“A jury in 48th District Court found Sean M. Combs, 18, not guilty of brandishing a firearm and disturbing the peace,” detroitnews.com reports. “Wednesday, Judge Marc Barron issued a directed verdict dismissing a charge of resisting and obstructing a police officer after Combs’ attorney, James Makowski, argued that city attorney Mary Kucharek had not proven that offense.” On April 12, Combs decided to open carry his M1 Garand over his shoulder, well, just cause. (“It was about freedom of speech and freedom of expression . . . It’s my way of saying what I believe in.”) Which didn’t give the police just cause to arrest the Ferndale police officer’s son. Combs was a little tense about whether or not he’d open carry again, stating that “in the recent future probably not, but the rest of my life, maybe. At least this confirms that I can.”

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38 COMMENTS

    • I still can’t understand why we are fighting when the issue was settled in The Bill of Rights in the eighteenth century! No one questions Sarah Brady’s or Ben LaBolt’s right to disseminate cult progaganda under The First Ammendment.

      • Because the police want to disarm us, while demanding we pay them inflated salaries and pensions. In one of the rare cases when they are caught violating our rights, it is the tax payer who ends up paying thanks to their qualified immunity.

        • This. It pisses me off to hear cops complain that they need more money when they spend most of their time violating people’s rights.

        • What FUD you speak.
          The reason issues like this exist is piss poor training of police officers as
          well as officers being to quick to react before thinking.

        • Piss poor training, what a excuse! Even a teenager knows about the 2nd and 4th amendments. Most police departments require criminal justice degrees too. They knew that guy had a right to carry, just as they know they have immunity for their actions.

        • @Frodo

          You are correct! Police due lack the training! At the same time, we also have VERY overzealous prosecutors who could have just thrown it out but their boss I am sure is anti-gun so he figured, hey, I got nothing to loose and the tax payers have unlmited funds but this kid and family will have to take in the rear to pay the court and legal fees so either way we win

    • Regardless of the arrest by the police, the city attorney chose to prosecute. She is the one, perhaps even somewhat more than the police, who ethically violated the man’s rights.

    • Not really. The innocent victim of police lawlessness had to shoulder the burden of defending himself.

      Of course, there is always the option of a §1983 federal suit. I’m glad Birmingham is so flush with spare cash that they will be able to pay the damages.

      A better option is a variation of the “loser pays” principle in effect in many countries whose laws did not descend from the English predatory legal system. In NH, something like that exists as far as concealed-carry applications. If the local PD does not issue a permit or a written reason for the refusal to issue within two weeks, the applicant can sue. If he is vindicated in Court, the PD has to pay all of his legal expenses – as well as issuing the license, of course.

  3. Well, my personal opinion, having lived in Michigan a few years back, is there were two younger female cops that wanted to take charge of a situation, and instead of calling their sarge or detaining the kid, decided to arrest him and prove they were tough. Now they will get to enjoy the civil suit.

  4. Good for the kid for standing up for himself. Shame on the DA who prosecuted the young man for doing what he had a perfect right to do. And as for the cops who hassled and arrested the kid because only the high and mighty uniformed officers should have the privilege to carry openly, well, what do you expect?

    • Yes! While the police officers are culpable, the prosecutor is most deserving of ire. Prosecutors are supposed to support the cause of justice, which would include not prosecuting people who didn’t really break the law.

      Neither the police in question, or the prosecutor should have qualified immunity.

  6. So the anti-gun prosecutor thought she’d show him who is boss and win a judgment making it more difficult for the next open carry advocate. Only she lost and he won and so too do other gun owners. That that Ms Priss.

  7. It’s like the more a certain occupation is supposed to be a “public servant,” the more the people in that occupation tend to trample peoples’ rights and act superior. Politicians, police, etc…these people should be considered LESS important than average citizens because its their job to serve, protect, and represent the people. Yet the politicians act as royalty and police act as taskmasters.

    • It’s an Orwellian Doublethink thing for these politicians: love is hate, war is peace, master is servant. Don’t be fooled: these “servants” desire nothing less than to rule and be our masters..

    • It’s an Orwellian Doublethink thing for these politicians: love is hate, war is peace, master is servant. Don’t be fooled: these “servants” desire nothing less than to rule and be our masters.

  8. “Recent future?” sigh

    Anyway, I’m glad he wasn’t thrown in a cage or had his money stolen for harming no one. It’s just too bad the enforcement apparatus (police on scene, police supervisor, and prosecutor) couldn’t put aside their pride long enough to realize they should back down and will now bill the taxpayers for their frivolous efforts at extortion and kidnapping.

