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Crime has gotten so bad in our fenced and gated community within the city of Portland` that others are talking about inflicting pain against the criminals in the act as a possible deterrence for others (understaffed police will not respond to property crimes in the act, if they did they wrote a citation, no jail. The DA isn't prosecuting property crimes so no conviction, no punishment so no deterrence at all).

I don't think an air pistol would be accurate enough at distance to ensure no eye injury and we don't want obvious rifle carry on our property. As winter approaches and thick clothing will be worn, the sting will be less if any.

Any thoughts or feedback from experienced air gun shooters? Is there anything more potent than bear spray but not lethal? Or is deterrence just a bad idea even in a lawless society that has formed?
 
"The DA isn't prosecuting property crimes so no conviction, no punishment so no deterrence at all"

Guaranteed the DA will find time for you if you get caught popping the criminally challenged rummaging around your property.
 
"The DA isn't prosecuting property crimes so no conviction, no punishment so no deterrence at all"

Guaranteed the DA will find time for you if you get caught popping the criminally challenged rummaging around your property.
I'm so with you on that IF they learn of it and are able to determine who along with the evidence to convict.
 
Paint balls would do the trick. Even if it doesn't hurt them with thick clothing, the mess would be a nuisance.
Although, I'm not sure I'd want to start a turf war with people who have punitive immunity and nothing but time on their hands.
 
^^^Good point. BiMart is selling those less lethal guns now. They shoot balls and the video I watched where they used the pepper balls made clear how effective they actually are. I'll see if I can find that vid.
 
Is deterring even possible??

The broad picture you paint is so full of moving pieces, it's almost impossible to plan for.
Different actors will be coming and going, or the same bad actors will get worse. What works once may never be effective again. Your actions might escalate things, or even send someone completely off the rails instantly.

Hope it's a cold, rainy winter for anyone outside. And destroy any cover, or shelter that vermin might make use of.
If legal.
 
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These are between $40 and $100

Drop a few in the driveway?
 
If you take to shooting "at" scum a LOT of prosecutors will come after you. If you want to take the risk a paintball marker would be far better. If the balls are frozen they are REALLY bad. I keep a couple around here with hard plastic ammo they call "riot balls". Made to inflict pain. Again though be very careful here. LOT of law enforcement will go after you rather than the scum you are chasing off if you are caught.
 
Is this study correct that standard paintballs hurt much more than standard airsoft bbs? https://www.airsoftfever.com/airsoft-vs-paintball-hurt-and-pain/
Most air soft has nothing. I have a few full auto airsoft I bought to chase off stray cats and dogs. I can fire them into my bare hand and capture the bb's. They work great for what I bought them for though as for some reason they scare holy hell out of the critters. Guess they can't figure out what is hitting them? They make some higher end air soft for gaming. They use a heavier bb and could smart at close range. Paint ball just plain hurts like hell. Ask anyone who plays with them. Again you can buy the plastic solids made to inflict pain or freeze them too.
 
I used to be really into airsoft. The difference between a cheap one and expensive one is massive. The ones I was using would draw blood at times and you would not want to shoot it directly into your hand. That said, they lack the energy to go through clothing. On bare skin, airsoft is like a bee sting, compared to more of a "Charley horse" of a paintball. To me, airsoft on the back of your hand hurts way more than paintball in the same location. Paintball hurts more just about every other place.
 
I would not recommend air pistols as a deterrence. You would most likely get charged with assault while the criminal walks away with your property without even a slap on the wrist. I can understand why people are getting frustrated and looking to take matters into their own hands. Unfortunately, thanks to communists in suits and robes, society is in a no-win situation where laws aren't enforced except on the victim. It is just a matter of time before they claim that any form of deterrence or resistance to crime is considered vigilantism. Unfortunately in these situations where justice is no longer just, the stakes keep increasing until they reach a boiling point. I'm not sure that this hasn't been their intention all along. The lawless society propagated by lawless "leaders" and a lawless justice system where victims of crime are more likely to be prosecuted than the criminals.

