This is wild. It begs a few questions, such as why buddy was watching porn with the volume up so loud it could be heard all through the walls and ceiling. Get headphones, dude! And oh the jokes people will make at a middle-aged dude living at home with his mom playing with swords! If the cavalry sword is a family heirloom, I just hope it was used on the side of the Union Army!
Although I joke about him carrying a sword--and as someone who fenced in college and owns a foil, I can't talk--speaking personally, if Man must bear weapons I'd prefer swords to guns. Sure, the idea of a guy getting skewered in the gut is disturbing, but so is the sight of a hollow point entering same gut--and the exit wound it leaves. And I know the images of recent years of some of our African brothers literally hacking each other to death with machetes might give some pause. But I contend that's nothing compared to the sight of men too young to drive, spraying hundreds of bullets indiscriminately: boys literally wielding the power of small armies. At least with bladed weapons you have to get up close and personal, and the collateral damage is kept to a minimum. And a potential victim might stand a better chance defending himself against a sword-wielding maniac than a hail of bullets. Perhaps we should all became modern-day Don Quixotes like this guy, wearing blades on our sides, carrying out ritual combat with rules. Maybe the Crips and Bloods and other gangs should settle their problems with their leaders dueling at dawn. Maybe if people had to fight duels with agreed-upon weapons and seconds standing at the ready, a bit of civilization would come back to warfare? Yeah, right.... **************************************** Sword seized after man mistakes porn for rape OCONOMOWOC, Wisconsin (AP) -- A man says he broke into an apartment with a cavalry sword because he thought he heard a woman being raped, but the sound actually was from a pornographic movie his upstairs neighbor was watching. "Now I feel stupid," said James Van Iveren, who has been charged in the case. "This really is nothing, nothing but a mistake." According to a criminal complaint, the neighbor told police that Van Iveren pounded on the door and kicked it open without warning February 12, damaging the frame and lock. "Where is she?" Van Iveren demanded, thrusting the sword at the neighbor, the complaint said. "Where is she?" The neighbor told police Van Iveren became increasingly aggressive as he repeated the question, insisting that he had heard a woman being raped. The complaint said that, with the sword pointed at him, the neighbor led Van Iveren throughout the apartment, opening closet doors to prove he was alone. The neighbor later played for police the part of the DVD he believed Van Iveren heard downstairs. The radio station WTMJ identified the neighbor as Bret Steighorst. Van Iveren, 39, of Oconomowoc, was charged with criminal trespass, criminal damage and disorderly conduct, all while using a dangerous weapon, and is scheduled to appear in court March 5. Together, the misdemeanor counts carry a maximum sentence of 33 months in jail. Van Iveren said Tuesday that he heard a woman "screaming for help," grabbed the sword, bounded up the stairs, kicked in the apartment door and confronted the man who lived there. "I intended to hold it behind my back and knock. But I froze and instead, what happened happened," he told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contesting his neighbor's account, Van Iveren said he didn't look anywhere in the apartment except the front room, and that he never threatened the neighbor with the sword. "I had the sword extended, but that was all," he said. Van Iveren, who lives with his mother in the downstairs apartment, said he did not call police when he heard the noises because he does not have a telephone. He said he barely knew the upstairs tenant. Police seized Van Iveren's sword, which he said was a family heirloom. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
