Discharging a BB gun in the city limits of Grand Junction, Colorado (Pop. 50,000) is illegal. In order to try to rid his area of an officially recognized invasive species, the Eurasian Dove which the State of Colorado allows to be hunted with no bag limit. James Shults requested a Discharge Permit to use a 30-year old Daisy BB gun to run the pest from his residence area and from neighbor’s areas with their permission.
After inspection of Shults’ neighborhood by two separate police sergeants the Chief (whom Shults likes personally) refused the permit as the neighborhood of single story houses is densely populated. Shults, a former National and , multi-state rifle champion and holder of many state and national records has no problem with the Chief’s decision, though he says “… it was sort of funny, of course it is densely populated, it’s inside the city.”
However, Shults noted that the Chief also sent copies of his denial letter to the Deputy Chief of Police, Grand Junction’s police Patrol Commanders and the city’s new high-tech 911 Center. Shults checked with his many law enforcement friends and contacts around the country and they confirmed he had indeed been targeted and flagged by the police and 911 center. According to Shults some LEOs (law enforcement officers) humorously chided him saying– “That’s what you get for trying to do the right thing.”
Shults says–“All this action for requesting a legal permit to discharge a Daisy BB gun in the city seems a little twisted. Am I now a terrorist to be watched by the full command of the Grand Junction police to include a flag on my residence by the 911 Center? I must be a very dangerous man armed with my Daisy BB gun; obviously a weapon of mass destruction.”
However, Shults gets serious when he compares this type of local targeting and flagging of citizens by the Federal government’s enforcement organizations to include the IRS, FBI, NSA, etc. and in his city. He has notified the Grand Junction City Council to modify this policy so that law abiding average non-threatening citizens do not appear on it.
Shults Says–“In my case, when a local citizen requests a legally designated permit for a BB gun and finds himself on city police flagged watch lists, it is sad, silly and serious. This practice is something our City Council should immediately investigate and eliminate and order citizen’s names removed from and certify that that has been done. The flagging exceptions would/could be citizen threats against officers, other citizens and property-but not interesting or non-threat contacts between the police and citizens as mine was.”