TexasCHLforum.com

Brad Mc, I have two different answers to your question because it really does depend on the situation. In the case of a citizen who is doing what he normally does when he gets stopped by the police and he then stands on his rights, I think society is improved by the encounter. In cases like that, I agree that the police need to meet people like this every so often until they learn that people have rights that must be respected.

But in the case of the people who go out looking for a confrontation, I think no one is improved by the stop and society is hurt more in general. The person looking for a stop did not convert anyone and ends up convincing some middle-of-the-roaders that open carry, or whatever the point is, is for nuts and the lunatic fringe and that "normal" people don't do that. The cops usually give the impression of being idiots and thugs and not knowing the law or respecting people's rights. This puts more people and cops in adversarial positions, and I cannot see that as a any benefit to society or anyone except criminals. Police need to work with the citizenry to solve crimes and the citizens need to have some good cops out there to help protect them from the evil.

So, to me, the situation is important on whether or not this is a good thing. For the most part, I am convinced the police need to learn and remember the rights of citizens, but no one learns from forced confrontations.