"Man Arrested for Using Civil War Cannon in Neighbor..." Topic

….Dispute – Like One Does

"In this heavily populated world where much of the human population lives cheek by jowl in cities, it is not uncommon to find a neighbor irritating. Indeed, if we got along well with everyone on our street, or in our building, it would be nothing short of miraculous. Should someone be playing their music too loud three doors down, one would typically knock on their door to deliver a polite request.

However, in the more rural parts of the USA, neighbors might have a bit more leeway to resort to extraordinary means to register their displeasure. Sixty miles south of Buffalo in New York, close to the border with Pennsylvania, is the country town of Kiantone.

One Kiantone resident, Brian Malta, was so outraged by the conduct of one of his neighbors that he took out his replica Civil War cannon and fired it across his fence for eight days. The cannon was loaded with powder and wadding, so it was technically no more dangerous than a bird-scaring device. However, the discharge could be heard for miles around, so eventually Malta was arrested and charged…."
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Amicalement
Armand

I hope he asks for a jury trial, and wins.

Nice phishing link

He was arrested for harassment and menacing. He was firing powder and wading. He should have used 1 round of canister shot instead of eight days of noise making, that way he could have avoided the harassment charges.

I didn't say it was a 'good' plan, just 'a' plan.

Thresher- Why?

(smile)

Amicalement
Armand

Eight days was too much. He should have stopped after five… ;-)

I think he was really quail hunting.

How does one prove he was not?

Some people just can't take a joke !!!! Even if it includes firing artillery in your neighborhood !

I think what Thresher may have been suggesting was that if the artillerist managed somehow to get info before the jury as to the nature of his provocation, the jury might ignore the judge's instructions and vote to acquit.

It's been known to happen.

More interestingly tho, you can get a replica Parrott barrel for $500 USD?!?!? I have to think this must be some kind of unfirable plastic copy. Otherwise, I'm a gonna raise my own reenactor gun battery.

Ha-Ha-Ha….!

Amicalement
Armand

A full-size cannon firing even a blank charge is a dangerous weapon.

Maybe he'll get acquitted if he gets judge Jubal Early VI

@Scottwashburn

I heard one of the Perry's lost an arm to a blank firing cannon?

If true, then youre right, even if blanks, it's still a dangerous bit of ordinance

Well, the Perry lost his hand when a cannon went of prematurely while he was LOADING it. I know a few artillery reenactors who are missing fingers.

But even without an accident like that, you really should not be standing anywhere within 50-75 yards in front of the cannon when it fires. The concussion is considerable and most reenactors wrap their powder in aluminum foil cartridges and the bits of aluminum can be flung a long way. Unburned grains of powder come flying out, too. Dangerous.

I heard tell of an "incident" at a reenactment. A Confederate unit was scripted to advance on a Union unit. The Union unit was to let off a volley, then break and run. So the Confederate unit advances. 200 yds. 100 yds. And the Union unit is standing at the ready but no firing. At 50 yards the CSA advance stalls cause they ain't getting any closer to muskets about to unload on them. Finally the Union unit shoots guns raised and walks off.

Words were exchanged.

Well, musketry can be dangerous even with blanks, but only at pretty close ranges. I've been to a number of reenactments where things got messed up by artillery which have misfires. (I.e. they pull the lanyard, the primer goes off, but the gun doesn't fire.) In a case like that the safety rules call for priming once more and trying again. If it still doesn't fire, then the gun is basically out of action, but no one dares get close to the front of it for fear that there is some smoldering ember down inside which might still set it off. The crewmen will 'cross rammers' above the gun as a warning to everyone and all troops must avoid the vicinity. After a long cool-down period, the crew can use a worm to withdraw the charge.

But if something like this happens in a place where the troops are supposed to go, it can really throw off a battle scenario :)

Seriously? In America you get arrested for anything.!Here He'd cop a fine and be ordered to stop. Though He'd also have answer some questions regarding ownership of a cannon!