This seem like a pretty good social studies experiment. Get 30+ folks of different race and genders to open carry weapons and measure the police response. Although, I am guess that it would be hard to get academic committee approval for such an experiment.
I don’t have much doubt, that the cops questioned him because he was black.
That said, I would have absolutely no problem with a general rule that the cops can question anyone open carrying for no apparent reason, in a parking lot, if they are black, white, Asian, male, female, or alien from Mars…
I think that open carrying for no apparent reason creates a reasonable suspicion to be stopped and questioned. You might have a right to open carry but you don’t have an absolute right.
Menzo
5285
I think open carry laws are stupid, but if it’s legal, it’s legal. If it’s legal, why is it somehow less legal than walking with an umbrella?
I don’t think the laws say that it’s legal unless you’re carrying for “no apparent reason.”
RichVR
5286
Not less legal. Incredibly more dangerous.
Menzo
5287
But so what? Again, I don’t think there should be any open carry laws, but since there are, the law is the law.
If I’m legally carrying a firearm, cops should not be harassing me (not that I ever would). It doesn’t matter how dangerous having a gun is. Cops shouldn’t get to make up rules.
Because you don’t need to be doing something obviously illegal, for the cops that have a reasonable suspicion that you are doing something illegal.
For example, unless you have your open carry permit enlarged and hanging around your neck, the cops would have a reasonable suspicion to question your legality.
Menzo
5289
I don’t know a ton about gun laws, but I assume there are plenty of states that don’t require any sort of permit or license to open carry a weapon.
Allowing cops to harass citizens behaving legally just because you don’t like guns is hypocritical. In order for that to go wrong and it end up being you being harassed you just have to wait.
Maybe the next cop doesn’t like you hanging around with a camera and decides that you’re acting awfully suspicious.
Every time I’m seeing one of these stories I’m thinking… thank you, and good riddance.
Not sure who they think is going to miss them, but why look a gift horse in the mouth. Now if only the rest of the officers who feel the same exit out the same door…
You don’t have a permit for open carry in a state where open carry is legal. That’s the point of open carry.
More generally, I’m opposed to open carry and would take everyone’s guns away, period. But as long as they are legal, they are legal, and cops harassing people for carrying them is police abuse. This example is even worse, since the cops lied about why they were even there, with their nonsense about private county property.
Thrag
5292
South Carolina (where I assume the incident is by the text on the video) does not have open carry for handguns. There was a failed push for it not long ago. However you can open carry long guns.
And SC is home to one of the largest budget AR-15 manufacturers in the US, now that Colt has left that market.
IIRC, from the film Gandhi, he wasn’t nice to South African blacks.
Good point. That whole self-perpetuating cycle of institutionalized poverty for blacks needs to be torn up by the roots.
FUCK YEAH. Let’s take the money spend on cops for Humvees and spend it on Art in black communities. Need leaders for that though.
I’d like to be one, especially for the kids. I know parenting needs to be supported.
It’s so hard already. I have a 11 and 14 yo.,
Nothing is easy in this life. I don’t have lots of time on my hands. Any ideas how I can help?
Menzo
5298
Remember when there was honor and grace in the Whitehouse?
Here’s an uplifting video of a then 106 year old woman freaking out about meeting the Obamas. She’s still alive today.
Ok that made my day. The only centenarian I know will be 101 in a few months and she is doing well but not that well.
Depends on the state, I guess.
And while I’m a civil lawyer, and not a criminal one, I think that there are almost no states that have unrestricted open carry. For example, there are very few states more liberal about guns than Florida, but I think the only open carry is the silly law about that you can if you’re hunting and fishing. And I’d have to question how many states don’t even require a carry license.
All of which is really beside the point, because even where open carry is legal, I would argue that it might still give the cops a reasonable suspicion to stop and question you. You don’t need to be doing something illegal for that.
Quick personal example:
One of my hobbies is field herping, which is essentially the search for reptiles and amphibians, for photography etc. A number weeks ago I was shining lizards on the side of the road with a flashlight. Everything I was doing was completely legal, I was on public right-of-way, shining bushes that were on public property. Nevertheless, a sheriff deputy pulled up with his car, lights flashing, to inquire as to what I was doing. There’s nothing illegal about using a flashlight at night, and I was not trespassing. He still had reasonable suspicion to inquire if I was doing something which might’ve been illegal (like spotlighting deer). I think carrying a gun in a parking lot for no apparent reason is just as suspicious.
