Open Carry AR/long gun protest in Detroit

From the ARs in the pictures, I see a POF P415 in the hands of the guy-with-the-flamboyant-shoes.  There's many folks though with ARs and a few with .22 rifles and shotguns, and of course there's one guy with a pistol strapped into a $12 crappy nylon holster.  Why spend $500+ dollars on a quality handgun only to wrap it into such a contraption?  Someone is going to make fun of you, so stop it.

A summary of the protest comes from the arrest of an 18 year old man who was carrying an M1 carbine on his back as the only means of legal armed defense.  From what I've read, the police and prosecutor are bending over backwards to make an example of this guy, who broke no laws, and the locals are showing how they feel about it.  Here's a thread with the details.  Be happy knowing that a new term has been coined out of this: Long Gun Open Carry, or LGBT LGOC for short, as what we definitely need in this world right now is one more acronymn that sounds like so many others.

My take on this is that if you expect the masses to follow statutes and codes to the letter, than you have to expect those who enforce said codes to follow them as well.  It's obvious it doesn't work out that way very often, but as you can see there are some folks out there who take it seriously, and it wouldn't profit to get them all worked up over what will amount to a mediocre funding stream from an 18 year old.  The law of diminishing returns still holds water last I heard.

Well, that stinks

A university police chief leaves his issued sidearm on the pooper for his students to find, photograph, and report to the local media.  Good times!

ETA:  Here's the article.

What happens when you divide by zero?

A law enforcement officer that is a commenter on ARFCOM was the victim of a felony traffic stop and arrest in front of his wife and kids at a revenueing speed trap over an out of state warrant for weapons charges and being an unregistered sex offender. The warrants turned out to be for someone else; someone of different color and birthday. The only thing that expedited his ass out of the police station was a fortuitous notice by another cop of that the victim's race was not the same as on the warrant. Since the victim is a LEO, he was treated far different at the station than someone not of that status.

It's a shame that this man will forever have this arrest and charges associated with his name, even if the record is expunged. It's permanent, and so is the sight of his kids and wife watching him be arrested and treated like a scumbag for a crime he didn't commit.

This is exactly why I now fear law enforcement. I think many good hearted Americans fear being the innocent victim of some computer glitch or human error and being yanked out of their car or having their door kicked in and dog shot over some victimless crime; the former having happened to me when I was a teenager. It's not fun. There is very permanent damage done over these sort of things, and often the whole thing is initiated over a crime that was not hurting anyone.

Up until fairly recently I strongly wanted to become law enforcement, but changed my mind as I didn't like where the trade was heading. I hope the cop in the linked story gets everything worked out, and hopefully becomes a better officer because of it.

Bitch set me up!

The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree, apparently. Time will tell if this is a once-off screw up, or if he's going to follow in the footsteps of his daddy and become as vile as a man can be.

Never heard that excuse

An Arizona Republic story about Anthem Republican Lori Klein's carrying of a gun in her purse while at the Legislature said she showed off its laser sighting by pointing it at a reporter interviewing her in the Senate lounge.

According to Klein, the gun has no safety but there was no danger because she didn't have her hand on the trigger.

Wow. The normal, knee-jerk excuse has always been "Relax! It's not loaded!" This politico's dumb-ass attack takes it up a notch though.

There is also the addendum excuse given that the reporter sat in front of her laser, which is still a moronic thing to admit to. Why was she fondling her firearm in a public building to begin with?

***Update: The story has changed yet again, with even more equivocation thrown in for good measure. Klein says that she cleared the Ruger's chamber before pointing it at the reporter, and the reporter says that he found out later that it was loaded. How it was determined that it was unloaded is unknown. It sounds to me like the pistol is a Ruger LCP with the Crimson Trace Laser on it, and that she had it in the zippered case that it comes with tucked down in her purse. My recommendation is that Ms. Klein get some firearms safety instruction, and also attend a course to learn how to safely carry the gun and have it more readily available than in a zippered pouch.

