Texas(!1) gun rights advocate gets arrested for rifle, "Open Carry" or provocation?! [View all]

[UTUSN]

Last edited Sat Aug 10, 2013, 10:40 AM - Edit history (4)

So apparently these ostensible gun rights advocates have been touring Texas, informing local law enforcement that they plan to walk a neighborhood or get their picture taken in front of police stations, with a “long arm” (rifle) slung with a strap on their shoulders, and the gimmick is that they are “educating” law enforcement and the public that in Texas this is permissible while handguns require a permit and be concealed. Apparently it doesn’t matter that some of the public might be ALARMED, because they are considered to be uneducated about the rights and the law. So when similarly uneducated police perchance arrest them, the municipalities are slapped with “multimillion dollar lawsuits.”

These are assorted Libertarians, militia, Ron PAUL, secede/Texas, 2nd Amendment, doomsday preppers, food additives paranoia, “Open Carry Texas,” “Come and Take It,” "Don't Comply," radio talkshow wingnut Alex JONES.

This is NOT about “education,” it’s about PROVOCATION, and sounds to me to have an element of a sweet scam to file “multimillion dollar lawsuits.” Why don’t these dudes need to spend some time on family and a job instead of traveling around provoking law enforcement?

In their YouTube videos, they gather around, "being normal," "window shopping," being ever so nice and well spoken, just BEING NORMAL with a rifle slung from their shoulders, shlubbing around because it's THEIR RIGHT. I *don't* have a right to be ALARMED.

Here's the pic from a year or two ago of an a-hole in a J.C. Penny, with an assault weapon:


And here’s the current man of the hour, with the caption by the gushing crack reporter (on a first name basis) :


“KGBT Action 4 News via Daisy Martinez Action 4 News: Zach from Come And Take It America peacefully demonstrated his 2nd Amendment right today outside the Brownsville Police Department. The chief granted him permission for the short demonstration, but made sure five officers surrounded Zach to ensure safety.”


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http://www.themonitor.com/news/local/article_7b3370c6-00a8-11e3-aabd-001a4bcf6878.html

[font size=5]Gun owners plan protest at McAllen PD after activist arrested[/font]

McALLEN — Organizers expect more than 100 gun owners to gather Saturday at the McAllen police station to protest the arrest of a gun rights activist who sought to photograph himself outside the Police Department with a rifle slung across his back.

Zach William Horton, 37, had been traveling for work throughout the Rio Grande Valley, stopping at various police departments along the way and taking photographs outside them with his rifle. ....

Horton had arrived at the McAllen police station at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday and told officers that he wanted to take photographs with a rifle, according to a McAllen police news release.

Police told him that he couldn’t and asked him to leave, but soon after he returned and was arrested, police said. “Horton was stopped as he exited his vehicle, Mr. Horton had a knife in his waistband and previously declared that he had with him a ‘loaded high powered rifle,’” according to the release.

Horton was told to step away from the vehicle, and after he didn’t, police pointed their guns at him and arrested him on the charges of trespassing and carrying a weapon in places where weapons are prohibited because the police station also houses the city’s municipal court, the release shows.

On Thursday the trespassing charge was dismissed and Horton was formally charged with one count of carrying a weapon in places where weapons are prohibited; his bond was set at $25,000. Horton was sent to the Hidalgo County Jail. Members of Open Carry Texas were working to get him released on bond Thursday evening. ....

The organization was started by C.J. Grisham and a few of his friends after he was arrested in March in Temple, Texas, after carrying a rifle while hiking with his son on a rural road. Grisham was initially charged with resisting arrest, but according to him, the charge has been downgraded to interfering with the duties of an officer.

“I have since slapped them with a multimillion-dollar lawsuit,” Grisham said. “We are looking at a lawsuit against McAllen for illegally arresting one of our founding members.” ....



http://www.copblock.org/36763/come-and-take-it-founding-member-murdoch-pizgatti-unlawfully-arrested/
[font size=5]Come And Take It Founding Member Murdoch Pizgatti Unlawfully Arrested[/font]

Joseph Dalrymple shared this post via CopBlock.org’s submit page.

I’m reaching out to you all in regards to the recent unlawful arrest and detention of a founding member of Come And Take It America’s Denton Chapter.

