Twitch suspends streamer for discharging a firearm on air

[Cal Jeffrey]

Why it matters: While some fans and others are crying “no harm, no foul,” Riemer displayed everything wrong related to gun safety in less than 30 seconds — drunk, finger on the trigger, chambering a round, treating the firearm like a toy, handling the gun as if it were unloaded. These are all fundamental things every gun safety course teaches people not to do. No harm, no foul does not cut it when it could have meant someone's life.

A streamer has been suspended from Twitch for brandishing a firearm during his broadcast. The Call of Duty pro has also been dropped from his esports team, possibly ruining his career. The incident happened Wednesday night.

Carl Riemer, who goes by SoaRCarl on Twitch, was conducting a live stream when pulled out a pistol as a prop for a joke. After chambering a round (twice), he pulled the trigger and shot his monitor.

“I swear to God I just emptied the mag,” he exclaimed, realizing his blunder.

Nobody got hurt thankfully, but Riemer’s career is likely dead. Twitch immediately suspended his account on Thursday, and SoaR Gaming, his esports organization, canned him.

“We do not condone the actions on livestream by Carl last night,” SoaR tweeted. “He has been removed from the SoaR Gaming roster effective immediately.”

Twitch has not commented on whether or not Riemer’s account will ever be reinstated, but a screenshot of where his account used to be, seems to indicate he’s gone for good.

Riemer used his YouTube channel and Twitter to explain himself and profusely apologize. He admitted to being intoxicated at the time of the incident. Indeed a can of beer is clearly seen in the clip of the shooting (above video at 0:22). He expressed remorse and regrets his stupid act but has accepted the consequences.

“I made my biggest mistake of my entire life last night, and it could ruin my life. I could have hurt somebody. I could have hurt myself. I could have hurt one of my animals. And that’s unforgivable. I’ve had that gun for two years, and all it takes is two seconds of stupid to ruin everything. To ruin somebody else, to ruin yourself. Don’t do what I did. I just made such a stupid, stupid, stupid mistake. All I can say is that I’m sorry, and I deserve everything. Every bit of backlash.”

SoaRCarl also said he respected that SoaR did “what they needed to do.”

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/84301-twitch-suspends-streamer-discharging-firearm-air.html

 

[Hardware Geek]

Stupid absolutely. At least he acknowledged he was completely in the wrong and didn't blame twitch or the team he was on for dropping him. Nice to see someone taking responsibility for their actions in this day and age of blaming everyone else for their actions and decrying the consequences of their actions as some kind of persecution.

 

[Vulcanproject]

If only the founding fathers knew that so many people would hold onto the second amendment. Just in order to have the right to discharge their personal firearms at coffee cups live on the internet.

 

[ColdSoup]

If only the founding fathers knew that so many people would hold onto the second amendment. Just in order to have the right to discharge their personal firearms at coffee cups live on the internet.

It's not a right to perform negligent discharges. It's a right to keep and bear arms for purposes of defending against tyranny of overreaching government per history and tradition circa 1776.

 

[Vulcanproject]

It's not a right to perform negligent discharges. It's a right to keep and bear arms for purposes of defending against tyranny of overreaching government per history and tradition circa 1776.

That's great. It also put the gun in the hand of a drunken twitch streamer that shot his own monitor. Very lucky nobody was hurt.

I am sure he bought that weapon to defend himself against the tyranny of the current U.S government and it's massive standing army. That must still be a pressing need in the current political climate. ?

But unfortunately this is how they actually end up being used most of the time these days it seems. I know legislating for stupidity is difficult, but come on.

 

[Impudicus]

The things people do in front of a camera...

 

[ColdSoup]

That's great. It also put the gun in the hand of a drunken twitch streamer that shot his own monitor. Very lucky nobody was hurt.

I am sure he bought that weapon to defend himself against the tyranny of the current U.S government and it's massive standing army. That must still be a pressing need in the current political climate.

But unfortunately this is how they actually end up being used most of the time these days it seems. I know legislating for stupidity is difficult, but come on.

You are absolutely correct. This is a clear abuse and reckless endangerment to the streamer and others.

Again you are probably right. Most people these days just want to have a means to fend off home invasion, from being mugged, or other personal defense to prevent being harmed when police can't get there in a split second.

Every time media talks about gun control, gun sales skyrocket. Leave guns alone, and far less go into circulation. I think the current gun grabbers are making the problem worse by flooding the market with more weapons.

 

[ShagnWagn]

That's great. It also put the gun in the hand of a drunken twitch streamer that shot his own monitor. Very lucky nobody was hurt.

