This has gone viral. How many laws is this cop breaking? Temple cops get a little out of control and are made to look foolish. Language is rough. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-0MX2PLjuk I'm amazed the cops let this be filmed.
Great -- we just gotta get used to the idea of law abiding weapons permitted folks walking our streets with loaded rifles. I know it's hard for a lot of us to tell them from the lunatics, but hey we always gotta standup for our rights we shoudn't worry. We know the really dangerous characters are carrying skittles. It's a great day for America. You got your rights and let's just weaponize everybody. I'm sure they will all be calm and reasonable, except for the numbskulls who aren't and fortunately there will be a well-armed good guy to take them down. armed society is a polite society ... And, hey if I feel threatened, I think Texas law gives me the right to gun down a man carrying a rifle towards my house right? God it's great to have rights, especially with reasonable law-abiding people out there protecting our frontiers of freedom. Meanwhile, we've traumatized a nice kid who would have had a great afternoon doing an Eagle Project if dumbass Dad had just left his rifle in the gun safe.
So why was he carrying an assault style rifle on a 10 mile hike? He said this in a statement I ran across, "I took my trusty rifle with me as there are coyotes, wild hogs, and cougars in our area. In Texas, it is legal to openly carry a rifle or shotgun as long as you do so in a manner that isn’t calculated to cause alarm. In other words, you can’t walk around waving your rifle at people. I always carry my rifle slung across my chest dangling, not holding it in my hands." Frankly, if I saw that guy walking down the street, I would be alarmed. The style of weapon and the context make it alarming regardless of what you're doing with it. It didn't look like the police were the sharpest guys...and the procedure was terrible, but the man carrying the rifle didn't make it easier for them. If you're going to carry an assault rifle in a weird context, expect to be questioned. It'd be nice if we had video of the earlier interactions when the cop first approached him.
I get coached a lot on the wisdom of keeping permanently record-able communication to an absolute minimum. This video is a great example of why people take that approach. If those idiot policeman had kept to a script and not tried to babble on about legal statutes, the potential fallout from this incident would be greatly reduced.
Weird context? That looked pretty rural, not sure what was weird about it. If the first cop had politely asked him a few questions , you know followed their procedure, this would have been a non incident. I thought the father handled it well . I hope he sues and wins and the Temple police doofus gets fired. What a horrible example the police set.
The officer shouldn't have grabbed the guy's weapon without asking for it. That's an obvious screw-up. Both the cop and the sergeant were also talking entirely too much as well. They should have been more businesslike. The arrest was totally absurd. He's being charged with resisting arrest when there was no underlying arrest for him to resist. I'm not sure how you win that one. HornCyclist has a point though. This guy didn't do much to keep things calm. When the cop asked him what he was planning to do with the weapon, instead of telling the cop, he asked him, "what does it matter?" True, he doesn't have to answer any questions from the cop, but simply telling the cop what he's told everyone (that he was bringing it to protect them from wild animals), there likely wouldn't have been an incident at all.
MrD you are right but at the point where he is asked again things had gotten heated and he knew he had done nothing wrong and had broken no laws I think he tried to keep clam but damn those doofuses didn't make it easy
Certainly the gun carryer in this case knew his rights and was very prepared and willing for this sort of confrontation with the cops. Assuredly the cops didn't handle this well. Not all of us are calm and at our best confronting people armed with assault rifles. Police should be better at it, but if the armed man is truly dangerous you have to worry about having 30 -40 holes in your body over the next 60 seconds. I think people who carry assault rifles within the city limits should understand it spooks the hell out of people and maybe just maybe have a little concern for appearances. Being armed in this case, even with no malicious intent, didn't make people safer.
Croc? How do YOU know being armed wouldn't have protected him from any of the animals he mentioned that could have been in that area? That looked like a pretty isolated area and even in the Dallas area there have been frequent sightings of feral hogs, and pumas etc this year.
He had a conceal and carry permit and a sidearm that would likey have been adequate protection from any wild animals within the Temple city limits. I've never heard of a cougar attack in suburban areas anywhere and feral hogs and coyotes aren't looking for trouble. You don't get into a scrap with them unless they are wounded,cornered or protecting their young. My family had a farm in Cooke County and I hauled hay every summer for six years. Armed only with hay hooks, I was safe from all wild animal attacks for several thousand hours spent outdoors in setting more rural than this. Of course, when I was out on my own family farm, I pretty much always had a rifle in the vehicle and a shotgun during bird season. I'd shoot coyotes whenever I saw them ... which was alway pretty much at dead run going away from me..
