Video has gone viral, viewed more than 38,000 times in JanuaryMore than 10,000 people in the last week alone have already viewed a video going viral on the Internet that shows a motorist being arrested in Florida despite legally carrying a gun.
The dashboard cam video shows a Citrus County deputy arresting Joel Smith, the man with the gun, and now gun advocates say the video is proof Florida needs to change its current law.
"Your license tag expired," said Deputy Alan Cox in the video.
Seventeen seconds after getting out of the car, Smith was asked for his registration and insurance. As he turned, something was slightly visible in his back pocket.
"Why do you carry a gun for?" Cox asked.
Ten seconds later, Smith was being held at gunpoint.
"Put your hands right up, or I'll shoot you in the (expletive) back," Cox said. "Get down on the (expletive) ground now."
Smith is legally licensed to carry a concealed weapon, but was handcuffed and arrested anyway, charged with carrying a prohibited weapon openly.
The United Sportsmen of Florida calls it an overreaction.
"A law enforcement officer losing it and abusing a law-abiding citizen who had done nothing wrong, and was doing anything he could to cooperate," said Marion Hammer, of the United Sportsmen of Florida.
When the case got to the courthouse, the state attorney declined to prosecute, saying there was little chance a jury would convict.
Florida law was changed in 2011 to say the brief viewing of a gun in a non-threatening manner is not a crime. United Sportsmen said Smith's case and another are proof Florida needs to do more.
"They're arguing that the accidental exposure was not brief," Hammer said.
Smith's attorney for the arrest called Smith's cellphone and found the number had been changed. A listed landline is also no longer in service.
The charges against Smith were dropped 17 days after the arrest. Cox has been put on administrative leave pending an internal investigation.
The statute's clear, max fine: $25. [Link](A civil violation, at worst, and it doesn't even appear to be that.)
Now, of course, Obysmal doesn't want folks to be aware of that. (After all, they're busy trying to change laws on "assault rifles," when no one has seen the 24/7 surveillance videos at Sandy Hook and NBC, CBS & ABC all reported the AR-15 was found in the kid's car.... hmmm.....and yet, the kids were killed with RIFLE rounds.) HURRY UP! WE MUST HAVE A NEW LAW! Hmm... feels... sounds . . . kinda familiar.... Hmmm. ah! PatrioSh*t Act! No way it could have been written in the time it supposedly was - the way it locked into the various administrative codes and the statutes, etc. etc.
Now they (sadly, quite reasonably) expect AmeriKans to buy into some MORE LAWS.
(As if NO laws were broken at Sandy Hook.... What a farce. Don't create a law; investigate the real crime! What happened to the three arrestees???? Why were they armed with multiple weapons and body armor and THEN LET GO???? )
Hmm. Kinda sounds like... hmmm. I KNOW: The ISRAELIS CELEBRATING 9/11! (They said, On Israeli TV, "We were only there to document the event." and the MSM sed . . . nada/zip. just like they didn't report the unexploded nanothermite (who'd ever even heard of that before? Only folks in the Pentagon and Israel) that is STIILL, AT THIS VERY MOMENT, EASILY FINDABLE DOWNWIND FROM THE DUST CLOUD....
AND THE MSM SAYS....nada.
Re this: The MSM will say... nada. Maybe bury it in a blurb on page C-37.
Whatever. Evil is as it does.
R.C.