If Law Enforcement is going to threaten to arbitrarily kill legally armed American citizens, is this not what the right to self-protection is all about? Many American see the Second Amendment as the founding father's way to ensure the citizens always had the ability to resist a tyrannical government. And isn't an officer threatening to kill any citizen a clear-cut example of tyranny?"
If it wasn't bad enough for Canton Police Chief Dean McKimm and the now-off-the-streets but still employed Officer, Daniel Harless when the video became big news on Ohio television stations, now the story has made national news.
Currently, Canton Ohio Officer Daniel Harless seems to be exercising his right to remain silent; something he probably should have done on that fateful night of June 8 2011, when he and his partner rolled up behind the car in which Mr. Bartlett was the driver. It is not clear what Mr. Bartlett was doing that night, nor is it relevant, but on the video, while he is being threatened with execution multiple times, he displays a monumental amount of grace under fire.
But what about Ohio's law to promptly notify an officer if you are legally armed? In this case, the video shows Bartlett apparently trying to do that at least a few time, only to be told to “shut up” or ignored by the officer. Bartlett can be seen holding both his driver’s license and his concealed handgun license, trying to inform Harless of his armed status while “shut up”.
According to Ohioans for a Concealed Carry the officer was way out of line. Philip Mulivor, an OFCC coordinator said in a news interview:
The notification law fails everybody. Ohio should follow the lead of some other states and require officers to ask if there is a legal gun in the car, rather than requiring the driver to say it first.
After talking to quite a few of my friends who are in Law enforcement, I've been told most were trained to approach every vehicle as if the occupant(s) were armed. That’s some good advice if you ask me.
As OCers have found, depending upon the officer, encounters can vary from non-issues, to shit hitting the proverbial fan. If Bartlett was OCing he would probably have been shot to death by Harless,who would probably have over-reacted at the sight of a holstered firearm.
Currently only a few states require legally armed citizens to notify an officer if they are armed. Why should they? Second Amendment supporters believe that if a legally armed citizen is minding their own business, it's nobody else’s business.
This "duty to inform" has caused other issues in the past. It happened to my friend Bryan.
Officer Harless is on “administrative leave” and went on sick leave earlier this week. Gun owners reacting to the horrid actions in the video are calling for him to be fired and prosecuted. Chief McKimm has promised a full investigation, but many predict that Harless will get a “slap on the hand” followed by some additional training, and a return to “his beat”.
