Wow. I'm surprised he survived the incident. Maybe something's getting lost in translation, but a compressed air pistol isn't exactly a toy--"You'll shoot your eye out, kid." And they certainly don't look like toys.

But I'd bet you're right in this case. Then again, it could have been an exchange student from California (but I imagine the AFP would have been all about identifying the kid if that were the case).

A compressed Air pistol is not a toy gun. It could really hurt someone especially if that person was shot in the face.

Another clue that he is Muslim is that he lives in a Paris suburb.

from now til whenever, I'm just assuming these folks are Islamofacist Muslims. I don't care that it isn't "right" either. While 98% of the world wants to pretend it's a nonissue (Islam is a religion of peace! Muslims are our friends!) as a Jew and a person with a functioning BRAIN I'll immerse myself in the thinking that it's always "them". Enough is enough - I'm almost with Coulter on what we do next.

Women willing to blow their own children up on planes? My god. Can I ask a serious question here - what the fuck is the matter with these evil murdering lunatics and the death-courting idiots that run around defending them?!?!?!?

Karol, I'm interested in your thoughts on this flag burning scene. I don't think the guy did anything wrong, do you?

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060822/NEWS01/608220378

You really wouldn't want to get shot with a pellet gun, air powered or not.

Scroll down to see what the ammo looks like.

http://www.airgundepot.com/desert-eagle-pellet-gun.html

Rachel,

I have no problem with the flag-burning itself, I did a similar stunt in collge, though it was not burning and involved a confederate flag (I WAS in Alabama, so my life could have very well been in danger!).

No, my problem is the burning. He could have just ripped it in half or something. Most social studies teachers I have come upon are not among the brightest of teachers, and this guy could have caused a fire.

However, if he was REALLY brave and wanted to demonstrate free speech, he would have brought in a Mohammad cartoon!

Air pistol?

FLYING LESSON!

[i]You really wouldn't want to get shot with a pellet gun, air powered or not.

Scroll down to see what the ammo looks like.

http://www.airgundepot.com/desert-eagle-pellet-gun.html

[/i]

The muzzle energy of that particular airgun is about 8 ft/lbs.Compare that to a .38 Special with approx. 200 ft/lbs.

In what way is this guy a terrorist, Karol?

Surely a terrorist is a member of an organization who sets out to commit a planned act of violence designed to instill fear in a civillian population i.e. a bombing, kidnapping or shooting that results in a large number of deaths.

However harmful an air pistol might be, it's hardly the work of a terrorist or terrorist organization.

in the current climate any disturbed Muslim teenager is bound to latch onto Islamic terrorism a la bin Laden. So the T-shirt is hardly proof of his terrorist roots. In fact, you could argue the T-shirt is proof he's not a terrorist.

I think they take their missions a bit more seriously than scrawling words on a T-shirt and coming armed with an air gun that they only fire into the air!

Sounds more like a disturbed kid to me.

Well, that's the game EiNY. It's the "Crazy or Terrorist?" game. Your guess is crazy, but realize it's just a guess.

Rachel, that story is insane because who the hell starts a fire in a classroom? "But "if a school is masking their objections to flag burning under the guise of safety, it raises questions about freedom of speech and academic freedom," she said. She said her group would monitor the case but did not plan to get involved at this point." And just when you think the ACLU can't get any dumber....

The muzzle energy of that particular airgun is about 8 ft/lbs.Compare that to a .38 Special with approx. 200 ft/lbs.

How many rounds fired at close range would you be willing to absorb with each of these weapons, Frantic Freddie?

I'm going with none, in both cases.

Are you seriously suggesting that this guy is a terrorist? :)

It's an air gun, I have played with them since i was 11. It's a toy. A powerful air gun can hurt someone badly if they were shot in the eye or feel like a bee sting and possibly break the skin if shot any where else.
Some air guns are much weaker than others. The ones I had from Japan fired plastic pellets or BB's and we played games shooting each other all the time. These japanese ones looked exactly like the real thing and in todays climate I wouldn't run around with one like I used to do in back in high school. It only stung even at close range.
The air rifles I've played with made in USA shot little medal bb's and shoulnd't be shot at a person because it would really hurt.

I have no problem with the flag-burning itself, I did a similar stunt in collge, though it was not burning and involved a confederate flag (I WAS in Alabama, so my life could have very well been in danger!).

You damn right your life would have been in danger if I saw you do it.

I wonder if the MSM will ever tumble to just how f*ing futile such downplaying is?

Politician misbehaving, no party given == Democrat, every time.

Nutcase waving weapons around, ethnicity not given or obfuscated == Arabic Islamic, jihadist or wannabee.

They might as well print it in 24-point boldface. Anybody who can pay attention can read it just as easily right now.

