2nd amendment auditors

[Roger_tonna]

The folks that open carry rifles and film reactions of law enforcement. How do ya’ll feel about them? Are they right? Wrong? Why?

[CCCSD]

And this is important why now..?

[Bing_Oh]

2nd Amendment "auditors?" Is that what they're being called now?

[Saluki89]

ChipotleBoys.jpg

[L-1]

The folks that open carry rifles and film reactions of law enforcement. How do ya’ll feel about them? Are they right? Wrong? Why?

It all depends on the circumstances.

Would you please be kind enough to provide specifics as to the time, place and circumstances of each and every incident you have questions about? What may be a normal response in one situation may not be in another so it is hard to generalize for you.

Also please provide us with whatever information was provided to the police that caused them to respond to the incident. For example, did the reporting party say there was someone peacefully walking down the street with a weapon secured in a holster on their side, not causing a problem, or did the describe someone who sounded like they may have posed a threat to the safety of themselves or others?

Also please let us know if there were any unsolved crimes in that jurisdiction where the armed citizens in your scenario fit the description of outstanding suspects.

Lastly, does the jurisdiction in question have any laws governing the carrying of firearms in public or loaded firearms in public? For example, my state laws authorize the police to stop anyone who is armed and inspect their firearms for the purpose of determining whether they are loaded. Refusal to comply is grounds for arrest.

All of this is important if you want a meaningful and insightful response.

[Roger_tonna]

Well here’s a bit more context,

https://youtu.be/L2kIATceoE0

I stumbled across this video on my feed last night and I was curious. While I’ve never come across someone doing this or stopped anyone, it got me thinking. I know what these guys are doing is for clicks, and to rile LE up but I am torn on how I would come down on a similar situation if it happened in our town.

to lazy to watch the video here’s the gist: 3 guys open carrying AR’s while going fishing in Florida. Stopped by police and it would appear released, video is highly edited. Of course comments are full of cop hater know it alls. Standard keyboard warrior stuff.

[Ratatatat]

I see them frequently. If they are walking down the street, not screaming at the clouds or menacing people, they get left alone. But just like the First Amendment doesn't allow someone to yell fire in a crowded theatre, the 2nd Amendment has limitations too.

These two had to poke the bear and the bear bit back:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78gKVeO_ke0

[Bing_Oh]

I've dealt with them on several occasions and they generally go away unhappy because they don't get the reaction they wanted. I'm a long-time student of the law and I know its limits...usually to the detriment of the average "roadside lawyer." These types usually get ignored (if there's no complaint) or a friendly conversation (if there is a complaint). I have yet to have to resort to matching bracelets for those who don't know the law as well as they think they do, but that's always a possibility.

The short answer is, by and large, they're schmucks. More often than not, they fall into two categories...the wannabe Rambos who think it's "cool" to walk around in camo, carrying an AR, and getting people riled up and the ones who are trying to get reactions from LE, either for publicity or to set up a lawsuit (and, yes, the two frequently overlap). The ones who were "fishing" in the video are of the second variety...it's quite obvious by the fact that they're carrying ARs, with Go Pros strapped on their heads, and one of them making the statement "that didn't take long," that they're trying to cause a scene and bait LE into a confrontation. I've gone fishing many times in my life and have never been suddenly overcome with the belief that I needed to grab one of my AR's out of the gun safe and strap a camera to my head to do so. I CONCEALED carry frequently because, in a critical incident, I don't want the bad guy to know I'm armed before I "tell" him.

There are plenty of things that are both perfectly legal and totally stupid. Walking around with a rifle strapped to your beer gut filming reactions would be one of them.

[L-1]

Well here’s a bit more context,

https://youtu.be/L2kIATceoE0

I stumbled across this video on my feed last night and I was curious. While I’ve never come across someone doing this or stopped anyone, it got me thinking. I know what these guys are doing is for clicks, and to rile LE up but I am torn on how I would come down on a similar situation if it happened in our town.

to lazy to watch the video here’s the gist: 3 guys open carrying AR’s while going fishing in Florida. Stopped by police and it would appear released, video is highly edited. Of course comments are full of cop hater know it alls. Standard keyboard warrior stuff.

Sorry, insufficient information to give you a meaningful response. Again, I would need all of the questions answered that I posed to give answer.

[Aidokea]

Well here’s a bit more context,

https://youtu.be/L2kIATceoE0

I stumbled across this video on my feed last night and I was curious. While I’ve never come across someone doing this or stopped anyone, it got me thinking. I know what these guys are doing is for clicks, and to rile LE up but I am torn on how I would come down on a similar situation if it happened in our town.

You live in Indiana, and that incident happened in Florida- a different state with different laws.

In Florida, open carry is not legal unless you're hunting, fishing, camping, doing target practice, or on your way to or from those activities.

In Indiana, open carry is legal for anyone with a concealed handgun license.

