2010
01.24

As you all know I don’t usually talk to cops. After reading all the interdepartmental emails and memo’s and finding that these Chiefs of Police and Sheriff’s have been feeding their subordinates mis-information, I decided to talk to these officers. There were 3, 2 from Santa Clara Sheriff’s Dept. and one from San Jose PD (pay close attention San Jose PD). Based on the first officer’s demeanor, calm, friendly, no gun drawn, I chose to talk to him. Also it was raining, which demonstrates their dedication to the job and mine to carrying every day no-mater-what.

Transcript of crappy audio: <—— Click here for audio.

Deputy: You know why we’re here.

Me: Yeah I know why you’re here.

Deputy: Just wanna check to see you’re in compliance.

Me: Sure. Sure. Do you really wanna do that standing on the road?

Deputy: Yeah sure that’s fine.

Me: You want to be handling the weapon? You don’t mind. Alright. Just to put it on record I don’t consent to any searches of my person or my property.

Deputy: Oh that’s fine, that’s fine. (Steps behind me and draws my gun from its holster.)

Me: Including the serial number of that weapon.

Deputy: Alright, I don’t plan on doing that I’m just want to make sure you’re in compliance.

Me: (Looking at the San Jose PD, maybe Sunnyvale, I don’t remember. I’ll discuss my mistakes at the end) How you doin?

Officer1: Doing good.

Deputy: <inaudible> (Maybe “golden”? At this point he’s returned my sidearm to its holster and steps back)

Me: Great.

Deputy: You are free to go.

Me: Did you guys get called out here?

Deputy: Yeah we had a couple calls.

Me: A couple?! (I UOC everyday in my neighborhood, and walk this path at least once a week so I wash shocked) Interesting.

Deputy: <inaudible> (something to the effect “you think you’d expect that” if memory serves)

Deputy: Like I said you’re free to go but I got a couple questions for you?

### Click HERE for the rest of this conversation ####

Read More >>

2010
01.19


Contra Costa Times (part of the Bay Area Newsgroup) posted a very well balanced news piece on the open carrying that has been going on in the East Bay.

They got the local DA and a Brady Campaign representative to look like idiots. Check out the video above.

[Source]

2010
01.19

NGNJews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership (JPFO) is an organization set out to “destroy “gun control” and to encourage Americans to understand and defend all of the Bill of Rights for everyone.”.

I was sent this short film they put together on the racist history of gun control.

“No Guns for Negroes exposes the racist history of American gun control laws. Every person who supports gun control laws must be shown this film or gun ownership will cease to exist in America.

I thoroughly enjoyed it. So with their permission I’m airing it here in the podcast feed. Download the full video here. Here’s a book written on Slavery and the American Legal System.

2010
01.17

Tobacco Smoke

I’ve been accused of tying up police resources and time when Citizens call in a Man-with-a-Gun (MWAG) call to 911. This is ridiculous, dispatchers are trained to ask questions about the crime or emergency that the person is calling about. So if the dispatcher assesses that the MWAG has his gun holstered and is minding his own business then they can inform the caller that they should call back when a crime has been committed. Or tell the caller they’ll send out someone to check it out but emphasize that if no crime is being committed that the officer will be leaving.

I’m reminded of a story my wife told me when we were dating. I met her in Tennessee, where she had grown up her entire life. One year she got a new school teacher from out of state.
The teacher came in telling the story of the barn fire she had witnessed while driving into school. She had called 911. The dispatcher asked her some strange questions like “Do you see any flames?”. The students who most of which spent their summers on the tobacco farms got a good laugh.

You see the teacher had witnessed a barn used to smoke “dark fire” tobacco. The dispatcher knew this and explained to the woman that everything was fine but that she’d call down to that farm to double check.

You see you can apply common sense to situations and not over react.

2010
01.14

CBS Channel 5 KPIX

Bay Area CBS reporter addresses San Mateo County Sheriff’s press release on open carry.

Watch the video clip here.

I have more to say about this but I just had my wisdom teeth pulled :( So check back later for more.

2010
01.05
AR-15 backup.

AR-15 backup.

Tonight a regular open carrier in Livermore California gets illegally detained and searched by Livermore PD. Many units called and one officer decides to get his AR-15 out at the ready (talk about scaring the locals).

Video provided by local ABC news abc_open_carry_livermore2.mov

LIVERMORE, CA (KGO) — Walter Stanley was in the middle of telling an ABC7 News crew about his public effort to exercise his legal right to openly carry an unloaded gun, when Livermore police came calling.

“Put your hands on your head for me please,” Officer Fuller shouted to Stanley.

With that, Stanley raised his hands to his head and faced a wall while Fuller and another officer examined the 9mm pistol he had holstered at his side. Down the block, a third Livermore officer with rifle drawn, served as backup while a fourth drove by in a cruiser.