I am sure he bought that weapon to defend himself against the tyranny of the current U.S government and it's massive standing army. That must still be a pressing need in the current political climate. ?

But unfortunately this is how they actually end up being used most of the time these days it seems. I know legislating for stupidity is difficult, but come on.

Ah, one of the people who say "ban for everyone because an act of negligence!" Typical left pushing their own agenda on everyone else. Yeah... because guns are the only cause of destruction from negligence? Ban anything and everything could at all ever injure something or someone!

If something illegal was done here, yes he should be prosecuted. If not, it was an excellent example that guns need to be respected - as previous generations have. Heck, kids back then used to take guns into their classrooms for show-and-tell.

 

[Vulcanproject]

Ah, one of the people who say "ban for everyone because an act of negligence!" Typical left pushing their own agenda on everyone else. Yeah... because guns are the only cause of destruction from negligence? Ban anything and everything could at all ever injure something or someone!

If something illegal was done here, yes he should be prosecuted. If not, it was an excellent example that guns need to be respected - as previous generations have. Heck, kids back then used to take guns into their classrooms for show-and-tell.

Come now. Recognise nuance.

Let's not get into an arguments using straw men positions to attack 'a side' without even really understanding the viewpoint of someone. For example I didn't advocate a ban for everyone, I didn't say do it solely because of negligent fools. At the very least most agree regulation is not unconstitutional.

My stance is more that I don't believe that the founding fathers created the second amendment to apply to private citizens of the modern day. That if you can amend something 27 times then it probably wouldn't hurt reviewing it and amending it again on various matters of concern. In the (rather common) event history conspires to create a dramatically different political climate relative to the date/intention it was ratified.

It doesn't matter to me if the issue is the right to bear arms or the right to own slaves. It has never made sense to enshrine something forever that is fundamentally inessential if we hope (and believe) that civilization can make advances to greater enlightenment.

 

[OneSpeed]

Not if the NRA has got something to say about this!

 

[RaXoR]

Anyone who doesn't know how to properly handle and check a weapon shouldn't own one. Trigger discipline and safety checks were not applied in his situation. Treat a gun as if though it is always loaded. He didn't, thinking it was unloaded but here we are now... Play stupid games, get stupid prizes.

 

[Uncle Al]

Not if the NRA has got something to say about this!

In case you haven't been keeping up with the NRA lately, they don't say much of anything any longer .... just a shadow of their former selves .....

 

[ShagnWagn]

My stance is more that I don't believe that the founding fathers created the second amendment to apply to private citizens of the modern day.

I'm being snarky, but I missed the part where the amendment says "only for old times". The way I see it - you can have your own nuke and I wouldn't care - as long as it doesn't hurt anyone or damage others' belongings. There is a whole lot the government does/has we don't know about either. It seems I may be one of the last generations to know what it was like before all of the ridiculousness. We truly are in the End Times. The prophesies keep coming true and will continue to.

 

[Vulcanproject]

I'm being snarky, but I missed the part where the amendment says "only for old times". The way I see it - you can have your own nuke and I wouldn't care - as long as it doesn't hurt anyone or damage others' belongings. There is a whole lot the government does/has we don't know about either. It seems I may be one of the last generations to know what it was like before all of the ridiculousness. We truly are in the End Times. The prophesies keep coming true and will continue to.

Well I also missed the part where the constitution said all of it is forever and eternity with no amendments or considerations for the future.

Are you some kind of prepper or doomsayer? I am genuinely interested in alternative viewpoints.

 

[gusticles41]

Ah, one of the people who say "ban for everyone because an act of negligence!" Typical left pushing their own agenda on everyone else. Yeah... because guns are the only cause of destruction from negligence? Ban anything and everything could at all ever injure something or someone!

I missed the part where he said anything about banning guns.

TyPiCaL rIgHt, thinking everyone on the left wants to completely ban guns.

You not caring about your neighbor owning guns/nukes as long as they don't hurt anyone is a complete fantasy. Sorry bud. Your american neighbors are hurting each other every day.

I own guns, I shoot them for fun and keep them to protect my household. But arming the 1d10ts isn't helpful.

 

[GeforcerFX]

That's great. It also put the gun in the hand of a drunken twitch streamer that shot his own monitor. Very lucky nobody was hurt.

I am sure he bought that weapon to defend himself against the tyranny of the current U.S government and it's massive standing army. That must still be a pressing need in the current political climate. ?

But unfortunately this is how they actually end up being used most of the time these days it seems. I know legislating for stupidity is difficult, but come on.

