Friday, July 29, 2011

Buy this cop a beer.

Not long ago, I posted a story about one of the sorriest instances of police conduct I've ever seen in my half-plus century of roaming this earth.

It happened in Canton, Ohio, where it appears the City Council head-guy, Allen Schulman, is every bit as big of a prick as the psycho officer who garnered all the attention to the host city of the NFL's Pro Football Hall of Fame.

A few days later, one of my favorite bloggers (Lagniappe's Lair) posted a story about one of the classiest instances of police conduct I've ever seen. It happened in Oceanside, California.

The roles between the incident in Canton and the one in Oceanside were polar opposites.

The factor that joins them is the Second Amendment.

One police force, by the example given by one of their officers, has no use for it.

The other police force, not only observes it, but respects it.

Who woulda thought?

I mean, when I was in that line of work, we had to swear an Oath to protect and defend the Constitution. I don't recall any loopholes or passages that allowed us to exclude the Second Amendment (or the First, or the Fourth, or the Fifth, etc).

The irony here is that the psycho cop in Canton professes to be an ex-Marine, and the cop in Oceanside states he is a 22-year veteran and retired Marine.

In Canton, we have a citizen trying to be a nice guy and a cop being an ass. In Oceanside, we have a gun-owner being an absolute ass and the cop being a nice guy.

Officer Matt Lyons, of the Oceanside PD, comes across some asshat who decides his name is "Jeremy" and who is open-carrying a 40 S&W firearm, unloaded as per California's law on open-carry, simply to try and bait a police officer into a controversial situation so he can post his "hidden video" on YouTube.

What a bunch of class-A bullshit.

Note to Jeremy: You're an asshole. It is assholes like you who do more to us law-abiding gun-owners and make things harder, not easier, to bridge the gap between law enforcement and the populace.

In the video, posted below--and with HUGE kudos and thanks to Murphy's Law, the author and owner of several outstanding blogs--the whole world can see that the police officer who approaches "Jeremy" is nothing but non-confrontational, polite, professional, but also prepared.

When the conversation starts, "Jeremy" is immediately an asshole. He continues to state "he doesn't have to offer any identification or even tell the officer his name."

Another note to Jeremy: You're a United States citizen. While we have rights, we also have DUTIES. One of those duties is to NOT make things any harder on our police or firemen or other emergency personnel by playing your silly-assed games and hiding behind a YouTube camera hoping to go viral and make a few bucks or get your fifteen-minutes of Andy Warhol fame.

And by the way, Jeremy, I doubt anyone reading this or watching the video believes you were a Marine. I'd believe you were a pissant, and still are, but no, not a U.S. Marine.

Why? Because you don't know jackshit about mutual respect with another Marine or veteran. You're interaction with Officer Lyons shows the world you were never a Marine or veteran of any kind.

So what we have is an agitator, of the type we defenders of the Second Amendment don't need, squaring off with an Oceanside police officer.


To Officer Lyons, I say this: Thank you for your service to our country and thank you for your quiet, professional defense of our Constitution and the Bill of Rights. This veteran absolutely appreciates men and women like yourself who continue to serve our society and our nation.
To Jeremy, there isn't much left to say. Murphy's Law says it best in his post on this subject where he tells you to grow up and get some maturity.

As it stands now, Jeremy, you're a disgrace to law-abiding gun owners everywhere.


3 comments:

Tango Juliet said...

I concur.

I find Schulmans's attitude more insidious than the crazy officer's conduct. He's not only uncomfortable with the idea of an armed citizenry and wishes to dictate "when" and "where" but seems very, very angry that non-locals wish to weigh in on this incident.

Not comfortable with that darn 1st Amendment either apparently.

But yes, Officer Lyons is to be commended for his behavior and Jeremy needs to do some serious maturing.

Kim said...

Like I said on LL Bravo Officer. I wish there were many more like you, especially in my neck of the woods! We have a few guys locally who open carry with the hope of a confrontation and they have been obliged. It has made it a very rare sight here because gang violence is high and to many reactive cops have made the community leery of putting themselves out there. Makes me sad. So I only open carry when we are in the desert.

Fragulator said...

This video makes me very proud to be an American! This guy obviously wanted trouble but it looks like he will have to find it somewhere else.