It was in the middle of the day on the side of the highway...not a lot of cougar attacks in those situations. The guy was a gun nut who likes to feel cool carrying around his assault rifle. I guess that's fine but don't be shocked when you're questioned about it. The video I saw started when the officer was reaching for the gun? Does anyone have an explanation of what occurred prior to that? I think the cop's did a poor job, but they guy could have cooperated with their stupidity and been on his way. I don't think that's the place to take a principled stand on your 2nd amendment right to carry an assault rifle on a hike walking down a highway. Just explain the situation, if the officer asks to see the gun, hand it to him. Get it back and mosey along. From the officer's perspective, especially considering recent events, they do have a duty to question suspicious activity, and I maintain that carrying an assault rifle on a hike...that walks down the side of the road is a bit suspect. It's not hunting rifles on the rack of your pick up or even carrying a hunting rifle in a rural area. That's not to say that you shouldn't have a right to it...but the other side is you have to behave reasonably when questioned. I'd really have to see the video of the officers initial approch and the guy's reach to fully judge the officer's conduct...but this is really just an example of people being stupid on both ends and doesn't really deserve the attention we're giving it.
Crock But it is HIS choice to obey the law which he did, right? Others can do it as they please as long as they too obey the law. You see it one way. he sees it another but you both obey the law. HE is not the problem here. It is the police who chose to ignore the law
That video was ridiculous and those police officers should be demoted to crossing guard work so they can harass the possible jaywalkers. Croc - Are you a city boy or do you iive in a rural area? And who says they were going to stay on the road for the entire 10 mile hike? I have been charged by pigs when I accidently came upon them when walking in the woods. I started carrying a pistol after that when I went walking in the country.
Looks to me like there was a problem that would have been easily avoided by not carrying an assualt rifle on the city streets. Again, the guy was well within his rights, just like the dumbass in a BMW I had to navigate around as he occupied two lanes moving 20 MPH slower then surrounding traffic on the George W. Bush Turnpike while seding and receiving important text messages. Certainly we celebrate and enforce individual rights in this state. Personally, I don't want to be a pain in the *** for people around me, but hey guys who have their rights and love confrontations can have at it.
MrD You will know this. I don't Did the MSGT cooperate with the police when they stayed within the law? he told them about hsi sidearm and his CHL. He wasn't trying to get away. It looked like he obeyed the law as I understand it but I don't know all the laws concerning when a cop has the right to handcuff you and take ID from you When he was asked for ID did the cop have the right to take the id? does the police have the right to handcuff you without telling you what law you are suspecting of breaking? They kept him handcuffed for 10 mins or so until at the end they said they were arresting him for resisting arrest.
As my friend who is a former police officer would tell me, when pulled over or questioned by a police officer "sometimes you have to lose to win." Answer the questions, then be on your way. Act condescending and like a jackass, we get what we saw.
I see the charges have been downgraded from resisting arrest to ' interfering with a peace officer while performing a duty" It could be that the Vet wanted this to happen but how could he be sure anyone would call police? This looks like a pretty rural area.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Croc - Are you a city boy or do you iive in a rural area? _______________________________________________________________________________________ I live in a suburban neighborhood near Lewisville Lake. As mentioned earlier in this thread, I have a rural background. I love the outdoors and have seen possums, raccoon and owls in my back yard and coyotes within a block of my house. I walk and ride my bike unarmed and fearless. I'm comfortable in rural settings without weapons, and comfortable with weapons in my own hands or the hands of reasonable people in appropriate settings. My son shoots on Boy Scouts outings, but only in carefully controlled settings. They never carry rifles on hikes.
I don't contend he was breaking the law. I do contend he was creating an uncomfortable and potentially dangerous situation. He has his Second Amendment right to walk the streets with an assault rifle. I have my First Amendment rights to complain if I don't like it and respond to a suggestion that I don't know what I'm talking about because I'm a city boy.
By the way, I've worked with people who were always, combative and on-edge, protecting their turf and their rights like the "hero" in the video. When it came to confrontation, they held their own, controlled their emotions and usually came out way ahead of less confrontational people who screwed up, lost their tempers and lost their jobs. And I got to say, when the close quarter combat experts left for other jobs, we all breathed a sigh of relief and were much happier and more productive just being cooperative and looking out for one another.
I got no problems with folks carrying rifles on hunts or to and from shooting ranges or a farmer/rancher with an array of weapons in the gun rack. I am at least that rural.
