Last week, Philly cops arrested teenager Courtland Gilliam and his pal Daron Stinson for videotaped “pranks” posted on Instagram. The empathy-challenged duo assaulted unsuspecting pedestrians on Diamond Street in North Philadelphia, threatening them with a pellet gun, ordering their hapless victims to do their bidding. In one case [shown in the video, above] they shot a terrified victim after he ended-up face down on the sidewalk. What’s this got to do with the general population of law abiding gun owners and pellet gun enthusiasts? The crime plays to the antis’ belief that gun ownership is all about having power over others. You know, gun bullies. Suffice it to say, millions of gun owners have no such desire and understand that with great power comes great responsibility. Even when the firepower isn’t so great.
Diamond Street is in the heart of the North Philadelphia ghetto. It’s a very tough neighborhood.
Got that right. It’s no mans land for sure. Don’t get caught after dark. These two bozos are lucky someone didn’t come out of a house with an AK and light them up.
The point is not to have power. The point is to not be powerless when some trash decides to target you.
This was plain stupid. Put them away now for their own good before they try this with the wrong person who turns it into a DGU.
Nice to see the Police saving lives and looking out for the welfare of idiots. I know what I would have done in this situation and I’m sure most of the readers of this site know as well….dead guys in a van….
A tragedy averted and the police doing their jobs well.
Occasionally, idiots win the lotto….whether they know it or not, the guys that were arrested got sooooo lucky.
I’m surprised that these two little goblins weren’t armed with the real thing.
They’re fortunate they didn’t shoot the wrong person with that pellet gun. There are plenty of folks out there who would have peeled them alive for it.
“Last week, Philly cops arrested Teenager Courtland Gilliam and his pal…
I’ve heard of people giving their kids unusual names, but naming your kid “Teenager?”
Yes, I know it’s just a typo, and yes, I can and will fix it myself, but it made me laugh, so I wanted to share.
On topic: You know why these raging douchebags knew they could pull this shit with impunity? I bet you know what my answer to that question is going to be.
Tough room.
Naah, just workin’…
BTW, I am surprised no one had let daylight into one of these men, ‘teenagers’ or not.
I’ve heard of people giving their kids unusual names, but naming your kid “Teenager?”
I nicknamed all my GFs “Honey.” Kept me out of trouble for years (until it didn’t).
My buddy says “Honey, Baby, Sweetie, and Darlin’ and you’ll never get in trouble.”
I find a simple “yes,dear” very effective.
How about a ‘yes dear’ followed by ‘for the love of God, don’t hit me again!’
The answer is this: They live within the boundary of the City of Philadelphia. Their neighbors often don’t qualify for carry licenses, and people under 21 can’t get one. The police in Philadelphia seem reluctant to honor PA LCFs (CCW permits) and abuse carriers on any pretext. Sentencing is light in the city courts and the conviction rate for gun crimes isn’t great. This is in part due to witness reluctance and in part due a friendly relationship between some judges and their old friends in the defense bar, the ones that got them elected.
These pranks can only be prevalent in areas with tight gun control.
Let them try this shit in the South and see what kind of rude awakening they get. Dumbasses. Some people’s kids, man, I swear.
These morons could have been shot. If they would have pulled that on someone with concealed carry, they would have no way of knowing if the gun is real or not and could have shot them. Oh and then instead of being stupid criminals, the poor law abiding citizen would be blamed..
They SHOULD have been shot. They’ll get a slap on the wrist and be released. THEN maybe next time…….
I carry a Sig P229 .40 IWB appendix, and those fools would be dead, no ifs ands or buts and no jury would convict let alone even get charged, not with those circumstances. There would be two dead kids laying on the ground with holes in their foreheads.
I’d be so pissed off for being put in a no choice situation like that.
That’s the shitty part, it really is a no choice situation
To call these kids gun OWNERS is an affront to actual, decent law abiding gun owners. Ignoring their age (“teenagers” can’t legally OWN handguns period), these are gun USERS. They USE a gun (pellet, in this case) to get what they want, or get “respect”, etc. They don’t own a weapon (and all the actual responsibility that entails). Just a peeve of mine, sorry
I dunno about Pensylvania, but there are places in which teens may own – and even get CCW.
As to these buggers, I’ll not test the new rules concerning what may [not] be written in a post.
“The crime plays to the antis’ belief that gun ownership is all about having power over others.”
Of course gun grabbers would think that way: they want power over others and know that they would use almost any means to achieve it. Therefore, in their minds, it is only logical to assume that most anyone who has a firearm will use it for power over others. Heck, every time a criminal does just that, it proves their point, right?!?!?!?
Wrong. Something like 100 million people own firearms in our nation. An exceedingly tiny fraction of them — on the order of 0.05% or so — will misuse their firearms to violate another person’s rights. That alone disproves the gun grabbers’ assumption that most people who own firearms will use them for power over others. And now for the real clincher: most of those people who misuse firearms to achieve power over others are violent ex-convicts! Let me repeat that: just about all people who use firearms to achieve power over others are violent felons. If you want to stop violent people from using firearms to achieve power over others, STOP LETTING VIOLENT CRIMINALS OUT OF PRISON!
This isn’t rocket science people.
“Of course gun grabbers would think that way: they want power over others and know that they would use almost any means to achieve it.”
And they tend to believe everyone else wants power over others, also. It’s called projection, and the gg’s do it in spades.
If you ran a prison, especially a private prison, what type of convicts would you want?
A) 500 violent criminals, or
B) 500 non-violent drug offenders
There’s an entire industry surrounding the war on drugs with very few involved on the enforcement side who want to stop riding that gravy train. Of course all supplied at taxpayer expense.
Right answer is C: 5000 non-violent drug “offenders”.
These freaking retards need to be REALLY shot.
Give it time. They’ve been very lucky. So far.
Now watch the copycat teenage stupids on social media replicate this act over and over again, like they did with ‘planking’ and snorting cinnamon. I’m ashamed to have once been a teenager. More teen tools are going to try this, and someone who prefers to not be a helpless victim will return fire with a real firearm and then our RKBA will be assaulted from a fresh angle.
Yeah, do that in a place where there is a high percentage of CCWs and people who actually do carry, in states with SHALL ISSUE and mandatory training like Idaho. They’d be dead as fried chicken in real short order.
“They were just harmless yoots. It could’ve been MY son, for gosh sakes. It wasn’t even a REAL gun. That guy had no right to shoot two innocent yoots just having fun. They weren’t hurting anybody.”
Sum it up?
Perp walked for playing thug. At least they were playing thugs with fake guns rather then using the real thing. Got to give them credit for that.
Try that here & there won’t be a Sanford circus. With our DA there won’t be any charges brought if they are shot.
If the little bastards tried that on me they would most likely be dead. I’ve had people pull a weapon on me and I’ve shot 3 of them over the years. My thought is if you pull a weapon on me I will respond with all the force I have on me. I’d like to see the charged with ADW and assault and terroristic threats. Maybe 10 years in a cell would change their attitudes.
I have no sound at work, but the caption says “Prank arrest”. Why are these two “youths” not being charged with attempted murder? The poor folks on the street had no way of knowing that they were not gonna die, they were subjected to real fear for their lives. If I was the prosecutor in this case, I’d be doing my best to put these 2 behind bars for at least 20 years. And if they have ANY prior convictions for ANY level of violent crime, then 40 years would be the goal.
For those who come late and want to see the video. It is still available at The Smoking Gun.
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