HOUSTON TX – The Houston Police department has been caught on camera illegally detaining yet another open carry activist while admitting the ‘suspect’ was not violating any laws. This video comes just a few months after the last encounter where HPD officers were caught trying to delete camera footage after harassing an otherwise peaceful guns rights activist.
The video which was released by the official Open Carry Texas YouTube channel, starts by showing a Houston police officer (#7428) standing in the street next to his open squad car door saying,
“Make sure you get my good side, alright?”
The officer proceeds to approach the activist, who goes only by ‘The Kilted Texan” and clearly states,
You’re not under arrest, you’re not even being detained.
So the Kilted Texan, wearing both his kilt and AR15 rifle, under no obligation to stop and chat with this armed man in a costume, continued walking down the sidewalk. The police officer quickly attempts to renege on the promise that he wasn’t detaining the man and can be heard saying,
Hold it, stop, stop stop…
Then the officer presumably jumps back in his vehicle, and judging by the tire squeals, peels out and cuts off The Kilted Texan at the nearest parking lot. He jumps out of his squad car and brandishes his own AR15.
We can do the whole ‘I show you your thing and you show me my thing, or we can escalate this another way, alright?
The Kilted Texan responds by saying that he doesn’t consent to questioning which really sets the officer off.
Dude, look, you can try this constitutional crap all you want, but I got news for ya ok? I’m part of that 3% that you’re trying to represent. But you ain’t doing nothing but fucking it up for everyone else right now, you got me?
I don’t think the ‘III%’ really means what he thinks it means as in the very next breath he proceeds to ask the activist if he has identification papers. The Kilted Texan simply responds ‘no’ and the cop continues his line of hostile questioning…
“So how am I supposed to know if you’re a felon”
I’m going to go out on a limb here, and would be willing to bet a large sum of money that a convicted felon, who is not legally able to possess a firearm, would not strap an AR15 on their back and walk down a public sidewalk wearing a kilt while recording his or her self. Logic and reason tells me that criminals would not want to bring much attention to themselves before, during, or after they commit an armed offense. Nonetheless, the officer, in all his wisdom, believes that it is his duty to identify anyone carrying a weapon to make sure that they are not a felon.
The Kilted Texan does not answer any questions and is eventually detained, handcuffed, and put in the back of the squad car while officer 7428 calls his superiors to find out what, if any action should be taken. The officer claims to be “pro-second amendment”, and admits that The Kilted Texan has every right to walk the streets of Houston with an openly carried long gun. But, he still believes that if someone is offended by the sight of a gun, and calls the police, who routinely demonstrate they are ignorant of the law, he has some sort of obligation to harass the individuals who openly carry their rifles, by impeding their travel, asking for identification, and conducting a long line of questioning.
Texas is one of five states that ban the open carry of modern handguns; however, long rifles and shotguns are perfectly legal to openly carry without the need for a license. This ironic restriction is part of a law left over from the rather racist reconstruction period of Texas, enacted to limit the ability of freed slaves to carry firearms. In 1871 the Texas legislature first outlawed the carrying of pistols outside the home,
“If any person in this state shall carry on or about his person, saddle, or in his saddle-bags, any pistol … he shall be punished by a fine of not less than twenty-five nor more than one hundred dollars,”
or around $2,000 today. The law was first passed by a Republican Legislature in order to have a mechanism to disarm Confederate sympathizers. Later, when the democrats gained power, instead of repealing the racist law, they doubled down and increased the fines and even made carrying a pistol an imprisonable offense.
Fast forward 144 years and Texans are still fighting to relinquish the right of self defense back from the Government to the people where it belongs. In the video below, The Kilted Texan is simply demonstrating the absurdity of the current laws on the books. He and tens of thousands of lawful, peaceful gun owners across Texas and the nation, don’t feel its necessary to ask government for a permission slip to carry a firearm however they see fit. Anti-gun organizations love to point to instances where criminals commit heinous crimes with firearms as justification to enlarge the barriers between law abiding citizens and their firearms. When in actuality, no law will prevent prevent someone from committing crimes with firearms as the crime they are committing is already illegal.
Regardless of the motives behind the Open Carry activist, the officer has no legal authority to detain an individual for the sole reason of possessing a firearm. One may assume that the officer was within his authority to execute a ‘Terry Stop,’ a brief detainment by police on reasonable suspicion of involvement in criminal activity [Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968)]. However, the act of carrying a firearm does not constitute reasonable suspicion of criminal activity in of itself to allow an officer to conduct a Terry Stop [US v DeBerry, 1996]. So, it appears this incident serves as just another example of officers acting outside their authority, displaying ignorance of the actual laws they are enforcing.
To make matters worse, after the nearly 20 minute long illegal detainment, The Kilted Texan called out one of the female officers for turning his video camera away from the incident, presumably to prevent any wrongdoings from being filmed, the officer responds.
I didn’t want it [the camera] to slide off the hood [of the car]
Knowing the excuse was a blatant lie, The Kilted Texan responds, “That’s a good one,” even the initial responding officer chimes in, “that is a good one isn’t it?” Just further proof that police are not on anyone’s team except for their own. Open Carry Texas released a statement via their Facebook page condemning the actions of the officers involved:
“Open Carry Texas demands that Houston Police Officers cease their harassment of law abiding Texans. Further, dispatchers need to be better trained to ask follow up questions of citizens making calls for service. It doesn’t take much effort to determine the difference between an open carry advocate and a criminal. ‘Is the individual pointing a gun at anyone?’ ‘Is the individual carrying the gun in his hands?’ ‘Is the individual acting suspicious in any way other than just having the firearm?’ ‘In what way?’
“These simple follow-up questions will prevent a needless diversion of public resources to areas where they are needed most.”
BrettSanders.me reached out to The Kilted Texan for comment, but under the advisement of his attorney he is not commenting on the situation at this time.
Watch the full interaction below via Open Carry Texas