Arlington Cops, Open-Carry Advocates Go Toe-to-Toe Over the Constitution

Keep it up it's your right and to NoCode2112 you are 100% right take it to court that's selective enforcement they can do it but you can't it should be against the law consult a civil rights Attorney. Also if you take it to court get video of them interfering with traffic. Good luck Copwatch Denver

All over the DFW area I often see police and firemen at intersections soliciting donations from the passing cars.  Why is it OK for people to hand money to cops and firemen by the side of the road, but somebody can't pass a constitution into a car?

This seems like a law created by oligarchs to stop the common man from making an honest living distributing leaflets. People should not be stopped from distributing the messages for people to have access to the good things. http://ow.ly/vpgtz

That could have gone much worse.  The camera man re-approaches at 3:45 and tells the cop to "Shut up dude." when he tells him to get back.  These guys are relying on the restraint of the cops and the camera to keep them safe while they provoke the cops.  It's all just embarassing.

David

I appreciate the cause, the execution of getting the point across is embarrasing

Out of all the cities they have demonstrated open carry, Arlington has to be the only city that had to interfere. Your embarrass me Arlington. This could have been handled with just a verbal as it is supposed to be the first time you are stopped for such an incident/

Depends on what side of town you are on! I live past the railroad tracks and pretty much anything goes. People always handing out advertisements and putting them on your door. Homeless people walking the streets asking for handouts. And surprisingly enough the Cop Shop is right down the street and they never do a thing. Perhaps if I strap a gun on my back, they will take notice. I don't think "distributing literature" was their agenda at all. They stopped to hassle the Open Carry Group! And they were none too polite about it either. Afterall, they were near Jerry Land, AT&T Stadium so they must keep up appearances on that side of town.

"No person shall stand or walk on or in any manner occupy a shoulder, improved shoulder, sidewalk, median or public right-of-way for the purpose of distributing literature or any other object to the occupant of a vehicle, other than a lawfully parked vehicle."

That is the law....but if you are just walking and people ask for information....that DOES NOT apply to this law! And that's what these people were doing. They were no standing there "for the purpose of distributing literature"......Just saying. 

They remind me of this:
http://www.theonion.com/articles/marilyn-manson-now-going-doortodoor-trying-to-shoc,459/

While the regulation prohibiting passing out literature to unparked vehicles is a legitimate time, place and manner restriction on First Amendment speech; the exemption for the FD would likely cause the regulation to be overturned if this person chooses to take it to court (and assuming his lawyer is not a mouth-breathing idiot).

These idiots are a joke . If it's Arlington law is there to stop anyone from passing fliers to moving cars so that there won't be any accidents the Arlington police were in their "RIGHTS" as well. Morons.

If I talked to the police like that, they'd kick my ass. The hillbillies ought to be shoved down on the pavement and put in jail.

Alex Jones idiots.

 What a bunch of idiot's. You can hand out your flyer to anyone you want to just not to people in moving car's. You can cause an accident either directly or indirectly. I have seen it happen to many times. You think that this is a way to get your name and what ever info you are trying to pass on in to the press..

The police did not arrest you for anything and gave you a warming not to pass out flyer's to the cars. THEY DID THEIR JOB'S. You should be proud, instead you would rather ridicule the guy's that put their lives on the line every day so that you can be free to hand out your political flyer's.

The Arlington Fire Department has been on the sidewalks and in the medians asking for donations recently. Its possible that they received a special permit for it but I cant say for sure. Regardless, it seems that the city is choosing to apply the law differently based on the subject matter which is really a shame. Im not saying its a good law, but if its going to be enforced in should be done in a consistent manner.

the full law prohibits handing out literature and accepting donations. It also list specific intersections that are banned which in at least one case the FD was choosing to ignore those restrictions as well.

These boys are just Westboro church without all of the shouting. They go out armed with rifles and cameras looking to provoke a confrontation with the police so they can catch it all on film and grab a headline. Ignore them, they will go away.

@bvckvs I'm pretty sure none of the Open Carry "gun nuts" have ever murdered anyone, I doubt they have have ever even assaulted anyone, and they damn sure don't have the right to imprison anyone on a whim. Can't say the same about our heroic men in blue can you? So who are the nuts here? Who are the real psychopaths?

@mikal214  There must be something special about you that cause the police to "kick my ass"...maybe being a parolee or just communicating non-verbally that you don't know your basic rights and willing to submit to anything people wearing uniform decked out with a variety of lethal weapons tell you, even when they lie or are ignorant of the laws and constitutional rights that protect citizens from abuses by people with authority and public trust (happen very often and police are allowed and trained to lie and deceive).

Seriously, confidence in knowing and asserting their legal rights and constraints on police power (e.g. ordering cop not to touch their camera or push them back, asking critical questions like "Am I being detained or am I free to go?" and "What laws am I breaking/suspected of violating?"), and videotaping the cops/the scene usually control their urge to intimmidate, lie, threaten, abuse, etc. Being with others, having witnesses/observers, multiple videorecorders, out on public sidewalk with lots of eyeballs helped level the power imbalance between a citizen and the typical team of police cars and armed officers ready to strike even at a simple traffic stop...because absent these, what happens from public view and cameras comes down to the words of citizens (i.e. accused criminals, despite the "innocent till proven guilty" principle) against upstanding law enforcement officers, who can file all kinds of charges and often get away with some beating or tasing by simply saying "Stop resisting!" or killing because "I feared for my life"--even in cases where an unarmed person was running away. 