Also, the reporter she pointed the gun at was interviewing her because of Klein's insistence on carrying the gun into the Statehouse two days after Rep. Giffords was shot. Not said is how many days after the shooting of Rep. Giffords is it considered appropriate to carry a gun for protection in the eyes of the media, but then again the media doesn't need to make sense to create controversy. Any port in a storm, I guess.

TSA Grope-Warrior caught distributing kiddie porn

Federal agents also allege that Transportation Safety Administration Officer Thomas Gordon Jr. of Philadelphia, who routinely searched airline passengers, uploaded explicit pictures of young girls to an Internet site on which he also posted a photograph of himself in his TSA uniform.

I don't know about you, but I'm not at all surprised. People who routinely touch people inappropriately against their will are generally considered to be scumbags, and there is a special place that society has reserved for such folks. Here we have a bona fide gate-rapist who likes younger entertainment, and it makes you wonder how many of these sick fucks there are screening Americans at airports.

Again, I avoid flying as best as I can these days, but sometimes it's unavoidable unless I fancy losing my job. With the exception of a body cavity search, I've received all the sick shit that TSA can muster at airports all over the country. I have no sympathy for this guy, and I hope his message gets spread far and wide.

Disconcerting

This story doesn't sit too well with me, even if an internal police investigation exonerated her actions.

City police spokeswoman Natatia Bledsoe said an internal investigation showed that Officer Alexandra Cameron was well within department policy when she shot at the woman, who was throwing knives and a meat cleaver at city officers who’d come to calm her down.

Throwing meat clevers at the poe-leeeeeece is grounds for getting shot in my book. No question. But like most things in life, there's conditions:

The shot was not a particularly accurate one. In fact, Bledsoe said police don’t know if the bullet struck the woman or not. The woman had an abrasion that could have come from being grazed by a bullet or it could have been caused by something else.

That is part of what is unsettling. I can't tell you for a fact that I would be an accurate shot under the same circumstances, but it seems the cop had no idea about the general direction that she fired her issued weapon. It "went off" so to speak. If you have the soundness of mind to draw your weapon in response to a threat, than you should have the soundness of mind to know if your weapon was pointed at the threat's face or the townhouse two blocks down. Then there's this:

Police initially fired “less-lethal” pellets that release pepper spray in an attempt to subdue the woman. The spray appeared to have no effect, and the shot was fired as she kept coming at the officers while throwing the weapons.

You know, all this "less lethal" crap that you see on Spike TV and S.W.A.T. Magazine seems to me to be. . . . .well. . . .crap. Yes, there's the sanctity of human life and all that jazz, but something tells me that when you shoot a woman who's off her meds with shit designed to burn her eyes and skin, you're not helping the situation any, but in fact making an otherwise crazy person turn into a violent, deadly threat. This video clip comes to mind when I think about those retarded pepper balls ***Warning, language***:

Policing used to be considered serious business, so why is it these days that departments are buying junk like paintball guns filled with pepper? Tasers are close to lethal, and from what I've seen have been pretty effective. Same with shotgun shells loaded with bean bags. But pepper balls? Come on! Might as well be loaded with Nipple Twisters and Indian Rashes.

The speed safari

I got a kick out of this article on Virginia State Police from the General Discussion forum on ARFCOM.

As a lifelong Virginian, I can tell you without a doubt that the entire I-95 corridor, I-81, and I-64 are nothing more than high speed game trails, and the VSP and county mounties are big game hunters looking to bag your speeding ass and mount it on the wall at the courthouse. They are not in it for public safety; it is about the collection of revenue.

Now, in the link above you have some Virginia law enforcement as well as locals who defend the speeding safari by flatly telling you that if you do not speed you will not get a ticket. While one could possibly argue that point successfully, I point out that if you're the person NOT doing 85+ mph on I-95 than you're the one who is acting recklessly, and are probably the guy going home to ARFCOM to breathlessly argue in favor of VSP writing so many tickets. Getting passed on the right by pissed off drivers will get to you after a while, no doubt.