Regards,
Ric

For a bunch of "tough" Rupublican hawks, you seem awfully scared of a BB gun.

On the other hand we'd be wrong to say something about a kid waving around his pappy's gun in the highschool cafeteria, just because he's white 'n all...

Sounds to me like attempted suicide by cop, possibly with hopes of martyrdom.

So Richard Reid wasn't really a terrorist because he was too stupid to light his shoes on fire and they never would have blown up anyway and even if they did they wouldn't have brought down the plane? And the 11 Brit/Pakis weren't terrorists because their binary explosives wouldn't have worked? Wanna bet your life? A terrorist is someone whose intent is to terrorize others, whether he's incompetent or not.

Sam, buddy, assclown. Nobody has expressed anything remotely resembling fear. Reaction has been more along the lines of "wtf was this moron thinking."

Nice try though.

I remember hearing about similar things going on in the New York City Subway. Some Mid-Eastern guys getting up and acting "funny". Some say it was a dry run in a subway car. You don't read much about it in the papers. This day and age it is enough the scare the heck out of the Subway rider.

I know when I am on the trains (rare occasion in Manhattan) I am constantly looking at who is there and mentally profiling them.

Speirs. "A terrorist is someone whose intent is to terrorize others, whether he's incompetent or not." What about halloween costumes? Or bank robbers, they're pretty scary. Or people who stalk other people? Or I don't know if you've ever been threatened or jumped by a bunch of strangers at night in NYC, but I can tell you, it is quite terrifying. Now, if you're like Karol and you're going to go around arguing that we can strip away their constitutional rights and violate international law and torture them, I suggest you get a slightly more exact definition. Except of course, we all know that implicit in your definition is that the person also has to be arab, or muslim, or funny looking or something. Maybe have an accent.

sammy, back away from the keyboard - your posting are so dense you make my screen dim.

Take your meds and, if you're a really good little girl, you can bob for tootsie rolls in the toilet again.

Compressed air guns, used to be called BB guns, for those not familiar with the new terminology. Sounds to me, like a terrorist wannabe!

So what's the definition of a terrorist RR? Do you think a kid with a BB gun qualifies?

In this case, yes the kid with the BB gun holding people on on top Arc de Triomphe qualify as a terrorist. If he is demanding money it would be a robbery with a deathly weapon, BB or not. He is terrorizing people confine space with no option of escape for a terrorist organization, he is a terrorist.

And if someone there was armed and shot the stupid terrorist, it would be justafiable defense of innocents live.

I agree that he was committing a crime, I don't agree that he was a terrorist. You really think AQ has been reduced to giving teenagers BB guns? Wouldn't that be nice... but if you hadn't noticed they tend to have a flare for the dramatic.

Teenagers with air guns that look just like real guns holding people at gunpoint on a tourist monument are indistinguishable from terrorists to anybody with a real brain and a TV and a memory these days. And Halloween costumes don't imply intent to kill, as the above behavior reasonably might. Oh, and it wasn't Halloween. And what's international law - whatever that is, if anything - got to do with it?

Crazy or terrorist? Ooh, I do like this game :)

See, EiNY, now you're getting it. :-)

How many rounds fired at close range would you be willing to absorb with each of these weapons, Frantic Freddie?I'm going with none, in both cases.

I've been shot with pellet guns,I have 3 brothers.I got welts & bruises,but was never deterred in my quest to grab the one that shot me & beat the crap outta him.A pellet or BB pistol just doesn't have enough energy to seriously harm a person,unless you can put the muzzle against their temple or their eye & even then you're not lookin' at a fatal wound.

I own airguns & real guns & I know the difference.

I actually recall reading a story about the president shooting his brothers with BB guns when they were kids. Not uncommon older brother behavior.
My point about international law was just that "terrorist" is a term that the totalitarian-leaning right use a justification for stripping away people's rights, legal, international or constitutional. That is why defining a boy with no connections to terrorist groups (probably), no obvious ability to kill large numbers of people, and no intent to do so as a terrorist is dangerous. You can call him whatever you want, but most people want that term to actually mean something. If this kid was in the US, should we be allowed to hold him at guantanamo without a lawyer? I think most sane people would say not. Same probably goes for the dude in the article EiNY linked to.

Was the kid waving the gun from the top of the building at people on the ground? If so then this is just a stupid kid being a stupid kid and if we didn't live in the current culture of terrorism this would be nothing.
Or as people in the comment section have said, did he have the gun pointed at people who were also at the top of the building with him and threatening them as if it were a real gun?
Are people allowed on the roof there?

You'll shoot your eye out!! I've shot with pellet guns and rock salt out of shotgun. Rock salt >> pellets. But they look fearsome, to cheese-eating-surrender-monkeys.