Balls
It is interesting, though. In Baltimore, if a cop looks at you and you turn around and leave, that’s probable cause enough for them to detain and search you, and if they see so much as a switchblade that’s enough to be hauled to the station for an arrest.
Here, we have bunches of gang members known to be involved in criminal activity, and the cops say they can’t possibly do anything other than ask Twin Peaks to cancel biker night, until bullets started flying?
And what would have happened if Twin Peaks had made them not welcome? If this was a big gathering to try and stop a full scale war from breaking out, wouldn’t it have just happened elsewhere? Or perhaps been 10-15 dead in individual incidents over a period of months instead of 9 dead now and hundreds in jail?
What is it with bikers and weapons? Back Back as a young adult working in a convenience store in West Texas, mostly on the graveyard shift, there was an apartment complex across the street where some Bandidos lived. Now I have to say that these guys, as mean and nasty as they looked, were unfailingly nice and polite whenever they were in the store. They never caused trouble for me and were pretty cool to talk to. They were always a pleasure to have in the store.
I was held up three times over the course of my convenience-store career. After one time, this one Bandido who came in regularly – I seem to recall he was or had been vice president of the Houston chapter – commiserated with me. He asked me if I knew what he would have have done had he driven up during the course of the robbery. I said no, I didn’t. He said, “Step outside with me a moment.” I followed him outside, where he opened up the trunk of his car. There was a friggin’ arsenal in there! He started picking up guns one at a time, saying, “I’da got him with this. Or with this. Or with this” …etc. I was like, “Ah, well, um, too bad you didn’t drive up then.” Yeah, right.
First, the case in Baltimore was not “turn around and leave”, but “turn around and run”. Which provided reasonable suspicion (note: not probable cause) for detaining/searching. What was providing the “reasonable suspicion” for the bikers in the restaurant? The fact that some of the bikers have in the past been involved in criminal activity is not sufficient.
Also, in your example the switchblade would be against the Baltimore city ordinance. For the example of bikers in that Texan restaurant carrying concealed weapons (if they had the CC license, of course) was legal.
Could all 170 of the people arrested really be put to death? I have heard that they were all charged with capital murder and may face the death penalty.
What exact lessons do you think are transferable from a raid/siege on the compound of a religious cult and a melee at a biker bar?
They were outside on public property. The fight started inside. If there was more cooperation from the restaurant then maybe they would have had officers inside providing security. What isn’t adding up?
In Texas open carry of long guns and shotguns are legal. Concealed permits for handguns are easy to get. However, it is illegal to carry in an establishment that is licensed to sell alcohol. I’m assuming the restaurant serves alcohol. But there would be no way to know if they were carrying unless they put security measures in place.
It is legal, in Texas, to carry concealed in a restaurant, whether it serves alcohol or not. Bars are a different matter. The place has to derive 51%+ of its business from selling alcohol and post a sign for concealed carry in it to be illegal. Restaurants don’t. Bars do.
You’re right. It has either changed since I was stationed there or my memory is faulty. As long as 51% of the business is not from alcohol sales it is legal. So a restaurant is good, a bar isn’t. But open carry is prohibited anywhere alcohol is licensed to be sold.
ETA: you were editing while I was writing.
Well, there is RICO which is what a lot of the people nabbed are being held under but that is more a federal charge. Not all jurisdictions are willing to use it. But there are some places where just having a three piece patch on your back is going to at least get you cuffed.
I would debate the very first part of your statement though. Not everyone in a “outlaw” club is engaged in criminal activity. The percentage varies, I’m sure, from club to club but a lot are just looking for something the rest of their life/lifestyle doesn’t provide - a rather intense form of brotherhood like the military. And quite a few are indeed former military just as they always have been. Its hard to paint everyone with the same brush.
And even in legal AMA or “owners club” chapters there are always that one everyone else hates to have mentioned. In both the Blue Knights (LEO who ride) and the Harley Owners Group there have been chapters that operated illegal activities or had members operate through the chapter. It happens.
It’s back to the military/ex-military thing again. The rest of your post could hold true for a lot of Volunteer Fire Departments. I’m in a state where hunting is a big thing but judging by the things I saw and heard around the firehouse I’m betting we could have matched the local outlaws gun for gun.
I’ll say it again, but a lot of my first post or so was based on the Sunday night Dallas news and the early Monday a.m. newspaper articles. A lot more has come out since then.
I’m a little surprised that nobody’s brought up the (IMO absurd) breathless articles starting to appear claiming systemic racism because the Waco cops weren’t beating the bikers down and all that.
Officers with weapons out before any violence started. OK - this is Texas. But is that standard operating procedure? In what could have been an already tense situation, did that push things over the edge?
Where the fight started, who started it, and who fired at who are all still up in the air. Some reports say inside; some say outside in the parking lot. Some reports are the cops just fired in the air but the one statement by their commander seems to say they did actually fire at the bikers and may have hit some.
This whole thing is a mess and it may be one of those events where the truth may not be known for a very long time.
(I’ve never worn a three-piece patch but I’ve been around them and in the carefree days of my youth even gone on rides with them. I’ve also never carried a badge but almost everyone in the shooting leagues I’ve belonged to is LEO or former. I know enough about both sides and how they react to each other to be dubious about some of the things being reported.)
Yeah, being outnumbered 10:1 by angry, violent, armed 1%-ers has nothing to do with it. Gotta be racism.
An important question. Did the bikers leave the local CVS unharmed? My elderly Aunt gets all her meds there.
Tell her to leave her colors at home if she doesn’t want any trouble.
Ahhh, c’mon ------ knowing me you had to expect that one. 
It’s always a good idea to take initial eyewitness accounts with a grain of salt. Especially from those inclined to jump in front of cameras. Here is a good recent article that examines that.
Maybe there is video from the restaurant or the surrounding stores. Or maybe they will need to sift through all those accounts and match it with the physical evidence before a better picture emerges. Either way I’m sure we don’t have all the information yet.
As for the guns being out, what does that mean? Did they break leather and have handguns drawn and pointed? Did the SWAT team have their long guns out and just hanging from their slings? Big difference.
I’m curious about the innocent bystanders who apparently sat there and kept eating their dinners while three biker gangs gathered in the restaurant. Are the wings that good?
No, but the “twin peaks” are. 
Besides, the other patrons are Texans. What’s a little shootin’ when there’s grub to be had?
When the context of that name became clear, I had to go bang my head on the wall.
ObMAD: I recall an exchange in a MAD movie parody - I think it was one of the “Death Wish” duodecology - where a native Texan and (Charlie Bronson?) were at a staged “wild west shootout.”
Texan: “Yeah, the tourists love these things 'cuz they think we use real bullets.”
CB: “Why are you here, then?”
Texan: “Cuz I KNOW we use real bullets!”