Posted on 07/26/2013 8:23:57 AM PDT by marktwain
A young man was exercising his Second Amendment and Wisconsin Constitutional rights in Wisconsin when he was stopped by police, questioned and arrested for Obstruction of Justice and Disorderly Conduct. Police allege that initial reports of Mr. Hoffman placed him within 1,000 feet of a school. It is not clear if Mr. Hoffman was within a 1,000 feet of a school when he was accosted.
At opencarry.org, MKEgal has written some cogent comments:
3) Since the WI Supreme Court has ruled that it is NOT obstruction to refuse to give your name, or to remain silent, that charge is bogus & should never have been filed.
4) Since the law says that it is not disorderly conduct to go armed (openly or concealed, loaded or not), and that law does not specify a type of firearm, that charge is bogus & should never have been filed.
5) They have to prove that he was knowingly within 1000' of a school, and on public property.
These cases are not harmless. I know of one young man who sat in jail for several days before a judge dismissed the charges.
Open carry is normal in the hunting fields of North Dakota, or the woods of Oregon.
I even saw a shapely lass riding a mountain bike in downtown Medford, OR, with a pink AR-15 slung over her shoulder.
:-)
I refreshed my memory. He sat in jail for 16 days:
Intimidation tactics by the local PD. Police departments are betting that their victims are ignorant of the law, and preying upon them to either project their authority, or to smack down anyone who challenges their authority, regardless of the legal consequences.
Another example proving the local cops will not be on the people’s side. They think of themselves as all powerful and they don’t look kindly on anyone APPEARING to try to take that power away.
Typical of our neo-police state...when no legal circumstance exist, make charges up.
I suspect that Mr. Hoffman will be the recipient of a considerable settlement in a few months.
I sincerely hope so! Statist parasites may not understand anything about rights; they do, however, understand dollars.
Which will come out of the pockets of ordinary tax-payers. None of this will be rectified until police chiefs are made to be personally responsible for the actions of their subordinates. If the chief risks jail time or financial ruin, he will ensure he doesn’t have any badge heavy knuckleheads in his patrol cars.
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