Posted on 08/06/2007 5:45:15 PM PDT by Dada Orwell
Below is a video of my August 5 open carry incident in New Hampshire. It starts audio-only then the video picks up a minute or two later when our pro photographer runs to the scene.
Basically I'm a liberty activist here; I wear a holstered pistol in public roughly once a week. It's legal in New Hampshire but not that common south of the notches. Cops sometimes ignore, sometimes harass you for doing it. When that happens to me, I don't get angry but use the chance to educate police about the open carry rights of NH citizens.
I was walking 50 yards from my car to the monthly Free Stater meeting at Murphy's Taproom in downtown Manchester. I usually open carry to that meeting.
I was noticed by a state trooper, but I noticed him too and called the Free Staters' emergency hotline before he got to me. In the video you hear my call realtime, as I report my situation and try to explain to our listeners what's happening.
Folks inside the bar also came running out to support me. Police thought it was pre-planned it happened so fast, like they'd been set up or something. But this is just how our guys react when they're nearby. I appreciate the fact that the police were able to maintain calm and respectful demeanor despite some of the anger directed against them by the crowd. But of course look I forward to the day when they don't make such stops in the first place.
Note that I am able to lawfully refuse them when they ask for my "papers" and personal information. If you think this is a better outcome than you'd get where you are now.....move your ass up here and share our freedoms!
Visit www.FreeStateProject.org
Thanks to all who showed support during and after this incident.
Hopefully this video will remind people New Hampshire does allow open carry, that officers here do handle themselves better than in most states, and that the Free Staters are continuing to improve level of support which is available to freedom lovers when police take exception to their responsible exercise of rights.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FWXnK5UyRI&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fnewhampshireunderground%2Ecom%2Fforum%2Findex%2Ephp%3Ftopic%3D10019%2E45
Striped shirt dude is probably going to get a wood shampoo one of these days.
Hey buddy, AD here. :) Stay out of the klink, because then Chris is the only one who can bring a handgun if you stay the night in MA again. I’ll visit you in jail and bring you cigarettes, but they probably won’t let me bring you Reyka vodka when you’re locked up. hahahaha
As a LE you don’t let anyone, bystander or not take control of the situation and in this case, based on the video, Mr Striped Shirt was trying to do that. Why do you think backup was arriving as Mr. SS continued with his BS. Answer, he was inflaming the situation and MPD was not about to loose control.
The camcorder, in NH use of recording devices of an individual or individuals, in an area where one would expect not to be recorded, is illegal unless permission is given by the subjects being recorded. Walking down the street with 3 of your friends, and someone comes up to you with a CC 5 feet away and begins recording you is a crime, recording a group people at a ball game is not. Based on the video, Mr. SS and the guy carrying gave their permission since they were doing recording. So the cop objects to the CC, not outside his authority to object.
Again I don't follow you, Mr stripey shirt would have never gotten agitated because you would have never agitated him.. My opinion, Mr. SS was part of Freemen, but he was there for himself, he was trying to agitate the SP then the MPD.
I also suspect the guy carrying walks around outside the meeting location, on the days of their meetings until he is spotted by LE, then makes the call.
Well it is a good thing you are off the street. We don’t need anymore people instigating violence.
The idea that a LEO can object to a public videotaping of his actions, and make it stick legally, is one that none of us should accept. They are public servants, not civil masters.
Which is exactly why some parts of some cities have become no travel zones for just about everyone. The people in those areas no longer cede control to the bluster of someone with a badge. And it will only get worse from here on out.
This Officer initiated a confrontation with a pedestrian based on bad information given to him by his Command and proceeded to engage in provocative acts that could land him in Civil Court for acting outside his authority.
As you and I both know, the reason backup was there and continued to arrive was because of radio traffic prior to the stop.
It would be very interesting to learn the nature of that radio traffic and the characterizations of the incident made by the officers involved.
Pass the word to all your fellow Brothers of the Badge, you are not lawyers and you are not prison guards when you are on patrol.
Do not let your administrators trick you into believing that you must be some kind of babysitter in some irrational Nanny State Government.
A number of street savvy PEACE OFFICERS (not cops) have learned this the hard way.
You want a war on seatbelts, a war on so-called domestic violence, a war on carbon emmissions and whatever else some political bureaucrat can imagine do not be surprised when a battlefield forms and casualties mount.
The camcorder, in NH use of recording devices of an individual or individuals, in an area where one would expect not to be recorded, is illegal unless permission is given by the subjects being recorded. Walking down the street with 3 of your friends, and someone comes up to you with a CC 5 feet away and begins recording you is a crime, recording a group people at a ball game is not. Based on the video, Mr. SS and the guy carrying gave their permission since they were doing recording. So the cop objects to the CC, not outside his authority to object.
Again, I cannot imagine who told you this and why you believe them. There is NO expectation of privacy on a public sidewalk or even in a place of public accomodation or common area. Bureaucrats and politicians the world over are nearly unanimous on this point.
It would amaze me if NH could write a law to bypass that and make it stick and it would be a bizzare precedent to boot.
If you have a citation I would be interested to see it.
As public servants Police have even fewer rights.
Best regards,
http://youtube.com/watch?v=FoU7ZpD8OC8&mode=related&search=
Best regards,
Now reading this, some people might understand why cops abusing their authority makes Russell Kanning very angry.
Then you DON'T HAVE THE RIGHT.
The same thing happened in Ohio - it got to the point where cops were making screaming, gun-waving felony stops on people simply because they were walking down the street minding their own business wearing a sidearm.
We carry openly here in New Hampshire and put up with the hassle of educating ignorant cops because we NEVER want to get to that point.
An attempt here in New Hampshire to pass a law allowing issuing authorities to deny concealed-carry licenses on the basis of "guilt by association" by changing about half a dozen words resulted in about 500 people turning out for the hearing, packing the hearing room and the halls of the statehouse.
In order to end open carry, they would have to repeal Article 2 and 2a of the State Constitution here, and they could probably expect about 50,000 people surrounding the statehouse for that hearing.
So "real world politics" in your state might be a bit different than the "real world politics" here in New Hampshire. And we will continue to open carry in spite of the threats from uneducated cops, to put an end to those threats.
A couple of years ago, the Director of the Department of Public Safety put out a notice in the State Police newsletter about open carry and concealed carry license issuance. It was very clear.
Unfortunately, they still need educating. Now they have a YouTube video to e-mail to their friends as an audio-visual example of what NOT to do about open carry in New Hampshire.
Needed elsewhere for what? Arresting people for smoking in a restaurant or something?
Holy Moses! How the hell did you shift?
That's because Dave, myself, and various others make a point to carry openly, so that they won't have that excuse any more when they decide to hassle someone who is not breaking any laws.
On the topic of open or concealed carry. I have done both before my LE days. I prefer a non multilevel retention holster. That is the gun is held in place by friction, no locks, straps or buttons. Now, why would anyone carry in the open with my preferred holster? Would they carry in the open in any area, with any type of holster, possibly be subjected to having their gun stolen and they are injured or killed for it? I enjoy th element of surprise, more than risk of being a victim for my gun.
I used to live in the People's Police State of Kalifornia too. I left for New Hampshire for just this sort of reason.
In New York City they've shot black undercover officers if they spot a gun, so saying it "freaks them out" is quite an understatement.
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