Prior to his unlawful arrest, he was making his way through the southern portion of Texas, stopping at police department after police department, taking pictures in front of their department, showing their support for the 2nd Amendment and an individual’s right to bear arms.

One of his encounters was publicized by KGBT Action 4 in Brownsville, TX (source: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151475390686157 ). As well as the event in Corpus Cristi the weekend prior, which was covered by KRISTV ( source: http://%20www.kristv.com/news/men-carrying-loaded-rifles-march-down-shoreline/ ).

Our mission is to do all this peacefully, and we are working on a database of positive encounters with law enforcement officers. Our mission is to educate and encourage law abiding citizens, and to work with law enforcement individuals while doing so.

We’re trying to spread the word about his recent apprehension. Will you help by posting the encounter?

Please consider spreading the word.

Currently, we’re passing the following information on to our members:

THIS IS PRIORITY CALL TO ACTION. READ AND SHARE




http://excoplawstudent.wordpress.com/2013/08/05/little-elm-police-zach-horton-and-misstating-the-law-redacted-updated-from-earlier-posts/

[font size=5]ExCop-LawStudent
General ramblings of a former police officer turned law student
Little Elm Police, Zach Horton, and Misstating the Law (REDACTED / UPDATED from earlier posts)[/font]

Original post, July 3, 2013.

Sergeant John Samples of the Little Elm Police Department was informed that Zach Horton was planning to do an open carry walk with a long arm in his neighborhood and decided to stop by and talk to him about it.

Unfortunately for Sgt. Samples, he doesn’t know the requirements of the law. Under Texas law, open carry of a handgun is a criminal offense, but open carry of a rifle or shotgun is not, unless it is carried in a manner “calculated to alarm.” To Sgt. Samples, this means if the police receive one single call, it has alarmed someone, and the individual has committed an offense.

This is not the case. ....

You’ll also notice that Sgt. Samples is “troubled” that Horton doesn’t just roll over and accept what he is being told by a police officer. Again, this is due to a police mindset – I just told you what to do, I’m a police officer, you have to do what I tell you, even if I’m wrong.

Horton is prominent on the website “Don’t Comply” also known as “Come and Take It America“. This is sort of a whackjob site, with articles on the “Voluntaryist” philosophy, which is just another term for the sovereign citizen-type idiocy that seems to be growing. ....



http://www.dontcomply.com/come-and-take-it-america/

[font size=5]Come And Take It America[/font]

Armed Open Carry March in your town.
Find the nearest event in the map below.
Nationwide movement of armed marches are spreading. If you would like to host a local chapter in your own town please send us details on which day of the month, time and starting address for the meetup location. These monthly walks through your downtown area with like minded people will continue to keep the right to bear arms fresh in the minds of police. It will show the public that we are law-abiding friendly citizens and are nothing to fear. Find a network of like minded people.

The stated goals of Come And Take It America are to:
1) Educate Americans on their right to openly carry shotguns and rifles in a safe manner.
2) To condition Americans to feel safe around those of us that carry them.
3) Encourage our elected officials to pass less restrictive open carry legislation.


http://www.voluntaryist.com/

[font size=5]Free Your Mind: Voluntaryist[/font]

Statement of Purpose: Voluntaryists are advocates of non-political, non-violent strategies to achieve a free society. We reject electoral politics, in theory and in practice, as incompatible with libertarian principles. Governments must cloak their actions in an aura of moral legitimacy in order to sustain their power, and political methods invariably strengthen that legitimacy. Voluntaryists seek instead to delegitimize the State through education, and we advocate withdrawal of the cooperation and tacit consent on which State power ultimately depends.

What Is Secession? by Donald W. Livingstone
Ropes of Sand: Voluntaryism and Secessionism by Carl Watner – Issue 102
A Voluntaryist Perspective on the Bill of Rights by Carl Watner – Issue 101
A Short History of Highway and Vehicle Regulations by Carl Watner – Issue 92
Historical Origins of Voluntaryism by James Luther Adams – Issue 79
"Plunderers of the Public Revenue": Voluntaryism and the Mails by Carl Watner – Issue 76
Early Government Legislation in the United States by David McKells – Issue 71
Chaos in the Air by Carl Watner – Issue 51
"Hard Money" in the Voluntaryist Tradition by Carl Watner – Issue 23
On the History of the Word "Voluntaryism" by Carl Watner

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