From one of my favorite blog sites, BigGovernment.com, it seems that the pen recording is mightier than the sword gun:
On a mild February afternoon, Fiorino, 25, decided to walk to an AutoZone on Frankford Avenue in Northeast Philly with the .40-caliber Glock he legally owns holstered in plain view on his left hip. His stroll ended when someone called out from behind: “Yo, Junior, what are you doing?”
Fiorino wheeled and saw Sgt. Michael Dougherty aiming a handgun at him.
What happened next would be hard to believe, except that Fiorino audio-recorded all of it: a tense, profanity-laced, 40-minute encounter with cops who told him that what he was doing – openly carrying a gun on the city’s streets – was against the law.
“Do you know you can’t openly carry here in Philadelphia?” Dougherty asked, according to the YouTube clip.
“Yes, you can, if you have a license to carry firearms,” Fiorino said. “It’s Directive 137. It’s your own internal directive.”
The story continues with the cops using language that would make Hammy’s grandma blush (especially after finding the audio recorder) while trying to figure out what to do next. What they ended up doing was letting their “perp” go, but he would be charged with “reckless endangerment” and “disorderly conduct”.
Now, the only reckless endangerment that I see here is a cop ignorant of his state’s own gun laws (now supposedly rectified) whipping HIS gun out against a man who was doing nothing more harmful than walking casually around, exposing himself his gun to the public. Smart? Maybe not. Legal? Where he lived, yes. Was he inviting trouble? Yes. Was he inviting trouble on purpose? Possibly. I mean, who walks around with a gun on his hip AND has an a recording device actively running? From the comments section:
the ‘red flag’ is the open carry of a sidearm in Philadelphia…
The cops there earn their livings; some tough districts. This ain’t Arizona or Nevada where that sight has never gone away. They have a tough gig there. Now, we’re not condoning their action AT ALL. And the man- if you want to call him ‘victim’ that’s fine- acted calmly and taped the whole interlude.
Which then made it seem like a trap.
I believe in our Second Amendment rights. I believe ownership of guns is not only for self defense and sport shooting, but also to keep our government at bay. What idiot wants to take on a nation of gun-toting, angry citizenry with the purpose of holding onto their freedom? Even the most sophisticated army would have problems with that scenario. Of course, liberals think guns are evil and should be taken away. (Yeah, well, that feeling’s mutual.) They believe that we should entrust our safety, our well-being, our peace of mind, and the minds of our children to their big government nanny state. I think their image of a great nation is a bunch of fat cattle, sitting around peacefully, chewing cud and mooing “Kumbaya” together while they wait for the farmer to arrive with the next bale of hay. They wait for the farmer because obviously going and getting their own graze on would be too difficult.
One interesting comment was made:
The cops are in a bind on this whole issue…
In the late 1800’s the Supreme Court weighed in with the duty of the police to ‘protect and serve’. It ws ruled that they are PEACE officers; their duty is not to protect but to preserve the peace. The duty of protection then would fall into the hands of the person. Of course, people routinely carried firearms for protection back then.
So now you have a conundrum.
The courts have ruled the 2nd Amendment an INDIVIDUAL right (take THAT, lefties) and two recent decisions have ruled the right to carry is a Constitutional right- with caveats, of course. This is where the rubber hits the road- and where local law enforcement is faced with a myriad of laws and regulations that routinely contradict each other.
East Coast law enforcement is NOT used to seeing guns on people’s hips. The unfortunate suspect, although in his legal rights correct, waved a red flag and hacked off the cops, who will try to make his life miserable. Until there is a nationwide recognition of ‘right to carry’ laws this will happen again…
By now, I believe the police have learned what gun laws exist and their appropriate responses. Perhaps they will restrain themselves instead of taking on someone with a recording device. Of course, they probably don’t want to mess with this gun toter! God bless ‘er!
#40 –
No I’m NOT Bob (and I aint stayed in a Holiday Inn Express in quite some time)……………………………….but I believe there is NO rational, logical, or factual means by which you can ground that assertion.
Asked by Chris Wallace of Fox News about his insistence that “the federal government should stay out of people’s personal habits,” and his specific opposition to restrictions on cocaine, heroin, and prostitution, the candidate claimed that social conservatives would nonetheless vote for him “if they understand my defense of liberty is the defense of their right to practice their religion… Read more »
I went by Hillcroft just south of 59 last week. Jeez, how that place has changed. Matamoros back in the ’90s looked safer back then than southwest/outside loop areas do now. The 3rd ward is even looking better.
