A U.S. visitor to our city who felt he needed to pack heat in a park has set off a storm of social media ridicule under the hashtag “#NoseNillGentleman.”

Walt Wawra, a 20 year police veteran from Michigan, says he was walking in the park when two men aggressively asked if he had been to stampede yet.

In a letter to the Calgary Herald, Wawra wrote “many would say I have no need to carry a gun in Canada, but a man should be allowed to protect himself if the need arises.”

The man’s response to the seemingly mundane, daylight encounter has sparked scorn across the internet.

Gawker.com is calling Wawra the “laughingstock of Canada.” while the Huffington Post Canada described it as “Fear and Loathing in Cowtown.”