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I feel that the police and other government officials are trying to control our lives to much. When it comes down that grown(childrent) can’t have a little fun, it has gone to far. As long as no one gets hurt and it is just water, more power to the water gun fighters,.

Geez, was someone allergic to water or something? Unless what you were planning on doing involved drowning the farmer’s market locals and all, I really don’t see what it had to do with squelching it and arresting people. Did anyone have an overly realistic water gun? Otherwise, I see no reason for the cops to waste their time on that. Ridiculous, ludicrous, etc… wonder how many people got robbed, attacked, or otherwise injured while the cops were busy playing with you?

Welcome to the police state.

That is really stupid. Unless it is high pressured, even if you hit someone in the eye is wouldn’t do anything. It would annoying, but that is all. Nobody lets anyone have fun anymore.

Love that title…reminds me of a certain yankee gal. “Better get a towel,” she always says. And for good reason.

I think it sounds like good, honest fun. In fact, we moved into our neighborhood just last year. Wanting to have a little fun, and get to know more of the people on our street, my kids and I scheduled our “First Annual Water Balloon War” on July 4th. Nothing formal. The kids hung notes (with a bag of 15 unfilled water balloons attached) on the doors of each of the 36 houses on our street advertising the event. We, personally, filled over 200 water balloons. Only about 20 people turned out for it. But it was SO much fun…. and a great relief from the Texas heat on 4th of July.

I guess your police have a zero tolerance policy on guns of any kind. Maybe you should try water ballons, instead, next time. They’re a pain to clean up, though.

Thank goodness the police stepped in before people got wet! Had everyone gone through the required training necessary to shoot said aquatic firearms? What if an innocent bystander was hit by a rogue stream of liquidous mass? Think of the children!!!

That’s a bunch of bull.
I’m sure the NYPD does feel a need to enforce the law,but this sounds like something that the cops felt like doing out of boredom–because they can.
Police flexing their muscles is always something that I hate to see…

Just because someone breaks the law,doesn’t mean that they’re committing a crime.I think that them going out of their way to stop a water gun fight is not even close to being the best way to handle it.

I think people should have freedom to assemble in any form, as long as it is not violent or it impairs the rights of others.

The reason the city would have shut it down is because they want full control. I’m sure you could have applied for a permit to take part in this water battle. I’m sure they would have required boundaries set up, security, management, etc. All of which defies the purpose of a flashmob get-together.

see this is why boston is so much better than nyc. we can do this shit without having anyone aresst us. A couple weeks ago, there was a huge water gun banaza downtown and everyone had a great time. Granted there were cops there to make sure no one had a actual gun, but they didnt arrest anyone. Nyc sucks balls so go to boston if u want to do this shit. GO SOX!

so when someone slips on the water and sues the city for not removing the mob of people that they had prior knowledge of, whom never had a permit, i guess youll be glad to each personally pay to cover the cost to the city?

i think it sucks that they put a stop to it, because it probably would have been a really good time, but i think the city was probably worried someone would get hurt (participant or non-participant) and sue the city. it could become a very sticky situation if the “victim” wanted to be a complete asshole about it.

perhaps next year the organizers can pull the proper “permit” and everyone can have a splashing good time.

yeah, rules suck, but they are in place to keep everyone safe.

If it was in the sixties, we would have had the water battle anyway. Then the National Guard would have been called and six people would have died, shot for carrying unauthorized weapons. People would still be singing the folk song about it. Things have changed. They have gotten so much worse.

Just playing devil’s advocate here - what if someone had gotten hurt in the water-gun fight? Yes, someone could have slipped on a wet patch, or even drowned (it doesn’t take much water to drown someone). Worse, what if some joker had put acid or something into a squirt-gun? And then we have the possibility of a situation like the Puerto Rican Day Parade a few years ago, where women were sprayed with water and beer like in a wet t-shirt contest.

I’m not saying the city was right, but we live in a litigious society, and things can always go wrong, and if the event wasn’t officially sanctioned or approved - if something had gone wrong, people would have wondered why the city allowed it to happen.

The city is probably more worried about lawsuits due to accidents than anything else - that’s what the permit system is for.

