Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

Radicalized white males who support Trump are pitching a tent in the abyss.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Text STOP to opt out of updates on war plans.

Weird. Rome has an American Pope and America has a Russian President.

I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

I’m more christian than these people and i’m an atheist.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

You are here: Home / Gun Issues / Gun nuts / And Everyone in Florida Collectively Sighed in Relief

And Everyone in Florida Collectively Sighed in Relief

by | 98 Comments

This post is in: ,

“For once, it isn’t fucking us,” they thought in unison:

A California man was taken into custody over the weekend after he allegedly pulled a gun on a young Girl Scout who was selling cookies.

A press release from the Riverside County Sheriff-Coroner’s office that the father of the girl, who is a minor, contacted authorities after he saw 59-year-old John Dodrill point the gun at his daughter while she was selling cookies door-to-door on Sunday.

“When the victim knocked on the suspect’s door, he opened the door and pointed a gun at her,” the release said.

I wonder if the Girl Scout was blah or singing America the Beautiful in Spanish, and, as such, a clear threat.

Reader Interactions

98Comments

  3. 3.

    Mnemosyne

    Yes, but we don’t have Stand Your Ground here in California, so the guy is going to jail, and definitely would have gotten a life sentence if he’d had an itchy trigger finger. In California, being askeered of a Girl Scout doesn’t get you a free pass like it does in Florida.

    Also, too, it’s the 909. Meth was probably involved at some level.

  6. 6.

    cathyx

    Sometimes I want to do that when they are in the lobby of the grocery store and they ask me coming and going if I want to buy cookies. I can see them plain as day, if I want cookies, I know where to go.

  7. 7.

    Roger Moore

    I’ll second Mnemosyne; the difference is that this is obviously illegal in California and will result in more than shrugged shoulders and wingnuts popping out of the woodwork to defend the guy. The dude is looking at prison time.

  8. 8.

    dexwood

    Look, the guy acted sensibly, rationally. Everyone knows how deadly a box of Thin Mints can be.

  12. 12.

    jibeaux

    I bought the cookies one evening outside a store, and those girls had a cash box absolutely overflowing with money. The mother with them really should have locked it up in the car more regularly. It gave me a little chill because it occurred to me that for an awful enough person, like Zimmerman-level awful, they’d be easy marks for a robbery.

  14. 14.

    Mnemosyne

    @jibeaux:

    I’m not saying it could never happen, but that seems like the kind of thing that would get you beaten up in jail if you got caught. Even murderers and rapists would find it pathetic that you stole money from Girl Scouts.

  15. 15.

    RaflW

    OT but hilarious:
    Per the NRO’s The Corner (don’t ask, I just stopped by to laugh) George Will flapping his wobbly gums to say “IRS Scandal Up There with Watergate, Iran–Contra”

    Uh. Huh.

    Fox Nooz is paying this guy? For that? What a prime grift he’s got going.

  16. 16.

    Schlemizel

    Seems to me she was the head of a crime family, it was her job to distract the home owner while her mob ransacked the place, raped the valuables and stole the women folk. The guy would have been totally within his rights to blast away at the budding mafioso and her wheel man

  17. 17.

    NotMax

    Perhaps have led a sheltered life but have lived in many locations, in four states, and have

     • never been asked to buy Girl Scout cookies
     • never seen a Girl Scout selling cookies
     • never eaten a Girl Scout cookie
     • never seen a Girl Scout cookie

    (though if correct about what the most popular variety is, that’s all good, as have always found the taste of mint repulsive.)

  18. 18.

    jibeaux

    @Mnemosyne: Oh, I know, it would take someone truly awful, but addiction has made for worse stories than that. It was mostly a visceral reaction — they had to have had $300 in cash there, as they flipped through twenty after twenty to get me change.

  24. 24.

    burnspbesq

    Here in Orange, one particularly smart Girl Scout troop set up a table outside the Chapman University dorms, with a Square card reader attached to an iPhone. They could buy a Central American country with the money they made.

  26. 26.

    ? Martin

    @jibeaux: They’re pretty solid marks for pedophiles as well. Between the boys in Scouts selling popcorn and the girls selling cookies, we’ve had several guys come up and make excuses for the kids to go over to their car. Fortunately, I’m also more patient then they, so every one of them had their license plate reported to the police.

  29. 29.

    NotMax

    @jibeaux

    Hard pressed to remember the last time the door was knocked upon other than Halloween.

