I agree that there are times when those idiots do 2A supporters no amount of good. But, if they are within the law, there really isn’t much to be done. Do you need a permit in IA to walk down the street with a rifle? I don’t here and I wouldn’t expect to be stopped and questioned for doing so. I would never consider such a dumbass move but, rights are rights. Just because something is dumb and lacks common sense, does not make it illegal nor should it warrant me being stopped and questioned. Terry stops are too easily abused.
We’ve become a society of cowardly sheeple if you’re scared of some dude walking down the street with a gun.
Are you saying that you’re paid to be suspicious of me, just because? Is that truly what you’re paid to do? I think not.
Me cracking my window may not make sense to you but it certainly does, to me. It’s a two way street.
Why does it send the wrong message? More importantly, what message does it send?
Part of an officers job is to investigate things, being suspicious is part of that, being snoopy is part of that, most people don't do these things, so it sends up a yellow/red flag to us and causes us to ask questions. Cops are inherently inquisitive and suspicious, that won't change cause if we were naive to things people would get away with A LOT of crimes. Police are there to protect lives and property, we'll investigate things as far as we can and dig as much as we can to make sure we uphold that expectation from the public we serve.
The general public is afraid in this day and age of someone open carrying a weapon, let alone a rifle, with all the active-shooter situation we have blazing across this country at this very moment. So if I pull over a car and the driver's messing around a lot under the seat, his jugular vein is popping out the side of his neck while I'm speaking to him, his sweating profusely, his stuttering, etc., I'm going to start asking some more questions as to what's truly going on here. That's not normal behavior compared to stopping someone and they are just simply irritated with the fact that they were pulled over. So since this isn't normal behavior and since 99% of the cars I pull over roll their window down all the way and speak with me like a normal person, when a situation arises where someone barely rolls their window down it's going to send the wrong message. If anything that could be considered a normal human reaction by the police officer.
You do need a permit in Iowa to open carry any firearms, there are two types of permits, non-professional and professional. Professional is typically only issued to law enforcement which allows them to carry anywhere, although federal buildings create some challenges with this from time-to-time. Non-professional permits don't allow those folks to carry in schools, gov't buildings, state parks, etc. How does that officer know what your intentions are? To expect them to know without making contact with you that you are lawfully carrying that weapon is unrealistic. For all we know you're a convicted felon that just decided to go walk around the streets and dare people to stop you and mess with you. You may think Terry Stops are too easily abused, but if we have a legit call to check something else that's what we're there for. We'll go to it, check it out, probably ask for you to identify yourself so we can make sure you aren't a felon and can carry a weapon and then thank you for your time and talk with you briefly about how you support the 2nd amendment. I know, I know, "I don't have to identify myself!" "What crime am I committing?" "Are you arresting me?" It would be in your best interest to identify yourself so we know you are lawfully carrying which, if you truly support the 2nd amendment, should make you proud to be able to prove that. Rock on patriot, I support the 2nd amendment fully! We don't know if you're committing a crime or not, if you're a felon, then you are committing a crime and now you ARE under arrest. Up until that point you're simply being detained because we received a call. We find out you're good-to-go you have a great day and congrats on having the ability to open carry. We have a duty in this situation to ensure that you can carry that weapon and not simply walk away because you don't want to identify yourself. We can agree to disagree on that, I just don't see how refusing to identify yourself truly helps the situation and shows you support the 2nd amendment. Not speaking specifically towards you just generally speaking.
Actually, I do read about those stories too. Just not on MSM sites. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, the bad outweigh the good. If the good far outweigh the bad, why don’t we hear more about it? Does the media have an agenda against the police? If so, why is that?
Because good stories don't sell newspapers, magazines, generate "hits" on their websites and create negative discussion that will generate further hits rather than positive discussion. It's really as simple as why companies advertise their products the way they do. All it is is a way to advertise and market their product. Take our local news station for example, they are bashing some gubernatorial candidates for speeding on the highways. They bash local cops for some decisions that they've made, decisions that officers have seconds to make and people like them have hours, days and months to tear apart. Two of their news anchors got arrested for OWI within 24 hours of one another. Nothing on ANY of the news stations about that! There truly aren't many "journalists" out there anymore that report the news without their opinions slanting people's opinions or how people should react and that's sad. I'm not saying they have an agenda towards the police, but it behooves them to generate revenue for their business by advertising in this way.
[SIZE=11.818181991577148px]Just to be clear, are you saying that this growing divide between the citizenry and LEO is driven strictly by non-LEO citizens? Are you saying that anyone, anywhere by virtue of their employment position or station in life should receive default respect? In this case, the police?[/SIZE]
I'm saying why should I have to earn your respect right when I show up? This is the change in this country that is concerning. What ever happened with showing people respect in general? I almost always say "Yes sir, no sir, yes ma'am, no ma'am" to folks on a daily basis. I don't have to like my Chief, but he gets my respect because of his position. It appears you were in the military. Did you not show your superiors respect because of their position alone? Then if they showed you more than just that position did you give them further respect? Because we might as well not even discuss this part if you just simply don't respect people. If folks raise their kids to not respect people they are directly contributing to the problem we're seeing now. I'm saying the divide between police and citizens is getting to a concerning level. Citizens all the time talk about "police state this and police state that" give me a break! I'm not concerned with someone from a government agency coming to my home and kicking my front door down just because. I'm not going to violate someone's rights and oppress them because I wear a badge. That badge doesn't make me the person I am, that badge doesn't get to change the values I was raised on, my parents raised me to be a respectful man with integrity...........period. My fear is I'll come across some guy, no offense, somewhat like you that has more extreme views than you. He'll immediately see the badge and think of me as someone who is going to violate his rights or wrong him in some way and he'll force me to make a life or death decision. That's the reality of the world we live in now with what you are seeing as far as the divide is concerned between law enforcement and citizens. I know one thing, I'm going home to my boys, if Joe Patriot wants to force me to make that decision that's what I'll do. That sounds harsh, but it's reality, lets not sugar coat it.