I've mentioned our previous encounters with the meth head that that was arrested on our property multiple times in the same day for attempted assault and arson. We filed charges. All they did was drive him to the edge of town, drop him off and make him someone else's problem. Meth heads don't have anything to worry about anymore. They just have to dial an 800 number and never show up to drug counseling. Rinse and repeat. If they are high while committing other crimes, they seem to get a free pass on all other crimes they committed when they were high...I guess that includes assault and arson.

Likewise, a family of drunks/addicts in a rental on the block have had multiple instances of fights, drunk driving, public endangerment, public indecency, brandishing weapons, trespassing, and more. Police have been called by neighbors multiple times. Nothing happens.

There are ways to address these problems but not as long as the powers that be keep looking at crime as just another form of expression, diversity, inclusion, and tolerance.
 
has gotten so bad in our fenced and gated community within the city of Portland` that others are talking about inflicting pain against the criminals in the act as a possible deterrence for others (understaffed police will not respond to property crimes in the act, if they did they wrote a citation, no jail. The DA isn't prosecuting property crimes so no conviction, no punishment so no deterrence at all).

I don't think an air pistol would be accurate enough at distance to ensure no eye injury and we don't want obvious rifle carry on our property. As winter approaches and thick clothing will be worn, the sting will be less if any.

Any thoughts or feedback from experienced air gun shooters? Is there anything more potent than bear spray but not lethal? Or is deterrence just a bad idea even in a lawless society that has formed?
Man U read my mind with this post! I've been thinking of a way to stop thieves such as catalytic converter thieves with non deadly force. Also what about crazy person rifling through stuff in your back yard as an example.

What do u guys think about pepper ball guns? I was thinking of a regular paintball full auto gun but loaded with pepperballs instead of paintballs. Thoughts?

As far as steel BB guns (talking about low powered steel BB guns such as 400fps full auto guns, not high powered pellet guns), my understanding that for Portland if the police want to (do police still exist here? ha ha) they can prosecute you as if it were a firearm (assault, illegal discharge within city, etc). But two things come to mind here: (1) in the past, say 3-4 years ago, when listening to scanner if it was a steel BB gun they would just ignore it. This happened all the time. (2) In the past, again say 2-3 years ago, high profile steel BB gun cases such as the guy shooting from a rooftop causing a "mass shooter" scare DID get prosecuted. So I just don't know on lower power steel BB guns.

Seems to me the factors to sonsidier are:

1) effectiveness: will it make them so uncomfortable that they never come back or hopefully think twice before robbing someone else? A steel BB gun machine gun would make them uncomfortable, so would pepperballs I think.

2) likeliness to get in trouble with the law
Are pepperballs exempt from "firearm" laws? I think 12 gauge loaded with rock salt or pepper 12 gauge round would get u in trouble imo. And of course every persons risk tolerance for this is different.

Here are some recent examples from next door app this week that show how brave thieves are getting. They will not hesitate to go through a locked gate or fence into your back yard fe. This might give some context for you lucky folks not living in Pdx. This is what we live with daily. Please note I did not include the 4-5 posts per day on actual shootings, just minor stuff from the last week that kind of fit the OPs question. Thx for any thoughts!
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This is a bad idea on many levels. Even a thief has a lawful right to defend his life, consider how many cops have shot and killed people for presenting air or paint or replica guns etc.
 
Danger, Danger
If you or one of your neighbors pulls out something that resembles a gun (paintball, airsoft, bb gun), to defend personal property, that you are not allowed to defend with lethal force in this state, and said dirtbag reasonably believes that you/neighbor has an actual firearm, and then they open up on you/neighbor with real bullets, guess what, you are the initial aggressor. If you shoot back with real bullets, you will not be able to claim self defense. not legal advice but feel pretty comfortable with this information...check with your attorney.

I get it...it sucks big time. Sharing a cell with your new husband sucks more. (No pun intended.) If you live in Portland and don't think they will go after you (as opposed to antifa, blm, rioters etc.) think again. Same with the bear spray, it's for bears and they (prosecutors) will say that your level of force is not "reasonable" since there are 50 cans of spray intended for humans hanging on the shelf at Sportsman's right next to stuff intended for ursus arctos horribilis.

It pains me to type this, but I just don't want to see worse things (bad is already happening) to good people.
 

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