A United States Circuit Court of Appeals last week upheld the constitutionality of pointing a gun at any citizen daring to carry, lawfully, a concealed weapon in public. [More]Atlanta Gun Rights Examiner Ed Stone fleshes out the meaning behind a story we touched on here.
If someone not in uniform, points a gun at me there will be blood, and depending on the context, even if they are in uniform.
ReplyDeleteThis is a new development in Virginia:
ReplyDeleteRoanoke police actions spark lawsuit
A Roanoke man says officers violated his rights during a dispute about his gun license.
A Roanoke man is suing city police over an altercation with officers that he said began as an argument about his permit to carry a concealed firearm.
Aaron A. Stevenson filed a lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Roanoke alleging that his constitutional rights were violated during a May 6 traffic stop. He named two officers, Chief Joe Gaskins and the city as defendants.
Stevenson was driving along Williamson Road to pick up his daughter from church when Roanoke police Officer Jamie A. Kwiecinski stopped him. Stevenson was given a summons because his registration had expired.
Kwiecinski learned that Stevenson had a concealed carry permit and asked if he had a gun. Stevenson declined to answer.
Kwiecinski called for backup, and Officer Dwight W. Ayers arrived on the scene. Stevenson said the officers ignored his repeated invocation of his right to remain silent, and to have an attorney present during questioning.
The officers pulled Stevenson from his vehicle, the lawsuit said, took the .45-caliber handgun he wore in a belt holster, and put him in handcuffs in the back of a police car. Stevenson said he was threatened with loss of his permit, confiscation of his gun and indefinite detention while police investigated whether he was involved in anything criminal.
Officers never read Stevenson his Miranda rights, the lawsuit said, and Ayers told Stevenson the questioning would stop if he would admit to some criminal action.
As the incident continued, some of Stevenson's co-workers drove past and his employer stopped to see what was happening. The officers asked the employer if Stevenson had mental problems.
Stevenson said the tight handcuffs injured his wrists.
Eventually, Sgt. Sandy Duffey, a police supervisor, said to release Stevenson.
So I ask again, why can we not draw down on every blue suit with a gun in plain sight, and if met resistance shoot him?
ReplyDeleteI had a discussion a few years back on the LEO forum at ar15.com. The cops there thought it was part of their training to point their guns at anybody of whom they're even slightly suspicious. They couldn't understand that I consider ANYONE pointing a gun at me, whether or not he's wearing a fancy uniform, funny hat, and shiny badge, to be a potentially lethal attack, against which I have the right to defend myself, with lethal force.
ReplyDeleteFrom Jeff Cooper's Rules of Gun Safety:
RULE II: NEVER LET THE MUZZLE COVER ANYTHING YOU ARE NOT WILLING TO DESTROY
That means to me that either cops do not follow the safety rules, in which case they have no business carrying a gun, or any one of them who points his gun at me is willing to destroy me, so I'd better damn well destroy him first.