I would say the alcohol was the larger problem here, yet nothing gets talked about when it comes to alcohol and the massive destruction it causes us as a country every day of every year.

 

[wiyosaya]

I am sure he bought that weapon to defend himself against the tyranny of the current U.S government and it's massive standing army. That must still be a pressing need in the current political climate. ?

By that time, he probably saw a tyrannical government coming out of his monitor and realized he was not wearing his protective tin-foil hat. ?

It's not a right to perform negligent discharges. It's a right to keep and bear arms for purposes of defending against tyranny of overreaching government per history and tradition circa 1776.

That may be your interpretation of it, however, others see it as a need to bear arms to protect the US against external and invasive forces in a time when there was no well-regulated militia.

Many also see that the tyrannical government part that everyone seems to cite in this case, is, in the US at least, addressed in the constitution through the equal division of power between Congress, Judicial, and Executive branches of government circa 1787.

 

[ShagnWagn]

Well I also missed the part where the constitution said all of it is forever and eternity with no amendments or considerations for the future.

Are you some kind of prepper or doomsayer? I am genuinely interested in alternative viewpoints.

Nope, as our life here in just a vapor anyway. We are all going to die one way or another. You can try to do all you can to delay it, but nobody is even promised the next day. That is why it is so important to think of eternity instead - beyond this life.

I missed the part where he said anything about banning guns.

TyPiCaL rIgHt, thinking everyone on the left wants to completely ban guns.

You not caring about your neighbor owning guns/nukes as long as they don't hurt anyone is a complete fantasy. Sorry bud. Your american neighbors are hurting each other every day.

I own guns, I shoot them for fun and keep them to protect my household. But arming the 1d10ts isn't helpful.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but I'm neither left nor right. I state this from a neutral standpoint.

Thanks for pointing out the obvious that neighbors are hurting each other. That is not fantasy. It's reality. People that don't use them legally deserve them to be taken away. This is just common sense. My point still stands. You can have a tank in your backyard for all I care - just don't hurt anyone or their property with it. If nobody gets hurt, who really cares. It really is as simple as that. The government does these things all the time but yet people allow "them" to do what they want. They are humans just like us.

I do the same with my guns. The sad thing is everyone is an ***** at one point in time or another - we all make mistakes. I know a few people that have accidentally shot themselves. People drive suicidal and homicidal every day - it doesn't have to be just guns but that's what fingers are pointed at. It's too bad this time involved a series of mistakes, but thankfully didn't end in tragedy. I'm glad he took responsibility.

 

[Vulcanproject]

Nope, as our life here in just a vapor anyway.

It is if you're this guy's coffee cup and monitor

 

[wiyosaya]

You can have a tank in your backyard for all I care - just don't hurt anyone or their property with it.

The trouble with that is that maybe someone who has had a few too many jumps your fence, hot-wires your tank, and then turns your house and who knows what else into a pancake.

For example -

 

[ShagnWagn]

The trouble with that is that maybe someone who has had a few too many jumps your fence, hot-wires your tank, and then turns your house and who knows what else into a pancake.

For example -

Yep, I agree. Hence I said "as long as it's not used". So what is the solution here? Ban anything and everything that can cause damage? Rocks will soon be illegal! Because we know it's the object that kills people - not the people who use it... haha. Whoa well, wait. We have self-wrecking cars killing people. Where are the people trying to ban guns not trying to ban those?

 

[Skjorn]

Dude clearly went to pull the trigger..too bad

To the people that turned this political.. go out and shoot some targets, have fun.

 

[ManuelV]

Well, at least kids will see how things can easily go wrong when you play with a gun even if you just empty the mag.

 

[USAvenger]

I would say the alcohol was the larger problem here, yet nothing gets talked about when it comes to alcohol and the massive destruction it causes us as a country every day of every year.

THIS. I'm waiting for someone with a national platform to step up and call for alcohol control since it accounts for over twice the deaths of firearms.
Firearms: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/injury.htm
Alcohol:
https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/brochures-and-fact-sheets/alcohol-facts-and-statistics

 

[PEnnn]

Who needs gun-control laws or laws limiting gun ownership to sane, responsible people when we have a knuckle-dragger like that providing the perfect excuse for such laws??

As per article "drunk, finger on the trigger, chambering a round, treating the firearm like a toy, handling the gun as if it were unloaded." And yet we have people here defending the guy, and by extension his irresponsible behavior!!

It's not politicians, but that simian and his defenders are trying their best to ruin gun ownership for the rest of us.