Armed Ohio man arrested at NC airport as Air Force One leaves; car decked out with police gear

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) -- An armed man spotted at a North Carolina airport parking lot just after Air Force One departed Sunday told an officer he wanted to see the president and had a car equipped with police gear, including a siren and flashing lights, authorities said.

Joseph Sean McVey, 23, of Coshocton, Ohio, is charged with going armed in terror of the public, a misdemeanor, said Asheville Regional Airport Police Capt. Kevan Smith.

“The best way and I believe the only way to preserve this Republic is by working through the Constitutional processes (voting,etc.) and prayer.”

I think we need to rely solely on prayer at this point, as we know the voting process has been hijacked by the left. With ACORN reorganizing under other titles, it’ll be even worse because the “enemy” won’t be as obvious as before. I have no faith that any election in the near future will be fair.

Ummm... Question! Is anybody doing the serious work of investigating the facts here. Sounds to me like a convenient coincidence... “McVey”, “gun”, “police garb”, “wanted to see the president”. Are these snippets of information placed in this story to create an image or to strictly relay information. Like anything this president does, whatever he can spin to his advantage, he will. Is NC a conceal carry state? Was the gun “legal”? Was this guy, the gun, and whatever other dangerous items he had in proximity to the President. Is the “man” a registered Democrat... because you know, if he were a Republican, we’d know already. Somebody get on this stuff and do some real reporting already... may as well have read, “a white man with a gun wanted to ‘see’ the black president, and his name was McVey just like the Oklahoma City terrorist bomber”. He may have had evil intent for all we know, but then again, for all we know, he may not...

The description of the vehicle could fit many of the ‘chase’ vehicles used by spotter/chasers following the weather systems. The exception is the siren. The flashing lights are always a controversy on our discussion groups.

I am most often the ‘net control’ on our local SKYWARN nets and advise some of the young hot-shots that I will not take reports from them if they run with flashing lights; a siren would be a definite no-no. If they are stopped alongside a road, then a flashing light is acceptable during low viability situations.

The scanners and windshield/dash mounted camera is standard equipment for many of us also. (a scanner is lawful in any state if you have an amateur radio license.)

The past couple of years has seen a growth in ‘video streaming’ and this past weekend had a lot of live tornado footage available if you know where to look. I will not post the links here since a couple of the systems were overloaded on Friday and Saturday.

Many of us will also have some type of pistol in the vehicle and perhaps a CHL. (Mine should be in the mail box today or tomorrow.)

With that being said, stupidity is common in all sectors of humanity and getting out of your vehicle with a visible pistol where AF1 is and then asking to see the President is close to the peak in that category. He needs to be taken off of the streets, along with a lot of the Washington types, for everyone’s safety.

Yep, a couple of our spotters are wanna-be cops and use amateur radio and SKYWARN activities as a justification for their toys; most of us are weather nuts first and the toys help us perform a vital public service.

It’s illegal to impersonate a law enforcement officer, so having the lights visible on his car was sufficient cause all by itself for police to stop him for a chat — if he’d produced identification showing that he was with a volunteer fire company or some such legitimate reason for the lights and siren, and running the plates and his license had checked out his story, he’d have gone on his merry way. Instead, he had emerged from the car on his own initiative while open-carrying, and proceeded to tell police he was there to see the President — who would obviously be in a secured area of the airport. So he was driving a car equipped with various law-enforcement paraphernalia, parked in an airport parking lot, and while wearing a sidearm told police his intention was to go into the airport and see the President, and he gave police a driver’s license that didn’t check out as being real. Plenty of cause for arrest here.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.