April 19, 2013

Kids playing "Humans Versus Zombies" with Nerf guns are criticized by the police for wasting "police resources"...

... after somebody called in to report an automatic weapon on campus. The police are informed in advance that the game is going on, and hundreds of students have had fun with this...
But with heightened suspicions after the Boston bombings, poison sent to the White House, and a concerning powder found at a Beloit health clinic, police will consider whether to allow "Humans Versus Zombies" to continue in the future, [Marc Lovicott, a UW Police spokesman said].

On campus, about a dozen students wearing orange bandannas played outside Sterling Hall on Thursday afternoon.

"I wouldn't think that any of the Nerf blasters would confuse anyone for a real weapon, because most of the new ones are bright yellow or blue," said Steven Brandt, a UW freshman on the zombie team.

"Most school shootings happen from people who are isolated and on their own," he said. "With 'Humans Versus Zombies,' I've made a whole bunch of friends -- it brings people together."
Yes, before you end "Humans Versus Zombies" based on a completely nonexistent threat, consider whether "Humans Versus Zombies" might be saving lives — drawing erstwhile loners into the group and transforming their aggressive ideation through play.

I was walking to school the other day and saw some teenage boys running along after each other wielding bright-colored plastic guns. I commented at the time, nostalgically, about how back in the 1950s there were always lots of kids running around the neighborhood shooting toy guns at each other. It was great to see something like that again. Our guns, back in the 1950s, were real metal and loaded with red paper rolls of caps.

Shutting down the whole game because of a couple stupid calls to the police? Ridiculous. As if all of life must be toned down so nobody ever "wastes" the police's time. This is Madison, Wisconsin, where the police are also intent on ending an early-May block party that's been a big tradition here since 1969... right about the time when terrorists bombed the above-mentioned Sterling Hall.

MEANWHILE, in Boston: Maybe no one is ever supposed to go outside again.

74 comments:

edutcher said...

Proof positive Lefties are idiots.

Anonymous said...

zero tolerance = zero intelligence

kimsch said...

The people who called this in to the police were the people who were "wasting police resources", not the players of 'Humans versus Zombies'. Don't punish the players, charge the idiots who called the police...

Anonymous said...

they won't be satisfied until we all look alike, talk alike and wear the same clothes.

MadisonMan said...

Police want to be lazy. That's the take-away.

And I agree: WHY are people calling this in? People really need to think: Learn the difference between actual threats and things that are innocuous.

I've seen a couple zombies with the red headbands. Haven't seen any humans.

Sofa King said...

they won't be satisfied until we all look alike, talk alike and wear the same clothes.

I blame Star Trek.

Original Mike said...

"I wouldn't think that any of the Nerf blasters would confuse anyone for a real weapon, because most of the new ones are bright yellow or blue,"

Yeah, I'd like to see a picture of the purported "automatic weapon".

cubanbob said...

Better still dock the cops a days pay for being this stupid and wasting the taxpayers resources. Same for the idiot who called the cops.

Shanna said...

police will consider whether to allow "Humans Versus Zombies" to continue in the future

Are they real police or campus police? Do they have the authority to shut down people playing with legal, brightly colored, completely unable to harm anyone toys?

My nephew the other day was pointing his little toy gun and going 'Go Joe!'. It was so cute.

Anonymous said...

god what would these people do, if instead of wearing headbands, the zombies went all out in makeup and costumes?

Sorun said...

It was likely an education major that called the police -- the future teacher who'll be suspending boys for drawing a picture of a gun on the chalkboard.

Anonymous said...

The Pigs are bringing a bummer on all of our happenings man. It's the Man who keeping us down. Revolution! It's in the air man. It's a happening down at the People's park. Be there Now.

Original Mike said...

"The police are informed in advance that the game is going on..."

Oh, for crying out loud.

Anonymous said...

Oh wait, I was having a flashback. I blame the brown acid.

ricpic said...

Like far out, Surfed.

Anonymous said...

I could use a summer of free love. I don't think those old-hippies, now progressives would be amused.

