Yes, those officers were idiots, but you're taking this way too seriously. Stuff like this happens. I'm sure his lawsuit will be successful. You need to calm down.

"You're not above the law, man!" "Yes, we are." Ehhh.... that could of been put in better words. Still, I wouldn't feel comfortable either seeing some guy walking down the street with an assault rifle strapped to his chest.

Power to the police, that guy was an asshole about this whole situation. It seems that people felt threatened and called them, they were protecting the people who called and assessed the situation. Hell, I would call the cops if I saw a guy just casually walking around with a rifle (if they obviously were not hunting or returning from hunting).

hahahahaha lolrose

Doesn't look very illegal to me.

A lot of police are very poorly trained and have a pathetic understanding of law. They didn't even read him his rights. They illegally searched him, they -blam!-ed up at EVERY corner in this. The PROPER thing would be to maybe come out, ask him a few questions about what he's doing and then they would leave him alone as he isn't doing anything illegal.

[quote]On March 16, 2013, my son and I were hiking along country roads among pastures and fields with my 15-year old son to help him earn his hiking merit badge. I always enjoy these father/son hikes because it gives me time alone with my son. As I always do when we go on these hikes and walks, I took my trusty rifle with me as there are coyotes, wild hogs, and cougars in our area. In Texas, it is legal to openly carry a rifle or shotgun as long as you do so in a manner that isn't calculated to cause alarm. In other words, you can't walk around waving your rifle at people. I always carry my rifle slung across my chest dangling, not holding it in my hands. At about the 5 mile mark of our hike, a voice behind us asked us to stop and the officer motioned for us to approach him. He got out of his car and met us a few feet later. He asked us what we were doing and I explained that we were hiking for my son's merit badge. He then asked me what I'm doing with the rifle, to which I responded in a calm manner, "Does it matter, officer? Am I breaking the law?" At that point, the officer grabbed my rifle without warning or indication. He didn't ask for my rifle and he didn't suggest he would take it from me. He simply grabbed it. This startled me and I instantly pulled back - the rifle was attached to me - and I asked what he thought he was doing because he's not taking my rifle. He then pulled his service pistol on me and told me to take my hands off the weapon and move to his car, which I complied with. He then slammed me into the hood of his car and I remembered I had a camera on me (one of the requirements of the hiking merit badge is to document your hikes). This video is the rest of that encounter. Up to this point, I am not told why I am being stopped, why he tried to disarm me, or even that I'm under arrest. We did not set out that Saturday morning to "make a point" or cause problems. Our goal was to complete a 10-mile hike and return home without incident. My son chose a route that away from populated areas but near our home. The arresting officer is Officer Steve Ermis and the supervisor is Sergeant Minnicks of the Temple Police Department[/quote]This is from the description of the video if you want some extra info.

Let me summarize this video for you. This Texan man was going on a hike with his son, and he brought two firearms with him for protection. Texas law allows for the open carrying of rifles, like his AR-15, in public as long as it is not in a threatening manner. He also had a .45 caliber handgun, for which he had a Concealed Carry Permit. He was stopped by a police officer who had received a call from another citizen. The officer then proceeded to attempt to ILLEGALLY disarm this man, and when he stepped back, the officer drew his own weapon, pointed it at the man, manhandled him, ILLEGALLY restrained and detained him, and then ILLEGALLY seized both of his weapons before arresting him on a FALSE charge of "interfering with a police officer". More than once both the officer and his superior demonstrate their lack of knowledge with Texas gun law, as well as making the claim that they are ABOVE the law. Members of the police, claiming to be above the law. This is corruption. This is fascism. This is an example of state-endorsed thugs abusing their authority and using violence and intimidation in order to terrorize law-abiding citizens into compliance. These men were sworn to uphold the rule of law, the ONLY thing that separated nations like Canada, America, or the United Kingdom from Hitler's Germany or Stalin's Russia, and they show nothing but disregard and contempt not only for the proper procedure of enforcing the law, but the law itself. You can say that the comparison is too harsh, that things aren't that bad, but that isn't the point. The point is that when members of the POLICE are saying they are above the rule of law, that they have the authority to "enforce" laws which they are completely ignorant about in whatever way they want to interpret them, then there is no rule of law. I'll say it again. When those who's responsibility it is to enforce the law hold themselves above the law, then there is no law. There is only thuggery and intimidation, and a system of corruption that will punish you not based on whether or not you're harming another person or violating their rights, but simply because they want you to submit. In effect, you have no rights. You can look at [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_law]-godwinslaw!-[/url] Germany or Communist Russia and tell yourself that that couldn't happen here. After all, we have rights and freedoms, don't we? But when the institutions designed to protect our rights and our freedoms stop believing that we have them, they'll begin to treat us like they don't have them. Every time something like this happens and goes unpunished, we are a step closer to "what could never happen here". This officer is on an ego trip. At the very least he should be dishonorably discharged. Ideally he should also be arrested and put in jail for unlawful detainment and battery. But let me be clear in stating that this behaviour from the police is unacceptable, that these men do not deserve to be police officers, and any member of any police force that agrees with what they did does not deserve to be either. The law is not designed to be a vehicle for your power trip; it's designed to protect us. From criminals, and from the police.

Well, both sides were being assholes.

I'm pretty sure you can't kill a police officer in self defense. I mean, you technically could in some very specific situations I suppose, just good -blam!-ing luck proving it actually was self defense. Also, if a cop feels like you're interfering with him doing his job who are you to ague? It seems like a terrible thing, sort of police-state-y, but 99% of the time if you don't -blam!- with the cops they won't -blam!- with you. They're just trying to do their jobs, which requires them to put their asses on the line daily to protect your annoying ass. Also, when taking to a cop and you have a weapon you better -blam!-ing be on your best behavior because they expect you to pull it on them and they're allowed to react with deadly force if they feel threatened. You're suppose to stay calm and tell them you're cooperating instead of arguing and yelling at them.

The problem I have with the father is his initial reaction is what am I doing wrong, which just is basically going at the police officer. If he would have just explained why he was carrying the gun, to protect is son from wildlife, this situation would not have escalated. The police officer did his job, it's negligence that ends up leading to disasters, so Id be happy if my police officer confronted me if I was carrying. Now grabbing the person's gun was a little over the top but he did not explain why he was carrying which becomes suspicious to the officer. The father as a responsible adult should have just answered the cops questions he's setting a bad example for his son.

All though it's not right about being "disarmed" if he was doing nothing wrong, the guy didn't help the situation by getting in a pissing match with the officers. He really came off as a prick and being hostile.

[quote]What would have happened if he resisted the arrest and killed the officer for pointing his handgun at him? It would be absolutely justified as self-defense.[/quote] Smells like bullshit.