NY Student arrested for having Airsoft guns gasp in his dorm gasp

Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:

No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
Times and dates in your local timezone.
Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.

If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

**Frazzled**

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/nyu_student_busted_for_building_1lZqVHYj47McYLAtcHKAWP

I particularly like this quote:

"It's very scary to know there were guns one floor below me. I had no idea," said one of Goal's co-workers, who described him as pleasant and a hard worker.

Its like they've been programmed with some sort of weird Bloombergian propaganda. Dude its a bb gun.

NYU student busted for building air rifles in dorm room
By JAMIE SCHRAM
Last Updated: 2:20 PM, April 23, 2013
Posted: 2:18 PM, April 23, 2013

Facebook

An NYU psychology student turned his Manhattan dorm room into an air rifle factory and was arrested on illegal weapons possession raps Monday, law enforcement sources told the Post.

Bernard Goal, 20, was busted after a startled maintenance crew spotted a pair of realistic looking rifles on his bed while he was out and alerted campus security.

Public safety officers swept the Texas native's room and found four more Airsoft weapons that closely resembled AK-47s and a black Colt carbine rifles, sources said.

Goal allegedly assembled the weapons with parts he bought online and sold them for up to $500 each, sources said.

NYPD cops arrested Goal at 2:30 p.m. Monday and hit him with six misdemeanor violations of a local law that prohibits the possession or sale of air rifles and replica firearms, according to a law enforcement source.

The weapons fire pellets through compressed air and are routinely mistaken for actual firearms. They have a range of about 140 to 300 feet and can cause flesh wounds at a close range, sources said.

"It's very scary to know there were guns one floor below me. I had no idea," said one of Goal's co-workers, who described him as pleasant and a hard worker. "But knowing Bernard I'm not scared."

**Desubot**

Quick hide your poptarts too!

in other news man this is silly.

**azazel the cat**

A better headline:

"Man in clear violation of local law was arrested for such; neighbour proves to be an idiot"

**Dreadclaw69**

Frazzled wrote:
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/nyu_student_busted_for_building_1lZqVHYj47McYLAtcHKAWP

I particularly like this quote:

"It's very scary to know there were guns one floor below me. I had no idea," said one of Goal's co-workers, who described him as pleasant and a hard worker.

It is better to say nothing and be thought a fool than to open ones mouth and remove all doubt

**kronk**

azazel the cat wrote:
A better headline:

"Man in clear violation of local law was arrested for such; neighbour proves to be an idiot"

Hehe.

Don't brings guns to school, kiddos. Even BB guns.

**Hordini**

You're not allowed to own an air rifle in New York City?

**kronk**

Not in a dorm room, no. I went to college in Louisiana in the 1990s and you couldn't have guns on campus there.

**Ensis Ferrae**

Hordini wrote:
You're not allowed to own an air rifle in New York City?

you're probably not allowed to own a pop tart pistol....

or those british school breakfast "ninja stars" from a couple weeks ago.

Then again, I'm surprised that NY hasn't legislated against the ownership of Baseball Bats (which would force the Mets and Yankees to relocate)... it's just un-american

**Alfndrate**

kronk wrote:
Not in a dorm room, no. I went to college in Louisiana in the 1990s and you couldn't have guns on campus there.

Didn't stop me from getting shot with airsoft guns D:

**kronk**

I didn't say we didn't have them.

Just that we weren't supposed to have them. We weren't supposed to have chicks in the dorm after 11 PM or alcohol either...

**Ensis Ferrae**

kronk wrote:
I didn't say we didn't have them.

Just that we weren't supposed to have them. We weren't supposed to have chicks in the dorm after 11 PM or alcohol either...

sounds like the barracks on every military base....ever

**Hordini**

kronk wrote:
Not in a dorm room, no. I went to college in Louisiana in the 1990s and you couldn't have guns on campus there.

Does the law the article is referring to pertain to dorm rooms? The article just mentioned a local law that prohibits possession. All the universities I've been to have had a general prohibition of "weapons," but as far as I know that was a student code of conduct thing, not a criminal law thing. That is, if you had a weapon that wasn't illegal (like a knife or something), you wouldn't be charged with a crime, but you could be expelled.

**Frazzled**

kronk wrote:
Not in a dorm room, no. I went to college in Louisiana in the 1990s and you couldn't have guns on campus there.

I doubt it was a criminal law though. Guns on campus, not going to college in Louisiana I mean...ok maybe going to college in Louisiana too, or at least North West Louisiana near my inlaws sure seemed to be.

And remember, we're talking airsofty here. Thats not a gun. Thats a fancy toy.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Hordini wrote:
kronk wrote:
Not in a dorm room, no. I went to college in Louisiana in the 1990s and you couldn't have guns on campus there.

