Dr. at Airport with AR15 Cleared: Police said "see if they're willing to be a victim."

Gun Watch ^ | 7 November, 2014 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

A few months ago, Dr. Steinmetz decided to make a political statement by carrying a slung AR15 type rifle at the Phoenix Airport.  Enforcers at the Airport decided that they would punish his statement.  Because of surveillance video, it became clear that Dr. Steinmetz had not broken any law.   Instead, it was likely that the police had broken the law with false arrest.

This did not put Dr. Steinmetz in the clear.  Prosecutors have extremely strong immunity.   They can make your life miserable for months and years, and not face any consequences, especially if they have the backing of the old media.    A Phoenix TV Anchor said that it would be justified to shoot rifle carriers.  County Attorney Bill Montgomery was in a fairly tight spot.   There were no real crimes that he could charge Dr. Steinmetz with, but the powers that be in Phoenix wanted some sort of punishment.   It took months to work out a deal.  Virtually no punishment for the Dr., but perhaps more importantly, no punishment for the Prosecutor, either, or the police, that they admit to.  County Attourney Bill Montgomery is quoted in azcentral.com:

 "I watched the videotape," Montgomery told reporters during a scheduled biweekly news conference. "I watched people grab their children and walk the other way to get away from him, and if his powers of observation are that weak, he should probably lock his weapons up in a gun safe and hide the key and forget where it is."

I talked to Dr. Steinmetz, and he says that the actions noted by County Attorney Bill Montgomery did not occur until after six police officers started to follow him:

"I think six police officers, walking down, like that, following me, draws a lot of attention.  At this point they (visitors) started doing the things that Bill Montgomery describes."

Shortly later, one of the officers, Dr. Steinmetz says, asked, rather sarcastically,

Do you mind if we hang with you, to protect your rights, and all?

Dr. Steinmetz then found a place to sit down, with plenty of room for the six officers.  The officers remained standing and started discussing how they might arrest the Doctor. According to Dr. Steinmetz, one of them said:

"Go and check with those people over there, and see if they're willing to be a victim."

Less than a minute after that, Dr. Steinmetz was arrested. The complete statements of the "victims" have not been released to the public.

Dr. Steinmetz does not admit to any wrong doing, but will donate $500 to  the Salado Sportsman's Club.  He also agreed not to openly carry in area airports for two years.   He may still legally carry a concealed firearm.  From courierpostonline.com:

Marc Victor, Steinmetz's lawyer, said the county attorney's decision validated his client's actions and proved that he never broke the law.

"To charge him with a crime when he didn't commit a crime would be outrageous," Victor said. "And so it's a fair and reasonable result because it doesn't put any kind of requirements that are onerous on my client."

Victor said airport surveillance video shows that Steinmetz was carrying his gun peacefully and legally.

Here is an article with a link to the video showing that Dr. Steinmetz did not point his rifle at anyone, as was first reported.

It is bad that someone who did no harm and violated no laws, can still be put under pressure by a prosecutor.   In this case, the harm is relatively small.    I give the good Doctor some credit.   He made his point and came away without serious harm.   He has a great deal to lose.   I am not so impressed with the airport security, who seem intent on showing "who is in charge".   I would have liked to see some serious retraining required.

Dr. Steinmetz says that no civil suits are pending at this time.

©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Link to Gun Watch

[marktwain]

Dr. Steinmetz purchased the AR15 as a protest against Senator Feinstein's desire to ban them.

[knarf]

You go, doc.

[Klemper]

Please name “the police” that made the statement about “who is willing to be a victim”...

[marktwain]

There were six police. The Doctor did not have a recorder going. I do not know if a list of the the officers involved has ever been produced.

[marktwain]

“the the” should be “the”

[Paine in the Neck]

18 U.S. Code § 242 - Deprivation of rights under color of law

Whoever, under color of any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, willfully subjects any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or to different punishments, pains, or penalties, on account of such person being an alien, or by reason of his color, or race, than are prescribed for the punishment of citizens, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; and if bodily injury results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include the use, attempted use, or threatened use of a dangerous weapon, explosives, or fire, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and if death results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both, or may be sentenced to death.

