Stacks of readers who saw my post last week about cops hassling me when I took photos of police officers downtown have sent me e-mails. Some were sweet; some were really depressing. I got lots of stories from people who were hassled by police officers, filed complaints, and promptly saw nothing happen. Seems like that’s SOP in most cases. But none was more depressing an e-mail exchange with guy who thinks prevention is the best medicine for police misconduct. And by that, he thinks prevention is a pistol [sic throughout]:
Seems it’s about time to strap on the ol’ leg iron & start open carrying in downtown…but only with a person such as you to document the interactions
J
You think a gun would have helped in that situation?
Dom
It would probably have escalated the situation in the sense that just from the way he was acting, that KCSO deputy would have used it as a reason to put you on the ground…and you could end up with wuite the settlement J
Or I could have died, right?
I think you misunderstand: carrying it, not handling it
Check out opencarry.or
Oh, he means I’d never handle it. Just open-carry the gun and never use it. Because open-carry activists never become gun-brandishing killers. Sorry, letter dude, but by your own admission, wearing the “ol’ leg iron” would escalate the situation and result in being taken down—maybe killed. It’s hard to spend that settlement money when I’m dead. The thing is, I’d never want to make that point or collect that settlement. Open-carry isn’t about defending your rights by exercising them, or about keeping cops in check; open-carry is just about intimidating people, including good cops, who already have a scary enough job.