Welcome to my state

[aray]

Video: Motorcyclist arrested for recording cop brandishing gun with helmet cam [*UPDATED] — Autoblog (http://www.autoblog.com/2010/04/19/motorcyclist-arrested-for-recording-cop-brandishing-gun-with-hel/)

[Dietrich]

Geez Ray.Be careful up there.I`m surprised that they don`t wear swastikas.I`ve heard that Maryland law is kind of oppressive but this is downright scary.Don`t think I`ll be paying a visit to your fair state anytime soon.Why don`t you come on down south where you can play golf all year round?Heah?

[aray]

Geez Ray.Be careful up there.I`m surprised that they don`t wear swastikas.I`ve heard that Maryland law is kind of oppressive but this is downright scary.Don`t think I`ll be paying a visit to your fair state anytime soon.Why don`t you come on down south where you can play golf all year round?Heah?

Yeah, this kinda reminds me of the District of Columbia detective who pulled out his gun because his Hummer got hit by a snowball during a snowball fight in DC. See for example one of the many videos at: YouTube - Raw: US Cop Pulls Out A Gun During Snowball Fight (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMrhiBwF4MU)

So the idiot on the motorcycle should have been pulled over and cited for reckless driving. My wife & I call those sorts of morons "future greasy spots". Ditto jerks throwing snowballs at moving cars.

But ... in neither case did the people represent a lethal threat to the officers, attempt to resist arrest, etc. In both cases the officers pulled the gun out immediately upon exiting the vehicle, were in plain clothes, and did not immediately identify themselves as police officers. You don't pull your gun on a routine traffic stop nor, as the crowd chants, "You don't bring a gun to a snowball fight!"

I'm normally a very big fan of LEOs. But if any of us had brandished a gun in those circumstances, you know good & well we would have been arrested on the spot. These guys went way over the top in my opinion.

And as for coming on down south - love to. I'm originally from Florida, sorta. Actually my father was in the USAF so we moved around every few years as a kid but he retired to Florida. When I retire, we hope to move out of Maryland as fast as I can. Tennessee sounds good. So does Kentucky. We'll have to see...

[O'Dell]

Yeah, this kinda reminds me of the District of Columbia detective who pulled out his gun because his Hummer got hit by a snowball during a snowball fight in DC. See for example one of the many videos at: YouTube - Raw: US Cop Pulls Out A Gun During Snowball Fight (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMrhiBwF4MU)

So the idiot on the motorcycle should have been pulled over and cited for reckless driving. My wife & I call those sorts of morons "future greasy spots". Ditto jerks throwing snowballs at moving cars.

But ... in neither case did the people represent a lethal threat to the officers, attempt to resist arrest, etc. In both cases the officers pulled the gun out immediately upon exiting the vehicle, were in plain clothes, and did not immediately identify themselves as police officers. You don't pull your gun on a routine traffic stop nor, as the crowd chants, "You don't bring a gun to a snowball fight!"

I'm normally a very big fan of LEOs. But if any of us had brandished a gun in those circumstances, you know good & well we would have been arrested on the spot. These guys went way over the top in my opinion.

And as for coming on down south - love to. I'm originally from Florida, sorta. Actually my father was in the USAF so we moved around every few years as a kid but he retired to Florida. When I retire, we hope to move out of Maryland as fast as I can. Tennessee sounds good. So does Kentucky. We'll have to see...

Don't forget Georgia - the largest state east of the Mississippi. I grew up in Tennessee, and moved to Atlanta from Louisville. I prefer it here.

[aray]

Update on this story from John Stossel (now with Fox News formerly with ABC News):

Abuse of Power John Stossel (http://stossel.blogs.foxbusiness.com/2010/06/02/abuse-of-power/)

Finally, a humorous look at Maryland's flags. I wish I could take credit for this but I can't; I copied it from someone else: