Posted on 08/10/2013 7:15:45 PM PDT by marktwain
With a .45 caliber legally strapped to his side, Jordan McManus decided to photograph the federal courthouse in Phoenix last night, realizing he would probably draw attention from police, especially after reading about Raymond Michael’s experience last May.
But he was still a little surprised when a police helicopter hovered over him with a spotlight as two patrol cars pulled up next to him and another two cops approached him on foot.
They immediately tried to disarm him, but he refused to let them do it as it is legal to open carry in Arizona.
Then they tried to pat him down, which didn’t make sense considering he was already showing a firearm. But he wouldn’t let them do that either.
“You’re carrying a firearm and taking a picture of a federal building,” the cop exclaimed, trying to justify the pat down.
Then they demanded to know who he was, but didn’t get anywhere with that either.
Here is a portion of the exchange:
“Am I being detained right now?” McManus asks.
“Absolutely you are, yes,” the cop responds.
“You have reasonable suspicion that I committed a crime, right?
“Well, I’m concerned …”
“You’re concerned. Are you detaining me?”
“I am,” he says weakly.
“Under the suspicion that I committed what crime?”
“I don’t know yet. You’re not giving us any information.”
And there you have the reason why police are always demanding to see people’s identification even though the people are not breaking the law. It gives them a hope that if they run your name through their system, they will find a bench warrant and have an excuse to arrest you.
(Excerpt) Read more at photographyisnotacrime.com ...
Wife and i are in Bismark N.D.
Last evening we went over to look at the very ugly state capital at about dusk.
We drove up this long drive then stopped to take a couple photos.
No tourists were anywhere but a plain cloths cop wearing gym shorts an tee shirt with a gun under his shirt very quickly came over to challenge us.
Just taking a picture there pal.
No, we are not terrorists just tourist which you guys obviously don’t get too many around here cause ya sure don’t know how to treat them.
Yes, welcome to a world of sin!
It is not helped by adding more sin.
Because freedom was never won by a coward.
Courage is not equal to acting like a jerk.
Can people think outside of Satan’s box for a change?
Here, put yourself in the sheriff’s place. Let’s say you needed to learn that someone taking pictures while bearing arms isn’t the worst thing in the world, at the same time you would care for the responsibility that comes with knowing that a lot of Islamic terrorists have pulled stunts like this. How would you want someone to approach you?
The Golden Rule really does work wonders in mellowing out your approach to someone who needs to learn better.
I really fear that our mindset towards what is, yes, a badly erring government is “oh damn them to hell.”
THAT IS WRONG... GOD SAYS SO....
The idea is to bless them back to heaven! We are fighting a SPIRITUAL battle in which the human is precious, the devil is the trash.
How about the cops just follow the law and quit over-reacting?
/johnny
And the battle is also easier than the devil would lead us to believe. The devil will throw all kinds of BS in our face... but it’s only BS... if we do not internalize it (to use a modern word, the classic word is to believe it) we WILL push past it! We have a God that is more interested in blessing than in damning us. Damning is something like plan Z, after plans A-Y have failed. It’s the devil who has the vested interest in damning.
How about the two go talk with one another first? Is that too wimpy for you?
When I was in Panama during the Noriega regime, one of our guys (who collected images of uniforms around the world) made a sketch of the ceremonial guards at (as I recall) the Presidential palace.
You could buy postcards with pictures of them, but he was arrested and spent a week in a Panamanian jail (they were merciful and put him in solitary) until we could get him out.
I mean JRandom this is not rocket science.
“I want to alert you that I will be carrying my legal gun and taking some pictures.”
“Thank you sir, we won’t bother you.”
Mission accomplished? Sans drama queening?
I'm glad they weren't meek.
/johnny
Of course not. You twist what I say.
By the way attempts to negotiate with the king DID happen. It’s ONLY when that failed that the gauntlet was thrown down.
In this case it would have been a piece of cake... point proven, that yes you can bear a gun and take pictures at city hall or wherever they were.
They were fairly polite all around, I would say. There was not violence, no nasty words.
I might have been a little more chatty, but the problem is that you have to be very careful with what you say to police, because some really will take everything you say and try to use it against you.
I always try to be nice to police, but that is tempered with the requirement that they follow the rules.
Remember, they are our servants, even if they have a difficult job at times.
It's the same thing. We are not required to notify the 'authorities' that we are going to exersize our rights. Period. Even if it makes you feel better.
/johnny
Confess it! You are exalting wild oats for the sake of wild oats. That’s not where the guts of, say, George Washington came from. George Washington was a very PATIENT man and he had to study hard to get that patience, he actually had a temperament that was biased towards shortness.
The cops need to follow the law and stop over-reacting.
/johnny
What you have a right to do is not always the right thing to do. It’s not you and the gummit out in the wild and it’s an anarchic creation. God’s telling you there’s a way to do things. You are exalting rights not to honor God but to honor YOU. YOU, YOU, YOU, YOU, YOU, YOU!!! CONFESS IT!
Indeed I commend the gendarmes in this case. It did not turn into a violent takedown.
Don’t feel bad that I caught you, though. I’m not here to pummel you on the head in a big shame game. I’m here to remind you of where the blessing is.
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