The kids and kids-at-heart should be free to squirt as long as it’s all consentual. If they squirted people who didn’t want to be squirted…well THAT’S when they should get in trouble.

to rebut the comment above this

IT WAS OUTSIDE! Let me explain to you what happens in the outdoors…. It rains… it snows… hurricanes… tornados… etc. If people can actually sue for slipping on water OUTSIDE then there are more problems then big shirted police officers. People need to grow up and learn to not be so darned involved in everyone elses business. Sheesh, what is the world coming to…

Wtf is up with that title, something less sexual please?

WHY SHOULD YOU HAVE TO HAVE A PERMIT? Freedom my friends is destroyed in even its most minuscule parts in this country. Soon you’re going to have to have a permit to leave your house. As for the jerk who called himself Obama, (August 25th, 2008 at 10:50 am…feel free to step up if you got the balls) the idiot who would sue the city for tripping like a fool is just that - an idiot - and these people need to take responsible for their own problems. “I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” Goes with actions to. As long as it doesn’t purposefully hurt someone, it’s not that person’s fault.

Now that sounds like a blast to me but maybe our government is freaking out a little to much. I can see how people might think that someone would put something other than water in their gun (a neighbor put bleach in his when I was younger and hit my friend in the eyes) but I would have gone anyway.

I think that the other word in that plan has gotten little attention. Water GUNS. I can imagine that many of the Water GUNS looked like REAL guns, thus making it hard to actually police such an event during times when NY is a seemingly endless target for Terrorists. It would be way too easy for someone with a real gun to hold it up, and start firing away without police doing anything until the weapon is discharged.

Give the police a bit of credit for trying to do a difficult job.

My 2¢: stick to pillows…they aren’t the weapon of choice among Terrorists.

If you wanna play little kid games and act like grade schoolers, you could always host these stupid events on your own property?

I can see exactly why they dont want you to play there. You’ll run into people who arent involved, you’ll squirt people with water, who dont want to be squirted, then one of you will get your ass kicked by someone who told you “No” and you’ll go whining to the police who’ll tell you that you deserved it.

WAAAA!!!!

OK, I guess I get to be the lone dissenting voice here. Don’t get me wrong… I am all for free speech and freedom of assembly. But if I were there shopping or something or just hanging out and I got hit in the face by somebody’s water gun, I would be pretty unhappy, because I didn’t choose to participate. I think if you want to do it, there’s nothing wrong with it, but it would be good to get permission like any other group who wants to use the park. You said it was advertised ahead of time, so it wasn’t just a spontaneous gathering. Then at least you could maybe post signs at the entrance to the park warning people that it was going on and if they enter, they risk getting “shot.”

I think you guys should’ve been able to shoot your water guns ’till you turned wrinkly as a raisin! But I don’t see any justification in what those cops did.

I disagree with stopping the water fight, but as for the people who squirted getting arrested, I understand that completely. When the police say that there will be no water gun fighting, and someone blatantly breaks the rules like that, they deserve to be punished. Not for squirting a water gun, but for disobeying the police.

If you use some of the logic I have seen here, then maybe they shouldnt even let people walk done the street. Gee someone could trip and fall and sue the city. It is ridiculous that they stopped this. Welcome to the police state. Seig heil! (or whatever)

there needs to be a balance between averting danger/other people’s comfort and censoring fun out of life. Obviously, I can see why a bunch of people shooting cold water at each other might endanger the comfort of a few passersby, but to arrest someone for it is extreme.

Yes, they should have checked with the new york parks whatever thing, but i do not believe they had done anything illegal. I think its perfectly legal to bring a watergun to a park. This just happened to be a mass gathering of people with waterguns at a park.

Unless we don’t have the right to assemble/hold water guns anymore, i don’t see why she had to be arrested.

Marvinator: “My 2¢: stick to pillows…they aren’t the weapon of choice among Terrorists.”

Next thing you know, someone lines their pillow case with bricks or bags of anthrax. You can turn anything mundane into a weapon of mass destruction if you use your imagination. Even if it was Tickle War 2008 with people armed with feathers, NYC would still shut them down.

American innocence is lost, people. Maybe we can recolonize in Antarctica or something. Do penguins make good pets?