    Maybe 4 or 5 years ago? Jehovah’s Witnesses, who scurried off with tears welling up in their eyes.

  31. 31.

    Honus

    @jibeaux: Maybe you should pack. Then you could be The Good Guy With A Gun.

    The point is, even stealing a few hundred bucks from some girl scouts isn’t worth a gun battle. And what Mnemosyne said at 14.

  32. 32.

    ? Martin

    @burnspbesq: A few years ago I took my daughter around during the Superbowl – you can tell which houses to ring the bell on, which really speeds things up, and then a boozy party with a couple dozen people, most of whom want to look generous in front of their friends resulted in wiping out several hundred boxes in the span of about 2 hours.

  34. 34.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @NotMax:

    When I was in the Army, the daughters of fellow soldiers KNEW that they had a ready market for their swag.

    Good grief, we’d beat up on other soldiers to get their daughters to the office to give us our fix of thin mints and samoas and whatever.

    There’d be sign up sheets for cookies. Delivery day was an event!

    The daughters of our fellow soldiers would make their quotas, and more!

  40. 40.

    mainmata

    @NotMax: Have lived and worked if even briefly in some, in 33 countries and have encountered Girl Scout cookies in three of them as well as every state and District in which I have ever resided. You clearly live a charmed life.

  41. 41.

    Roger Moore

    @jibeaux:

    The mother with them really should have locked it up in the car more regularly. It gave me a little chill because it occurred to me that for an awful enough person, like Zimmerman-level awful, they’d be easy marks for a robbery.

    I don’t know. Robbers hate witnesses, so the best protection against them is being out in a high traffic area where everyone can see what’s happening. The money might be safer with the kids and parents and witnesses than it would be locked up in a car where somebody could break in and steal it while nobody was watching.

  42. 42.

    dexwood

    @Cckids: See, this is where they’ve got you – hey, they took out the trans fats, a few more won’t hurt me. Pretty soon, you’ve got 50 boxes stashed in your pantry.

  43. 43.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @NotMax:

    SOS was still goin’ strong back in the 80’s. Dunno if it’s currently on the menu…you’d have to ask Soonergrunt, I’d venture.

  44. 44.

    Mike G

    This took place in Temecula, the right wing redneck-nutjob capital of Southern California. Why am I not surprised.

  45. 45.

    jonas

    As the father of two Girl Scouts about to launch their winter cookie sale, I guess my only option is to apply for conceal-carry and pack .357 as I accompany them on their rounds and if anyone opens their door in a threatening manner, I’ll just have to “stand my ground”, blow their heads off, and then explain to my girls that “daddy was just protecting them from potential threats.” They can leave a few boxes near his corpse and then we’ll come around in a few weeks to collect from the surviving spouse. Their life insurance should have paid out by that time and who can say no to Girl Scouts?

  47. 47.

    jl

    @J.Ty:

    ” Yeah, Riverside is sort of… SoCal’s Florida.”

    Temecula is one of the last stops before you get to hard core empty desert, spooky mountain ranges sticking up out of the alluvial fans and flats, weird desert suburbs out in the middle of nowhere between irrigated farms, Salton Sea, then all the way to the Colorado River. Heavy duty GOP country. Issa’s district is around there. If something like that happened in CA, that is one of the likely areas.

    Edit: but some nice cities out there, when you can see them through the smog. UC Riverside and some CSUs out there are good, and infested with egghead commies. The good GOP folk no doubt feel surrounded and endangered by…. all sorts of stuff.

  48. 48.

    jibeaux

    @Roger Moore: That’s probably true on many occasions, but this particular Home Depot was lightly trafficked at, oh, 7 p.m. on a Saturday, and it was dark & raining. You know the security and cameras are tight inside the store, but probably less so outside. Although they have grills and stuff out there, so I’m sure there’s some. I dunno, I ain’t a damn criminal. I just didn’t like seeing that much cash.

  51. 51.

    jl

    Some of those girl scout cookies are foreign, you know. Have coconut and stuff in them. Might be a threat.

  52. 52.

    Cckids

    @Mnemosyne:my daughter sold cookies for 10 years; there was at least one grab & run theft from some troop or other. We always had adults hold & stash most of the cash & all the $20’s. It wasn’t uncommon to have $1500-2000 after a 5-6 hour sale. Hardware stores & video stores were the best, lots of guys or college students.

    And BTW, we never, never let girls go up to a vehicle without an adult.

  53. 53.