Drago said...

Sofa: "I blame Star Trek."

I blame Mao.

Original Mike said...

"The police are informed in advance that the game is going on"

So the police knew of this before hand, but somehow that didn't prevent their over-reaction. Police management screwed up and now they're trying to cover their butts.

chuck said...

Just stay in your crib.

ricpic said...

Free Huey. Free Louie. Free the good people of Watertown who are running short of milk! No more lockdown!

virgil xenophon said...

GROOVY, surfed--and ripic's right: POWER TO THE PEOPLE!

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
DADvocate said...

Yet people tell me I'm crazy when i say we're evolving into a police state.

Pat Moffitt said...

"police will consider whether to allow "Humans Versus Zombies" to continue in the future, [Marc Lovicott, a UW Police spokesman said]."

Police enforce laws. Police have no authority to determine what may or may not be allowed outside the law--- or is my understanding of civics as out of date as I am?

Pat Moffitt said...

"police will consider whether to allow "Humans Versus Zombies" to continue in the future, [Marc Lovicott, a UW Police spokesman said]."

Police enforce laws. Police have no authority to determine what may or may not be allowed outside the law--- or is my understanding of civics as out of date as I am?

n.n said...

Apparently, the principal victim of unqualified progress was reason. Hopefully the state we are approaching will be neither sterile nor a dysfunctional convergence.

Anonymous said...

An aside - Both 0f us in our early 60's, my buddy and I were at a small music festival in North Carolina Mountains. A hippie type was wandering through the crowd offering free chocolate cover shrooms. We declined due to the late hour, the long drive back through the mountains and our age, far removed from that kind of foolishness. Since then we've realized that one should "always eat the chocolate covered shrooms."
I mean how many times do they come around under any circumstances to old guys like ourselves? we could'vce just driven home slowly. Very slowly. Laughing all the way.

virgil xenophon said...

People who call police to complain about such things should be dragged by the scruff of the neck into the nearest open field and shot--just on general principles..

Sorun said...

"MEANWHILE, in Boston: Maybe no one is ever supposed to go outside again."

It's going to be awkward if the perp stays free overnight and into the weekend. When can they go out? Some people might be out of toilet paper.

Anonymous said...

If what we've had up to now is security theater, what's going on in Boston today is a security Peter Jackson epic film trilogy.

Methadras said...

Anti-gun people are the dumbest humans alive. And giant pussies that can't distinguish a real gun from a giant yellow nerf guns, to boot. Any cop with 3 neurons left would have seen zombies and a group of people with nerf guns and would have passed right on by.

First they took away cowboys and indians. Now they are taking away Nerf and Zombies. Oh the huge manitee!!!

Henry said...

My wife was talking to her Dad this morning. When he was a high school student in the '50s kids would bring their rifles to school on the school bus so they could go hunting after school.

The bus driver owned a small dry goods store. Kids might tell him they were planning to go hunting the next day, give him a few bucks, and he would bring them a box of shells.

machine said...

So....everyone should have unfettered access to weapons, but no one should ever become worried about all the access to weapons...

got it...

Sorun said...

Everyone should know the difference between an assault weapon and a nerf gun. Is that too much to ask, even for Obama voters?

virgil xenophon said...

@Henry

In my small rural town in east-central Illinois in the 50s it was common for many in HS to go rabbit-hunting in the am prior to school and bring their 22lr to school in their cars/trucks. At the same time one HS ROTC kids in places like NYC used to take their rifles on the subway on the way to school. And before the JFK assassination one could mail-order rifles delivered to one's doorstep. (Was how Oswald got his, but still, no multiple mass shootings prior despite the ease of acquisition)

David said...

Tamerlane's YouTube site: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnhjNzlJzPg

Anti-establishment, anti-Russian, anti-American pop culture.

Seeing Red said...

Poll - was it a male or a female who called it in?

Drago said...

machine: "So....everyone should have unfettered access to weapons, but no one should ever become worried about all the access to weapons...got it..."

