That’s right guys, play it up for yucks. Boobies! See what I did there? Call me a killjoy, but if I was peacefully exercising my Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms in a state that “allows” open carry I’d be a little pissed if my hirsute pals and I ended-up in zip ties. Even if I was wearing a ZZ Top-class beard and camo trousers. That said, Beaver State residents enjoying the hospitality of Portland, Beaverton, Tigard, Oregon City, Salem, and Independence who wish to open carry in public may only do so if they have a weapons permit. Which leads me to believe that the hairy gent with the rifle was permitless. I’m also thinking the gun in question wasn’t loaded. Hence the Portland Police’s trumped-up charge of “disturbing the peace.” How funny is that?
a photo shoot for charity. a quick call to the local p.d. beforehand might have saved a lot of drama. if they had taken the moment they might even have gotten some traffic control or other assistence from the p.d.
a quick call to the local p.d.
Do you have to ask for permission to speak in public, or walk down the side walk? What makes it acceptable to limit 2A the way no other rights are limited?
yes, in most locals you need permits for this sort of thing. otherwise anybody could stand in the middle of the busiest intersection in town and preach a sermon for hours, all the while insisting his rights not be violated as he violated the rights of the commuters he jammed up.
That sounds like bullshit to me. Unless your drawing a large crowd, you don’t need a permit.
Technically, I think these guys had their gun rights violated. However, a bunch of bearded guys, some in camo, one with a rifle, late at night, and on a bridge with cars driving by did push the limits of common-sense carry even for Portland. Sure, they got ‘profiled’ by the police and public, and profiling is often a good thing even if not politically correct. Portland is a funny mix of liberal and conservative.
Once on the bridge and with all under control it seems to me that the Portland Police over-reacted with taking the guys down to the station and actually arresting a couple of them. I think the police should have laughed it off with them and provided a presence to avoid further concern by motorists as the men finished their photo shoot. It was for a good cause.
“were just here to save boobs”
Classic line.
The police, the prototypical gun grabbers. Say what you will about Regan, Bloomberg, MikeB, or anyone else, at the end of the day it is the police (and historically the military) who do the actual grabbing. The politicians and their supporters simply veil them in perceived legitimacy.
police, the prototypical gun grabbers
Which is one of the reasons why I love them sooooo much. Some of the other reasons can be found face down on the Danziger Bridge.
You can argue the “rights” as a principle all day long, but when your appearance is designed to be intentionally “bad guy”, you had better damn well notify the police before hand. If you are making a rape prevention movie on the streets of any city and need to re-enact an rape scene, you damn well better notify the police before hand.
As far as these guys being taken to the police station? Why not? Didn’t they cause the police to drive to them? It’s only fair that they take a trip to the police. These guys look like Bad Guys and that was their intention.
…but when your appearance is designed to be intentionally “bad guy”…
And what makes them look like bad guys? Beards? N Sync t shirts? Outdated camouflage? I think you watch too much TV.
No, they didn’t cause the police to drive to them. The police chose to do so which is a decision that I agree with. I do not agree with the police over-reaction after taking control of the bridge and speaking with the men. They seem like great dudes. Taking a trip to the station does not achieve a deserved fairness or accomplish anything. How do you know what their intention was? Oregon is not Florida. The people and culture here are different.
Rumour spreadin’ a ‘round
beards with guns in town
thought they were home out on the range
–and you know what I’m talkin’ about–
The Portland folks said no,
this ain’t gonna go
man these cats are way too strange
–they gotta lotta nice cops out there ah–
zip ’em
And the hits just keep on coming from my local PD (or Bureau in this case).
Now they are vastly over-reacting to someone legally open carrying a rifle, which is a forgivable sin. Throwing down a DC charge as a sort of miasma to cover the stench of such a poor over-reaction is not so forgivable.
Also this week, right after the PPB promoted a 2009 officer instruction video they made on how to enforce bike laws – wherein officers were told that bicyclists who proceed slowly and with caution through stop signs do not need to stop… they decided to do a bicycle stop sign enforcement sting where everyone who didn’t come to a complete stop got a $275 ticket!
Let us not forget the other quality activities of the PPB:
– Shooting a man with lethal ammo in the less-than-lethal bean bag gun. (Ofc Reister)
– Bean bagging a 100lb 12 year old girl. (Ofc. Humphries)
– Hitting a man who attempted suicide by setting himself on fire with a pepper spray riot can they confused for the fire extinguisher (Ofc unnamed)
– Uniformed officer, in his car, telling a citizen reporting an armed robbery in progress that he was “off-duty” and to call 911. (Ofc Martinson)
– Tackling a mentally ill man who started to run as soon as he saw a police car hard enough to cause a flail chest and kill him (with no crime committed). (Ofc Humphries, the same guy who nailed the 12 year old with a bean bag gun..)
– Shooting a mentally ill, unarmed man in the back, with an AR, on a welfare check (again, no crime even suspected) when, after getting hit with the beanbag gun, he doubled over in a manner where he “appeared to be reaching inside his waistband for a possible weapon.” (Ofc Frashour)
Cops will always be a love hate thing (I dont like their need to use excessive force and tactics). Take them down to the station? A few questions was all that was needed. Stupid cops.
“Call before you dig”is always good advice.In ’97, I was tapped by local news to do on camera legal analysis in a 3-part “Shoot/Don’t shoot series. One scenario was a parking garage carjack.The reporter hadn’t called either the police or the lot managment(but she told the gate guy what was up and he said ok. Repeated takes with a VERY loud cap pistol caused LEOs to arrive. Since I’d just left the city after 7 years as prosecutor,no unhappiness ensued. Always good to remember that SCOTUS has ruled that local governments can require permits to control “time,place, and manner” of 1st amendment activities.
America, land of the free. Land of the afraid.
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