Man arrested for toting rifle.

I think the guys posting on here that say this guy shouldn't be able to walk down the street with his ak must be Zumbo's alternate personalities.

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I own battle rifles, I like battle rifles, but I have never seen anybody walking down the street with one (in the US). Can anybody understand why one would be curious about this? Am I not supposed to confront someone doing something highly unusual in vicinity of my family and neighbors?

You guys think everybody wants your gun rights. I am now a "sheeple" you guys are rich.

So now someone else is responsible because the sheeple can't avoid soiling themselves and devolving into jibbering idiots out of irrational fear.

Bad law, bad cops, bad and broken system. Period.

I do wonder how this thread would be different if this guy were open carrying a handgun instead of an AK.

He may have not done anything illegal (and it sucks he got arrested), but he did do something stupid.

Folks, people like this character do nothing but threaten the second amendment. What ever happened to the line of thought that says that with great power comes great responsibility? NOTHING will turn the borderline population against guns more than being scared of walking outside because there's a fellow wandering down the street with a rifle.

All it takes is for the right person to be "offended" by someone like this and the next thing you know it'll become illegal to carry a gun that's not in a locked case.

Good thing you guys weren't around back in the good old days. You were expected to carry your long arms to church, etc. Not much more than 50 years ago, kids carried their 22's to school hoping that they could kill dinner on the way to school or home. I make it a point not to be seen carrying my rifles to my car because of my idiot neighbors and don't want to advertise what I have, not because I'm scared I'll frighten someone.

SG Merc, the fellow was well within the bounds of law and his rights.

The real idiots were the brainless and witless "Aunt Nellies" who dropped a load in their bloomers like a bunch of frightened little minnows.

"He may have not done anything illegal (and it sucks he got arrested), but he did do something stupid.

Folks, people like this character do nothing but threaten the second amendment. What ever happened to the line of thought that says that with great power comes great responsibility? NOTHING will turn the borderline population against guns more than being scared of walking outside because there's a fellow wandering down the street with a rifle.

All it takes is for the right person to be "offended" by someone like this and the next thing you know it'll become illegal to carry a gun that's not in a locked case."

What bothers me about the above is the attitude that even though it is legal, we must cave to the antis thinking instead of carrying out a constitutional right. When the majority decides that the act of owning a gun period is taboo, shall we all get rid of them so as not to offend the antis?

I'm sick of the cowering. Let's exorcise our rights and demand that these liberal pantywaistes grow a pair and not be afraid of inanimate objects.

SG Merc, the fellow was well within the bounds of law and his rights.

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I know that, and that's why I said that it really sucks that he got the shaft from the law. But my point is that incidents like this will be highly publicized by the anti-gun crowd, and will lead to stricter laws.

I honestly don't know enough about the situation to say what the fella' could have done different/better, but we sure as heck don't need to be feeding the antis like this.

There is so much this article does not tell, such as a picture of the person carrying the rifle.

There is a big difference as far as "the scary factor" between a dude walking down the street carrying an AK47 with the magazine in it and a 12 year old kid with a marlin slung on his back.

The more I frequent THR, the more I think that about 90% of the posters here are zumbo clones that are more concerned about what the antis think of us than standing up for the 2a.

Shall we censor our speech so as not to offend someone in the hopes that the 1a won't be outlawed?

this is misleading.

the original post is titled: "Man arrested for toting rifle"

however this is not accurate. the man was not arrested on the spot:

Officers confiscated the rifle Friday but could not take the man into custody until they had a warrant signed by both a magistrate and the man who made the complaint, Mobile police spokesman Officer Eric Gallichant said.

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what is accurate is this:

Mobile police said they plan to arrest a man today who scared people Friday evening as he walked through a Spring Hill neighborhood with a loaded, semiautomatic AK-47-style rifle.

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that means they went and presented their case to a magistrate who in turn agreed with them and issued a warrant for this person's arrest.

the responding officers did not arrest the man as evidenced in the first quote above.

what the appropriate title should be is "Man arrested pursuant to warrant after alleged to have been carrying a rifle in a manner causing alarm"

big difference there. the original title is more inflammatory than what actually transpired.

another thing is that the cops shouldn't be the ones to blame here. it appears they responded to a call from citizens. they just didn't drive by and see the man and take action by themselves:

Jeferey Quinelly, another Spring Hill resident, filed the complaint and most likely will be the person to sign the arrest warrant, Gallichant said.

Spring Hill resident Sean P. Costello said the man, who is in his early 20s, was spotted by several people about 6 p.m. Friday, walking along Oakwood and Dilston lanes.

Costello said Monday that he did not see the man, but two of his neighbors and his gardener did. He said that although no one saw the man point the rifle at anyone, people were frightened. He said the gardener, who had just started cutting the grass, was so frightened that he fled without finishing the job.

Costello said the whole incident frightened his 4-year-old daughter.

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the responding police didnt arrest him. they just confiscated the rifle as evidence of a crime and presented the case to a judge who in turn had a citizen sign an affidavit stating that he was in some sort of fear by the exhibition of the firearm. the police did their job. they didn't beat him to the ground and drag him away. they responded to a citizen's call and did their job.

so if anyone here is to blame, it would be all of the citizens who were alarmed by the rifle and their own self-induced panic.

SG Merc, when you propose limiting others based on how your opposition will precieve them, you've lost already.

I really, don't care what the Brady Bunch thinks. A right not exercised is a right lost. In the wrong on this are the nitwit nervous Nellies who soiled themselves and called the cops, and the cops willing to abuse one section of the law to infringe on another part of the law.

