[nullc]

> or a human who was simply following bad directions, no one would bat an eye or call it "trespassing".

Humans venturing onto private property where they don't belong are regularly greeted by a property owner politely wielding a shotgun and offering to give them directions back to where they belong.

If anything, I think it's the addition of some computer contraption that creates the free pass, like putting on a hardhat-- if you've got gear people are more likely to assume that you're supposed to be there.

[Kye]

Brandishing is actually a crime in most places in the US. Laws vary, but you generally do not have a right to threaten someone's life with a gun--and the gun itself is a threat even if not pointed unless it's not in your hands--if they're not actually threatening you. Doesn't matter if it's your property.

[exabrial]

Just a nitpick: If you're on private property it's not brandishing. The other person would be trespass in fact provided it was posted or you told them to leave as an agent of the property. If you are threatening people off your property from your property that's a whole different ball of wax and in any scenario there are a ton of if/buts.

Brandishing laws come into affect on public areas and are subject to a lot of ifs/buts.

[nullc]

Indeed. Brandishing also generally requires using it to threaten, not merely have it in your obvious possession with the implication that you could use it to defend yourself if the threat escalated.

[abduhl]

Sounds like the GP’s instance happened in Silicon Valley based on their rant against SV startups. Silicon Valley isn’t the type of place where the property owner wields a shotgun and asks you to leave because they’ve made guns illegal, made kicking trespassers off almost illegal, or because their armed security guards never let you in in the first place.

[nullc]

More of a property of suburbia than silicon valley.