California Detective Advocates Shooting Open Carriers!

[Paradigm]

Just...wow. It's like the Domelight scandal on the other side of the country.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,5858...latestnews

Quote:Gun rights advocates have a California police detective in their crosshairs after he apparently posted comments on Facebook advocating that "open carry" supporters should be shot.

East Palo Alto Police Det. Rod Tuason apparently posted the remarks on his Facebook page in response to a friend's status update, which suggested that gun advocates who carry unloaded weapons openly — which is legal in California — should do so in places like "Oakland, Richmond and East Palo Alto" and not just in "hoity toity" cities.

"Haha we had one guy last week try to do it!" Tuason replied. "He got proned out [laid face-down on the ground] and reminded where he was at and that turds will jack him for his gun in a heartbeat!"

Several comments later, the detective suggested shooting the gun rights advocates, some of whom have carried firearms openly in recent weeks in California's Bay Area, particularly at Starbucks locations.

"Sounds like you had someone practicing their 2nd amendment rights last night!" Tuason wrote. "Should've pulled the AR out and prone them all out! And if one of them makes a furtive movement … 2 weeks off!!!" -- referring to the modified duty, commonly known as desk duty, that typically follows any instance in which an officer is investigated for firing his weapon.

Those comments caught the attention of a California attorney and blogger, as well as a Virginia man who started a Facebook group calling for Tuason's termination.

John Taylor, whose Facebook group had 54 members as of midday Friday, said the Facebook thread confirmed gun owners' worst fears.

"Any sworn officer who suggests shooting law-abiding citizens for exercising their most basic constitutional rights deserves the full wrath of America's gun owners," Taylor told FoxNews.com. "It's an affront."

California's Penal Code makes it illegal to carry concealed weapons without a county-issued license. But it is legal to carry an unloaded weapon in plain view in a holster. In most cases, it is illegal for an unconcealed weapon to be loaded.

Taylor, of Arlington, Va., who has a concealed weapons permit in his home state, said he planned to write a letter to the East Palo Alto Police Department demanding that Tuason be fired.

"The targeting, harassment and intimidation of law-abiding citizens who are peacefully agitating for their rights by a police officer is an abomination to the Constitution, and is in fact the exact reason our Founding Fathers created the Second Amendment," Taylor said. "Police officers who think they are going to get between law-abiding Americans and their Second Amendment rights are going to find themselves in the line of fire."

Tuason's comments were first noticed by California attorney Kevin Thomason, who posted a screen grab of the detective's remarks on his Web site on Sunday.

"[Tuason] didn't realize that actual PRO-GUN people also read Facebook," Thomason wrote. "Amazingly, he posted the following comment about law abiding gun owners on a friend's page. Basically, he's saying 'prone them out' (face down on the ground), and if anyone moves, kill them. I don't make this crap up."

Thomason, a member of the National Rifle Association, wrote that Tuason's comments were "worth a call" to the East Palo Alto City Council, as well as to his superior officers.

Tuason, who has since removed his Facebook profile, did not return messages seeking comment on Friday. He is reportedly being investigated by the police department's professional standards division regarding the Facebook remarks.

East Palo Alto Police Sgt. Rod Norris said he was unable to comment on the matter, but Capt. Carl Estelle told the San Jose Mercury News that police officials must be careful not to violate Tuason's First Amendment rights, since the comments appeared on his personal Web site.

"In no way are his personal comments reflective of any policies or procedures here at the department nor does he speak for the police department," Estelle told the newspaper.

Uhhh...terroristic threats, anyone? Threatening to kill people is okay under the first amendment, but legal people carrying guns under the second amendment are targets?

[smithwessn]

It's horrifying that some LEO actually think this way. Someone should see to it that this guy never wears a badge again, but we know that would never happen.

[Paradigm]

You got that right...the captain is more concerned with his 1A rights than his terroristic threats.

This is just like Domelights, when the one Philly cop advocated shooting OCers. Same jackboots, different coast.

[Mark2528]

Capt. Carl Estelle is an idiot. I bet if this Detective would have written that his Captain was an A-hole or bad mouthed the chief of police or the politicians of his city, his first amendment rights would be right out the window along with his job. Freaking Hypocrites!

I guess they fail to realize that they are the Government, and the single most important job of the Government is to protect the rights of the people. I do believe that this Detective and Captain both raised their hand and took an Oath to support and defend the U.S. Constitution. Boy, how quick they forget. Pathetic! Cops like this make me sick, and give the good cops a bad name.

[shooter357]

Quote:but Capt. Carl Estelle told the San Jose Mercury News that police officials must be careful not to violate Tuason's First Amendment rights

Exactly what we(gun owners) have been saying all along. If you mess around with the 2nd A, people who do not own guns or those who do not want the general public to have them, tend to look the other way. Mess with the 1st A and their undies get in a bind. HYPOCRITES!!

[mudpike]

As we all know there are idiots in every group. This Tuason reminds me of one of those 'Rambo'
wanna-bees that needs his position & sidearm as a mark of his manliness. Instead of seeing a gun
as a tool, he dislikes the fact that an armed law-abiding citizen has that right to carry also. Sorry
little person that obviously believes a gun or a badge can make him a man.