Conservative arguments are so "dumb" that it is absolutely critical for the left to completely mischaracterize them to help the "low information" voters understand just how "dumb" the non-mischaracterized conservative arguments are, which the low information voters are not allowed to actually hear, because shut up.

Seeing Red said...

Better still, inform the caller that the police know, it's an annual thing and there's no problem.

Sorun said...

Next time I see a Frisbee laying on the grass, I'll call the campus police and say that there's an IED. Then they'll consider banning Frisbees also.

Drago said...

Machine and his pals can't even agree to unfettered access to nerf guns.

Meanwhile, how many innocents died at the hands of murderous drug cartel members who were given untraceable weapons by Obama and his pals?

machine responds: meh.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

The idiocy of the Left is truly staggering. No one could confuse any Nerf gun for an actual firearm.

Brian Brown said...

machine said...
So....everyone should have unfettered access to weapons,


Yes!!

You've captured an argument totally being made!

heyboom said...

What's next? Calling the police because you're watching an action movie and the characters have guns?

Brian Brown said...

Gee, lets put a population together, 90% of whom believe the same things about guns, and furrow our brow at how this could possibly happen.

Rabel said...

Madisonians versus Zombies. My money's on the brain eaters.

virgil xenophon said...

Wrongo, Rabel, lefties have no brains for our zombie brethren to feed upon, thus Madisonians WIN! Zombies starve..

Achilles said...

This is an excellent game. It gives young college students a chance to get practical experience with marksmanship, small team tactics, and the shoot move communicate infantry model you generally have to go to basic to learn. Of course they could probably use some instruction first but have you ever tried to teach a college student something in a class setting? It is impossible!

No wonder the fascists don't want to let them play this game.

Unknown said...

OK this morning I argued with Icepick and (i think) Jay about the lockdown...i take it back. I was wrong, had anticipated that law enforcement knew more than they apparently do, and had thought this would be over in a number of hours. Had that been the case, I didn't think the 'shelter in' order was unreasonable.

Meanwhile....heh.

Anonymous said...

You know how evil and bannable an AR-15 gets when you add plastic bits to it? Well, a Nerf gun is nothing but plastic bits. So there.

prairie wind said...

In case no one else posted this yet:

This is what can happen when someone calls 911 because they see a gun...if the cops are particularly stupid and have no respect for law, anyway.

prairie wind said...

So....everyone should have unfettered access to weapons, but no one should ever become worried about all the access to weapons...

Yes, that's about right.

Except at my house where access to guns is fettered. Because I'm responsible for my guns, not yours. And--surprise!--you aren't responsible for mine, either.

John henry said...

The article says someone tried to poison the president. In Wednesday's local paper there was a similar headline.

Yet I could find nothing about it.

KC did send a letter that may (or may not) have contained traces of ricin (or pollen from castor weeds) but that was to a Congressman.

Has anyone else seen where someone tried to poison the Prez?

John Henry

edutcher said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
edutcher said...

Sofa King said...

they won't be satisfied until we all look alike, talk alike and wear the same clothes.

I blame Star Trek.


No, in StarFleet, you were a Red, a Blue, or a Yellow, unless you were a horny ship's captain, in which case you could wear a green V-neck, or some kind of ground crew where you were a White.

machine said...

So....everyone should have unfettered access to weapons, but no one should ever become worried about all the access to weapons...

got it...


Idiot boy wants a registry and waiting period for foam rubber.

Ya burnt.

Or something.

John henry said...

Jay said:

Gee, lets put a population together, 90% of whom believe the same things about guns, and furrow our brow at how this could possibly happen."

90% of the population believes that background checks should be strengthened.

Obama tries mightily and can't even get all his senators to support a watered down bill to expand checks.

What does that say about how powerless Obama is. Sounds like he has absolutely no mojo left at all.

Or the 90% is a bullshit figure pulled from someones ass. Not yours, Jay. Whoever convinced the president that the American people wanted it.

AND

Obama is still as powerless as a fart in a hurricane.

