He looks like he’s trying to index his shooting hand with his flashlight hand, and doing a poor job of it. There are other, better techniques for doing this. I practice using the Harries technique, which seems natural for me. (Others disagree: see, Don't use the Harries flashlight technique (VIDEO) :: Guns.com) The cited critique of the Harries mentions that a downside of it is the potential to rest the flashlight hand against the pistol slide.
The officer in the reddit video looks like they’re doing a more extreme version of that, which I’d first attribute to great stress being felt by the officer. EDIT: I really doubt the officer was trained to do that technique that way. If the officer is under great stress, with accompanying tunnel vision, adrenaline dump, and cognitive issues, it becomes easier to understand—but not condone—why the officer claimed to see a gun when there obviously wasn’t one.
And now I read upthread where, there was a firearm present in the car, but it was ‘out of reach’. Uh-huh, OK.
Something got the officer thinking gun, and rattled him enough to do whatever half-assed thing he was doing with the light, weapon, and radio. Messing around with a firearm in the vehicle interior before the officer approached, or even rooting around in the interior for, say, registration and proof of insurance, or to get your phone playing to Facebook Live, might be enough to get that response from the officer. Especially if he sees something like the out of reach firearm in the car, on his way up to the window.
Can you explain what this means? It seems to imply that you don’t believe something about the story. Open carry is apparently legal in Arkansas without a permit, so I would expect that cops see guns within reach, out of reach, etc., all the time. Since it’s legal, seeing a gun in a car shouldn’t raise any extra suspicions, right? Just curious about what you were saying up there.
Well, there’s seeing a gun, and then there’s seeing a gun. Especially when the reddit article starts out with a bit about lying POS cop yelling “Gun!” at first, and only changing his mind once he figures out he’s on Facebook Live. The story changes if there’s actually a gun in the car.
I am not familiar with Arkansas laws on open carry, specifically how they intersect with laws against brandishing. I am familiar with how Texas does it. Here comes a bit of statutory language from the Texas Penal Code:
Let’s parse this. Without a License to Carry a Handgun, one may carry a handgun on or about the person (which I believe extends to anywhere in reach, so in the passenger cabin), if the handgun is not in plain view. It needs to be concealed: glovebox, holster in your waistband, in your backpack on the floor: it just needs to not be seen. OTOH, in plain view, one needs a LTC, which is just a renamed concealed carry permit (requires mild background check, not a felon, not a wife beater, etc…), and the weapon must be carried in a belt or shoulder holster. Rolling around on the floor of the passenger compartment or sticking out of a map pocket won’t count. Further, when the officer sees said weapon in plain view, on your person or out of reach, the officer is entitled to see if the possessor has a LTC. Those are just a few ways one could be breaking the law, while ‘openly carrying’ in Texas, even though ‘Texas allows open carry.’
Arkansas allows open carry without a permit, you say. Well, that’s quite different from Texas, and I’d like to know how AR distinguishes legal open carry from brandishing. Is it legal to have an holstered firearm sitting next to you on the seat in AR? How about unholstered? Is the presence of that firearm in plain view sufficient to allow the officer to confiscate it temporarily for the duration of the stop, for officer safety? I don’t know.
I do know, from my own experiences in Texas, that a holstered concealed handgun possessed by the driver is not a big deal: the driver/registered owner having an LTC comes up when the registered owner of the vehicle is discovered, and so does proof of insurance, which is nice; “Mr. GG, I understand you have a LTC, is there a weapon in the car?” “It’s on you? Don’t touch yours, and I won’t touch mine.” Etc… But then I’m not holding a phone in my hand, my hands are on the steering wheel as soon as I grab my credentials, and I’m not initially claiming there’s no weapon present, but wait there is, it’s just out of reach.
My comment though was more annoyance at how the reddit story was initially spun, and also an inference of, if there actually was a weapon in the car, even though the headline of the video said there wasn’t, what else is the video publisher leaving out of their account?
This is really veering away from GQ territory, so I’ll say two things:
Texas law on open or concealed carry is entirely irrelevant. It’s my understanding that in Arkansas, you may open carry without any permit whatsoever. I don’t know how he could have been brandishing if one hand was up in the air and the other was carrying the phone.
Maybe we should continue this conversation in the Pit thread about Controversial Encounters. It’s not that I want to start a fight, but your answer had almost nothing GQ-worthy that I can respond to.
Brian Eno designed his early Roxy Music costume with feathers sticking out at oblique angles. But he wasn’t dancing and making them fall off. He designed the costume to produce visual appeal from a very restricted set of small movements, controlling a synthesizer. In his case, there were no feathers flying.
