Tom_in_CA
Gold Member
- Mar 23, 2007
- 13,837
- 10,360
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- Detector(s) used
- Explorer II, Compass 77b, Tesoro shadow X2
snooksion2, you hit the nail on the head. In a lot of cases, no one really cares, till you ask.
The reason why sooo many people in our hobby feel compelled to ask though (like your analogy of asking if you can jaywalk), is that they've no doubt read scary stories of bootings and such. I bet if you were to go back 30 yrs. ago, such stories would be few and far between (as this was looked at, in most places, as an oddity or innocent innocuous type thing). But all it took was for someone to get booted, make a stink, form an organization to "fight such things", and then you know what happens: Others read this (albeit perhaps isolated at the time), and think "oh no, I wonder if it's illegal where I'm at?? Guess I better check!!". And then the self-fulfilling psychology took over: More and more "no's" were handed out to match those inquiries, thus leading to more and more bootings (because afterall, you've now made your hobby somehow something to be "on the lookout for" by authorities who have just been made to answer your "pressing question") As more and more bootings occur, then more and more scary stories circulate, thus leading to more and more people asking. And thus, the vicious circle.
I saw it evolve like this, first hand. Sheesk, we can be our own worst enemies. Hopefully people in un-restricted (or shall we say, un-enforced areas) wake up, and stop this silly grovelling stuff. If no one cares, just go! Why ask if you can jay-walk, or pick your nose, when reality says: no one cares?
The reason why sooo many people in our hobby feel compelled to ask though (like your analogy of asking if you can jaywalk), is that they've no doubt read scary stories of bootings and such. I bet if you were to go back 30 yrs. ago, such stories would be few and far between (as this was looked at, in most places, as an oddity or innocent innocuous type thing). But all it took was for someone to get booted, make a stink, form an organization to "fight such things", and then you know what happens: Others read this (albeit perhaps isolated at the time), and think "oh no, I wonder if it's illegal where I'm at?? Guess I better check!!". And then the self-fulfilling psychology took over: More and more "no's" were handed out to match those inquiries, thus leading to more and more bootings (because afterall, you've now made your hobby somehow something to be "on the lookout for" by authorities who have just been made to answer your "pressing question") As more and more bootings occur, then more and more scary stories circulate, thus leading to more and more people asking. And thus, the vicious circle.
I saw it evolve like this, first hand. Sheesk, we can be our own worst enemies. Hopefully people in un-restricted (or shall we say, un-enforced areas) wake up, and stop this silly grovelling stuff. If no one cares, just go! Why ask if you can jay-walk, or pick your nose, when reality says: no one cares?
Hey Bran, I don't think Todd meant any ill-will or snub to you. I think he just generally means that he hopes that others (not just you, anyone, ... just using this thread as an example) doesn't go "asking" in his locale. I can sympathize with that myself, for my own locale: I can think of places that we're "just fine" detecting (ie.: go unbothered, and no one cares). But yet .... sure .... if someone were to go writing letters/emails to certain desk-bound bureaucrats, the same results could occur, that you got. So a part of us locals hopes things get left ...... just the way they are. Like our state of CA beaches, for example, there is actually cultural heritage verbage that if someone in Sacramento thought long enough, and hard enough about (via a "pressing question" he must address), he might certainly say "no metal detecting on state of CA owned beaches". Yet right now, that is not the case (simply because I guess..... no one has asked! 
) 
