Man Fires Gun To Scare Away Magazine Salesmen, Cops Allege

Few people particularly warm and fuzzy sensations when a magazine-subscription salesman comes to the door. But not many people take the measures that Mark A. Molenaar allegedly took to get rid of them, either.

Two solicitors told McHenry County Sheriff's Department officers that, when they approached Molenaar's house, he pulled out a revolver and fired a shot into the ground in an attempt to scare them off, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

It worked: the salesmen fled his property, according to the Northwest Herald.

Molenaar, who lives in an unincorporated area near Fox River Grove, 40 miles northwest of Chicago, is now charged with reckless discharge of a firearm, a Class 4 felony. He admits that he brandished the gun, but argues that it went of by accident.

Upon arriving at the scene, the suburban Daily Herald reports, officers searched Molenaar's home and found several more firearms. He did not have a valid Firearm Owner Identification (FOID) card, so the weapons were all seized.

After posting $1,500 in bail, Molenaar is free to walk until June 17, when he is due back in court. He apparently isn't in the market for any reading material to pass the time.

Comments

[dbrett480]

01:46 PM on 06/12/2011

Knucklehead. This is why firearms licenses are needed.

[SouPro]

09:47 PM on 06/13/2011

Read the article. Illinois requires residence to obtain a license called a Firearm Owner Identification in order to purchase. This man did not have one which made his possession of firearms illegal in Illinois.

[stonewalker]

01:19 PM on 06/10/2011

Don't break the law. It's pretty simple.

[robert horwitz]

10:00 AM on 06/10/2011

If this hasn't gotten Mr. Mollenaar off the "Do Not Solicit List" perhaps he should just consider putting up a sign on his front door with a picture of his revolver and words to that effect. I believe that should do it and it will save him a lot of legal problems.

[antonymous]

06:43 AM on 06/10/2011

Can I just point out that half the responses here are condoning firing a gun to scare off some poor schmuck who was just trying to sell magazines? If you're wondering why we consider gun owners to be potentially dangerous overgrown children, here's your answer. Guns are NOT the solution to every mildly threatening or even just awkward social situation.

It's easy to say, when this happens in a state like Illinois where gun laws are tougher, that the idiots and crooks are all illegal gun owners because most gun owners in the Chicago area are illegal gun owners. But the fact is that there's no intelligence test to get a firearms license, and this juvenile idiocy seems to have a wide base of support from several people here who I'm sure have perfectly legitimate, fully licensed guns.

My sympathies are actually, in theory at least, with people who want to own a gun in their homes (although conceal-and-carry is too much for me). But I'm completely turned off by the vicious anti-social blather from the gun crowd, which incidentally is one of the reasons I want you to leave it at home.

[SouPro]

09:57 PM on 06/13/2011

Going down the current page, I can find no one who seriously condones discharging a firearm to scare solicitors. Supporting your position by fabricating an irrational opposition is neither truthful nor supportive of your own position.

"intelligen­ce test to get a firearms license"

There's no intelligence test to get any license or exercise any right. They tried that with voting and it didn't end too well in the courts.

[Th3 5p3ctr3]

10:05 PM on 06/09/2011

Wait...so no one was injured...and the salesman left? Perfect response. No need to prosecute, no need to be angry.

Honestly, no one likes door-to-door salesmen and they almost always ignore the 'No solicitor' signs anyway...need more people doing this kind of thing. Perhaps I'll give it a try when the JW's come knocking on my door.

[thewirah]

12:30 AM on 06/10/2011

Seems that you are the scary lonely guy with the house on the hill where kids are to afraid to go treat or tricking.

[Rooster Coburn]

02:36 AM on 06/10/2011

If it happened on his own property and no one was hurt or actually shot at I wouldn't waste the taxpayer's money on an incident like this.

[thewirah]

07:40 PM on 06/09/2011

I am in favor of strong punishments when it comes to guns. If you are caught with a gun when you are not supposed to, you should get more than a drug dealer would get for the same weight in crack. It's the only way to make people think twice before acquiring a gun or carrying one.

[grimace71]

08:14 PM on 06/09/2011

In most states "firearms misconduct" penalties are pretty harsh. I don't think you should get more than a convicted drug dealer...that is a ridiculous statement...unless of course YOU a drug dealer or an addict...then your statement might make some sense.

That being said...this guy should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. What would have been a much more intelligent thing to do would be for him to have posted a "NO Trespassing" and/or "NO Sales or Soliciting" signs and if possible, filed charges against the salesmen for ignoring his signs.

But this man's actions definitely reveal that not everyone should posses firearms. Especially idiots willing to brandish a firearm in a non-life threatening situation.

