Play With LEGOs, Get Arrested By SWAT Team

An anonymous reader writes "6 SWAT, 2 uniformed officers, 2 undercover, a chopper in the air, surrounding streets blocked off with five cop cars, two ambulances and a dozen cops. That's what it takes to stop a man packing LEGOs. Jeremy bought himself one of these, someone saw him playing with it in the office and the rest is history."

I bet I know what he said when they grabbed him.

[frosty_tsm]

"Le go of me!"

slashdotted

[ILuvRamen]

If it doesn't load since it totally got slashdotted, just google image search "lego brick gun"

should be called

[schroet]

"How I got fired"

How do I get his job?

[jayme0227]

He's playing with legos then staying late after work to play modern warfare 2? All I get to do is play stupid games on Facebook and read stories on slashdot.

Feel lucky punk. Everything's blocked but /. 4me

[DRAGONWEEZEL]

As it should be I guess.

I know Canada is a bit strict

[Zerth]

But with something like 3% of Canadians having handgun licenses, is this really that scary?

What if he had been an out of uniform security guard doing some cleaning?

Glad I never repaint my office nerf guns.

Re:

[nurb432]

Guns are bad, remember? Who cares if its possible to legally have one its all about the evil gun. Over in parts of the UK i believe its illegal to even have a model gun, so having a lego weapon would be a crime in itself.

Glad i don't live there. ( actually, id have moved long ago )

Re:

[Yvan256]

But everyone who has LEGO bricks potentially has a model gun. Obligatory xkcd [xkcd.com].

Re:I know Canada is a bit strict

[RockDoctor]

Over in parts of the UK i believe its illegal to even have a model gun, so having a lego weapon would be a crime in itself.

By "parts of the UK", I take it that you mean Scotland, as that's the only part of the UK that has a different legal system to the rest of the UK (Northern Ireland has a separate legal system to the remainder of the UK, but I don't believe that it's significantly different). But you're wrong ; it has never been illegal to own a model gun, or even to make one, in the same way that it has never been illegal to own, make or repair a chair leg.
However, it has always been unwise to carry a model gun (or a chair leg) in public, or in circumstances where you could come into conflict with the police. People have died in the past for this, and will die in the future.

Two examples :

• a number of years ago an amateur carpenter was repairing a chair leg for a friend - I believe turning a duplicate of an existing leg. As arranged, he goes to meet the friend to deliver the replacement at a pub. Friend wasn't there, beer was consumed, carpenter walks out of pub with chair leg in it's bag to be greeted by "Armed Police! Drop the weapon!" A few seconds of confusion, a few bullets fly, and a cover-up ensues. (One significant fact : the pub was popular with the resident Irish.)
• Man comes home from pub pissed up with a friend. They have an argument and the friend gets kicked out. Abuse is exchanged through the window, while the resident is lighting a fag with a novelty lighter shaped like a revolver. Calls to the police from neighbours, roads are blocked off, people evacuated, a 4 hour "siege", and eventually the police go in through the door with explosives, tear gas and weapons drawn. Fortunately no casualties.

It's a crazy world.
You're glad you don't live here? Well, I suspect that I'm glad you don't live here either.

Re:

[ubergeek65536]

Almost all security guards here do not carry guns, most don't even have a license. The only security guards I can think of that carry sidearms are armoured car guards. Come to think of it most sheriffs don't carry guns, they are more interested in the Dodge Magnums they drive than Colt magnums

Re:

[Uberbah]

And what percentage of gun owners in the U.S. go on shooting sprees at work? If someone whips out what sure looks like a gun (from a distance), are you going to GTFO or blow it off because "only" .003% (or whatever) gun owners go postal?

Your question seems to be quite silly. Just ask the survivors of the terrorist attacks from Mumbai last year.

Re:

[dogsbreath]

So... if I painted my AK-47 fluorescent lime green, yellow and orange, then no one would think it was a real gun?

You're doing it wrong...

[PsychoSlashDot]

Yes, I'm being funny.

How dare you say "LEGOs"?!?

As per the company's web site... http://cache.lego.com/downloads/aboutus/LEGO_company_profile_UK.pdf [lego.com]

The LEGO brand name should always be written in capital letters
LEGO must never be used as a generic term or in the plural or as a possessive pronoun, e.g. “LEGO’s”.
When the LEGO brand name is used as part of a noun, it must never appear on its own. It should always be accompanied by a noun. For example, LEGO set, LEGO pr

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, I'm being funny.

You are quite bad at it. Stop.

Re:

[Yvan256]

Wait for it...

Wait for it...

The plural of Lego is Lego.

You just broke the first rule: "The LEGO brand name should always be written in capital letters".

Sigh

[Locke2005]

Unfortunately, I cannot view any pictures of Lego brick guns at work; they are filtered out as belonging to "weapons" sites. I wonder if incarcerated felons are still allowed to order black legos?

And what’s really funny is...

[clone53421]

Jeremy managed to slashdot BrickGun [twitter.com] IRL:

Due to the overwhelming number of orders from recent press and the holiday rush, all orders from today on will be delayed 2-3 extra weeks
10:03 PM Dec 4th

All purchases are now officially backordered. Any orders submitted today and after will take 4-6 weeks to arrive.
10:37 PM Dec 4th

@JeremyBell: We've have spikes like this due to press before (usually cool gadget blogs) but never during the xmas rush, so it's challenging
11:08 AM Dec 6th

Why do Americans say "LEGOs"?

[thatkid_2002]

The plural of LEGO is would seem to be just "LEGO" but it actually isn't - it has no plural. In proper English (not American) you have to say "LEGO pieces" or something similar.
"LEGOs" makes me want to gouge your eyes out.

Re:

[I cant believe its n]

"LEGOs" makes me want to gouge your eyes out.

Now that is a somewhat unexpected reaction. Is it the mere use of the word "LEGOs" that causes this over-reaction in you or is it triggered by something more tangible, like for example the sensation of multiple sharp LEGOs under your foot?

Re:

[thatkid_2002]

The mere word. Nothing more, nothing less.