There’s no harm unless the water gunners start shooting at cars, it’s harmless fun!

hm maybe in the park when there are events going on but yeah these days that could be seen as maybe a shad y charector thought of it or maybe the police thought someone might have aterorest atack or something but yeah we have stuff like that in my neighborhood a lot

I’m a member of Improv Everywhere, but I never got the invite for this one. Hmmm… well had I been there, I would have squirted the gun too.

Lol!!! That is so weird. Who would get in trouble for having a water gun fight. What’s next. gettting in trouble for playing darts? Lame. This is so strange. I mean its just water. Whats wrong with that. does that mean when we swim we can’t splash people? >=(

If a group is going to organize a big excursion like this, why the blazes wouldn’t it occur to them to get the necessary permits? You’re in a public park, for crying out loud. You have to make arrangements in advance for any kind of large scale group gathering. You’d make those arrangements for a wedding or a family reunion. Why not for this?

As a former Park Ranger, I’ve run into this sort of situation before–and I feel that when people make a big fuss that they’re not able to do anything they want on land that their tax dollars pay for, they are occasionally a little off. Taxes pay to keep the park clean and well-maintained, and to keep restrictions in effect that make the park an enjoyable place for all visitors. What about the ‘normal’ visitors, who just want to chill out and not be annoyed by a bunch of water gun wielding weirdos (no offense)? Do your rights to a good time supercede theirs? If you had made arrangements ahead of time, plans could have been made–or even a section of the park roped off in a way that might have allowed this event to transpire in a manner safe and enjoyable for everyone involved (or not involved).

That is why you have to register for a group gathering–to make sure that the tax dollars of the majority are being protected and ensuring that whatever scheme your group is planning will not detract from their ability to enjoy the park that day. What makes your event so special that it should supercede every other casual visitor to the park that day?

Sounds more like you should be upset with the numbskulls planning the gathering than the police. Someone dropped the ball by not making the necessary reservations. Any way you want to look at it–right or wrong to call in the police, whatever–these arrangements should have been made in advance. Period.

It seems a little silly to me that the police even involved themselves in this. With so many crimes being committed, you would think they would have more important matters at hand.

I’ve been to Union Square during the Farmer’s Market and it is very crowded. Why should people just doing their shopping, or trying to sell their things, get wet when they don’t want to? And where did you guys expect to have the water fight, when there are so many people already in Union Square?

On the other hand, on the Fourth of July, I was the victim of a hit and run while sitting in my mom’s car, and the NYPD said they couldn’t do anything because they “don’t investigate” hit and runs when no one is hurt, so learning that the NYPD will stop this, but not an actual crime, gets me angry.

Up next on the 6:00 news:

New York Police are frustrated as they try to capture rain clouds.

Are you serious!!! That’s Why they are called PUBLIC parks, Because they are open to the public. Soon enough they are going to want you to have a permit to play Frisbee, just in case someone gets hit in the head or twists an ankle. Screw cops, she shouldn’t have been arrested, every one else should have just started firing at the cops, there was probably more people than cops, what are they gonna do, call the SWAT in because police officers are getting wet! X D Screw that!

Best not water gun fight in union square. Some PPL just wants to sit in the dry sun and not get wet doing it. you also need a permit if it is more then 25-27 ppl just to sitting around in one group. with no permit don’t even think about even playing water gun fight. its the same deal with protesting. no permit no protest.

this reminds me of games of ‘assassin’ the seniors play at my high school. water balloons and water guns are used, and only school is safe. its totaly awsome. POWER TO THE WATER GUNNERS!

these cops are being sissies. It sounds like fun. (though I find nerf guns to be more fun) yeah, I’d let them do it!

Sure a few armed robberies and maybe a rape or two slipped by during that time but the police brought a s squirt gun wielding terrorist to justice. We can all feel safer with that knowledge.

I am glad we don’t need a permit for pretty much anything in our parks i would hate to live in a city like new york how can humans exist like that?

