This is what it;s coming to. especially in Texas.

Guy is out hiking with his boy scout son to earn his Eagle Scout.
He is stopped by the local police.
What are your thoughts?

[youtube:2maf0szg][/youtube:2maf0szg]

Note the officer’s claim that merely owning a gun makes someone dangerous. Note the conflation of a soldier in a war zone with a citizen in rural Texas. Note the presistent refusal to explain what law Grisham has broken.

Particularly chilling is the officer’s telling Grisham that a police officer is “allowed to” carry a weapon, but that Grisham is not — despite Grisham’s having a permit. “We’re exempt from the law” is not a phrase you want to hear from law enforcement in a constitutional republic.

I ask what ”rudely displaying a firearm” means. ”There’s no such wording,” Grisham tells me. “I couldn’t find the word ‘rude’ in the penal code at all. You can openly carry a rifle as long as it’s not threatening. If it’s slung across your shoulder, it’s not threatening. When you point a gun at somebody then you’re breaking the law. But just walking around with a gun strapped in front of you is not threatening in any manner.”

Kinda scary....especially in Texas

Texas is just..... Different. 12 years of living there and I never felt comfortable with that state.

Here's my POV.....(as an ALASKAN)......TEXAS believes it has bigger and better "balls' than anyone else on earth. It's disrespect and
disregard is rampant when they come to Alaska. The mindset is "living large" . On the other hand, Alaskans have this QUIET knowing
of it's power and strength......."still waters run DEEP" comes to mind......JMO.......(of course, there ARE exceptions within Texas,but
that would be a GENERAL description of attitude.)

I admire the prosecutor for standing up for his principals even thought he has poop for brains.

Or it could be a combination of poorly trained LEOs and the natural tension between the military and the local law around a base with a lot of personnel who take liberty there.

Did anyone else think it odd that when they seized the weapons they did not check to see if a round was chambered.

A little context in text format.


http://www.xcrforum.com/forum/28-politi ... s-son.html


..............."Grisham’s case is yet another result of an apparently longstanding problem in Bell County, which incorporates both Fort Hood and the residential city of Temple. County law enforcement officials and active-duty soldiers have frequently sparred over traffic stops and other incidents, including ones related to gun laws, according to several observers.
“The military is young guys, a lot of adrenaline. So you have the normal friction that’s going to happen. Sometimes the soldier is a little higher-ranking, and they generally know the law. So it gets to be, when the officer on the street makes contact with him, the officer has got to make split-second decisions. It tends to be more of an ego thing,” Grisham attorney Glass told TheDC.
According to Glass, Grisham’s case is reminiscent of an incident involving another of his clients, an Iraq War veteran named Nathaniel Sampson, who was arrested in Bell County for carrying a concealed firearm into Mextroplex Hospital after his wife was taken there by ambulance for an adverse reaction to an over-the-counter pain medication.
Sampson, a staff sergeant with three tours of duty in Iraq, drove behind the ambulance carrying his wife to the hospital. Immediately inside the hospital, he was stopped by security and admitted that he was carrying a concealed firearm, for which he had a permit. Sampson was arrested by police inside his wife’s hospital room and then charged with unlawful carry, on the grounds that it is illegal to concealed carry in a hospital.
“I didn’t even have a chance to talk to her. I couldn’t even check on her status,” Sampson told TheDC.
“One of the officers said to my face that he was unsure about whether or not I could have the weapon. He told me he was going to go find out. Before he came back, they arrested me anyway,” Sampson said. “One of the officers then apparently walked back and antagonized my wife as I was going to jail.”
Bell County prosecutor Ken Kalafut, described by multiple sources as one of the few recognizable liberals in the heavily Republican area, took on the case.
“The prosecutor in that case [Kalafut] has a picture of President Obama behind him in his office, and he sits there and tells me, ‘I will make sure that gun does not fall into anyone else’s hands. I will have that gun destroyed,’” Glass said.".........

Just a side note......I hail from the great state of Texas.
People there are some of the most down to earth common sensed folks I have ever had the pleasure to know.
They have a proud "DEEP" rich history and they are proud of it.
What exactly in this article or video triggered that comment? Just curious.

The real question here is whether or not this veteran broke the law and did the local police department violate his rights.
Do you have a comment about that Homeagain?

I am sure that tensions do run high with local police and Fort Hood.

I am not against a persons right to carry, but....

It would be interesting to know what was said and done prior to the camera being turned on. This reminds me a lot of the video of the girl trying to retreive her pot from Park County Sheriff and appears to have been staged IMO. He not only does not look "active military" but his attitude is pretty pissy too. Cooler heads prevail all the time.
AR-15 on chest with a sidearm for protection against coyotes along a roadside on a hike with his kid? Really?

Looks like the 2nd cop did look to clear a chambered round at 2:16.

This guy may be a hero for serving his country in Iraq, but I don't think he did anyone any favors by doing this, especially his terrified son (camera shaking and crying at the end).

I carry a sidearm on my property while walking the dogs. The coyotes have been pretty agressive in the past.

I though Texas prohibited Open Carry?

My thoughts are that it was the tactical sling which initiated the contact, not that he was carrying an AR15. The police officer had every right to disarm him while talking to him given the readiness with which the gun could be deployed. From the video it is clear that the contact was initiated as a result of a call the law enforcement officers received. If the man had been cooperative instead of combative he likely would have been on his way rather than detained. Your right to keep and bear arms does not include a right to carry your arms however you wish, wherever you wish, whenever you wish even while it protects your right to carry them. The nature of that tactical sling would mean that one hand would be on the weapon at all times while hiking and I can see where that might have generated the call to law enforcement, it would really not be much different than walking around with a pistol in your hand.

I think it's dummies like this that give the rest of us a bad name.

Good points. Too often we have idiots who think it is a constitutuional right to muzzle sweep law enforcement. My tactical sling can easily move my rifle behind my back and out of the way.

It looks like they were on a quiet county road. It would make more sense if they were in the parking lot of a mall.

He could have had a better attitude but I give some weight to his personal bio. This IMO is a fine line. I saw some newsmen being pushed further away from the scene in
Water town. While it might be part of their job when interacting with police, their slavish subservient attitude made me a little ill.