mark about the weapon. The handgun was not a replica or a toy. I became very upset. And I asked him why he lied and said he only had one gun. He responded and said these guns only shoot blanks. To my knowledge blanks still have the potential to cause serious damage if misused.

I asked him how many weapons he owned and demanded to see them and he complied. Not only did he own the revolver, but he also owned a 9mm pistol that “only Fires blanks”. He did not provide any formal documentation of a license to carry or a foid card (are these things necessary to have when owning guns that shoot blanks?).

After this I became very angry and started to raise my voice and called him out on his actions and told him that it was unacceptable to be brandishing a firearm in a public space in the house. Especially since none of us had knowledge that he owned this handgun and none of us are able to tell the difference between a gun that only shoots blanks and a gun that shoots bullets. I did not physically assault him, make fun of him, or insult him in anyway. Part of my anger was due to fear that this person owned more that one weapon which I had no knowledge of, that he was charged (not convicted) of a felony for negligent use a year ago, the guns are not locked up, and he is carrying it around the house for no good reason. No one else in the house owns weapons of any sort. After the incident I left the house immediately for work and apparently Mark left as well and has not been back since. I do know, from one of the other roommates, that he is safe and at a friends house. Which is a relief. I do care for Mark’s well being but I fear for mine as well. I also cannot deny him the right of owning guns.

I have tried to reach out to Mark to try and talk it over calmly. But my messages have gone unanswered.

I am here to ask for advice. Are my concerns justified? What Should I do Next?

2

He’s not by any stretch of the imagination a responsible gun owner, and the fact that the incident with his brother hasn’t taught him to be more careful makes him an accident waiting to happen.

Have you talked to the landlord? He or she may be willing to do something (if the gun goes off, it’s the owner who has to deal with the damage).

If you want to talk to him directly, tell him that his right to own guns doesn’t infringe on your right to be safe in your own home. If he wants to keep them, he’s going to need to lock them up.

3

It’s silly to say you understand Wisconsin gun laws and then say you don’t know any specifics. Howsabout you do some googling? I don’t know of any registration requirement for handguns in WI (and it isn’t as though he’d be obligated to show you any “card”). I believe the only “permit” required would be if he wanted to conceal-carry a weapon.

It’s highly unlikely that the gun is what is known as a “starter gun”, but that’s pretty irrelevant. Presumably you’d mention it were part of the lease agreement a prohibition on owning firearms (or that such is contained in rules and regs incorporated by reference into the lease).

At any rate, it’s unclear what the concern is, and it’s not precisely clear what you mean by “brandishing”. At any rate, I’d definitely tell a roommate that I’d prefer their firearms be in their personal space. They aren’t obligated to lock them up in a safe.

It’s unclear whether you are all co-tenants on a lease or whether he’s subletting a room from a named tenant, and what kind of tenancy agreement he has. If you’re co-tenants, not much you can do about this. If he’s a tenant of one of you and he’s on a monthly lease, landlord is free to give him termination notice for no reason at all.

If someone has an issue about gun ownership (or drug use or whatever the heck else), then they need to ensure that someone understands they won’t be allowed to rent there if they possess X (whether that be a pit bull or a gun). If the tenant is on a periodic tenancy like week-to-week or month-to-month, it isn’t as though the landlord isn’t free to change the terms of the deal with proper advance notice, and that’d include rate of rent and (likely) prohibition on firearms. (Who knows whether the latter would be challenged. I can see someone challenging a ban, but the argument for such a restriction would include how it’s lawful to prevent a tenant from having a pitbull or whatever else.)

4

Well, this sounds familiar… there might be some useful info there.

Also useful info:

5

First off, let me tell you that I am a gun owner and have been around guns all of my life. I started shooting at about age 10, started hunting at 12 and even took a shotgun with me to college (lived in an off-campus apartment) on several occasions to go small game hunting.