LMFAO!…omg the title..its just so wrong >.<

yet another thing to whine about for liberal losers. and attention starved sponsors. hey, guess what new york city is a f-in busy place. how about the old people or person on crutches, how about zero value in an event where some nutjob could put gasoline in their gun. no? paranoid police state - - i’m crazy no one would do that, rigbht? how about the guy who put the bomb in times square? wtf is wrong with you, go back to suburbia from whence you came.

Funny title

My god, the featured questions are always so retarded and dumbed down.

the water could ruin the artwork that people had spent a lot of time on. that wouldnt be fair to them to ruin their hard work for an hour or so of stupidity.

how bout squirt from my titty tit tit

The police and other police department are responsible for the security of people. And if an accident or an injury is caused by such situation all the media would be asking how come that the police did not do anything?
Let be honest in this pre-election period anybody in charge of the security would take more precautions.

The timing was ill, the arrest wasn’t necessary, but I understand why the vendors at the farmer’s market wouldn’t want a few thousand people squirting each other. It would have driven away their customers and for many that is how they make money to pay their bills and feed their family.
It is thoughtless to have “harmless fun” at the expense of others who are not participating, it could have turned into vandalism with overturned stands, wasted food and injuries pretty darn fast. Then all that ‘fun’ would have had a few people in the hospital.

It’s probably because someone could sneak a real gun in there and do serious damage. If this had been a water BALLOON fight, it would have been ok.

HAHAHAHA!!!! WTF IS UP WITH THE TITLE!!!?
LMFAO

Yes, watch out world. Innocently walking along and get squirted by none other than that water substance.

Heaven forbid the days when people would laugh it off. But no, now everyone’s complaining that they might get a little squirt of water hitting their faces, or perhaps they might slip on water? You could fall off the street curb if you’re not careful, it’s why we have eyes. And believe it or not I think I just read somewhere above this that people could drown (it takes little water to drown someone, of course if they’re a complete moron who places the gun in their mouthes and fires repeatedly with nose clenched tight). You can’t drown from a water gun, it’s completely and honestly impossible.

People these days will find any excuse to whine at some fun.

I also agree that the police should not have shut the event down, but more importantly, I don’t think that they should have been /able/ to shut the event down. From what I see, the area was public property and the persons involved were the public — hence, it is their property. I think it’s unreasonable that the public should not have been allowed to use the land in a non-harmful fashion such as this. Let’s be realistic here, water guns are not harmful in the slightest. You’re not going to slip anymore than if it were raining that day, and come on, no one’s going to fill a squirt gun with acid, as was mentioned previously. If the people did fill the squirt gun with acid or did some otherwise stupid thing, then honestly people, the guy’s a nutjob and he’s going to do it anyway. Someone gets squirted with water? That’s an inconvenience, not an attack — a bit of strife is good for everyone now and then.

I think that this points towards not an isolated incident, but a trend in society that has been in full swing for decades now. We’ve gone from a proud, adventurous people to, frankly, a great bunch of cowering sheep. The main argument put forth so far is a lawsuit. Have we become so scared of petty lawsuits that we won’t allow ourselves to have a bit of fun anymore? Why would we as a people allow a person to be awarded money in this situation anyways? That person can see the water fight, they can see the water on the ground — continuing to walk through that area with such knowledge puts that person at fault if they slip and fall. You can’t live life walking on eggshells with every thought of “What if.”

No, I don’t think anybody should have been arrested. In cases like this, I think the police get paranoid and/or are on a major power trip. Try it again in a different location or on a different day of the week and see what happens. If the police show up to arrest you again, go to the local news and make as big a deal of it as possible.

Uh this title was VERY misleading.

I don’t think that it really has anything with police control. We live in a nation in which there is a huge group of people that are sue happy and enough lawyers that if every person in the US decided to sue some someone else on the exact same day, 1 in 6 of those cases would see the inside of the courtroom(yes, there are really that many lawyers out there). People in positions of authority are so terrified of being sued for millions and millions of dollars for a ridiculous claim, that they will go to incredible lengths in the name of prevention. I am not saying that they are all ridiculous, many problems unfortunately would not be resolved were it not for the American Judicial System, but seriously though, way to many stupid cases get brought to court and it is these cases they are trying to prevent.I do however think that arresting someone for shooting off a squirt gun is more than a little over the top.