[ClearCase_guy]

Nowadays:

The police are not there to enforce laws.
The police are not there to protect your rights.

The police are there to "Keep order".
That's a job for jack-booted thugs, which is what we have.

[Governor William J. LePetomane]

“To patronize and annoy”

[Paladin2]

What if someone dressed like this showed up?

[plsjr]

Paine,

I’m by no means a lawyer.

I want to see that we have a means to hold these “holders of authority” accountable. However it appears to me this protects “aliens, people of color/race” from being treated differently than “citizens”, not to protect the citizenry and punishing violations of Constitutionally protected rights.

It also relies on determining that the intent of the malefactor was to treat the victim differently, so may be more easily dismissed or invoked at the whim of a rogue government official or office and is far more difficult to prove beyond a(n intellectually honest) reasonable doubt.

It seems to me this citation provides little support against the abuse of power by governmental entities.

Please help me understand where I might be wrong.

[gaijin]

Wow..! Sure would Luke to see that video.

[martinidon]

In my opinion, the Dr. is not doing us any favors with this stunt. In fact, he makes 2nd amendment supporters look like wackos. As a CCW holder and supporter of the right to bear arms, if I saw some civilian guy walking around the airport with an AR15 strapped over his shoulder I would leave the area quickly. While his intentions may have been a protest on the Governments attack on our 2 nd amendment, people don't know if he is some wacko and could at any minute decide to spray a terminal with bullets.
This also gives the anti-gun lobby more information to use against us. While he was cleared, he was originally arrested for “pointing” his AR15 at a mother and her daughter. The media coverage around here portrayed the Dr. as some crazy and dangerous guy. it is just not helpful.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

The Dr. made a mistake “by agreeing” to not open carry in the airport for two years. That is a blatant attempt to bully open carry out of the airport, to make it again “culturally unacceptable” even when it is a legal civil right.

“We understand that we cannot legally stop black people from sitting at a lunch counter, but we want you to agree to not sit at any lunch counter for two years, to ‘let things settle down’.”

Oh, the Hell with that.

It sounds like past time for open carry advocates, at least one of whom is an attorney, to go have lunch at Sky Harbor while open carrying pistols and rifles. And two of them should also be wearing discreet body cameras and microphones.

I would heartily recommend that they bring along a couple of unarmed “pickets”, as well, with recording devices, so if they see a cluster of police near the open carry group they can record what they are saying to each other.

Think of it as a big time sting operation. If they can nail several cops “conspiring to violate civil rights”, there could be an impressively large civil suit.

[marktwain]

“This also gives the anti-gun lobby more information to use against us. While he was cleared, he was originally arrested for “pointing” his AR15 at a mother and her daughter. The media coverage around here portrayed the Dr. as some crazy and dangerous guy. it is just not helpful.”

The disarmists do not need anyone to do anything to come up with ways to attack second amendment supporters. They are quite willing to just make stuff up or rely on discredited sources such as the VPC or Dr. Arthur Kellerman.

The articles showing Dr. Steinmetz as irresponsible have been about equalled by the articles showing that he was cleared. In the process, hundreds of thousands of people have been educated that it is a right to carry a rifle openly in Arizona, as long as it is done safely.

[Klemper]

Yea we know. Watch the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Gv0H-vPoDc

[marktwain]

This could be part of an overall plan to “desensitize” the police at the airport.

Five people willing to devote five hours a week for two months could completely educate the airport security force in Phoenix.

[mad_as_he$$]

Try this:

http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/crm/242fin.php

[mad_as_he$$]

Most sheeple would freak if the knew how many guns move through airports in this country - especially when hunting season starts. I was on a plane once from Kennedy to London. Fully half the men on board were headed to Africa for big game season - everyone had a gun on board.

[DoodleDawg]

He was lucky. Ohio is an open carry state yet that didn’t stop police from shooting down John Crawford for carrying a BB gun in a Walmart. Nevada is a concealed carry state but that didn’t stop police from shooting down Erik Scott outside of Costco. It seems that police can pick and choose who can carry, and get away with killing anyone they disagree with.

[Red in Blue PA]

This is why you record everything. I have a recorder icon on the front page of my phone making it readily accessible.