Having said all of that, your roommate sounds like a whackjob with gun and knife fetishes. You don’t leave guns laying around, and you certainly don’t shoot anybody in the head with an airgun. I am familiar with “starter pistols”, which are revolvers used to shoot blanks to start races. I used one when starting swimming races. They are small and cannot shoot real ammo. Look up “starter pistol” on the internet and see if they look anything like your roommate’s revolver. I do not know of any blanks-only rifles, though there probably are some. As for a blanks-only 9mm pistol, I’m willing to call BS on that one. Blanks don’t have enough oomph to cycle the action on a semi-auto pistol, and there would be no reason to have such a thing. I think he was telling you the blanks-only thing to appease you.

When I took my shotgun to college, I put it in the back of the closet and only got it out when I went hunting. Frankly, it wasn’t a big deal, as all of my roommates were comfortable with guns, but I made sure to keep it hidden mostly so I didn’t have to worry about it being stolen.

I don’t know anything about Wisconsin gun laws, or the need to have permits, so I can’t help there. But there are lots of red flags, and I’d be careful around Mark. One suggestion: check your lease and see if it mentions anything about keeping firearms in the apartment. It wouldn’t surprise me if there were a clause prohibiting firearms. As I said, I wouldn’t be worked up if my roommate were responsible, cautious and discreet, but Mark doesn’t sound like any of the three.

I started reading this thread thinking you might be someone who is just scared of guns for no good reason, but you sound relatively open-minded and respectful, and I do think you have cause for concern.

6

Cool Story Bro.

7

I think Brandon Lee died from a blank too.

8

Life’s too short to be around a whack-job with guns. Why risk making it any shorter.
I’d tell the landlord about it and tell him either he goes or I go. If landlord says there’s nothing he can do about it I’d be looking for another place to live.

9

Effectively. A wooden dummy bullet tip, glued into the cylinder of the revolver so it would look like it had real bullets in it in the first shot, came unglued and ended up in the cylinder. When they fired the blank in the second shot, he was hit with a .44 magnum wooden bullet. So, either that’s way more lethal than you’d expect, or he was a vampire.

10

Both of these.

If you do not have a lease, you might consider finding another place to live. I also grew up around guns, but I find Mark’s behavior strange at best. I wouldn’t remain in the living situation.

11

Welcome to the Dope!

Ignoring the mischaracterization of how you described certain events, I’m not seeing any way to force your roommate to behave in the way you’d like. Your roommate is under no obligation to comply with your requests, nor even tell you the truth. If you’re unhappy with the arrangements I’d suggest finding a new place to live.

12

Thanks everyone for the advice. I appreciate it.

13

Just to be clear. I respect the right to own guns, but I know that guns are a very powerful object and should be treated with respect. My issue is with the mishandling of the guns and not the ownership of them. This post was a way to reach out and to find the proper way to deal with the situation in a way that would not deny him the right to collect guns. Again thanks everyone for your advice.

14

Most starter pistols, guns that only fire blanks, has a solid barrel. Usually covered with a colored tip. I own a few for use in stage plays.

15

I was just about to look up and direct the OP to that very thread.

BrSt, please look through that thread and pay particular attention to how bongo5’s story ends.

16

Oh wow. Quite the situation. I hope my situation would never reach a similar conclusion. Definitely noted. Thanks.

17

Assuming you’re in Madison:
http://www.tenantresourcecenter.org/

Personally, I have never seen a lease which allowed firearms, but it has been a long time since I saw any lease.

18

First, thing, talk to all the other housemates. If you are all on the same page (that this guy needs to get all the guns out of the apartment, with or without himself also leaving), then you can all present him with a united front (maybe conveyed by one of the other housemates). Legally, it can get iffy, but chances are very good that he’s not going to make a legal issue of it if all the other housemates agree.

On the other hand, if your other housemates are all cool with him and his guns, then time to start searching Craiglist for other places for you to live.

19

Moving to IMHO.

20

I’ve never seen a lease that allowed Cheerios, but I’ve never been evicted for having them. Why would you assume that a legally owned firearm would only be permitted in an apartment if the lease specifically allowed it?

Having said that, yeah OP, if the guy is handling them in an unsafe manner, you need to either get him to agree to keep them locked up at all times, or get him or yourself out of the apartment.