There are a number of water throwing festivals in the World, one of the best known being Thailand’s Songkran (Thai New Year’s) festival.

Simply reschedule your water fight for that date — which changes every year — and hold it as a Thai cultural festival.

Who could stop you?

http://www.pattayamail.com/717/
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/blogs/travel_blog/2007/04/thailand-soak-it-up-at-songkran.html
http://phuketdir.com/songkran/index.htm
http://thailandlandofsmiles.com/2008/04/13/songkran-thai-new-year/

Wow…that’s a bit extreme.

If a permit was required for something like that I can understand stopping it…

I don’t see where it says who/what the one person was shooting at, if they were shooting at police, I could understand the logic (disobeying the direct order and shooting at the police) but otherwise what’s the harm…

As for “they could have put something else in the gun”…hopefully not…but then again, I can use my pencil as a weapon so should we ban owning concieled pencils or something…get real, if someone wanted to do bad they could do a lot more damage with something concieled in their brief-case or back-pack then a water-gun…

I saw someone say they can’t tell the difference between real guns/water guns — WHAT?! All my water guns are very large and made of brightley colored plastic (yellow, red/pink, blue/purple). They even have the “required” orange top (meaning they are not real weapons)…but I don’t see why a big bright plastic water-gun needs that besides the technicality…

Obviously the person who wrote that waterguns look like real guns has never seen a supersoaker in their lives!!! Come one people be real! Yeah some water guns have the correct shape and resemblance of real guns but they are usually see through orange or green. When have u seen a real 44 in orange!! Get serious.
I would have been down for this watergun fight if I knew everything was kopacetic with the park authorities and that we would be out of the way not bothering the other people.
Cuz I know I would definitely be one of those people who kicked someones ass for squirting me with a watergun when Im just hanging out in the park not participating in their fun.

I think that what you are doing is cute and fun but not everyone passing by Union Square may be interested in getting wet. I’ll be darned if I get dressed up for an event or a party, get off the subway at Union Square and end up getting soaked because some kid thought it would be fun to do that. I think that it is necessary for the city to set some guide \lines so that things don’t get out of hand. The Police need to be impartial in law. If they let you slide they have to let everyone else that chooses to unlawfully gather in public places slide too. The law isn’t always fun but its necessary.

you should have organized your little hipster “event” in McCarren park.

i can see both sides here… but i think this is possible and you guys can make it happen if you actually set some guidelines. first, you are assembling, so you need to get a permit. thats pretty simple. and why dont you set up guidelines for participants, like all must wear tie-died shirts or something, so that they will know who’s involved and who’s not, you can even have people making money on the side selling said attire to those who didnt bring it? (or course, permit needed for that as well). and of course, outside of the playing field you can post signs telling the “locals” whats going on and to avoid the area if they didnt want to be shot by accident.

this way, the cops will be able to spot who’s playing and who’s not, and then you’ll have all the legal coverage

Hey wats up to all of you guys! Well peace

I think that was very stupid that they put a stop to it lol peace g2g bye every1

Should of had it at Central Park. More space to do it.

When squirtguns are outlawed, only outlaws will have squirtguns. You can have my squirtgun when you can pry it out of my cold wet fingers. (…or when it runs out of water, i have a short attention span).

Improv everywhere is the next step into making people happier. Seriously, making things happier and more enjoyable, being the coniseurs of life.

In the UK schools have banned children from playing conkers. The Mayor had to take the pennant off his car in case it fell off and hit a passer by. You can be fined for putting the wrong item in the wrong rubbish bin. Health and Safety have taken over.

We need large rolls of cotton roll so we can wrap them all up and then carry them into school - heaven forbid they should trip over a paving stone. Whatever are we storing up for the future.

Whilst this is going on real criminals, even violent ones, are getting off scot free because someone forgot to build enough prisons.

UM HOW EASY WOULD IT HAVE BEEN FOR SOMEONE TO GO INTO THE CROWD WITH A REAL GUN AND START SHOOTING? THEN YOU WOULD ALL BE SAYING HOW THE POLICE SUCK AND CAN’T PROTECT YOU, YOU CAN’T ALWAYS HAVE YOUR CAKE AND EAT IT TOO.