So I'm not understanding what you mean when you say "I am torn on how I would come down on a similar situation if it happened in our town.". If it's legal to open carry with a CHL there...then it's legal to open carry with a CHL there. I wouldn't recommend standing there trying to enforce a law that doesn't exist, especially while they're filming you.

Your profile says that you are employed as a Deputy for the Roachdale Police Department in Indiana. Their web site says:

The current make up of the Roachdale Police Department includes a Town Marshal, one paid, part-time deputy, and four volunteer deputies.



All officers are required to keep current on state mandated training regardless of their rank within the department. At a minimum, each officer must have the state mandated 40 hour pre-basic course. All paid officers must attend and graduate from the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy within one year of being appointed as a paid police officer.

Are you the part-time deputy, or one of the volunteer deputies?

Have you graduated from the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy, or just the 40 hour pre-basic course?

[westside popo]

I'll play....

I like guns and want more law abiding, sane people carrying guns. Normal people carrying guns don't go out their way to attract attention to themselves and generally respect other people's rights.

What does bother me is the "2nd Amendment Audit" @ssholes! They appear to go out of their way to attract attention and then get an attitude when the police show up. Their antics can change people's and politicians' attitudes for the worse.


Some of the cops' responses to these incidents are embarrassing too (in some of the videos I've watched).

[emtguy89]

They're annoying, stupid, and usually legal. Unfortunately I have yet to encounter one, it's gonna be part of my department bingo board, along with a sovereign citizen, another thing I haven't seen.

Being a gun guy I'd probably just make friendly conversation with them, but Bubba-ing that SKS should be a felony.

[Ratatatat]

I worked many years in a big city, but lived in the country in the 'exurbs', the most outer ring of development before you hit cornfields and cow pastures. It was like being in two worlds- one violent and rubble strewn, the other pastoral and bucolic. The long commute everyday into the Red Zone sucked, but my home was nestled in the woods near a lake with water as clean and cold as the high blue windless sky. I would've probably gone nuts, if not for the daily escape from dystopia.

Anyways, in the city the open carry guys were a regular sight. I'd be working in one of the abandoned parts of the city, where 4 out of 5 buildings are burned out, gutted out shells. Not just homes either- we're talking stores, schools, hospitals, even old precincts and firehouses. Some blocks are so abandoned, Mother Nature has essentially repossessed the property to its native state of high grass and wild grape vines, where ring-necked pheasants and packs of ghetto dogs roam the sidewalks alongside transgender prostitutes and wild-haired addicts. Occasionally, I'd see some random dude walking down one of these stretches in broad daylight, AK slung across his back. No one cared because no one was there to complain, and because those areas are like new frontiers, it really didn't seem out of place to see a man walking about with a rifle, just like it wouldn't in Carson City, Nevada circa 1855.

Then there was the guy who used to walk around my neighborhood with a pistol on his hip and carrying a combat shotgun in one hand and a sign that read, "One man fighting for truth and justice" in the other. I didn't know the guy personally but many people did, and no one seemed too concerned. Then one day I was in the local pub for an afternoon pint and the guy came up in conversation with the regulars at the bar. I opined how ridiculous he looked walking down my road, carrying a sign that meant nothing to anyone but him, and at least when Don Quixote went to fight the giants, there were windmills on the horizon. Turns out the guy was in the pub, heard what I said, and bellied up to the bar to discuss it. He was a nice enough kid, but there was something a little off, in a harmless way. I used to hear my grandmother refer to some people as being "touched", as in "Mr. Watkins next door just bought an emu and keeps it on a leash in his yard. I think the man is a bit touched." I would put the kid in the same category; nothing to be too concerned about, but somewhere a neuron isn't making the right connection in the brain...


Not long after our discussion at the pub, I stopped seeing him walk about with his guns and his sign. I don't know if he found a new hobby or moved away or just realized how silly he looked, but it's been several years now.


Then there were the guys looking for confrontation, in bullet proof vests and carring ARs and AKs, walking in front of government offices and corporate buildings in the central business district, GoPros and phones recording. They were immediately met with a response. Sometimes they just got quickly shooed away, sometimes the confrontation lasted a bit longer and more rescources would respond. To me, they were just another daily indignancy of working in the city; something to avoid if possible, just like the bloody needles in the park or the sweaty turds in the alley ways....

[LA DEP]

OC of a loaded weapon has been illegal in most areas of CA for a long time (late 60s/early 70s)

A few years ago, some OC types decided to start open carrying unloaded handguns in order to draw attention....they got attention all right, the attention of some of the lawmakers in Sacramento who promptly made all open carrying of handguns (loaded or unloaded) illegal

So, the same groups started open carrying unloaded long guns.....you know how that turned out

[westside popo]

That's exactly why I don't like the idiots! They have the potential to ruin it for everyone else and they can't comprehend that outcome.

[Aidokea]

Roger, are you the part-time deputy, or one of the volunteer deputies?

Have you graduated from the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy, or just the 40 hour pre-basic course?

In a town of 895 people, I'm sure you're not too busy with work to answer.