On August 3rd Calgary Police got several calls about a man acting suspiciously in a Safeway parking lot.  Police responded.  They found and apprehended someone who was seen carrying a firearm outside the grocery store.  He was arrested and “charges are pending” after police found a replica handgun on the him.

What he was doing there, police a still investigating.  Why he was waving a gun (real or fake, who cares?) around in a public parking lot is a mystery, but it’s certainly not the smartest thing to do.  That’s why I’m filing this story under Stupid Human Tricks.

Don’t get me wrong.  I like guns.  I love guns, actually. They’re fun.  A lot of fun. But there’s a place for them to be used, and that ain’t a Safeway parking lot.  Anyone stupid enough to wave one around in public does deserve the full police response.

And, in case you are unfamiliar with Canada’s Firearms Act, the poor sap has a good chance of getting a heavier sentence than if he’d waved a real gun in public. Under the Firearms Act, possession of a replica handgun actually carries a harsher maximum sentence.

As the late Dave Tomlinson like to say, “It doesn’t have to make sense, it’s government policy”.