Open Carry Is Legal in Michigan – That’s Why the Confrontation in This Video Has Sparked a Federal Lawsuit | Video | TheBlaze.com

Open Carry Is Legal in Michigan – That’s Why the Confrontation in This Video Has Sparked a Federal Lawsuit | Video | TheBlaze.com
JohnButts@JBMedia - Reports:

In the state of Michigan, it is legal to openly carry a handgun. However, when a police officer in Grand Rapids responded to a March 3 call about a man doing exactly that, he drew his weapon and ordered the man to the ground.

Screengrab via MLive.com video

The interaction was captured on video and will likely be used as evidence in a federal lawsuit filed by open-carry advocate Johann Deffert. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. district court in Grand Rapids, lists Police Chief Kevin Belk, Officer William Moe and two other officers as defendants.

Though the video only captures part of the incident, the police car’s dash cam captures minutes of audio. Police first dispatched an officer to investigate a “suspicious person” with a holstered firearm.

“It does look like he’s got a handgun on,” Moe can be heard telling a dispatcher in the video. The officer also suggests the man is “talking to nobody.”

With traffic stopped, Moe drew his firearm and ordered 28-year-old Deffert to the ground.

“Do not move. Why do you have a handgun on you?” the officer asked.

“It’s my constitutional right to defend myself,” Deffert replied.

Later in the video, Deffert continuously informed the officer that he was not a felon and he was legally openly carrying his gun.

“I gotta make sure you’re not a felon, right?” the cop replies.

“Actually, you don’t. That’s not necessary. I can show you the penal code…” Deffert says.

Shortly later, the officer added: “Is that what you do on a Sunday, you want to stroll down the road?”

Deffert again told the officer that “it’s not against the law.”

“It’s illegal for you to stop me for it in the state of Michigan,” Deffert is then heard telling Moe in the footage.

“I’m not breaking a law. … I’m just walking,” he added, telling the officer that he was returning home from the New Beginnings restaurant.

“You’re talking to yourself. You’re going down the road here with a loaded handgun.Could I just think, maybe, you might be some kind of a nut?” Moe barked back. He also tells Deffert that he needs to check his criminal and mental health history.

The officer eventually released Deffert, telling him, “you’ve got everybody fired up around here today.” He was not charged with a crime.

MLive.com provides an edited version of the 14-minute encounter between Moe and Deffert:

City Attorney Catherine Mish defended the officer’s action, calling the response “very reasonable.” She argued that Deffert was acting strange and talking to himself near a church service.

Deffert’s attorney, Steven Dulan, told MLive.com that his client’s constitutional rights were violated when he was unlawfully detained by police.

The city is calling for the lawsuit to be dismissed based on “reasonable suspicion.”

“The stop, pat-down search, and brief detention of plaintiff were supported by reasonable suspicion and/or other legal cause,” assistant city attorneys Margaret Bloemers and Kristen Rewa wrote.

Obama: Won't wait for legislation to advance 2014 priorities - Yahoo Finance

Obama: Won't wait for legislation to advance 2014 priorities - Yahoo Finance
JohnButts@JBMedia - Reports:
Jan 14 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Tuesday he would not wait for Congress to pass legislation to advance his policy priorities this year and said he was "getting close" to finishing a review of U.S. surveillance practices - to be unveiled on Friday.

Obama, speaking to reporters during a cabinet meeting at the White House, foreshadowed his upcoming State of the Union address and what appeared to be a new messaging strategy by emphasizing his ability to take executive actions without approval from lawmakers.

"We are not just going to be waiting for legislation in order to make sure that we're providing Americans the kind of help that they need," he said.

"I've got a pen, and I've got a phone. And I can use that pen to sign executive orders and take executive actions ... and I've got a phone that allows me to convene Americans from every walk of life," he said.

Obama began last year with high hopes of making progress on gun control, immigration reform, and other issues after giving an inaugural address that rallied his base and set an aggressive tone for his second term.

But the year concluded with few legislative achievements. His gun control efforts largely failed and an immigration reform bill passed in the Senate but stalled in the House of Representatives.

White House officials, while referring to 2014 as a "year of action," have already played down the prospect of getting a lot of laws passed and told reporters that they would not measure the year's success by the administration's list of legislative victories.

Obama again listed immigration reform as a priority for the year. He will need Congress to turn his goals on that issue into law. The president also emphasized his goal of getting the U.S. economy to recover faster.
"The message to my cabinet - and that will be amplified in our State of the Union - is that we need all hands on deck to build on the recovery that we're already seeing. The economy is improving, but it could be improving even faster," Obama said.

"And I am absolutely confident that in 2014, if we're all working in the same direction and not worrying so much about political points but worrying much more about getting the job done, that we can see a lot of improvement this year," he said.

Republican speaker of the House John Boehner, whose support Obama will need for the administration's legislative priorities, said the president had lost focus on the economy.

"If the president's serious about wanting to improve the prospects for our economy - and higher wages and better jobs - all he has to do is pick up the phone and call Democrat leaders in the Senate and ask them to move one of these dozens of bills that we've sent over there that would help put Americans back to work," Boehner said.

On a separate issue, Obama is scheduled to make a speech on Friday outlining his decisions on how to reform controversial surveillance activities by the National Security Agency that were made public through revelations by former U.S. contractor Edward Snowden.

Asked if he had finished his NSA review, Obama said: "It's getting close."