Jesus, are you serious! someone could have wet. that would be a disaster! man, those police choose the best ”CRIMES”!

I think frogs should be allowed to participate because frogs know how to have fun.

i got arrested for squirting a water gun once too. out of my car, me and my friend were squirting eachother in different cars, just having fun. it was ridiculous. they said that how did they know we didn’t have acid or something poisonous in the guns. i think cops just overkill the whole control thing.

Omg! She got arrested over a SQUIRT GUN?! Sometimes those police seem to have nothing better to do than bother people. It’s almost like it’s entertaining for them to do stuff like that…

welcome to the police state partener

Bull Crap.

I don’t get what’s so harmful about water, is anyone allergic to water, will they die if touched by it?

Stupid Police.

I think its pretty cool but i think that the cops stopped it because you gotta give all your info like your addresses and stuff which is ther only way to play the game.

I am realy guessing…but you are the chick…why because you sort of mentioned you were female a while back and why would you post a pic of someone else.
But anyways it seems the police were a little bored that day. If they were doing that..what’s next…flying kites? playing horseshoes?
If they are that bored that they needed to arrest people for “playing” then they need to start reducing the police force. I wonder how many insolved murders, kidnappings, burglaries, rapes…ect there are that were not as important as arresting people playing.

America, land of the free! Never was, never will be.

I agree with the first comment, but I’ll go as far as to say that it’s okay for people to get hurt. The police need to get a life.

I was there as the water gun toting enthusiasts were being told to cease and desist. I got splashed by a wee bit of water from Cassandra Wu’s water bottle as the tossed it towards some water-gunners, and she was promptly arrested, presumably for assault.

I can understand why they wouldn’t want you to have a water-gun fight in that small crowded area - there are several parks and public places that would have been more appropriate, since some people go ballistic when they get wet unexpectedly.

However, I think the arrest was an absolute overreaction - nobody even complained about getting wet! Being “struck” with a water gun CAN be considered assault, but Cassandra had a bottle of water, and nobody really got wet (that minded anyway).
A stark contrast would be when I was walking home one day, and a group of kids started shooting (water guns) at me on purpose, shouting racial slurs and going so far as to follow me down the block. I went to the police station (a block away), and they told me there was nothing they could do since they didn’t see it.

On reading the heading the first time I thought WHAT!!! then I read about the guns and I was like oh its only about water guns

i think its a good way for people to have fun. its not hurting anyone

What would’ve happened if young children showed up and had the water gun fight? Would the police have arrested them? It really is time to stop the madness. The police are way too nervous, this is NYC lighten up a little….I mean really there rapists running around for like 2 months in brooklyn and queens, where are the cops? …waiting in Union Square for a dangerous water fight?!

Just wanna say thanks for censoring my post, I was serious BTW about the flash mob fart off. I guess you’re just the same as the NYPD when it comes to censoring.

>>>Was the NYC Parks Department justified in drying up the Union Square water gun fight>>>

Yes, it was.

Wanna have a water-gun fight? Do it in your backyard.

What gives you the right to ruin other people’s day in a public park, by making them have to dodge water being sprayed around?

>>>It’s only water here>>>

So what? You don’t have the right to squirt it around a park full of people who don’t want to be squirted. Grow up.

.

The problem is people nowadays are sue-happy and it has ruined a lot of things for the rest of us.

…its WATER, not ACID. God forbid someone gets sprayed with WATER by accident, you only drink it everyday.

Nope, I disagree with you. If I was there and on my way to a business meeting or an interview, or even simply minding my own business..and got hit by an errant stream of water.. I’d be pissed. And so would 90% of other people. Had a permit been arranged then notices would have been set up to inform folks of the situation. That way those who wanted to join in could have, (and this is something I would love to be involved with because it’s fun) those who had no interest could have avoided the area. That is simple logic, common sense and consideration for others.

Which brings me to your blog title. If I used this title as a question.. how long would it have taken before the question was removed and I received a violation notice..oh wait, you’ve stopped sending notices. Questions/answers are simply removed without notice.

Do you not see the irony in this entire blog? You are advocating ‘fun’ with an obviously double entendre for a title..and yet users are not allowed to do so. Huh…

why can i comment if i dont have an account? how odd.

