+1 for the SAPD!

[majormadmax]

Do you believe that this encounter would have gone exactly the same had you whipped out a camera and started videoing as soon as the officer arrived on the scene? His immediate attitude might have been entirely different, figuring you were setting him up for some type of complaint or to harass him on a public forum such as YouTube.

You've all seen the videos posted of jerks legally open-carrying but doing so just to get a rise out of the cops.

I understand that not every encounter with a police officer goes as smoothly as this one did and that a video record might benefit you in your defense, but at the same time the presence of a video camera can aggravate a situation needlessly.

Just my opinion.

I agree, but technically there is nothing against the law from filming the police doing their duty as long as you don't interfere.

I will give something up, I help train police cadets here in SA and have role played this in several scenarios; both correctly (being just vocal and/or filming) and incorrectly (actually interfering with the cadet). I know the best way to approach the situation that happened yesterday and luckily so did Badfish, so neither of us would be as brazen to start filming when we pretty much knew why the officer was approaching us.

We were lucky in that we had a good officer (most are) and one who knew that we weren't breaking any laws (the rifle was unloaded). As Texan2 said, the vast majority of peace officers aren't bothered by law-abiding citizens and even those with firearms.

The sad thing is that some idiot who saw me checking out the scope while pointing it at the billboard felt they needed to call the cops. Seriously? Do they really think someone would stand out in broad daylight and in plain sight shooting at the sign? Probably some liberal who moved here from California or some other anti-2A state.

Thank God the SAPD officer showed up pretty relaxed (I had the butt of the rifle on my shoe, and was holding it by the end of the barrel) and quickly assessed the situation. I applaud and appreciate his professionalism and courtesy, and since many times all we hear about are the negative encounters I wanted to balance things out a little with a positive one (which the vast majority are!).

Cheers! M2

 

[Ranger60]

Excellent, glad to hear a positive for the police. I once had a sorta similar at a Starbucks in San Marcos comparing AR15 lowers with a friend, no uppers. Someone called it in, NOT Starbucks, officers showed up, no problem, just asked us to put them away if we were finished, we were, so, put them away, continued drinking coffee and BSing.

 

[majormadmax]

Lol, you are such a bad influence M2. Got the cops after me haha

Rylie was so excited to tell Mommy about our brush with the law

Hope I didn't get ya in too much trouble!

Cheers! M2