“There aren’t enough jackasses here already?”
Of that type,nope. That critter is far more worth having here than the hordes of freeloaders wading across the Rio Porquito (not much Grande any mas) we are stuck with.
There aren’t enough jackasses here already?
You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension – a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You’re moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You’ve just crossed over into the Luap Zone.
Hmmmm Maybe Bettencourt can offer service to fight for y’alls “impermeable” space corrections. At a nominal fee of course.
#33. Hamnster, I just happened to have a plot plan of my lot and they are off 420sqft on a 5500sqft lot. Actually only makes about $13.44 difference annually.
Nonetheless, I will be settin’ things a’ right.
As I always say – “That’s $13.44 more than I have.”
I just got mine yesterday and haven’t had time to study it. One thing I know for sure, I don’t have near the square footage of “impermeable” space they say I have.
On a serious note, I got a letter the other day from the beloved city of Houston detailing what they plan to confiscate from me under the guise of the drainage tax. I tried to log on to the recommended website http://www.rebuildhouston.org and had no luck. I read thru the letter and saw that they had noted that my property… Read more »
#24. I’d bet a dollar to a doughnut hole that Apostle Southern Tragedy has been up in them parts lobbying for that road kill law.
He was keeping his little Florida warm with the scrunchie.
#23 squack
I frontpaged that in my latest Florida update. I mentioned it because that Philippine city was trying to become the Florida of the Orient by having a mass trimming of the “little Floridas”.
Pardon me, is that a hair scrunchy on your genitals?
#21 sarge
That reminds me of the scene in Blazing Saddles where Cleavon Little takes himself hostage.
The American Interest is the journal published by the American Enterprise Institute. They have created a new section of their website called The Long Recall, a daily journal in observance of the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War which began in the spring of 1861. They are posting daily events (with old, contemporary newspaper links) as they happened at the same… Read more »
Oh thank goodness he was not wearing a speedo. He was under the influence of meth Officers responded to a call in the area of Beckman Road just north of Harney Lane where a man later identified as Batie was found standing in the dirt next to the cemetery with a flashlight, yelling in the dark. Police said that Batie… Read more »
Say what? You gotta have a permit first?
Bill allowing people to keep roadkill OK’d (in Illinois)
Well here ya go Philippine city holds mass circumcision for youths Officials said the event — touted in a press statement as a “circumcision party” — aims to promote safe circumcision and to offer to poor residents free surgery that would otherwise cost at least $40 in private hospitals. (circumcised) The city also hopes to establish a world record for… Read more »
Wait,…There’s more; Police: Drunk ice cream man froze urine. ….OK
Dang— This has got to be the worst part of that story, Dave: “You wanna test how damn serious I am about leaving this world, screw with my check that pays for this apartment and food. Try it. See how serious I am. I don’t care,” the California man said. “I have no problem killing myself. Take away the last… Read more »
Coburn is doing some other good stuff, too.
OK Under the heading of “You can’t make this $#i!! up.” Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican and the Senate’s top waste-watcher, asked the agency’s inspector general to look into 30-year-old Stanley Thornton Jr. and his roommate, Sandra Dias, who acts as his “mother,” saying it’s not clear why they are collecting Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits instead of working. “Given… Read more »
Also I don’t like CCW laws because I feel that I have the Constitutional and God given right to carry a weapon but being law abiding, I try to obey all laws even if they’re unconstitutional, (see above) . I’m with you on that. I’d support any law, regulation, or ordnance that reaffirms the right of all individuals, except those… Read more »
#16 olt
I wouldn’t hold them to that. We could at least point out their hypocrisy/impurity as they blow us up.
Passed on from one of my cronies How to secure the airspace and make the airlines profitable again: Dump the male flight attendants. No one wanted them in the first place. Replace all the female flight attendants with good-looking strippers! They don’t even serve food anymore, so what’s the loss? The strippers would at least triple the alcohol sales and… Read more »
And remember kiddies,
“Guns don’t kill people, husbands who come home early kill people.”
G’Morning all Here’s an appeals judge with his head screwed on straight. “Some people think that the Second Amendment is an outdated relic of an earlier time. Doubtless some also think that constitutional protections of other rights are outdated relics of earlier times. We The People own those rights regardless, unless and until We The People repeal them. For those… Read more »
Come on IW, you set that response up yesterday.