AND

Not very smart to go on TV complaining about how powerless he is.

John Henry

Brian Brown said...

Not very smart to go on TV complaining about how powerless he is.

What's funny is the left was all whipped up about that. They thought it was great.

Oh, and the Bruins & Red Sox games are cancelled tonight.

Land of the free, Home of the Brave.

Original Mike said...

"police will consider whether to allow "Humans Versus Zombies" to continue in the future, [Marc Lovicott, a UW Police spokesman said]."

Well, the humans will probably comply, but I don't know how you stop the zombies. Those guys don't care about anything.

virgil xenophon said...

@ prairie wind/

That'sNUTHIN', fella, did you see @ Drudge where an 8th grader was expelled AND ARRESTED for wearing an NRA T-Shirt to school!

prairie wind said...

virgil, I will look for it. Nothing surprises me anymore though many things still manage to piss me off. When cops behave like that and when stupid people think that "I saw a gun" is reason to call 911...that is why (and was the 'why' behind the Second Amendment) we should have unfettered access.

The background check that 90% of Americans (I call BS) want strengthened wouldn't protect anyone. What it WOULD do is to increase the stigma that folks with mental illness already carry. Who decides what "mentally ill" includes? Will that definition magically expand to include run-of-the-mill depression the next time someone goes off the Welbutrin and shoots someone?

Responsibility for guns lies with individuals, not with government bureaucrats. And--good God--not with legislators.

Anonymous said...

Pig cops, running wild.

Anonymous said...

Intelligence is a scarce and precious commodity. It should come as no surprise that the Progressives therefore sought to build a social order in which intelligence would rarely be necessary.

Mr. Enns said...

""I wouldn't think that any of the Nerf blasters would confuse anyone for a real weapon, because most of the new ones are bright yellow or blue,"

"Yeah, I'd like to see a picture of the purported "automatic weapon".

Here it is. My son has one. As with any automatic, they go through ammunition way too quickly.
http://www.thisnext.com/item/5C0451BD/Nerf-Vulcan-Automatic-Heavy

Methadras said...

Seeing Red said...

Poll - was it a male or a female who called it in?


That would be a distinction without a difference.

Methadras said...

Rabel said...

Madisonians versus Zombies. My money's on the brain eaters.


Hah, the zombies will go hungry.

Fr Martin Fox said...

Machine:

Here's a gun: http://www.dlsports.com/cqb.html

Here's a Nerf gun: http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/4/2010/07/nerfstock.jpg

By all means, if you need help telling them apart, don't afraid to ask questions.


Fr Martin Fox said...

Also:

While I'm not absolutely certain about this, when people are shooting Nerf guns and pretending to be zombies, folks are running and laughing and having fun.

When people are getting shot at with real guns, they don't laugh and it's not fun.

Not that I've ever done either of these things--it's just a hunch of mine.

Rabel said...

And nobody called in to report Zombies running wild on campus?

Original Mike said...

"Here's a Nerf gun: http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/4/2010/07/nerfstock.jpg"

Fortunately, as everybody knows, zombies are color blind.

Big Mike said...

Professor please add a new tag: Madison is one large lunatic asylum with a football stadium.

Big Mike said...

Professor please add a new tag: Madison is one large lunatic asylum with a football stadium.

Unknown said...

"The people who called this in to the police were the people who were "wasting police resources", not the players of 'Humans versus Zombies'. Don't punish the players, charge the idiots who called the police.."

Amen.

Anga2010 said...

On the really positive side of this... The Massachusetts cops did NOT shoot any innocent people, even after they were askeered!!! Quite unlike the California cops.

JLScott said...

I suspect the person who called the cops damn well knew the guns weren't real. You can picture the type: a self-righteous "liberal", outraged and indignant that those people would even consider playing a game where they target and shoot human beings, much less have fun doing it--especially after Sandy Hook and the Boston Marathon. Weren't they even listening to the "national conversation" we just had? Well, here's one way to put a stop to it...