In my experience, the VSP has been a very professional organization so far, except for that one cop who blatantly and deliberately lied to the judge about my speed one night. It's all good though, hoss - I forgive you of your dishonor, but I don't think the majority of Virginians will be so nice. Lying in court to ensure a kiddie porn serial murderer doesn't get off on a technicality is something that will perhaps be forgiven from time to time, but when you make a habit out of revenue'en the good natives with fictitious affidavits and questionable statements, it's only a matter of time before the friendlies change their mind about your organization and say bad things about you on the internets. One bad apple can spoil the whole bunch.

Lastly I'll say this: if you're riding down the highway at +10 mph, the radio up, and you're the only fool around, you're not endangering the public. Getting that ticket for nothing more than violating a written rule that was conjured up by people who's intention was to make it legal to siphon fundage out of your wallet does not make you a public nuisance. It would be awesome if the Johnny Law types out there who know that this is damn-well the case would stop insulting the free spirited Virginians who go foul of these speed rules and not give the high horse lecture when writing a ticket. I know exactly what you're up to sport, and it's not stopping reckless and probable terrorists from doing harm at Linda's soccer game.

A gun buy-back program actually worked!

If you consider that to actually "buy back" a gun, the police department dispensing the government funds would have had to successfully purchase a firearm that once belonged to them. That finally happened.

I didn't know that

WASHINGTON – The Senate's sergeant-at-arms says he's against members of Congress arming themselves to increase their safety in the wake of the shooting rampage in Arizona.

Of course he is; if his peeps whom he's charged with protecting under arms also have guns, then he wouldn't be so very special, now would he? And how am I just finding out that the Senate has a Sergeant-at-Arms?

I don't see how he thinks protecting oneself would be unhelpful; he can't be there with his duty piece to thwart hooligans for every Senator and Congresscritter. Perhaps he should just keep up the good work polishing the Senate's gavel and minding the door and stuff and let the adults take care of themselves for awhile.

Theater safety

So, typically, you feel safer when you know security guards will detect weapons on people entering a building they’re assigned to protect, right?

Aaaah, no, jackass. It usually pisses me off to no end because it typically means a trip back to the glove box. One case in point is the Marine Corps museum, but that's another story.

It’s hard to have that kind of peace of mind with District schools and offices.

Peace of mind? Isn't that what an ostrich does when it sticks its head in the sand? I do agree with him to a point though; I don't have any peace of mind with any area in the District as long as it continues to prevent the community at large from using modern means of scumbag prevention. The community is mostly responsible for that, which is a shame, and it appears that things are not going to get any better:

Last year, the District fired security contractor Hawk One, which had a four-year record of poor supervision, inadequate training, ineffectiveness, and “fraternizing with students.” To replace Hawk One’s 200 guards, D.C. hired two firms on one-year contracts totaling $22.1 million.

So they hired a company to put uniformed human beings with guns in buildings for the sole purpose of disarming everybody, and the end result was that determined people were still able to gain entry with weapons while the guards were aggressively tutoring the youth? Who could have seen that coming, and why do they think hiring armed human beings in different uniforms will have a different outcome? And holy smokes - $22 Mil? Seems like it would be more effective and less costly to have the parents of students holster up and provide security in shifts; if there's a liability question, there are ways around that. Human beings are human beings, and the security folks would be much more inclined to do a good job if their interest in the matter consisted of their flesh-and-blood, and not Federal Reserve Notes.

With security contractors like these, who needs criminals?

Thinking that you'll have a better outcome if the human factor is clad in new duds is going to lead to more disappointment. You'll probably have more failed "penetration tests" too, in more ways than one.

An Arsenal of One

During the night, someone broke into the vehicle and made off with a Colt M-4 rifle, two loaded M-4 magazines and two loaded .40 caliber Glock magazines. The thief also took two sets of handcuffs, two Montgomery County Police badges and a baton.

One rifle = arsenal. This is, of course, NBC News we're talking about; sensationalism runs rampant in this organization. They are but one half step above grocery store tabloids that run stories about bat-boys and B1 bombers on the moon.

Interesting that a Maryland cop gets issued an automatic weapon, and then leaves it in the car overnight to get stolen by a scumbag. Can Maryland Citizens own full auto weapons legally? I bet if they do, they don't leave them in their car.

