Texas Dad arrested for having a rifle?

[Delos]

What is normal?

When ranchers are out working on a fence, or putting a steer back inside, their pick up truck is always nearby.

A man and boy walking along the edge of highway for ten (?) miles is not normal.

 

[jlrhiner]

You know, what he was doing was either legal or it wasn't. Evidently, it was, as he wasn't charged for a weapons violation. A law abiding citizen should never be subjected to illegal search, illegal detention or arrest for whatever they can think of. They handled the stop wrong, and arrested him when they knew they were wrong. You can justify how you want. They were wrong.

 

[gm272gs]

...On his back using a shoulder strap pointed in the air is a relaxed safer way to carry. He is not walking a jungle trail in hostile territory ready to fire in half a second.

I think that was called "cross body sling transport" and it was muzzle up or down, but always down for us (because down is a safe direction). Ready carry was stock on shoulder, hand on heatshield/foregrip, and finger out of the trigger guard. Then there's "tactical" (muzzle slightly up) and "alert" (muzzle slightly down) carry.

The more I read about this story, the more I think that this guy (carrying the rifle) was an idiot. If he wanted protection, he could have carried a concealed pistol and been fine. In this day and age, you just have to know that you're going to cause a panic is some person who thinks "guns are bad" and that they'll call the police.

Folks who responsibly own and use firearms aren't supposed to be undermining our rights to own and use them, by doing things that they really ought to know are going to cause a commotion.

 

[Poodle Soup]

So all the police know is that a guy and kid are walking down a road. The guy has a rifle slung if front in the ready position.

Obviously the person that called police did not recognize him. Obviously the police did not recognize him.

So lets assume for a minute he is one of the many in this country who escape from prison outside crews, or honor farms, or half way houses, or mental institutions each day.

So the police approach him and he is verbally uncooperative, claming he has rights and they have no right to ask him questions because he has done nothing wrong.

So then what. Do the police radio in that he refuses to tell them what they ask, so they are returning to the doughnut shop?

Maybe later a family ends up dead and car stolen. All the police have are dash camera photos of the wrong guy? Or next time they have photo’s of the right guy but he also demands his right to be left alone.

If he wants to play the boy scout card he and kid should put on boy scout uniforms.

Most people on rural roads know their neighbors.

We get the kind of policing we ask for. If we just want them to wave at someone with rifle at the ready fine. They could live with that really easy.

A news report said more vets now commit suicide than are killed in our modern police action wars. Perhaps no one wants to know when they are still acting like they are in a war zone?

From the info we have he did cooperate.

A cop tried to grab his gun from him (which in the video the cop did not deny). And thats when things escalated.

And he looks like a stereotypical hiker... except for the gun.

The police handled this wrong.

 

[Delos]

Saying hello out on the highways

Back in the early 1960’s I was once traveling old Route 66. I had stopped at one town in Arizona and bought a 1917 .45 acp revolver and some auto rim ammunition. At one point I picked up a hitchhiker for someone to talk to. A tired poorly educated teenager who was headed for Hollywood. I told him the seat would recline and where to find the handle. He jerked on it until he broke it, as I tried to tell him to not lean back when pulling the handle.
Anyway at one point I stopped at a rest stop and was examining my pistol. A couple about 40 years old walked by and looked down at the pistol in my lap.
Further down the road I stopped well off the road for some target practice. When a policeman stopped behind my car, both of us now over 50 yards off the highway and him walking from about 30 yards behind me with his hands on his belt buckle. I felt embarrassed and felt sorry for him. I laid my new pistol on my trunk and stepped away from it. The hitch hiker was not as courteous just standing by the car staring at him.
Naturally I said hello and let the policeman handle my new pistol probably showing him the receipt and telling him proudly where I bought it. We got along fine but he was obviously uncomfortable about my hitch hiker and ask about him. I explained where I had picked him up and where he said he was going.

While driving back down the road the hitch hiker expressed anger that I was so polite to the policeman and he was irritated that I put my revolver on the trunk, which to him, made me look guilty of something. I dumped the hitch hiker at the next town and never picked up another. It was my first time of giving much thought to police, hitch hikers, and guns.

So the state patrolmen, county deputy sheriffs, and local small town police constantly check on people traveling through their towns, walking on roads, or hitch hiking on the roads. Lots of petty crimes by very poor perhaps?

A friend in Texas once mentioned it had been common to see signs outside small highway towns warning people not to stop there after dark. Perhaps the dust bowl depression years migrations never ended? The poverty in the south never ended.

The first road to California was the Oregon Trail that avoided the Sierra Nevada mountains by going to Oregon first. Next was Donner Pass. Route 66 to Los Angeles was paved in 1936 (if memory serves). My parents took us to California on route 66 just after WWII ended.

