J Dogg

Officer pulls firearm on citizen (gets quickly educated) that is just exercising his 2A rights. Dude could not have handled this better. ​A routine walk down a public sidewalk in Horicon, Wisconsin, quickly turned into a high-stakes Fourth Amendment violation when a police officer responded to concerned citizen calls by approaching an independent journalist from behind with his service weapon drawn. ​The journalist, who was lawfully open carrying a holstered sidearm while documenting the encounter, was immediately subjected to an unlawful detention simply for exercising his constitutionally protected rights. Under established Wisconsin law and 2011 Act 35, the open carrying of a firearm by a law-abiding adult is entirely legal and does not, on its own, create the reasonable articulable suspicion required for a Terry stop or an accusation of disorderly conduct. ​Despite acknowledging that the journalist had committed zero crimes, the responding officer initially told him he was not free to leave and repeatedly pressured him to surrender his government ID and personal phone number under the pretext of "preventing future 911 calls." The journalist stood firm on his Fourth and Fifth Amendment protections, asserting his right to privacy and reminding law enforcement that public discomfort does not supersede the U.S. Constitution, and that the duty of the department is to educate concerned callers on the law rather than harass, detain, or draw weapons on journalists peacefully exercising their fundamental rights. Know your rights, be willing to stand up and exercise them.