So I'll begin with a short background. I think we all agree this man is a jackass.
Man (P) is suing Tennessee park rangers for violations of his 4th Amendment rights. He claims he was detained and harassed for lawful activity. He has a history of filing lawsuits in states regarding open carry.
Now for the activity:
P lives in Tennessee and has a valid carry permit
Tennessee had just recently changed their law that forbid carry in parks so that one can carry a pistol(a rifle is still forbidden) with barrel under 12" in length.
P goes to state to walk in park with a Draco with 11.5" barrel
P paints his barrel nut neon orange because he fears cops would shoot a man with a real gun upon seeing it, but that this orange tip would stop them long enough that they may not shoot him on site.
Additionally, he wears camouflage and Gortex while he is on his walk and uses an audio recorder to record conversations with park rangers.
While walking he encounters a park ranger who asks him if the gun is real, he responds yes it is, asks if the ranger needs any other information and lets him know where his car is parked if he has further questions.
Upon returning to his car there are multiple rangers who command him to the ground at gunpoint, take the Draco, search/frisk, and assert that it is a rifle and therefore illegal.
For about an hour the police kept him at the location(uncuffed but also stripped of his legal weapon) but released him when a different officer confirmed that a Draco was in fact a pistol.
During this hour he talked to people passing at one point answering a man who asked if that was a gun with something along the lines of yes 30 rounds of 7.62x39.
The Federal court found his rights were not violated as he worked to appear suspicious.
So was the court right? The two main suspicious factors were the orange tip and camo. But sans the orange tip, he was just a guy in a common pattern of clothing exercising his legal right.
Although this man has been banned from nearly all firearm forums on the web and had his CC license revoked by the state of Tennessee, the court takes a stance here that could affect OC as a whole, what defines "working to appear suspicious"?
Man (P) is suing Tennessee park rangers for violations of his 4th Amendment rights. He claims he was detained and harassed for lawful activity. He has a history of filing lawsuits in states regarding open carry.
Now for the activity:
P lives in Tennessee and has a valid carry permit
Tennessee had just recently changed their law that forbid carry in parks so that one can carry a pistol(a rifle is still forbidden) with barrel under 12" in length.
P goes to state to walk in park with a Draco with 11.5" barrel
P paints his barrel nut neon orange because he fears cops would shoot a man with a real gun upon seeing it, but that this orange tip would stop them long enough that they may not shoot him on site.
Additionally, he wears camouflage and Gortex while he is on his walk and uses an audio recorder to record conversations with park rangers.
While walking he encounters a park ranger who asks him if the gun is real, he responds yes it is, asks if the ranger needs any other information and lets him know where his car is parked if he has further questions.
Upon returning to his car there are multiple rangers who command him to the ground at gunpoint, take the Draco, search/frisk, and assert that it is a rifle and therefore illegal.
For about an hour the police kept him at the location(uncuffed but also stripped of his legal weapon) but released him when a different officer confirmed that a Draco was in fact a pistol.
During this hour he talked to people passing at one point answering a man who asked if that was a gun with something along the lines of yes 30 rounds of 7.62x39.
The Federal court found his rights were not violated as he worked to appear suspicious.
So was the court right? The two main suspicious factors were the orange tip and camo. But sans the orange tip, he was just a guy in a common pattern of clothing exercising his legal right.
Although this man has been banned from nearly all firearm forums on the web and had his CC license revoked by the state of Tennessee, the court takes a stance here that could affect OC as a whole, what defines "working to appear suspicious"?
