[Daoust_Nat]

PA is an open carry state. Here is a newspaper story and a you tube recording of an interview with the guy that had the gun. Essentially this guy was carrying legally in Philadelphia with a Glock on his hip and had a run in with police. The Philly Cop stopped him with his service pistol pointed at him. Apparantly the LEO was not aware of the open carry law in PA.


Man who clashed with cops over legal gun was also armed with audio recorder - Philly.com

YouTube - Mark Fiorino on the Michael Smerconish Program May 16 2011 Part 1

YouTube - Mark Fiorino on the Michael Smerconish Program May 16 2011 Part 1

[USMC-03]

This has been talked about a lot on another thread I'm a member of.

My opinion on it is this: Even though the cop may have been wrong, that is not the time to make a statement. Take the orders, avoid escalating the situation, and deal with the legal issues after. Wanting to make a statement is not worth ending up dead. Follow the orders, even if you feel they are BS and deal with it after.

[Beretta]

I hate guys like this. I wouldn't lose any sleep if this guy had gotten shot.

[AusLach]

If old mate's carrying a recording device as well, it's my opinion that he probably walks around looking for a confrontation; either with the cops, or members of the general public. Like the officer said in the link, it certainly looks like a set-up.

Yes he may be exercising his rights, but at the same time he's not painting responsible gun owners in a very flattering light.

[WDB]

Yep the guy was lookking to provoke LEO contact and ready to record it. I don't know what was his deal was except his 15 minutes of fame.....posible law suit. Dumb as a box of rocks and does nothing to help the cause. IMHO LEO's are our best friends, why make there jobs harder? Takes away from the work they need to be doing.

[TheSadPanda]

I am gonna have to go against the cops on this one. Being a young man (between 18-25) I have yet to have a police officer treat me any better than a second class citizen. These cops pointed the gun at the individual when he represented no threat to anybody. the person in question was carrying legally in every way regarding the law. He informed the officers of that, and they wouldn't hear anything from this guy (MoFo this, EFFin that). These officers did not act accordingly, and treated this guy like total crap. Now, was this guy looking for a confrontation? Very possibly, I wouldn't dare say he wasn't. But if you're going to tell me these cops didn't act like total a$$holes, I am going to have to whole-heartedly disagree. And don't forget that the cops didn't even know the correct law, and it was later admitted by the police dept. that they were in the wrong. In conclusion, I am not defending the guy that got arrested, but I am more upset with how the officers conducted themselves.

[Gojubrian]

How are cops supposed to enforce the law if they don't know what's legal and what isn't?

[camiller]

Given that this was the third time he was stopped by officers that did not know the law I'm less inclined to lean the LEO's way.

Edit: And how exactly is exercising a legal right provoking? Since this had happened twice previously according to the linked story, including getting his gun impounded for five months, I'd say carrying the the recorder was provoked by previous bad LEO action as a defensive measure.

I agree that most LEO are our friends, it's the 5% bad ones that are the biggest problem. And when those 5% take ill-informed actions it colors all LEO in a bad light. Especially since the LEO in question started the encounter with "Yo, Junior, what are you doing?", hardly professional.

[wmille01]

I can see the use for a recorder, actually seems like a good idea in general. I think it's horrible that the local cops didn't even know the law about carrying. Things could have gone down way differently then they did, if he just tried talking nicely to him things probably would have gone different.

This guy does seem like he was looking for trouble...

[Daoust_Nat]

I am an ex South East Pennsylvanian. Having lived in suburban Philadelphia for 37 years I have had lots of contact with Philadelphia LEOs. Some were very reactionary like this guy, and some were great. One thing that always ran with them was if they thought you were bleeping with them, they were going to try to charge you with everything from jaywalking to armed insurrection. I had a friend get arrested for carrying a concealed deadly weapon after an argument with a mounted cop after a concert at the Spectrum. the deadly weapon was a 1.5" pocket knife they found when they frisked him. He was charged with the knife, disorderly conduct, public intoxication, resisting arrest without violence and a couple other things. The next morning he was released with a minor fine for disorderly conduct. He was even given back the deadly weapon. All of this stuff with this guy will probably blow over and go away.

And I think the statement about the 15 min in the spotlight is correct.