No word on why the thief bothered to risk life and limb to steal such a weapon from a cop when he could have just been issued one at a Virginia gun show for a few dollars.

Another assault with a deadly assault thingy

A very highly trained police officer injured an innocent when he used his patrol assault thingy inappropriately.

I do point out that this is the second example in recent history where an innocent was injured with one of these Assault Utility Vehicles (there is nothing "Sporting" about them). Their big knobby tires are only designed for one purpose, and that is to shred stuff like mud, sand, baby harp seals, and innocents. And who really neeeeeeds four wheel drive?

Something not quite covered in detail is whether the suspicious "child" acting in a such reckless manner as to distract a very highly trained police officer operating a 5,000 lb Assault Utility Vehicle on a crowded beach was close to the age of consent, and happened to be wearing the minimal amount of clothing as required by law.

These crucial details may help further exonerate the officer from blame, so that Daytona Beach Citizens can go about sunbathing without fear.

Citizen told to leave coffee shop for Open Carry

And would you believe that he is a Portland Police officer who was in uniform at the time?

The realist in me sees this both ways. I understand what the author is trying to convey, that the guy is a cop and cops have guns. I can also see the store owner's point of view that some cops have a bad reputation associated with them, or perhaps their department, and he has the right to tell anyone to leave.

Cops are supposed to be the good guys, so it surprises some people to know that some Americans don't like them.

I do have some empathy for the cop, especially considering that he had a good attitude about the whole thing, but I also agree with him that they are failing themselves. Stuff like this doesn't help, and isolated incidents in no name counties like mine sometimes give an us vs. them mentality that doesn't have to be.

A case in point.

None of the responding officers bothered to even knock on the only neighbors door despite having dozens of deputies with rifles staged throughout the property for hours. It's hard to have respect for officers when they won't let you leave the house, won't tell you what's going on, don't care about their rifle barrels dinging your car doors, and are otherwise callous to the very people they claim they're protecting. And go ahead and file a complaint; you'll be pulled over and ticketed 100 yards from your driveway once a week for the next year. The above linked article turns out to be nowhere near the truth of what happened, but hey, the deputies got to handle their new rifles, so it's all good, right?

Then there's incidents where cops treat peaceful armed citizens like they're criminals, pull guns on motorcyclists and people throwing snowballs, and to the extreme side of things, where they mistakenly shoot someone's dog or a mother and her kid. It all ads up. I no longer trust the Sheriff's department in my county after the above case in point.


But back to the article at the top. I found this piece amusing, and wondered if it really applies to everyone:

My daughter and I were so distraught by this negative experience, about the way the café treated the police –when they should be treated with gratitude and respect and honor – that we went the next day looking for a café with class and dignity for all people, no matter what they are wearing.

We found the Palios Dessert & Espresso Bar in Ladd’s Addition, http://www.palio-in-ladds.com/ and we mentioned the situation we encountered, and the man behind the counter, and he said they treat all people equally there.

And what if John Q. Public strolls in with a handgun openly visible on his hip? Would they be treated equally?

Assault thingy negligence

A sun bather was "mowed down" by a New York cop using a deadly assault thingy on the beach. Why an assault thingy was even allowed on the beach in the first place is unknown.

Injuries and fatalities resulting from the improper use of these assault thingies, erroneously referred to as "Sport Utility Vehicles" by advocates, is extremely common. Something must be done to prevent more accidents like this.

What do you think the outcome would be if you or I were wielding one of these dangerous assault thingies (cops call them "patrol vehicles") and hurt an innocent?

NYC cops keep and bear arms

Reading this article, and the comments specifically, makes one wonder about the status of our country.

There are those who are happy to see cops with rifles on their train while heading into work, and there are those who vehemently oppose it. Being a realist, I have to see it both ways.

While I think it's a bit excessive, even in light of what just happened in Moscow, I wouldn't have a bit of problem sharing air with heavily armed cops on a train: that is, as long as they don't have a problem with me riding next to them with my loaded rifle. In NYC, that's just not the case, and the city should be ashamed for it.