Article by Laura Anthony (the reporter in the video)

The Penal Code that the officers invoke to do the search is PC12031(e) and it is Constitutionally invalid and illegal. It will be challenged soon. A person can not be stopped and harassed by police while doing LEGAL things. The officers are misusing this penal code to go on a fishing expedition in hopes to incriminate the law abiding. Officers do not have Probable Cause here unless they can articulate facts that would lead a reasonable person to believe that crime is afoot.

2010
01.05

Many months ago the Sunnyvale PD illegally search a Sunnyvale resident, violating his fourth amendment rights to be secure in his persons, house, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures. Sunnyvale PD said piss on that we’re searching him, I mean he’s armed, he must be up to no good.

I wanted to know what SPD knew about open carry up to that point. So I invoked California Gov. Code, § 6253 (California Public Record Act). It’s California’s FOIA (Freedom of Information Act).

Here’s what turned up. Part1 Part2

What I’ve learned from these documents (you may find more):

1. It seems SPD has a collaborative effort to stifle open carry activities.

2. They know it’s legal so they’re spending time finding ways to arrest for other things. (guilty before proven innocent)

3.SPD actively monitors opencarryradio.com, my youtube channel, and OCDO

4. They are informing neighboring departments when we have meet ups their.

5. They desperately want to arrest us for “failure to ID” (as if that’s a real thing). They know PC148.9 is bullshit, so they look for other tactics.

6. SPD wants to start a “Public Information Component” to educate the public on Open Carry. (Ministry of Truth?)

7. An off duty officer has called 911 on open carriers in Sunnyvale.

8.SPD is building a GIS maps database of school zones.

Did I miss anything? Leave it in the comments section.

2010
01.04

After the illegal arrest by the LAPD of another open carrier in this neighborhood, a few supporters of open carry descended down on the same spot and open carried days after the arrest to prove that unloaded open carry is legal in California.  I expected a few officers to respond, give these guys a lecture and not arrest. What actually happened was 20 or officers from LAPD blocked off the streets and deployed a helicopter to deal with the open carriers. After hanging back for a while a few officers entered the area of the coffee shop and started to trample the civil rights of a few California residence all in the name of “concerned citizens” calling the police department. FOIAs will be filed and more info will soon be coming but for now we can thank one of the gentlemen for recording part of the encounter.

[Source]

2010
01.03
Gun Drawn on Law Abiding

Video of officer drawing down on open carrier.

I’ve run into officers like Stern. I call them the “I’m fit to protect myself but not you” officers. Ed Stone over at the examiner.com has a great write up on the the court’s decision.

According to the case opinion, the lawyer, Greg Schubert, had a pistol concealed under his suit coat, and Mr. Schubert was walking in what the court described as a “high crime area.”  At some point a police officer, J.B. Stern, who lived up to his last name, caught a glimpse of the attorney’s pistol, and he leapt out of his patrol car “in a dynamic and explosive manner” with his gun drawn, pointing it at the attorney’s face.

Officer Stern “executed a pat-frisk,” and Mr. Schubert produced his license to carry a concealed weapon.  He was disarmed and ordered to stand in front of the patrol car in the hot sun.  At some point, the officer locked him in the back seat of the police car and delivered a lecture.  Officer Stern “partially Mirandized Schubert, mentioned the possibility of a criminal charge, and told Schubert that he (Stern) was the only person allowed to carry a weapon on his beat.”

For most people, this would be enough to conclude that they were being harassed for the exercise of a constitutional right, but the officer went further, seizing the attorney’s pistol and leaving with it.  Officer Stern reasoned that because he could not confirm the “facially valid” license to carry, he would not permit the attorney to carry. Officer Stern drove away with the license and the firearm, leaving the attorney unarmed, dressed in a suit, and alone in what the officer himself argued was a high crime area.

The officer has decided to perpetuate the “us vs. them” mentality that is so pervasive in law enforcement, sad. This officer has claimed (and had held up by this court) that he couldn’t validate that the person’s credentials were real.  I plan on working out a tactful way to inquire about and obtain proof that the individual claiming to be a “police officer” is such. I’d hate to become the victim of an impersonator. I suspect the officer’s response will be “I have this gun and this cool cruiser with flashy lights and a spiffy badge”.

[Source]

2009
12.22

John Pierce (founder of Open Carry dot org) writes articles for the examiner. His latest struck a cord with me because it included a wonderful Christmas poem.

I finished all my shopping
For Christmas gifts today
And I open carried
All along the way

I saw old Friends and neighbors,
And it was really fun,
And not a single person was
Frightened by my gun

For I have open carried
In rain and in snow
For many, many years
And this they all know

They have been educated
And some have been enlightened
And this will prevent them
From having to be frightened

I’d like to think that somewhere
Santa’s sack’s a little bigger
Because some lucky person
Has a gift with a trigger

And all across America
Handgun sales were bolstered
Because our friends and neighbors
Saw one safely holstered

Original Article.