[thewirah]

09:14 PM on 06/09/2011

I am neither a drug dealer or an addict. What do you mean by pretty harsh?

It is of course entirely subjective but dealers don't kill people, they sell a harmful product. It's like stores that sells cigarettes, booze, sweets, pesticides and pharmacists that sell drugs that people don't really need but kill them in the long-term.

You only die because of a drug dealer when you choose to use his drugs. The guy with a gun is up to no good and you don't really get to choose whether you are going to be his victim or not.

[onionboy]

07:40 PM on 06/09/2011

I hadn't realized I could do this. I gotta get a gun.

[thewirah]

09:18 PM on 06/09/2011

You can do it if you have a sign to warn salesman off and if you legally own a gun. Isn't it cool? That's one of the perk of living in the US. It's so much better than telling them to eff the eff off.

[onionboy]

09:21 PM on 06/09/2011

I've also heard it's possible to just not open the door.

What a modern age we live in!

[crookedcountyillinois]

07:26 PM on 06/09/2011

A felony for firing a gun in the air at his own home? Why are we allowing these excessive laws?

[thewirah]

07:35 PM on 06/09/2011

You are being ironic, right?

[Th3 5p3ctr3]

10:07 PM on 06/09/2011

No. If you're going to allow morons to have guns, you might as well allow them to use them in non-life-threatening ways.

In fact, I'd think one would encourage a warning shot instead of, for instance, a headshot.

[jugglefire]

07:17 PM on 06/09/2011

Another example of why we need more regulation of firearms in America. Too many guns are in the hands of too many people who should never have them. Guns don't kill people, people kill people... ...with guns.

[grimace71]

08:06 PM on 06/09/2011

Wow...you really do cut and paste very well. Do you have this comment configured with a macro key yet? That would be the easiest thing you know.

[grimace71]

05:04 PM on 06/10/2011

http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/node/7816

[Leon Engelun]

07:15 PM on 06/09/2011

I can feel for the guy. I don't like sales people bugging me to buy something either on the phone or in person. If I want to buy something I will approach a salesperson, not the other way around.

[grimace71]

08:22 PM on 06/09/2011

Leon...perhaps you "can feel for the guy". But please don't tell me that your distaste for solicitors would ever drive you to brandish a firearm. What this guy did is absurd and hurts responsible gun owners' fight to keep firearms laws held in check (since there are already 10,000 of them, we don't think we really need anymore).

Would you feel for this man if he had unintentionally shot one of the salesmen? If you put a firearm in your hands for ANY reason, you better be following the 4 basic rules (I use 5) of firearms safety. This man clearly was not.

I am a major gun rights proponent, so you'd think I'd be on this guy's side...but I am just the opposite...this man should not be in possession of firearms (unless he shows he is willing to take firearms safety seriously and realize that brandishing a weapon is a threat of death to anyone in the 180-degree vicinity of the muzzle).

[Th3 5p3ctr3]

10:10 PM on 06/09/2011

Then they should've stayed the hell off his property. IMHO, a salesman is a trespasser under -all- circumstances that do not involve his invitation onto the property...and should be treated as such.

[thewirah]

09:18 PM on 06/09/2011

Free samples at the supermarket are so much better!

[Sandra Stipp]

04:21 PM on 06/09/2011

What a butt hole.

[grimace71]

01:40 PM on 06/09/2011

Oh no. Here come the gun-grabbers screaming and hollering again about blood running in the streets if Illinois passed a concealed carry law.

This man is a moron and just like with any particular demographic or political stance, we gun rights folks have to deal with people like this guy adding gasoline to the fire of the grabbers. Here is a man that has some mental instability and should probably not be possessing firearms (in any state). At least he made a mistake that did not cost anyone their life and he can be dealt with to the fullest extent of the law. I for one will be following this story as closely as possible to see if he even legally owned these firearms on a Federal level.

Clearly the man is an idiot. He lives in Illinois and does not have a FOID for any of his firearms. I suspect the man is a previous felon.

[antonymous]

06:57 PM on 06/09/2011

cool story, bro

[doomonyou]

07:00 PM on 06/09/2011

Wait a minute, I know this guy, he's a card-carrying member of the N.R.A.. Just 'cause he don't have no FOID, shouldn't mean his rights should be violated by them commie magazine salesmen. Where's the outrage, quick someone call Charlton Heston he's the Top Dawg, no, no, he's dead, kilt his self when his gun went off all accidental like.

[AMlegion]

01:31 PM on 06/09/2011

Maybe he can use his mugshot and apply for a valid FOID card