Ken never was a lucky dog
Posted on 01/14/2014 5:49:44 PM PST by servo1969
John Filippidis, silver-haired family man, business owner, employer and taxpayer, is also licensed to carry a concealed firearm.
He’d rather he didn’t feel the need, “but things aren’t like they used to be. The break-ins, the burglaries, all the crime. And I carry cash a lot of the time. I’m constantly going to the bank.
“I wanted to be able to defend my family, my household and the ground I’m standing on. But I’m not looking for any trouble.”
Filippidis keeps his gun — a palm-sized Kel-Tec .38 semiautomatic, barely larger than a smartphone in a protective case — in one of two places, always: in the right-hand pocket of his jeans, or in the safe at home.
“There are kids in the house,” Filippidis says, “and I don’t think they’d ever bother with it, but I don’t want to take any chances.”
He’s not looking for any trouble, after all.
Trouble, in fact, was the last thing on his mind a few weeks back as the Filippidises packed for Christmas and a family wedding in Woodridge, N.J., so he left the pistol locked in the safe. The state of Florida might have codified his Second Amendment rights, but he knew he’d be passing through states where recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions affirming the rights of individuals to keep and bear arms have been met by hostile legislatures and local officials.
“I know the laws and I know the rules,” Filippidis says. There are, after all, ways gun owners can travel legally with firearms through hostile states. “But I just think it’s a better idea to leave it home.”
So there the Filippidises were on New Year’s Eve eve, southbound on Interstate 95 — John; wife Kally (his Gulf High sweetheart); the 17-year-old twins Nasia and Yianni; and 13-year-old Gina in their 2012 Ford Expedition — just barely out of the Fort McHenry Tunnel into Maryland, blissfully unarmed and minding their own business when they noticed they were being bird-dogged by an unmarked patrol car. It flanked them a while, then pulled ahead of them, then fell in behind them.
“Ten minutes he’s behind us,” John says. “We weren’t speeding. In fact, lots of other cars were whizzing past.”
“You know you have a police car behind you, you don’t speed, right?” Kally adds.
Says John, “We keep wondering, is he going to do something?”
Finally the patrol car’s emergency lights come on, and it’s almost a relief. Whatever was going on, they’d be able to get it over with now. The officer — from the Transportation Authority Police, as it turns out, Maryland’s version of the New York-New Jersey Port Authority — strolls up, does the license and registration bit, and returns to his car.
According to Kally and John (but not MTAP, which, pending investigation, could not comment), what happened next went like this:
Ten minutes later he’s back, and he wants John out of the Expedition. Retreating to the space between the SUV and the unmarked car, the officer orders John to hook his thumbs behind his back and spread his feet. “You own a gun,” the officer says. “Where is it?”
“At home in my safe,” John answers.
“Don’t move,” says the officer.
Now he’s at the passenger’s window. “Your husband owns a gun,” he says. “Where is it?”
First Kally says, “I don’t know.” Retelling it later she says, “And that’s all I should have said.” Instead, attempting to be helpful, she added, “Maybe in the glove [box]. Maybe in the console. I’m scared of it. I don’t want to have anything to do with it. I might shoot right through my foot.”
The officer came back to John. “You’re a liar. You’re lying to me. Your family says you have it. Where is the gun? Tell me where it is and we can resolve this right now.”
Of course, John couldn’t show him what didn’t exist, but Kally’s failure to corroborate John’s account, the officer would tell them later, was the probable cause that allowed him to summon backup — three marked cars joined the lineup along the I-95 shoulder — and empty the Expedition of riders, luggage, Christmas gifts, laundry bags; to pat down Kally and Yianni; to explore the engine compartment and probe inside door panels; and to separate and isolate the Filippidises in the back seats of the patrol cars.
Ninety minutes later, or maybe it was two hours — “It felt like forever,” Kally says — no weapon found and their possessions repacked, the episode ended ... with the officer writing out a warning.
“All that time, he’s humiliating me in front of my family, making me feel like a criminal,” John says. “I’ve never been to prison, never declared bankruptcy, I pay my taxes, support my 20 employees’ families; I’ve never been in any kind of trouble.”
Face red, eyes shining, John pounds his knees. “And he wants to put me in jail. He wants to put me in jail. For no reason. He wants to take my wife and children away and put me in jail. In America, how does such a thing happen? ... And after all that, he didn’t even write me a ticket.”
Now, despite having fielded apologies from the officer’s captain as well as from a Maryland Transportation Authority Police internal affairs captain, John is wondering if he shouldn’t just cancel his CCW license.
For a guy who’s not looking for trouble, that’s not an unreasonable conclusion. And it would please fans of gun control by any means. But let’s hope John Filippidis, American family man, taxpayer and good guy, doesn’t cave, because it would be a sad statement about the brittleness of our guarantees — some would call them sacred — under the Constitution.
God will save us if we ask Him, recall he was willing to spare the cities if there were only a few righteous men there. As for the Totalitarians, they were (allegedly) elected, and often passed their laws by popular acclaim. (Even Hitler was voted into office by an incredible majority).
They talk a good game, they know how to lie, how to offer what people want and tell them what they want to hear. (We'll keep you safe, we'll feed you, we'll provide you health care, we'll keep the trains running on time, just put on these chains...and people do it willingly, even eagerly.)
