Today I had a prime example of what it means to an individual when that individual cannot –or will not– conceive of a reality in which they are not always doing the right and legal thing:
Officer: This person had a 16 Oz bottle of ___, a beer, in hand. I asked her to go back to the private dock to consume the drink. She ignored me. I asked her again, asked her to discard the bottle if she didn’t want to return to the private dock where she could have been legally drinking, even told her I did not want to cite her. She ignored me. I got my cite book out and moved toward her, at which time she drank the contents, a clear violation of our local police code against drinking of alcoholic beverages in public.
Defense: It was water in the beer bottle. I had replaced the contents of the beer bottle three times. All the officer had to do was ask what was in it.
The officer shrugs: You emptied the bottle by drinking it in front of me, so no contents remained for me to verify. And if it was only water, why not tell me that or discard the bottle as I asked?
Defense: You could have checked.
Judge: I find you guilty, miss.
The smack as reality slapped her in the face and wallet was quite resounding.
I mean, how dare someone be so unreasonable as to think that there was BEER in a BEER bottle!
More people need to be taught gun safety and apply this rule to their everyday life: ASSUME THE WEAPON IS LOADED.