San Antonio, TX –-(Ammoland.com)- On March 31, 2014, a member of Open Carry Texas was exercising his right to self defense while on a walk near his home in San Antonio.
San Antonio Police Department officers from the West Substation responded to what they claim was an individual waving his rifle around and pointing it at people. Nothing could be further from the truth.
After approaching and recognizing that Henry Vichique wasn’t a threat and that the call was a hoax, officers still attempted to disarm a law-abiding citizen walking home from a friend’s house. As officers were about to let Henry go about his business, another officer arrived on scene and decided to elevate the tension by tazing our member. Henry was then arrested for having a loaded firearm within city limits, a local ordinance that directly violates state pre-emption laws pertaining to firearms as contained in Local Government Code 229.001(a)(1), which states: “a municipality may not adopt regulations relating to…the transfer, private ownership, keeping, transportation, licensing, or registration of firearms, air guns, ammunition, or firearm.”
Mr. Vichique was charged under San Antonio Ordinance Section 21-16, Carrying loaded rifle or shotgun. The ordinance reads, “It shall be unlawful for any person, other than duly authorized peace officers, to carry a loaded rifle or shotgun on any public street within the city or in a motor vehicle while the same is being operated on any public street within the city.” Open Carry Texas maintains, and has maintained since this issue was first brought to our attention last year, that this ordinance is unenforceable and void due to the Texas pre-emption laws as stated above.
Open Carry Texas strongly objects to the abuses suffered at the hands of San Antonio Police Department officers against a law-abiding citizen exercising his right to keep and bear arms. Once again, the SAPD has shown that their force lacks in training, experience, common sense, and a basic understanding of Texas law and rights afforded to Texans by virtue of our state and federal constitutions. Ignorance of the law is no excuse, but that seems to be the rule of the day in SAPD.
We are planning a rally in support of Mr. Vichique on Sunday, April 6, 2014, at 2pm at the San Antonio Police Department – West Substation (7000 Culebra Rd, San Antonio, TX) in protest of this deplorable conduct by SAPD officers. An unedited video of the encounter can be found here: Â https://youtu.be/7hCONc6Va8I
For questions and more information, please contact Victoria Montgomery at [email protected] or CJ Grisham at [email protected]. Please also visit www.opencarrytexas.org.
About Open Carry Texas:Â Our purpose is to 1) educate all Texans about their right to openly carry rifles and shotguns in a safe manner; 2) to condition Texans to feel safe around law-abiding citizens that choose to carry them; 3) encourage our elected officials to pass less restrictive open carry legislation for all firearms, especially pistols; and (4) foster a cooperative relationship with local law enforcement in the furtherance of these goals with an eye towards preventing negative encounters. Visit:Â www.opencarrytexas.org
Yep! Stupid is as stupid does….cops that don’t know or care that the actions they take are illegal, and further climbs in the hole by tasing the individual. If your rights under the law don’t mean anything, I rekon we just need to turn our weapons over to the San Antonio Po-leese mens….duh!
Why is there a Constitution which IS the Rule of Law if the po-leese can do anything they want against a citizen performing legal acts?
Not the recommended method of challenging an unlawfully enacted ordinance.
Too many bad cops out there to trust any of them anymore.
The police are so used to dealing with the dregs of the earth,they dont know what to do when they come across a regular calm citizen.
I apologize…My comment did take…Although there are times when it doesn’t!
Another comment that didn’t take…Something is wrong with this web site!
Stupid is as stupid does…Right or no…You don’t go around the city at night carrying a loaded firearm…I wouldn’t even do so during day light hours knowing full well if seen some police officer is going to stop and question me…I’d better be having a good excuse other than it’s my right to open carry…This doesn’t fly with the poice very well…Even when I’m going to the firing range I make sure my guns are cased and I try to shield the loading of them from my neighbors…You never know who’s going to call the cops on ya having perceived… Read more »