I cannot imagine traveling areas with no policemen responding to problems reported by concerned citizens. That policeman that checked on me, alone, walking with his hands on his buckle, was just a very good man doing a job that needed to be done. Learning to read people by their actions.

It is not just about small towns and chickens clucking in the night. Fewer eggs or fewer chickens in the morning. Or clothes missing from clothesline in the morning. Lots of really bad people have traveled those roads. And still do.

So when the next Charlie Manson mass murderer has a policeman question him on his way back from Los Angeles to the Span (?) ranch in the dessert we want the police to leave the minute he says he has rights and refuses to cooperate? They never found Shorty’s body. Some Manson Family members that defected said they once heard screams in the night out on the desert. And never saw Shorty after that? Rumor was that he was cut up in pieces slowly?

Maybe the people who complain about the police should go out in the desert and look for Shorty’s remains. They found the remains of the lawyer who disagreed with Charlie about wanting them all tried in one group, out in the Nevada (?) desert.

Chicken’s clucking in the night, screams in the night? Most of us can pick up a phone. A good man will be sent to check.

A veteran that refuses to communicate and must have his fingers pried from his gun is a sign of the times. His dreams must be interesting. Pretty tough when a person must be taken back to the station to calm down and answer questions.

 

[OIF2]

A few things to consider...

1. MSG Grisham is a problem child who likes to stir up issues. He was relieved of his duties as a 1SG (1st Sergeant) before this incident and reassigned. A 1SG post is a very prestigious position that demands tact, judgement and working with superiors to resolve sometimes delicate issues. His being relieved speaks to his inability to get along. And while he's a decorated combat veteran, so what? So am I, with two combat tours. Being a combat vet doesn't give you a pass on acting stupid.
2. The MSG has set up defense funds previously for other incidents he's been involved in, with no accounting for the money. After he got the amount he "needed" on this latest one, it was shut down. Not making any allegations here, just stating facts.
3. While open carry of a rifle is legally allowed in TX, there are conditions. It can't be carried in a manner to cause alarm or in a threatening or rude way (paraphrasing the law). The cops have every right to disarm someone during an investigation for their safety. It's their call. The MSG resisted and argued, with a loaded rifle and pistol. Not good. He knows better.
4. Arguing with the police with your son present is shameful and says a lot about the MSG. I'm sure that leaves a sense of great respect for authority with his son. A senior US Army NCO should conduct himself more professionally.
5. I am also an E-8 (1SG), with two combat tours, a couple of Bronze Stars and a CIB (Combat Infantryman's Badge). My past combat time doesn't give me a freebee to argue, insult or interfere with cops doing their job. Radio calls must be answered and investigated. Grisham is an embarrassment to the NCO Corps and the Army.
6. Before I went back into the Army and volunteered for combat, I was a cop. I treated Soldiers and Marines well; I gave them rides, took them to the USO, got them back on the bus to Pendleton or Irwin and protected them when they were intoxicated or injured. If they were stupid, argued or wanted to fight, I restrained and booked them and let the MPs handle them. My insight, based on being on both sides of the fence.
Bob

 

[Squirrel Master]

The problem is, too many officers, don't know the law themselves.
You DO NOT have to consent to any SEARCHES or SEIZURES.
If you ARE NOT SUSPECTED of commiting a crime, there is no reason to identify yourself, or speak to an officer. The only time you are required BY LAW to cite your alias is upon being arrested or summonsed.
"Ignorant" people calling the law over something totally LEGAL does not justify or warrant a search, seizure, brute force, or abuse of power.

US v DeBerry states "A firearm, when legally carried, CAN NOT be the sole cause of stopping a citizen. Suspiscious or not, Tough Cookies!

He should have immediately requested a Deligation of Authority order FROM CONGRESS!!! Certifiable on public record... Affidavit of fact.... We see it all the time on the news. Another guy impersonating an officer. So, without proper documents, this hypothetically could have been "JOW BLOW" reaching for his weapon, trying to disarm/assault him. Good on Constistution says you have a right to defend yourself in the case.

I'm glad he gave em hell. It's time out for bending over, and taking it! In the 80's & 90's, people were riding around with Shotguns & Rifles on display in their cab windows. Tell you what else, crime was a lot less then to. Why did it stop? When did we (America) get so "iffy" about firearms? It's time to take our Constitution back! Weed out the LAW BREAKERS (BOTHED BADGED & CITIZENS)!!! The good ol' days!!! Hurry, before this "NEW WORLD ORDER" **** becomes the Constitution... It's happening right before our eyes

 

[Squirrel Master]

My prior post may be a bit harsh for TX laws, but can any officer here tell me (or anyone period for that matter), "HOW YOU CAN BE ARRESTED, & YOUR ONLY CHARGE IS RESISTING ARREST"? Am I in the twighlight zone???