    Narcissus

    Stories like this have me convinced something is going wrong in our society. Like, more than usual.

  55. 55.

    goblue72

    @Roger Moore: Thirded. And as a former Californian, if he’d have decided he needed to stand his ground, we woulda tossed his butt down a hole in San Quentin. And he might just very find the same for just pulling that pistol in the first place. Because unlike Florida, California is civilized.

  56. 56.

    jl

    @goblue72: A few of my teabagger relatives believe CA has become an oppressive socialistic regime,which violates their second amendment rights. I’ve told them Nevada is just a hop skip and a jump away, and why not relocate?

    But my conserva Dem safe and sane gun nut relatives in NV tell me to not give them any ideas. When you are too much for my NV relatives, then you are definitely in teabagger territory.

  57. 57.

    Cckids

    @Villago Delenda Est: we always put out a huge box, decorated it in red, white, & blue, & got people who were dieting to buy boxes for troops. Our district sent 2000-3000 boxes over each year. We used tips & donations to pay for postage.

  58. 58.

    Helen

    @Narcissus: I agree. I sent the story to a very good friend who has two girls who are in Girl Scouts and I told her that I am not too many incidents away from just packing it in. Just up and moving away. My plan was to leave for retirement, but I am not absolutely sure I am going to make it all the way there.

  59. 59.

    Culture of Truth

    Cookies are a big business but they are tax free because of the educational aspect of learning business.

  61. 61.

    Yatsuno

    @Cassidy: Yeah. Long–term prognosis is not good. Luckily fans of the show raised over $40,000 to help with medical bills. Bronies rule.

  62. 62.

    MaryJane

    @Mnemosyne:

    Actually, it’s the 951. Riverside County not San Bernardino, but same differnce. Temecula is more Metamucil and chewin’ tobacca than meth.

    @jl:

    Issa’s district is the rich, fuck you I got mine, coastal Orange County. Dana Point and such.

    eta: I’ve only been once, but you’re right about Riverside. It has a liberal presence. There was actually an Occupy movement there. Of course, the cops were total assholes.

  63. 63.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @NotMax:

    • never been asked to buy Girl Scout cookies
    • never seen a Girl Scout selling cookies
    • never eaten a Girl Scout cookie
    • never seen a Girl Scout cookie
    • never brandished a gun at a Girl Scout

    You’re good.

  65. 65.

    Cassidy

    @Yatsuno: I was lucky as a kid. I was physically able to defend myself from bullies over my nerdy interests. This shit makes me see red.

  66. 66.

    J.Ty

    @jl: yeah, I more meant the general area. Maybe riverside is California’s… Boise? An oasis in the middle of GOP country, and a gateway to the barren wasteland populated by anarcho-libertarian god-fearing Christians.

    ETA: Who disapprove of loose women who turn them down, and decry as socialism any welfare that does not go to farmers, etc.

  67. 67.

    GregB

    It’s about time someone stood up to these Girl Thugs. They have been getting away with this bullying and threatening behavior for long enough.

    Americam eff yeah!

  68. 68.

    Mnemosyne

    @Cckids:

    Oh, I’m not saying it would never happen (and, obviously, it did). I’m just saying that the probable actions of the other prisoners who found out what you did would be a decent deterrent against all but the most desperate.

    @MaryJane:

    You know they only added 951 because they were embarrassed at the reputation they got when the whole area was 909.

    Temecula’s a little more upscale now that it’s wine country, but wine ain’t the only thing they grow up there.

  69. 69.

    trollhattan

    Apparently You People have not heard of California’s Protect Your Porch statute.

    Be gone, pesky peddler of pernicious desserts!

  70. 70.

    jl

    @MaryJane:

    I just checked, and my memory is correct. Issa’s district stretches far enough inland so that it just includes Temecula. And IIRC Temecula is solidly middle class, on average.

    You would be surprised how soon some funky inland desert stuff starts in Southern California, once you go inland from the coast. Easy to miss, because for most people, why go find out, anyway?

    California’s 49th congressional district
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California%27s_49th_congressional_district

  71. 71.

    jl

    @Mnemosyne:

    ” but wine ain’t the only thing they grow up there. ”

    Or cook in bathtubs.

    I know some people associated with the colleges in the area, so know that it is not one solid mess of reactionary GOP. Maybe if I were more familiar with the place I would feel more comfortable traveling through there. But, I’ve run into some very funky places and crowds in that area, back when I visited back when I was a Los Angeleno.

