I saw the cell phone video. They ordered the guy around 10 times to drop his gun. When cops have a gun trained on you, why wouldn't you drop it? Suicide by cop if ask me. Also his wife/girlfriend was saying "don't do it" to the guy over and over again.
Doesn't seem like anything worth rioting over to me.
The author makes a valid point.
Think about it this way: if the cops know you have legal weapons in your house, does that give them the right to SWAT your home in the middle of the night? No, of course not. They can order me to open the door, throw my weapons out all they want, they are not legally justified in doing so with a search warrant and probably cause.
Now - realistically - if they don't have a warrant and I refuse to comply, I am likely to get shot. So, should I automatically comply with an unlawful order from a police officer simply on the grounds to avoid a shooting? Perhaps, but perhaps officers should be held accountable for the consequences of unlawful orders where the victim does not comply, too.
So, a little bit of this, a little bit of that.
For the record: I live in NC and have open-carried. I have seen a dude shopping at the Wal*Mart open-carrying. I wasn't alarmed. Put the wrong cop in that situation and you've got a casualty, though.
Hoplophobes abound.