Does the law the article is referring to pertain to dorm rooms? The article just mentioned a local law that prohibits possession. All the universities I've been to have had a general prohibition of "weapons," but as far as I know that was a student code of conduct thing, not a criminal law thing. That is, if you had a weapon that wasn't illegal (like a knife or something), you wouldn't be charged with a crime, but you could be expelled.

I never heard of anyone calling an airsoft toy a "weapon" either.

**Dreadclaw69**

Frazzled wrote:
I never heard of anyone calling an airsoft toy a "weapon" either.

You mean except the ATF who seized that airsoft shipment, claiming that they could easily be converted into actual firearms?

**Breotan**

...six misdemeanor violations of a local law that prohibits the possession or sale of air rifles and replica firearms...

This is what happens when you give into the gun control crowd - TOYS become illegal.

**Frazzled**

Dreadclaw69 wrote:
Frazzled wrote:
I never heard of anyone calling an airsoft toy a "weapon" either.

You mean except the ATF who seized that airsoft shipment, claiming that they could easily be converted into actual firearms?

I heard of that. Evidently the ATF is trained at the Barney Fife Police Academy.

**kronk**

Frazzled wrote:
Thats not a gun. Thats a fancy toy.

Agreed, but I don't know what the local laws there say.

**Dreadclaw69**

Frazzled wrote:
I heard of that. Evidently the ATF is trained at the Barney Fife Police Academy.

That sounds about right

**Ensis Ferrae**

Frazzled wrote:

I heard of that. Evidently the ATF is trained at the Barney Fife Police Academy.

or the Police Academy: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087928/?ref_=sr_1

**kronk**

Lt. Callahan had some nice, soft guns.

**Jihadin**

Yes....yes she does.....

NOT WORK SAFE OR UNDER THE AGE OF 18. Only veiwable for those who grew up in the time frame of "Police Academy".....I'm CYA'ing myself here from Dakka Mods.

Spoiler:

**MrMoustaffa**

To be fair, he could have shot his eye out...

And in all fairness, the guy should have known better. With all the fear over guns and assault rifles right now, the last thing you should be doing is bringing items that almost perfectly resemble those weapons into a school setting. While the average gun owner laughs at the idea of mixing up airsoft and real guns, to the average joe, they're identical. While we know it's ludicrous to even think that a bb gun could be converted into a full auto weapon, they don't know that. They see a big magazine, select fire, and scary black paint on plastic and they leap to conclusions. If the guy didn't have the orange tips on, even most gun owners would probably have confused them at a glance.

These maintenance guys probably saw those laying on the bed, NOPE'd the feth out of there, and thanked the lord that the "crazed gunman" wasn't there when they were. Had those been real guns, they'd be getting called heroes right now.

azazel the cat wrote:
A better headline:

"Man in clear violation of local law was arrested for such; neighbor proves to be an idiot"

This pretty much sums it up.

Of all the times to be bringing a toy gun to school, less than a week after that crazy manhunt in the Boston area is probably the WORST time to do it. If kids are getting in trouble for making their fingers into gun shapes and making bang noises, almost perfect 1:1 copies of real weapons probably isn't the best idea.

**Howard A Treesong**

Umm, don't leave replica weapons lying around your room when guns of all sorts are banned? Particularly in light of recent events.

Surprised it's against the law, perhaps it's mainly the 'sale' of them they don't like, because they don't want just anyone making these things and selling them without any accountability.

**Dreadclaw69**

Howard A Treesong wrote:
Umm, don't leave replica weapons lying around your room when guns of all sorts are banned? Particularly in light of recent events.

Surprised it's against the law, perhaps it's mainly the 'sale' of them they don't like, because they don't want just anyone making these things and selling them without any accountability.

I'd imagine that it may be more a health and safety thing to ensure that they are properly manufactured so no one gets injured because of a malfunction from a poorly assembled piece. Maybe a more knowledgeable Dakka member can clear it up.

**Grundz**

Hordini wrote:
You're not allowed to own an air rifle in New York City?

Nope

**xraytango**

NYC is pretty much, "no guns, ever.". Airsoft included, it's one of the reasons they produced the clear plastic cheapos, to try to be able to sell them there.

And the BATFE confiscating a shipment of airsoft guns was that they were the gas-operated ones and the lowers had architecture that would allow a real-steel upper to be attached and fire.

**Seaward**

Hordini wrote:
You're not allowed to own an air rifle in New York City?

You're not even allowed to think "air rifle" in New York City.

**d-usa**

Seaward wrote:
Hordini wrote:
You're not allowed to own an air rifle in New York City?

You're not even allowed to think "air rifle" in New York City.

They are dangerous and could hurt some of those airhead politicians!

**Hordini**

I knew that NY and NYC had insanely strict gun laws compared to the rest of the country, but I (wrongly) figured that that only included actual firearms, not BB guns and airsoft guns. My mistake!

**purplefood**

I can kind of understand not allowing an air rifle in the dorms of a college but no girls after 11 and no booze?
That's against the Geneva convention or something...