I don’t know what the Hell is this world is coming to??? I sound like an old lady but I’m 35! I’m curious, did the woman arrested resist at all? Was she actually put in handcuffs? They say a car is highjacked every 26 seconds in the U.S. Surely cops don’t have better things to do like, I don’t know, track down pedophiles, arrest abusive husbands, arrest child abusers? Fucking bloody nonsense! Heaven forbid somebody gets wet; like maybe in the rain? “Arrest me officer, I just splashed somebody with a rain puddle!” I’ve always liked NYC cops, compared to other States, but I guess they were following orders ‘from above’. No wonder depression, anxiety are on the rise, EVEN IN CHILDREN! Laws, laws, by-laws… North America is becoming a Police Continent!

yeah, i was there that day. its starting to get on my nerves how little by little were having our freedom taken away. what, a few years from now kids probably wont be able to play on the streets. this is bull.

That is incredibly stupid…

Wow, the government seems to be becoming an elected dictatorship……

I’m really curious to know where the woman who got arrested was aiming her gun and whom she hit. Even if she shot it into the air, she probably hit someone. If whoever got wet happened to come prepared to get into a water fight that would be fine, but I would assume that most people who come to Union Square don’t come for that reason. If someone who was on their way to work or to a job interview got doused that would not be okay. The other thing is that there is no way of knowing what she or anyone else actually had in their water guns until you empty them out and run it through a lab. I don’t like all the extra security that we’ve had since 9/11 either, and I think a lot of it is unnecessary, but the police weren’t going house to house seizing water pistols or searching people’s purses for them. The reality of the world we live in is that people are being strip searched in airports and have bottles of shampoo confiscated from their suitcases. So, it’s not hard to understand why police wouldn’t want to host a gigantic free-for-all with guns that can propel fluids indiscriminately. If people don’t want the police their business, then people need to take responsibility for their own security. If there was some overriding need to have this in a public place (when it easily could have been done on private property with no interference from police) then the organizers should have stepped up to the plate and taken responsibility for getting permits and ensuring the security of the water fight participants and the safety of people who didn’t want to be involved in it.

I think it’s a waste of police time to “patrol” something like this. BUT, when staging a fun “public” event, everyone must be sensitive to the activities of others. As long as no other people but your group were involved, it’s harmless FUN! However, I remember going to COURT and getting hit by a rougue paintballer. Imagine how horrifying it was to face a judge splattered in paint! LOL!

we live in a free country do what you please.

New York just lost a HUGE court case and had to pay out millions to the approx 70 people that were illegally detained when they went to protest the Iraq war back before it was underway… and now they do this? honestly i cant think of any law the person would break unless the water was shot AT a police officer. the person arrested should file charges. the police need to start worrying about real criminals instead of people having fun or peacefully protesting!

lol

I’ve participated in plenty of water gun fights when I was a kid, and the one constant is although we all started out walking around spraying each other, it always escalated to running around and disregarding our surroundings. So that being said, I would imagine the same would happen in this case, and when you take a full grown adults running around an always crowded Union square, some passerby or bystander will get run into. An adult running into another adult can cause some moderate injuries, but what if they ran full steam into a child because they didn’t see them and thus that child fell and hit their head on the concrete, would it still be just all in good fun?

Yeah, simple water gun fights sound harmless at first glance, but seriously, all these responses saying nobody could get hurt with water should really look at the big picture. Union Square is not your standard quiet neighborhood park here. (For all of you non-new yorkers, do a image seach and look at the park and it’s surroundings before you say how harmless a water gun fight is)

Like some of the more rational posters here have said, it’s pretty easy to file for a permit and have the area roped off for an event like this.

And by the way, they don’t anymore, but you can still find old water guns that look like real guns, I know, I still have two of my old guns sitting around somewhere, an AK centerfire and a pistol, both guns are black, no orange tips and at night look absolutely real. Do a search on Entertech guns and you’ll see what I mean…

Or you can look at this old late 80’s commercial from Entertech

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99UPQEFSGVQ

A big sqirt gun figh I should do one in downtown get like 500 people shooting water it would be great