Now, that those who would not learn from history are becoming it, the true colors of the thieves of Liberty are showing through the thousands of cracks in their facade, and hopefully that facade crumbles before it takes general armed conflict to restore the Republic.
There are two camps, and the break between them started long ago, but I felt it happening in earnest in the last decade, just as when Duh-1 was elected, I knew it was wrong.
Most city people crave a controlled environment. They think because humans built it, they can control it. Get them out past the end of the sidewalk and they get nervous. Get them in the company of those who can deal with what Nature throws at them and they question their manhood.
For this reason, the high population urbane tend to look down their noses (from their cities, of course) on the folks who live in rural areas. Partly because they feel inadequate and partly because anyone so self-sufficient scares the bejeebers out of them (even though they love such heroes in fiction, they fear people like them in real life.)
I was one and I was not scum. Your hypothesis is errant.
I agree. My husband has drilled that into me over the years.
Of course the Lord will save us from the 2nd death. I am NOT talking about that; I mean God's wrath will be poured on America in THIS life.
Not only do I not blaspheme, I am a follower of Christ and very knowledgeable of His Word. Anyone who reads the OT knows that God let Israel have it (in this life) for repeatedly disobeying him. Twice, three times (one somewhat limited) Israel went into captivity for this.
Other countries (Sodom and Gomorrah, the Hittites, etc) got the wrath of God for doing EXACTLY what is done in any large city in America today.
America had a good foundation, but as a nation, we lost our way and disobeyed God on a massive scale. His wrath does not sleep. Christians may be saved from the 2nd death, but this country is entirely deserving of His wrath in this life. And if what was done to Israel and other nations in the OT was any guide, we're next.
Undoubtedly the Lord will spare His people in America (certainly from the 2nd death), but even so, America could fall and be conquered by her enemies. And America would be entirely deserving, and undoubtedly Israel was when she was conquered, along with the righteous who were in her.
By the way, I think West Monroe, Louisiana will be on the "spare" list :-)
ALL people are deserving of “wrath in this life.” You too!
But if that’s all God ever did, that would leave Him with a piss poor witness, pardon my French.
God can see what’s under the surface; you can’t. You see externals. I have had enough spiritual experience to sense a deep undercurrent of redemption in the land, in spite of the troubles it is groaning under, even self inflicted troubles. This current could well spring forth on America, showing in mercy again. And then what will you do, with your certainty of doom? I hope you will admit (with gladness!) that you were wrong. And in the meantime reserve judgment and pray for the best, lest you find yourself cheering for the wrong team in this fight.
So yes. I stick by my assertion that you yet blaspheme. You sell God short on His redemption side. That’s like jeering at the Cross.
I don't. In fact I don't own weapons at all.
And this is exactly why!
Oh, also your Sodom/Gomorrah example is cockamamie, by the numbers at least.
Don’t you remember that little dialogue between Abraham (forefigurer of Christ, incidentally) and God? Yeahhhh!!!
Sodom was SO rotten that God got the few people who would repent, out of there. Then came the brimstone. (We are not told of their eternal fates, and that is irrelevant. It served as visible illustration, and the bible says so.)
I’m not dealing in “second death” here. I’m dealing in God’s witness, His bragging rights of goodness, right here in this sad world. When He chooses to redeem, do not fight Him! You will get crushed if you do.
OK with you guys if we get back on topic here?
The question was asked why Florida gives out info about concealed-carry permits? It may be that they don’t; well, not exactly. I live in Washington State and I have an “enhanced” driver’s license, which allows me to cross into Canada or Mexico without much hassle. It contains additional information on the magnetic strip on the back which I have reason to believe includes the fact that I have a CCP.
I’ve asked a number of police officers if it does and have never gotten a straight answer. The best I ever got was “.....maybe....”. I got stopped on a minor traffic infraction a couple of years back and when the cop returned my license she asked me if I was carrying my pistol that day. I told her I wasn’t and then asked how she knew I owned one. Her answer was, “I saw your permit when you were removing your driver’s license”. Never mind that I keep it a separate part of my wallet.
It would be worth checking to see if Florida and other states encode their licenses with that sort of data. I shudder to think what else might be on there.
It very well may be! (8^D)
Welcome to Maryland. Now go back to your free state, and return no more.
Maryland "Freak State" PING!
The elevated stretches of I-95 north and south of the tunnel, as well as the I-395 spur, are under the jurisdiction of the MTA, so it's not implausible for the MTA police to pull you over outside the tunnel.
Your tolls at work.
Ken never was a lucky dog
But let’s hope John Filippidis, American family man, taxpayer and good guy, doesn’t cave, because it would be a sad statement about the brittleness of our guarantees — some would call them sacred — under the Constitution.
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Amen.
Let’s also hope that John is less forthcoming in telling the world so much about his life, especially details such as the fact that he carries a lot of money and has to go to the bank frequently. Yikes! Might as well wear a shirt that says, “Rob me”!
And his wife needs some basic education to stop talking and resist the urge to fill the silence before an interrogator
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Yeah, she was not too helpful, huh?
All cops are scum. Period.
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What a stupid thing to say. I have policemen in my family, and they are good and decent men.
Unfortunately, Mr. Filippidis didn’t get the name of the officer.
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I am confused. Another poster said that the driver was given a warning for speeding. That would have the officer’s name, right?
Heck, I don’t care if I ever go north of the Mason-Dixon line anymore....
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Maryland is below the Mason-Dixon Line.
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