I won’t tease you anymore if you’re that thin-skinned!
I am in favor of what the citizen journalist did. I did not listen to the tape, but from the report, he was polite and could cite “chapter and verse” of the law in question. The craps cops, in this case were nothing more than jack booted thugs. I do not like the permitting process because that implies that I… Read more »
#9 SuperDave I don’t know what they’re complaining about. They can probably figure out a way of cheating on the voting anyway. Also, from that article: In the largest disconnect from their campaign rhetoric, Republicans ignore the high cost of these laws. In the four years since Indiana passed the nation’s first such requirement, it has spent more than $10… Read more »
😛
Can you say Idiot? The motivation is political — a cynical effort to restrict voting by traditionally Democratic-leaning Americans. In more than 30 states, GOP legislators are on the move, from a sweeping rewrite of Florida’s election laws to new rules for photo identification in Ohio, Wisconsin, North Carolina and more than 20 other states. As a result, 11% of… Read more »
#6 Larry666
See what I mean, Tim?
#4 mharper You’ll just need to crunch the numbers to see if the payback period is acceptable. With the cost of water going up, it might not be as bad as you think. Costs keep going up, though, with copper rates rising. An irrigation meter shouldn’t be too bad, though – not much copper used in those. Not like running… Read more »
IWHarper69 is a tranny?
Who knew?
I need to introduce him/her to HeadShaker. They would make a great pair.
‘Bout guns; “The Second Amendment is NOT about duck hunting.” FWIW; I like what the guy did, it’s getting to the point that some of the Cops think that they ARE the law and can make up laws as they go, (they can BTW), I always told ,my kids when that flashing light comes on their right s go out… Read more »
TT Last night
I am aware of that option, but I have heard you need to have an estate-sized lawn to recoup the cost of running 2 meters. It was looked into several years ago for our HOA rec area, but was deemed too expensive. I don’t know the details.
Yo Bob, we got your candidate; Willie Nelson endorses Gary Johnson. Johnson, the first presidential candidate the group has endorsed, got the nod from the Teapoters because of his views on legalizing marijuana. The former governor of New Mexico, who previously admitted to smoking pot for medicinal purposes, supported legalizing the drug when he was governor. Since he’s been out… Read more »
This is a tough one. On the one hand, I am reminded of something Bobo brought us about a couple of guys driving around the country intentionally inciting cops in order to get a desired reaction and record it on video. I don’t recall all the details, but it seemed wrong. Perhaps it was the details and not the freedom… Read more »
I believe ownership of guns is not only for self defense and sport shooting, but also to keep our government at bay. Keeping our government at bay is the most important aspect of private gun ownership as far as I’m concerned. Most of them are no better than the thugs who rob C-stores; they just happen to have the force… Read more »
#40 –
No I’m NOT Bob (and I aint stayed in a Holiday Inn Express in quite some time)……………………………….but I believe there is NO rational, logical, or factual means by which you can ground that assertion.
Asked by Chris Wallace of Fox News about his insistence that “the federal government should stay out of people’s personal habits,” and his specific opposition to restrictions on cocaine, heroin, and prostitution, the candidate claimed that social conservatives would nonetheless vote for him “if they understand my defense of liberty is the defense of their right to practice their religion… Read more »
I went by Hillcroft just south of 59 last week. Jeez, how that place has changed. Matamoros back in the ’90s looked safer back then than southwest/outside loop areas do now. The 3rd ward is even looking better.
“There aren’t enough jackasses here already?”
Of that type,nope. That critter is far more worth having here than the hordes of freeloaders wading across the Rio Porquito (not much Grande any mas) we are stuck with.
There aren’t enough jackasses here already?
You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension – a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You’re moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You’ve just crossed over into the Luap Zone.
Hmmmm Maybe Bettencourt can offer service to fight for y’alls “impermeable” space corrections. At a nominal fee of course.
#33. Hamnster, I just happened to have a plot plan of my lot and they are off 420sqft on a 5500sqft lot. Actually only makes about $13.44 difference annually.
Nonetheless, I will be settin’ things a’ right.
As I always say – “That’s $13.44 more than I have.”
I just got mine yesterday and haven’t had time to study it. One thing I know for sure, I don’t have near the square footage of “impermeable” space they say I have.