I completely concur. Any audio/video recording in a public place should be able to be done with no restrictions. Laws such as this are mainly used to protect the guilty, who are often police officers and such.
The recording laws should be based upon a reasonable person’s expectation to privacy.
I would expect a conversation or an action in public view to be public and recordable.
I would expect what happens in a bathroom stall to be private and not recordable, for example.
You are right, too, about law enforcement: you often see an unreasonable reaction to recording their actions even when public. It does make one wonder why...