jmra wrote:Texsquatch wrote:Open carry just to prove a point and bait cops into altercations is senseless and I think it just give anti-gunners more ammo. Be honest, some guy in black clothes comes walking down your street with a rifle over his shoulder... How would you react? I would get my son inside, get my weapon in hand and call the police and watch him as long as he was in my line of sight. My wife would be on her phone giving our neighbors a heads up. I'm not sticking around to ask if he's "supporting" my 2nd Amendment rights or is wacko on bath salts. How would cops know unless they interview him?
We have seen a number of examples of good cops having good encounters in these type of cases. There is no excuse for the behavior demonstrated by the officer in this video.
JMRA is exactly right. Regardless of whether it makes you uncomfortable, paranoid or you just don't think it's a good idea, the fact is, it is perfectly legal to do so, and it has always been that way. We all used to carry rifles and shotguns all over town as kids, and no one gave it a second thought. In the 70's it was still common to see gun racks in kids trucks in the school parking lot. None of us ever shot anyone and we never had any school shootings despite the fact that there were guns available right there on the school grounds. I certainly would NOT react the way you describe...grabbing kids into the house and putting the neighbors on alert. Just because there are a lot of people that have moved here from another part of the country that are not familiar with the laws doesn't change it, or give police the right to stop and threaten arrest for doing something that's NOT violating the law. When someone calls in to complain that "there's a guy carrying an assault rifle walking down the street", the correct response would be to explain that doing so is legal and they are not breaking any law simply by carrying it openly...then they might ask the person if they witnessed the guy doing anything such as threatening someone or pointing the gun at a house. I'll agree that some of these guys come off a little squirrely, but if the officer KNOWS the law, he won't push the ID issue and he won't try and coerce them into showing it, or telling them they are being detained, and there won't be a lot of arguing back and forth.