Question to any actual lawyer in the group - Could that person be charged with anything? Would that be a case of reckless endangerment since the nearby crowd would be falling all over themselves trying to get away? Please, no lawyer wannabe opinions.
Personally, I think open carry is just poor tactics. I want the first recognition by the bad guy that I have a weapon is when multiple rounds go thru his center of mass.
Thats kinda the way I feel. Got into a discussion yesterday on another thread about open v/s concealed carry. Alot of different opinions about it. Guess it's just personal preference.
Shouting those words, in the circumstances where a uniformed peace officer is simply wearing a firearm, would not be protected speech. Whoever was shouting that could be charged criminally and punished. Charges could range from Disturbing the Peace to various more severe charges if anyone were to be injured.
The most famous case on point here is Schenck v. United States 249 U.S. 47 (1919). In that U.S. Supreme Court opinion, written by Justice Holmes, we see the emergence of the “clear and present danger” doctrine: false and dangerous speech is not protected, such as falsely shouting fire in a crowded theater.
Oh, but it’s true, one may say, that the officer does in fact have a gun? Well, in the year 1919, when the Schenck opinion was published, people commonly smoked tobacco in crowded theaters. They ignited their cigarettes, cigars, and pipes with matches (little fires). That was just normal behavior and no cause for alarm. Likewise, in the year 2014, peace officers commonly wear sidearms. It is no cause for alarm.
“Personally, I think open carry is just poor tactics.”
This is not about tactics. It is about establishing our rights under the second amendment.
I carry but concealed and agree with you about what good tactics are.