  72. 72.

    cckids

    @Mnemosyne:

    Oh, I’m not saying it would never happen (and, obviously, it did). I’m just saying that the probable actions of the other prisoners who found out what you did would be a decent deterrent against all but the most desperate

    Maybe so. Sadly, the most common theft of cookie money was the parent who was supposed to turn it it, just keeping it. Maybe, this being Vegas, it was more common here, but we did hear of it at least every other year.

    Edit to add: I mean the troop leader keeping 3-4 grand; all the troop’s money. They’d just move away & drop their kid out of Scouts. It was sad & really worse, to me, than someone snatching the cash box & running. A betrayal of trust.

  73. 73.

    MaryJane

    @jl:

    Oh, I thought that changed with the redistricting. Thanks for the correction.

    eta: That helps explain why we’ll never get the a-hole out of Congress.

  78. 78.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    My Sister was commenting on how many people in her upscale neighborhood felt the Girl Scouts and Young Life were dangerous youth gangs out to plunder their homes. The paranoia is really beyond belief.

  80. 80.

    Mnemosyne

    @cckids:

    That happened when I was in Junior Achievement, but it was a couple of the other kids who took our profits and ran off to Florida. Not sure if their parents ever paid it back.

  81. 81.

    TriassicSands

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    I support John Dodrill’s constitutional right to protect his home and possessions from marauding Girl Scouts. Everyone knows that door-to-door Girl Scout cookie sales are just a front for home invasion theft rings.

    John should have simply shot the invader and sat back and waited while the genius of Florida’s Stand Your Ground law worked its magic in his defense. Not only would he not have to spend any time in jail, in Florida he would likely receive a good citizenship award.

    We’ll all be a whole lot safer when the imminent threat of Girl Scouts is removed and there is no better tool to accomplish that task than a bunch of ignorant, gun-toting old fools Standing-Their-Ground.

  83. 83.

    Stella B.

    @MaryJane: no, no, no. Darrell’s my congressman. We are not impoverished Orange Countians or strange desert dwellers. We are coastal, northern San Diegans. Happily, other than in Rancho Santa Fe, Issa is hanging by a thread. RSF is where Bill and Melinda Gates keep a little place along with others of their income level. The many RSF residents are not tea-partiers, but rather mainstream GOPers as they actually do run and own Fortune 500 corporations. They are very whiny about the disrespect they receive from DFHs (see Mickelson, Phil). The senior Rmoneys live down the street in Susan Davis’ district.

  86. 86.

    Goblue72

    @jl: Not saying Cali don’t have redneck wingnuts. Just that in civilized (soshulist) Cali, they’ve been rightly beaten down to an ineffectual, powerless minority – which is what should be the natural order of things in Eden. (sez the miserable ex-Californian living in the land of eternal drizzle)

  89. 89.

    pluege

    toughy for the dad too…what does a sane person do when an obviously insane fvcking wingnut goon points a gun at you child…whoa, glad not to be there, ever!

  90. 90.

    zoot

    didn’t smart parents stop their kids from going door to door (except maybe on Halloween when chaperoned) for this very reason – you never know when a perverted child molesting crazy wingnut A-hole is going to answer the door.

  91. 91.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @dexwood: Didn’t you mean “‘Baking Bad’ Cookies”?

    FTR in 39 years of living on my own I cannot recall any GS ever knocking on my door hawking overpriced fatpills.

  92. 92.

    Jay in Oregon

    @pluege:

    what does a sane person do when an obviously insane fvcking wingnut goon points a gun at you child…

    You’re not doing your kid any good if you get killed trying to beat the shit out of the asshole who’s threatening her.

    Sounds like dad got it right; (presumably) got his daughter out of there and called the cops.

  93. 93.

    Fort Geek

    He probably hates coconut on his cookies. Some folks are militantly particular.

    More likely he’s an ass who needs a little locked room and a head mechanic.

  94. 94.

    Woodrowfan

    I read a story a few years ago about a girl who won a contest for selling the most cookies. She lived near a military base and her 18 year old sister helped her sell them. I’ve heard different versions of the story so it’s probably an urban legend, but still….

  98. 98.

    Tommy T

    Oh my.
    From his Twitter account:

    John Dodrill ‏@johndodrill 11 Feb 2011
    @seanhackbarth “Ron Paul: “Force never works.” Let’s ask a mugger.” Good call!!

    Whocouldanode?

Comments are closed.