Posted on 04/11/2012 9:53:16 AM PDT by marktwain
Columbus, Ohio – Ohio State University Police detained and drew their weapons on student-activist Mike Newbern for demonstrating his support for gun rights by wearing an empty holster to a candlelight vigil for Trayvon Martin on Wednesday.
Newbern, the president of Buckeyes for Concealed Carry, was taken forcibly into police custody just after 8:30 p.m., while he was standing at the front of the crowd wearing an empty holster, which was clearly visible on his belt, and with his hands crossed in front of his chest.
A police report released on Thursday indicates two officers drew their firearms before approaching Newbern and removing him from the vigil. They searched and questioned Newbern and confiscated his personal belongings, including his empty holster and camera case, before placing him handcuffed in the back of a cruiser for 30 minutes. Newbern was released at 9:07 p.m. but was informed by police that the field investigation would be forwarded to the university’s Committee of Academic Misconduct where he could be charged with disorderly conduct.
Newbern, who is a certified firearms safety instructor, said on Thursday he decided to attend the vigil to exercise his First Amendment right to demonstrate in favor of Ohio’s concealed carry laws. He said he suspects’ campus police and students harassed him because he is the leader of Buckeyes for Concealed Carry, a group Ohio State University President Gordon Gee has publically described as "vigilante."
On Tuesday, for example, President Gee expressed his continued opposition to the right for students to conceal carry on the Ohio State University Campus.
"You and I can debate that all day long and you have clear arguments," Gee said, addressing his remarks to Newbern. "But, I am in charge and we are not going to do it."
"We are very vocal in our struggle and I have become the face of our cause," Newbern said. "By invoking the most violent and most vivid imagery possible, they attempt to paint our progress towards self-defense as anything other than the natural rights that they are. And in this instance, the administration's toxic dialogue ran to its natural conclusion, which could have been prevented through more civil discourse."
EDITOR'S NOTE: Buckeye Firearms Foundation is looking into the situation. We are concerned for officer safety, but also for the civil rights of citizens. Campus security is a concern for many students, and having those who exercise their First Amendment rights on the topic hauled off at gun point will not solve any problems.
In John Lott’s book he stated his research showed LEO’s shot the wrong person 12% of the time. CCW holders about 1%...
Post of the day!
>That veil of protection needs to be pierced for law enforcement at all levels.
Very much agreed; I am currently thinking of tackling the situation in my current state via its own State Constitution. (Which prohibits laws creating another “class of citizen,” I’m currently working on an argument that all the exceptions for “law enforcement” create a de facto second class of citizen: one which is exempt from many laws.)
Its clear you haven’t been paying attention to police shootings for the last 15 years.
If you want to pull a dark object out of a holster as the police come upon the scene, go ahead and do so. Just don’t ascribe that type of idiocy to the rest of us.
You can either respond to the realities of life or live (or die) in a fantasy world.
The proper response would be fifty or more students wearing empty holsters next time.
I used to be unhappy I never had the chance to attended college, now I’m glad.
Citizens with no criminal record should be able, at will, to carry, concealed or open, any firearm they please, hand gun or long gun, anywhere they please without let or hindrance by government authorities.
this guy being 'high profile', needs to file civil suits against the individual cops, their dept, as well as the universoty president and any of his admin that supported him for Rights deprivation and RICO too...
until this starts happening, the bullies with badges and ivory tower types will continue to use government guns on the citizenry...
or, to follow that logic, *Dont* Wear a holster? Where is the gun? There lies the problem as a policeman sees it.
same difference...
before long, everytime i see a cop gun, im going to consider calling in a man with a gun report...see if barney can find his own ass with both hands...literally...
” this guy being ‘high profile’, needs to file civil suits against the individual cops, their dept, as well as the universoty president and any of his admin that supported him for Rights deprivation and RICO too...”
YES!
These nervous nellies would faint if they went out to a grocery store in AZ. Guns everywhere : )
Id like to read it when its done, if thats possible...
Your post seems to imply then that those who were not killed or wounded by gunfire do in fact support a totalitarian state.
I agree.
I could apply the same tactic towards everyone from Georgia. However, I'm not a bigot.
It all hinges on what you mean by "worked with"
Let's assume that you work in one of the most dangerous cities - Baltimore and looking at the number of police killed by gunfire in the the last 20 years we get seven. The Baltimore police department is a bit over three thousand officers and a number of non-sworn employees. You didn't say they were friends, only that you worked with them. So, for example if you worked for the Baltimore PD, and you claimed that you worked with all 3000 then technically speaking you are correct.
However, if by "worked with" you mean on a day to day basis and that they were actually friends, then the numbers become tenuous. Looking at the typical number of friends from SNA (150) and saying that about 1/2 are from work, we get 75 or the odds that you actually knew any one that got killed are 75/3000 or .025. The odds of your being friends with two of them drop to .000625 or 1 in 1600 with three the odds drop to 0.000015625 or 1 in 64,000. You can see why I have a problem with what you said.
Who's cherry picking the worst? News reports of police abuse are common almost reaching the dog bites man status.
If you pull a dark object out of a holster when the cops are working, you deserve whatever reaction you get. It seems we disagree, but I would be glad to present your eulogy and tell folks you believed you didn’t deserve what happened to you and that you knew some cops were incompetent, but you decided to test the water anyway.
You’re one of those rare people who would rather be right and dead, rather than safe. My sympathies to your family.
Your curiosity about me is kind, however it contributes no useful information to the thread. Bye for now, and I look forward to your contributions on further threads regarding police matters in which I might participate.
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