    • Anyway, I’m glad he… [didnt have] his money stolen for harming no one.

      He most likely did, criminal defense attorneys charge a lot.

  9. okay. i’m now a convert. disregard any recent comments i may have made in support of the cops. this is stupid. nothing else to say about it. i hope the young man isn’t out to much money or scared off guns because of this.

    • There is nothing wrong with supporting the police, they just lack training in these matters. In CT we have a yearly 2a Rally at the Capital and DEEP has to issue a letter to all the police dept. in the State telling them that “open carry” is allowed and not to mess with anyone who is open carrying in front of the state house for the rally. Plenty in CT have gone to court in CT for open carry just to be released.

      There are of course over reaching cops and DA’s and there is little you can do about them.

      • There is nothing wrong with supporting the police, they just lack training in these matters.

        No they don’t. They have criminal justice degrees which is plenty of training. Even a publicly schooled teenager knows about the 2nd and 4th amendments. See my post above.

        • Yes, they do.

          A four year criminal justice degree normally has one or two criminal law classes. Michigan police academies further that with one mandatory criminal law class.

          Most of these officers did not graduate from the academy last week. Many have been working for 10+ years and cannot be expected to remember every obscure MCL and PA that has ever been enacted by the State.

          I don’t know what you do for a living, but if I asked you to remember a specific paragraph of a textbook you read 10 years ago, would you be able to do so without looking it up?

          For every officer to stay apprised of EVERY public safety law is simply an unrealistic goal. For this to happen, they would have to spend a large percentage of their time back in class instead of running from call to call.

          You must remember that these officers are human beings that work a standard day just like most other people in this world, except whenever they make a mistake they have thousands of other people judging all of their decisions.

          I am not saying that they should be able to act with impunity. These officers made a mistake, now that mistake will cost the city money. However, try to remember, 99.9% of the police officers in this country don’t go to work everyday looking to destroy your way of living. They are human beings, just like the rest of us. They go to work trying to earn a decent living, doing a thankless job that most people hate them for.

          For you all generalize “the police” in the way you do would be like me saying that I hate all black people simply because a black person was rude to me once. I’m not saying every officer is a saint and beyond reproach, but just like every other profession in this world it contains good people and bad people.

          As for their “inflated salaries and pensions” that you spoke of… The average pay for an officer in this state is right around $40k-$45k, or $20/hr. I don’t know what you consider “inflated” but that’s just enough for most people to own a basic house and live a basic life.

          I’m not saying you don’t have a right to be angry about the way this entire event unfolded… However, you need to look at things in a real-world perspective before armchair quarterbacking what should have been done.

      • There is nothing wrong with supporting the police

        You know, other than those pesky issues like police regularly committing crimes and not suffering any consequences.

        There are of course over reaching cops and DA’s and there is little you can do about them.

        Sure there is. If they arrest / prosecute someone on bogus charges, they should suffer twice the punishment that the victim would have and then lose their badge / license to practice law and face a permanent ban for that career path. That will get them to follow the law REAL quick.

  10. The interesting question now is whether the results of this case will be incorporated into the training given to police in Michigan. It would seem to me that if not and if this scenario is repeated again with a similar outcome, the police would have no real defense against a civil suit that would likely cost them a fair amount of money.

  11. Birmingham is one of the richest and most liberal suburbs in the detroit area . consequently they think they answer to nobody , not even the constitution.

    • Birmingham liberal? Maybe RINO liberal, but Oakland County is Republican territory

  12. If I am ever in Birmingham, I will make it a point to open carry a rifle downtown, to celebrate the bravery and determination of Sean Combs! They should have a Sean Combs parade of open carriers, every year, in celebration of the Constitution!

  13. Lets see him try it with an AK on his shoulder. Bet there wont be any arrests just 100 rds from the officerESSES G22s. Of which he might get hit 3 times.

  14. They people whose job it is to enforce the laws actually should know the law and follow the law. Sadly, citizens have to keep reminding them of this.

  15. “I just think everyone needs to know the laws before we make arrests, and I would like to see that in the future,” said Mytnik. [Combs’ mother]

    Gee, doesn’t the criminal “justice” system tell us peasants that “ignorance of the law is no excuse” when they arrest someone for spitting on the grass of a city park?
    So why should ignorance of the Michigan open carry law be considered an excuse for the police and the prosecutors who are, the last time I checked, MEMBERS of the criminal justice system?

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