To view this site you need Adobe Flash Player and your browser must allow javaScripts. Go here to get the latest Flash Player. would take on the cops at a demonstration. In fact, Mr. Webb was only walking past a demonstration when he was stopped and surrounded by officers in Kent, England. Then they seized his wooden cane because it is “an offensive weapon.” Yup, the “Nanny State” strikes again. Webb was trying to walk around a rather dull “demonstration” over climate-change issues, on his way to attend a seminar on trade energy quotas, when he had to approach an area where several dozen officers, many in riot gear, were staged. A flock of ’em intercepted him, advised him of the “offensive nature” of his cane — which came as big news to Webb, because if he tried to strike someone with it, he’d probably fall down — and ordered him to hand it over for confiscation. He did, and humbly limped away with his “receipt for properties surrendered” in his hand. To Webb’s credit, he didn’t let the issue lie, and let “higher authorities” know that he was miffed. He was told to claim his cane at the Southborough police station. When he did, the comedy just got worse. They couldn’t find it, and finally admitted his deadly assault cane had somehow disappeared. One can only hope it doesn’t fall into the hands of some kill-crazed cane-swinger! That could be, as the Brits say, “unpleasant, y’know.” In Basalt, Colo., police reports said a man stuffed a 12-pack of beer into his backpack at a 7-Eleven store and then fled. Responding officers easily spotted the guy. He was waiting at a bus stop a short distance from the 7-Eleven. The suspect was arrested, the beer seized, a misdemeanor citation issued, and the dude was on his way. He even caught his bus on time. The next evening, officers noted a very similar call from a different clerk at the 7-Eleven. This time, the thief grabbed two 12-packs of beer. Officers went straight to the bus stop and yup, there he was, waiting for his getaway bus. Again, he was arrested, issued a misdemeanor citation, and released. The only thing that went to jail was the beer. “We don’t know if he just started doing it or if he just started getting caught, but that’s one of the dumbest crimes I’ve seen,” said Basalt Police Sergeant Stu Curry. Dumb? The guy gets momentarily inconvenienced, doesn’t go to jail or even feel the snap of handcuffs? Does anyone Getaway Bus Circle No. 209 on Inquiry Card wonder why he keeps doing it? Hey, ya win some, ya lose some. No harm, no foul. If the court in Salina, Kan., accepts Robert Schultz’s excuse for losing control of his car, running off the road and ramming a house, we predict you’re going to see it put forth as a defense against everything from rolling through a stop sign to vehicular manslaughter. As far as we know, he’s the first guy to blame his actions on a “brain freeze.” Schultz told officers at the scene of Brain-Freeze Defense the crash that he had just purchased an extremely cold frozen drink from a Sonic drive-through restaurant, and was slurpin’ it while driving away when he suddenly suffered a dreaded “brain freeze,” immediately followed by the equally debilitating “chest freeze.” Both effects, he said, caused him to lose control of his car. We can see it now: “I didn’t mean to pull the trigger, officers — much less, pull it rapidly 14 times — but I had just taken a big swig of my Double-Malty-ChocoGulp and suffered a Total System Freeze. I couldn’t help myself.” 9 41 SHOT SHOW SUPER ISSUE 2009 • www.shootingindustry.com