Seeing citizens carrying guns who know how and what circumstances they can use them very likely reduced the God-like outlook cops have been used to possessing exclusively when encountering citizens. Bullies usually only pick on the weaker and more vulnerable victims.

@lawsonchris  You just contradicted yourself in the last paragraph. 

@lawsonchris Not only did it not appear that they were handing out copies of the Constitution "to people in moving cars" as you claim but it would make no sense to do so for just practical reasons. They were on the public sidewalk near a traffic light for good reasons: they can safely and politely offer the literature, and even briefly answer questions,  *to motorists who were STOPPED when the light was red*.

If they had a legal basis to arrest anyone in the group, don't you think they would have? Or did these officers knowingly ignore criminal activity that rise to an arrestable and jailable offenses? While on camera, no less. Let's think a bit.

I appreciate what the police, firefighters, and other public Cervantes get paid to do as much as anybody. But in terms of "putting their lives on the line every day", Thor federal labor statistics  has police work as being the 10th deadliest occupation (per 100,000) behind window cleaners, garbage collectors, pilots, oil field workers, and so on. 

@nai06  They Fire Department doe's have to get a special permit to be allowed to accept donations. Out of all the request for permit's I believe the the Fire department would know how to do this in a safe manner with all of their training. I wouldn't want just anyone out their diving into traffic and getting hit.

@nai06  The fire dept doesn't do it in front of businesses holding weapons.

@James080  

"These boys are just Westboro church without all of the shouting."

Turn up the volume on your device. They were shouting and calling people names. Same shit without the "fag" and "queer" slurs.

@observist

This may be the biggest, stupidest, and most dangerous assumption ever made:

"Seeing citizens carrying guns who know how and what circumstances they can use them..."

@TheRuddSki  If you call that a job then we are all in a lot of trouble...

@ScottsMerkin  Really!!!! Why don't you inform me and everyone else!!

@luv2bpeaceful Guns have nothing to do with the situation. It appears all weapons were being carried in a lawful manner. Its a crappy law designed to combat panhandling that appears to be enforced in a very inconsistent manner

@TheRuddSki  

They are disrupting the businesses in the area of their demonstration. They are acting out of context in the hopes provoking a police over-reaction and attracting media coverage. 

You know better than to think I support the Occupy movement, and that I am a firm supporter of the 2nd amendment and a CHL holder. There are lots of things which are my constitutional right to do, like burning the American flag on Main Street. The fact that I choose not to exercise those rights doesn't mean I waive those rights.  Look at the context here. In my opinion, these guys are merely media whores, and they are not advancing the defense of the 2nd amendment by posing like some bad-ass paramilitary constitutional committee of street pamphleteers.

@ScottsMerkin @James080 

Scott...the city of Dallas wants pamphlet peddlers and discredited assassination authors out of Dealey Plaza. But the law allows these people to be there so they must be tolerated. I agree and sympathize with the businesses. But if these people are continually given the media coverage they seek, they will continue. In the end, isn't this really all about building name recognition for their candidate/leader (who I never heard of before today).

I'm a gun owner with a concealed carry permit.  I'm not anti-gun.  I disagree with these guys using an open carry law (and their smartphones) to posture and intimidate LE and anyone else they can. 

They are Rambo wannabes, likely with small male parts.  They aren't smart enough not to run out into traffic, which gives them the maturity level of a 3 year old.  (nanananana...we have guns too!) 

These guys are out to get attention, to push cops around, all for the purpose of...I don't know...they hoping to get laid at some point?  look at me...look!  that's me with that AR over my shoulder...hot isn't it?

I just threw up in my mouth a little...

ps...yes, sometimes, cops are bullies too...sometimes 14 year old girls are bullies...

@TheRuddSki  sorry my mistake...I miss understood who you were referring to.

@ScottsMerkin @lawsonchris  How about Shriners?

@ScottsMerkin @lawsonchris the specific city ordinance makes no mention of an exception for fire and police. The FD has been collecting money for MDA. While a noble cause, their method still puts them in violation unless there is a special permit or exemption which is not mentioned and likely not available to the general public. Even if the fire dept has a special permit, it creates an ethical issue. The FD is now using their special position to circumvent the law for the sole benefit of a single specific group. Thats a definitely a problem. Its a poorly written law that needs to go away

@ScottsMerkin  really nothing??? I'm not surprised!!!

@ScottsMerkin @lawsonchris  your the one telling us that we are wrong. How are we going to learn if you dont teach us???

@ScottsMerkin @lawsonchris The Constitution requires that laws be enforced with the idea of "content neutrality". If you allow the fire department to stand in the street and panhandle, then you have to allow everyone to panhandle. 

What you CAN'T do is say that you are regulating on the basis of safety, and then let some people do it on the basis of their politically correct goal, and deny others on the basis of their politically incorrect goals.