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Frisk based on progun bumper sticker
David Codrea has report: a driver stopped for speeding and a broken light was removed from his car and frisked, based solely upon a GeorgiaCarry.Org bumper sticker.
So a (limited) search and (prolonged) detention based on First Amendment protected freedom of speech and association, aimed at promoting a lawful activity protected by the Second Amendment. Rather hard to see where there is probable cause or articulable suspicion of criminal activity in that scenario.
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Good.
While I support giving jobs to elephants, how can any law enforcement agency have a sworn member who has a BMI equal to that of a patrol car? Just how would that deputy actually prevent a crime, chase a criminal down, do anything but harass a law abiding citizen? He can't even do an effective frisk, being as large as he is..he can't bend low enough, and his hands are too fat...can he even fire a weapon without a special winter trigger guard?
And that city is going to pay....too bad the guilty parties (the cop, the Chief who let him go on patrol, his training officers, the Mayor) won't be obliged to pay the judgment along with him. If that isn't an 18USC1983 than what is? The dumb cracker admitted it on tape!
As for me, if I find myself in Georgia I'll stay away from that town. I don't want to support idiots.
I have read stories and seen many videos on this kind of conduct by LE. This has me wondering if there are huge numbers of people in LE that are cowards and fear armed citizens. Wanting a total monopoly on being the, "only ones" to be able to use violence no matter what is seem my many of us honest and productive citizens as cowardly.
Sorry but if the shoe fits, it fits IMHO.
A friend pointed out that when an armed citizen prevents a crime, the anti-2A LEOs bring out the, "no reason to be a hero" meme. But when they talk about themselves and their actions, they are all 'heros' 24/7.
A lot of this is a turf war. "I'm in charge here. You're nobody." I think it comes from insecurities and overcompensating egos. Without the mantle of 'hero', they're nobodies, too. A soon as these individuals realize that, they have no real reason to go to work in the morning.
Good cops don't have a problem with armed citizens because they are not insecure at their core. Armed citizens are their friends, not their rivals.
I find it interesting that it's that particular police department, their public spokesman spoke in favor of civilian firearms ownership in a recent newspaper article about thugs getting shot, and several new shooting ranges are going up in that area since they incorporated (Sandy Springs is a new municipality, they only incorporated in the past few years, and pretty much ALL of their cops originally started with other departments, would be interesting to see which department this officer came from).
Find it amusing that "the chosen few" have the ability to carry a firearm almost anywhere. Joe honest citizen, on the other hand, is burdened with all sorts of restriction. But then again the 2nd was written for govt. not for honest Joe.
I always assumed that the chiefs generally don't want to come out in favor of armed civilians for fear of getting the question from a reporter "you mean your police can't protect us all?" The correct answer, of course, is (1) the police do not have a legal duty to protect any individual citizen (so the question is meaningless), and (2) even if we had a duty, of course we can't protect everyone everywhere all the time.
But naturally any chief who made either of those (true) statements would likely be out of a job by the next day, and might find it hard to get another one.
Seriously? I expected far better here. He wasn't frisked "solely" because of his bumper sticker but because of his violation of the law and his refusal to answer whether he was armed, coupled with the sticker. This isn't a cop just randomly harassing someone open carrying.
If I know GeorgiaCarry, they're preparing the lawsuit right now.