Just like Americans allow the debate of illegal immigration and it's adverse affects to be silenced for fear of being called racists by the pro illegal crowd, we are choosing not to exorcise our 2a for fear of being called gun nuts, terrorists, whackos or whatever. We are letting the irrational idiots take away our freedom of speech in the case of the immigration debate and the right to keep and bear arms for fear of scaring someone.

It's OK in WA

Casad walked down the street in Port Angeles on a Saturday afternoon carrying two rifles partially wrapped in a towel. A woman called 911. Police responded, detained Casad, frisked him, and asked why he carried the weapons. Casad admitted that he was a felon, an admission that lead to his arrest and charges for unlawfully possessing the weapons. The trial court held that the police had no authority to detain Casad for a Terry1 stop and suppressed the evidence as the fruit of an unlawful seizure.

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Casad challenged the police authority to detain and search him. The trial court ruled that the police did not have authority to detain Casad and, therefore, suppressed the evidence that the police found as a result of the detention. The State could not obtain a conviction without the suppressed evidence and so it dismissed its case against Casad.

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The trial court held:
Here, the Defendant was carrying a rifle only partially concealed and clearly identifiable as a rifle to the citizen who made the call as well as law enforcement officers, with the barrel pointing towards the ground walking on a main thoroughfare in the City of Port Angeles in daylight hours. In fact there were two rifles, which would likely be less alarming than the carrying of one rifle. Nothing indicates that the manner in which the Defendant was carrying the weapons in any way would give reasonable cause for alarm unless the mere fact of carrying a weapon within the city limits in the open in daylight on a major thoroughfare in and of itself would cause such alarm. The statute does not and, under the Constitution, cannot prohibit the mere carrying of a firearm in public. Therefore the Court finds that the officers at the time of the initial contact had no reasonable articulable suspicion that any criminal activity was occurring.

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Hiroprox "SG Merc, when you propose limiting others based on how your opposition will precieve them, you've lost already.

I really, don't care what the Brady Bunch thinks. A right not exercised is a right lost."

You just said what I'm thinking 100 times better than what I typed. Amen.

"He may have not done anything illegal (and it sucks he got arrested), but he did do something stupid.

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Being stupid is not against the law! If that were the case, the jails would be full...

Okay, bad example... But, you know what I mean.

Living near Mobile, AL .... this story is exactly the reasoning why I bought a TENNIS BAG to cart around my AK underfolder.

Just don't need the legal bills. Threatening nobody yet disturbing the peace? Sad.

Hey I'm all for not really caring what other people think, but I still handle my firearms with respect for the situation around me--mainly because I don't want to stir the pot. If "HiroProX" wants to call me out as caring too much about what the Brady Bunch thinks then so be it, but the bottom line is that these people are looking for reasons to make the mainstream population hate gun rights.

Does anybody know WHY he was carrying his gun publicly besides simply exercising his rights? Was he headed for a range or did he just want to take his AK for a walk? That would be interesting to know, and might change my mind that he was irresponsible with his weapon.

"You call your selves "supporters of frreedom?" Yopu just proved you are no better than any liberal, socialist, anti-Constitution gun grabber out there."

Sticks and stones there buddy. Write when you get out of high school and learn to hold up your end of a conversation in an adult manner.

Meanwhile, the original story said the guy lived in that area and was walking up and down the street. I promise you that if I see a person with gun in hand walking up and down my street I will call the police. I don't care if he isn't talking to himself or cursing people or making funny faces at the trees, I'm calling. I would have to assume he was looking for something or someone to shoot if he was pacing the sidewalk holding a gun in his hand.

Would this ever happen in my neighborhood? Well, yeah, I can see it.
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True story from a few years ago as told to me by my 81-year-old neighbor, the guy who held the door shut, and the cops:

Around noon one day a woman walked in front of my house and went into the 7-11 in the next block to ask the clerk to take the paper bag she had because it had a gun in it and she didn't want her boyfriend to have it because he was mad at her.

While the clerk and the customers were talking to her, the boyfriend crossed the parking lot at a brisk walk. Well, he was BUCK NAKED, so a customer held the doors shut while the clerk called the cops and the woman hid behind the counter. The NAKED GUY turned around and calmly strolled back up the street to their apartment in the next block. My neighbor saw him go both directions.

The cops said he was taking a shower when she walked out with his pistol and he wanted it back. My elderly neighbor said he looked like a little troll waddling up the street. I don't know if the cops ever gave them the gun back - slight problem with carrying a concealed weapon and something about being a drug user IIRC.

John

Hey everyone, I have a brilliant idea. Let's all keep silent with our tongues in the hopes that it will preserve the first amendment! Would any of you seriously use that approach to help save our first amendment? Than why would you propose the same tactic for the second?

It is amazing to me how many people here would happily restrict the constitutional rights of another simply because the person is not known to them, or because they feel something shouldn't be done. Just who made you the arbiter of what someone can or cannot do, especially when the constitution specifically protects the action?

This reaction, "I would call the police too", is just as much done out of fear and selfishness as what the anti-gunners to do our gun rights in general (out of fear: "I don't know that person", "what if they have <insert crime of choice>"; out of selfishness: "their actions disturb ME, and I don't care if the actions are legal or not"). The anti-gunners would ban our guns because they are afraid of them, some here would restrict actions because they are afraid of the person (with no basis for the fear).

A right is a right, either support all rights for everyone or you have no excuse to complain if you lose your rights.

How did they know the rifle was loaded? If I were just walking down to street to get from poi9nt A to point B the rifle would not be loaded, but how would a casual observer know that it was unloaded?


Would the reactions of the neighborhood sheep have been any different if it were a hunting rifle or shotgun slung over the shoulder of a hunter returning home from hunting with a friend half a block from his house?