TexasCHLforum.com

bdickens wrote:
Walking around on backcountry roads, carrying a hunting rifle, with your son who is working on becoming an Eagle Scout in tow is not only NOT suspicious, it is downright admirable and healthy no matter what some panty-wetting libtard fresh in from Commiefornia thinks.

I'm thinking it'd be a totally different conversation if he'd had a wood-stocked Remington 700BDL in .223 with a 3x9 Gold Ring slung over his shoulder...

That's the first problem...then the "obstruction" charge for not helping the police make their case....the more I think about this one, the less there is to like about it.

I won't comment on some of the particulars...but here's what I see, knowing I don't have the whole story (the video starts once things are in progress.)

1) CJ appears to be doing nothing illegal; although openly carrying a rifle might raise an eyebrow depending on where it's being done. While I generally agree that we shouldn't "scare the horses," That's a courtesy, not a requirement. If I'm a scary-looking dude, I can't really help that, and if you are frightened by my mere presence when I haven't approached or threatened you, that's your problem, not mine.

2) CJ appears to have been a bit "rattled" throughout the incident, and accordingly, maybe wasn't as articulate as he could have been -- some of the language was probably not helpful to getting his point across, and probably served to further incense the two officers. That said, there was clearly nothing he could have said or done to improve the situation. It looks like the police had already made up their minds that they were "right" even if they were wrong. This is further evidenced by the comment that they are indeed exempt from the law.

3) CJ's ultimate arrest was nothing to do with carrying firearms, brandishing, or any other pre-exisiting behavior (e.g. the alleged reason for the stop. It was allegedly for "obstruction." This fact, in and of itself, should be more frightening than any other aspect of this whole incident. Arrested for "obstructing" what, the investigation underway to figure out what criminal charge they can trump up on the spot? They say obstruction, I say exercise of 4th and 5th amendment protections...tomato, to-mah-to. There's no statute for "Contempt of Cop" so he's arrested for obstructing an investigation with the scope of charging him with a crime. That is the "papers please" and "guilty until proven innocent" part of this whole thing.

Let's focus on the truly significant portion of this encounter. The gun and disarming has just become incidental to me in the whole context. Being arrested and charged with failure to cooperate with the investigation whose sole intent is to charge a citizen with a crime is not a road I want to see us going down.

Am I missing something here?