Open Shotgun Carry in Austin

[ifanyonecan]

frazzled, you must not have read my intentions. Please reread the thread before you post further.

Also, for those that have been keeping up and realize I am not doing this before seeking legal advice and contacting the police department, I have an appointment tomorrow at 9:30 with one of the student services lawyers at UT.

[marksiwel]

I see you volunteering someone else to do it. Lets see you do it first. .

Oh I see, I can support the troops, but if I dont join the military I'm a hypocrite, right?

[ifanyonecan]

I see you volunteering someone else to do it. Lets see you do it first. .

Oh I see, I can support the troops, but if I dont join the military I'm a hypocrite, right?

You accidentally put that as your own quote. Multiple personalities?

[OldCannon]

Man, there's about a million ways that you're going to end up face down on the pavement with handcuffs (and likely being hit with both criminal and civil suits) and pretty much, oh, zero ways it will end without you being portrayed in the media as a gun-wielding nutjob. I can assure you that whatever your goal is, it will be perverted by the police, media, and civilians around you. The only way you're going to achieve what you want is to have a lawyer and PR person on each side of you.

Your passion is misplaced.

[joe817]

More circular arguments. It's come down to and

[frazzled]

frazzled, you must not have read my intentions. Please reread the thread before you post further.

Also, for those that have been keeping up and realize I am not doing this before seeking legal advice and contacting the police department, I have an appointment tomorrow at 9:30 with one of the student services lawyers at UT.

I have been. The moment you start talking about consulting the student services lawyers at UT I knew you didn't know what you were doing yet. On the positive he(she) will tell you the same thing.

What you should be thinking about now is, next steps after the UT lawyer tells you this tactic will "go down poorly?" Now's your opportunity to change tact and apply your enthusiasm in a productive manner.

[ifanyonecan]

Man, there's about a million ways that you're going to end up face down on the pavement with handcuffs (and likely being hit with both criminal and civil suits) and pretty much, oh, zero ways it will end without you being portrayed in the media as a gun-wielding nutjob. I can assure you that whatever your goal is, it will be perverted by the police, media, and civilians around you. The only way you're going to achieve what you want is to have a lawyer and PR person on each side of you.

Your passion is misplaced.

What civil suits? Someone claiming emotional damages from seeing me with a gun?

And please, people, read the thread first. I will be contacting the police beforehand, and I will make sure they understand what I am doing.

If I follow the advice in these threads, I will look more like the man in the video posted earlier than a nutjob. He was portrayed as a well-educated, well-spoken supporter of gun rights. He wasn't in any way threatening, and he held a great conversation/debate with a lady that was opposed to his actions.

To recap, since nobody cares to read the thread and see what has already been decided:

I will be speaking with a lawyer tomorrow to make sure what I am doing is legal.
I will be talking to the police department so they understand my intentions and to make sure they don't misunderstand the laws and arrest me.
I will wear a suit and tie.
I will wear the shotgun over my shoulder on a sling so it can't be shown that I was trying to alarm anyone.
I will have pepper spray with me just in case. No matter what happens I will not be using the weapon, even if someone points a pistol in my face, because...
I won't have any ammunition on me or in the weapon.
I will be in contact with the College Republicans to find others that can and will come with me (strength in numbers).
I will be prepared with sound bites that are difficult/impossible to edit and misinterpret, making it difficult to portray me as a nutjob.
Most importantly, I will stay within the laws at all times, so I am in the clear should I be arrested.
And if I am arrested, I have representation from the university supplied for my defense.
It will be difficult for the police to defend shooting me or using any force at all, since they will know beforehand that the weapon will be unloaded. I would be more than happy to hand it to any LEO during my walk for him to check that it's clear.

I'm probably forgetting some points, but that should cover the major ones.

[ifanyonecan]

frazzled, you must not have read my intentions. Please reread the thread before you post further.

Also, for those that have been keeping up and realize I am not doing this before seeking legal advice and contacting the police department, I have an appointment tomorrow at 9:30 with one of the student services lawyers at UT.

I have been. The moment you start talking about consulting the student services lawyers at UT I knew you didn't know what you were doing yet. On the positive he(she) will tell you the same thing.

What you should be thinking about now is, next steps after the UT lawyer tells you this tactic will "go down poorly?" Now's your opportunity to change tact and apply your enthusiasm in a productive manner.

