Starfleet Academy, the bottom half of graduates.

The Question is: Why would a farmer guard a grain-silo armed to the teeth on a planet where supposedly hunger, poverty and war were things of the past? A grain-silo, of all things!!

 

He has one gun...

 

Think it through. The Klingon's ship likely crashed on or near the farm, which Farmer Moore would have heard. Then, a few minutes later his grain silo blew up. At this point he grabbed his shot gun (which there are several legitimate reasons for a farmer to own), went to where the silo was and found an unknown and very muscular alien armed with what is recognizably a gun. Said alien begins approaching Moore, Moore decided not to take chances.

 

What "legitimate reasons"? I don't have any gun. The only people I know who own a rifle are hunters and it's illegal to carry a loaded hunting rifle outside of fenced-in hunting zones. Outside of those zones, the rifle must not only be unloaded but open so you can see that the barrels are empty. Otherwise, it could mean a huge fine and possibly removal of the hunting license and still, I don't live in the utopia described by Trip!

Seriously, why would you need to guard a silo in a so-called peaceful hunger-free Earth? Where O'Brien wanted to kill himself because he killed an imaginary friend after decades of terrible circumstances!!

 

Varmints!

 

Farmers, who live away from civilization, have a legitimate need to protect themselves and their property, livestock and crops from wildlife.

 

As already mentioned, dealing with wildlife intrusions. Indeed, even today there's precedent. My dad was in the Canadian Coast Guard, an organization which is unarmed. However, for ships that head to the Arctic, they are permitted one rifle to be used against polar bears. Though I'm sure in the event an alien ship crashed and they witnessed the alien blow something up, no one would object to the alien being shot.

Earth maybe a Utopia for humans, but that doesn't mean the animals suddenly become cooperative.

 

The Klingon crashed in the good ole USA. It's good to see that we still have the right to own guns in the 22nd Century.

 

The guy is guarding grain! What big animal do you know that will enter a grain silo? Giant rats?

 

Space weevils.

 

Do we know for sure there aren't giant mutated rats left over from WWIII that feed on grain? It's never been canonically stated there weren't, so by rights of double-negative canon, there must be.
#thatshowcanonworks

 

Besides, I don't understand why his gun wasn't set on stun. The effect is the same as the person becomes unconscious and you can restrain her with strings or manacles and then call the authorities. At least you will not have killed anybody. Something a so-called civilized citizen from the future should be very pleased about. Why wasn't his rifle set on stun? Maybe next time he'll kill some pranking kid instead of an alien...

 

According to Memory Alpha his weapon was a "Shotgun-style plasma rifle". Which didn't have a stun setting. Also a shotgun is far better for killing off small vermin like rats (tribbles/space weevils/ill-tempered mutant sea bass) that might work their way into a silo than a rifle.

 

Suffice it to say that I remain unconvinced. That guy was lucky there was only one "menacing" alien, more would have overwhelmed him and make his widow wish that he'd stayed home and called the authorities instead!

My point is that that scene is in stark contradiction with Trip's statement that they had wiped out war, hunger, and poverty. That future is just like America's present in different clothes and different weapons.

America is not the majority in the present world. If there is to be a worldwide government in the future it's only hubris that could make people think that it would be a copy of today's American government. You can bet (credits to chilly beans) that the other countries will have their say in the matter.

 

Which makes sense, given that it's implied that even the older EM-33s used to Earth Starfleet didn't have stun settings.

On the related point, I think it's reasonable to suggest that black bear are sturdy enough that the stun might not work, and cougars are fast enough and mean enough that I'd want it to work the first time.

 

As interesting as this discussion is and has become, I think we have gotten completely off the original topic regarding the bottom tier of Starfleet Academy graduates.

 

Perhaps they're the ones who, when presented with the question "You see a Klingon near a grain silo. What do you do?" answer "Shoot the bastard!"

Clearly Kirk's little contretemps on Space Station K-7 arises from the fact that Earthlings have a long history of problems with Klingons around grain storage areas. Unfortunately being the bottom tier they are precisely the ones assigned to space station duties where the grain silos are.

 

I think "stun settings" are a little more dynamic than we realize. That, to properly stun, the weapon needs to judge the subject's mass and calculate how much power to achieve temporary blackout status.

Earlier weaponry, like the plasma rifle or EM-33s, simple had power levels, and it was up to the individual to guess how much power would be necessary. The farmer or MACOs weren't all shooting to kill all the time, they just had to make due with simpler options.