To tell you the truth, I don't have any idea what the reaction would be here in VA if went to buy groceries with a loaded AR15 on my back. It's not prohibited by law. I suppose that some people would freak out, and I would expect prompt scrutiny from law enforcement, and they may even arrest me regardless. A quick lawsuit would probably follow.

Just the same, if state, local, and federal keepers of peace can wander about armed and armored, then they shouldn't have issue with me doing the same.

How convenient

"After reviewing and analyzing all of the evidence in the case, we do not believe the essential elements of the crime of carrying a pistol without a license can be proved beyond a reasonable doubt," said U.S. Attorney Jeff Taylor, top prosecutor in the District of Columbia.

Let's review. Thompson carried a loaded handgun into the security checkpoint at the Senate building in "Gun Free" DC. The gun did not belong to him, and he was arrested for his troubles. Now he is deemed innocent of the charges without having to fight a moment in court.

Color of law has favorable shades. The only difference between Thompson and us mere mortals is that he works for a Noble and is protected by that nobility. Nobles are often beyond reproach simply because of they have these shades, and apparently that extends down to aides to Nobles.

This wouldn't be the first time.

Methinks the outcome of this "investigation" would have been different if you or I got caught carrying in DC, not to mention taking the cursed pistol into the halls of the Senate. My question is do you think that the wheels of justice put a bit of delay on this to give Sir Webb enough time to get out of the spotlight lest it darken his favorable shade?

Personally, I think the silly law banning commoners from carrying any firearm anywhere are ghey. But there is no "reasonable doubt" that Webb's aide got the special treatment just because his boss is a Noble.

Sword and steak knife violence

Jonathan Rummel's arrest warrant claims he attacked his wife with a steak knife and a samurai sword.

The couple has only been married for three weeks.

Such deadly weaponry should not be owned by the general public and are best left to trained officers.

Now I'm confused

PITTSBURGH -- In June, Pittsburgh police arrested one of their own after discovering a man on the city's South Side was grazed by a bullet from an off-duty police officer's gun.

The off duty cop had a BAC of .11, but was found "not guilty of aggravated assault, drunken driving and reckless endangerment" by the judge. I find that odd since a citizen would surely have been found guilty under the same circumstances, and there would probably be another charge for carrying a firearm while intoxicated.

The part where it gets really confusing is here:

"In this particular case, we had testimony that Mr. Abel was assaulted, there were witnesses that saw Mr. Abel assaulted, and it's his responsibility as a citizen and as a police officer to pursue that person who assaulted him," Hanlon said.

So he had a duty as a citizen to pursue an antagonist with a firearm while intoxicated? Good to know. Somehow I don't think the same rules apply to those without a badge.

Drunken cops in DC

I was completely unaware of National Peace Officers Memorial Day, an annual police event where cops across the country go to DC and party. The link is to a Washington Times editorial (H/T to The Agitator).

While I'm sure that most of them behaved themselves, there seems to be no shortage of drunken idiots:

"One concerned spectator asked them if it was against police regulations to be drinking alcohol while carrying weapons. In response, one of the officers teetered over, spilled his beer, put his finger to his lips and slurred, "shhhhh" - giggling uncontrollably."

And that's just one account.

Why are they not held to the same standards as the rest of us?

Last week my sister went to New York City with some friends, and while they were there they went to a club. Nothing unusual there except that my wife showed me an after action picture from that night where some off duty NYC cop posed next to my sister and her friends with his loaded, issued Glock 26 pointed at her head. At the club. Where everyone was drinking.

My sister didn't notice it from the picture, but my brother did. She doesn't think it was a big deal, and the cop did it out of negligence, not on purpose, but the point still stands that citizens are not allowed to carry firearms in NYC because state politicians think we're too stupid to handle weapons safely, but cops are exempted from the laws. The picture, which my sister does not want me to post, shows that cops are not infallible, and are just as capable of making a mistake as the rest of us.

What really bothers me is that if I had pulled out my Glock while drinking in a bar and pointed it at a citizens head, no matter if it was accidental, or if I drunkenly unloaded my firearm at a bell tower in DC, my ass would be in jail awaiting a sentence.

Why are they not?