If you are correct, then that's fine. I don't know why you're being so negative, since I'm clearly doing as much research and preparation as possible to avoid a bad scenario. If I do everything I plan to before I walk (which I will if I go through with it), there is little chance I will be arrested, and should I be arrested, there's an even smaller chance of a successful prosecution.

There is a chance that I don't know about a law or court opinion that affects this situation, in which case it may be illegal and I won't do it. There is a chance that it is, in fact, legal, but APD is improperly trained and believe it's illegal, in which case I won't do it. There are a lot of things that may be wrong with my idea so far, and if any one of them puts me at great risk, I'm not going to do it.

But if I do everything I plan to do, and the lawyers and police agree it is legal, you can bet I'm going to do this. Hopefully I can find others that feel the same.


EDIT: Also, why did you assume I didn't yet know what I was doing for consulting a lawyer? I've researched this quite a bit, and all evidence points to it being legal. The fact that I'm wanting an attorney's advice prior to doing this isn't showing that I'm uneducated on the matter, but rather that I'm being cautious and making sure I cover all my bases.

[OldCannon]

What civil suits? Someone claiming emotional damages from seeing me with a gun?

You can be hit with a civil suit for anything. Doesn't matter if you win the suit, you're still financially ruined. "Emotional Distress" certainly seems like a reasonable scenario.

And please, people, read the thread first. I will be contacting the police beforehand, and I will make sure they understand what I am doing.

I read the thread. I stand by what I said. I'm NOT saying what you want to archieve is wrong. I AM saying that you are _likely_ to find the situation getting taken dangerously out of context in about 2 ohnoseconds.

[ifanyonecan]

I read the thread. I stand by what I said. I'm NOT saying what you want to archieve is wrong. I AM saying that you are _likely_ to find the situation getting taken dangerously out of context in about 2 ohnoseconds.

The situation will involve no arrests or unpleasant LEO encounters, since I'm going to make sure beforehand that it won't. The police will be aware of the whole situation, and if they tell me, "You can't do that, we'll arrest you," then I obviously won't go through with it. But if they know the law properly, they will send an officer to be there and monitor things, and everything will be fine and dandy.

[marksiwel]

I read the thread. I stand by what I said. I'm NOT saying what you want to archieve is wrong. I AM saying that you are _likely_ to find the situation getting taken dangerously out of context in about 2 ohnoseconds.

The situation will involve no arrests or unpleasant LEO encounters, since I'm going to make sure beforehand that it won't. The police will be aware of the whole situation, and if they tell me, "You can't do that, we'll arrest you," then I obviously won't go through with it. But if they know the law properly, they will send an officer to be there and monitor things, and everything will be fine and dandy.

whatever happens, send someone with a camera and camcorder to record what happens. I hope you prove the naysayers wrong and have the photos/video to prove it

[ifanyonecan]

whatever happens, send someone with a camera and camcorder to record what happens. I hope you prove the naysayers wrong and have the photos/video to prove it

That will definitely happen if I walk. There's no way I'm going to go through with this without someone filming. And they will definitely know the laws about photography/film rights, so they have something to tell the police should they try to take away cameras as some departments have been known to do.

[frazzled]

What civil suits? Someone claiming emotional damages from seeing me with a gun?

You can be hit with a civil suit for anything. Doesn't matter if you win the suit, you're still financially ruined. "Emotional Distress" certainly seems like a reasonable scenario.

Thats true. But there are also actionable claims here. I am just hoping the UT attorney sets him straight.

[marksiwel]

What civil suits? Someone claiming emotional damages from seeing me with a gun?

You can be hit with a civil suit for anything. Doesn't matter if you win the suit, you're still financially ruined. "Emotional Distress" certainly seems like a reasonable scenario.

Thats true. But there are also actionable claims here. I am just hoping the UT attorney sets him straight.

Ask your Attorney about doing anything that might get you sued or arrested they are going to say "NO".

Also I saw this and could help but Laugh
NH: Open carry topless protest
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There is No Nudity in the Video.

[frazzled]

What civil suits? Someone claiming emotional damages from seeing me with a gun?

You can be hit with a civil suit for anything. Doesn't matter if you win the suit, you're still financially ruined. "Emotional Distress" certainly seems like a reasonable scenario.

Thats true. But there are also actionable claims here. I am just hoping the UT attorney sets him straight.

Ask your Attorney about doing anything that might get you sued or arrested they are going to say "NO".

Also I saw this and could help but Laugh
NH: Open carry topless protest
" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There is No Nudity in the Video.

And you know this based on?