San Antonio Police Deploy Taser Against Man Lawfully Carrying Firearm ~ Video

Taser
Taser
Open Carry Texas
Open Carry Texas

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:  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: 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: www.opencarrytexas.org

20 Comments
Most Voted
Newest Oldest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Carl Malone

Yet this guy didnt even file a law suit against the agency or officers! WHY???? He had an easy case!

chl_holder

I’m a chl holder and have several long guns but I think this movement is doing more harm them good. There is no need for someone to walk around with a loaded rifle. This kid is nothing but a smart mouth punk. Please if you think you need to be armed do it the right way. get you chl and know the law. you can carry but once someone is alarmed you are in violation of the law. Law does not state what may cause someone to be alarmed so yes just having an Ar-15 on your back is enough… Read more »

Rex

Uhh, hello?
There is no 911 caller that stated that Henry was brandishing his weapon. Sorry to tell you this, the cops lied.
Mark my words, the police will be unable to produce this 911 call.
If they could, they would have a right to accost and investigate, including; ID-ing, Disarming and arresting.
If they can produce that call they’re off the hook:
It won’t happen, because they lied.

Barry Peppers

Henry is an idiot!

Dean Weingarten

The people who called in the false report should be arrested, they should be prosecuted, and they should be subject to civil suit.

They could easily have gotten someone killed.

It is like calling in a false report of a bank robbery or a convenience store holdup.

Name

So why aren’t the people that lie about him pointing the gun arrested for filing a false police report or something. That would stop the callers. And if you train the 911 dispatchers to tell people that walking around is not against the law. Or are they telling callers we cant respond unless you say they are waving it and pointing it?

Mac

Seems like a lot of name calling going on here. Well lets see. I never said I think it should be illegal to carry a long gun in the open. I also think people should exercise their rights. BUT they may wish to use a little common sense when doing so! Showing up with a long gun at a pro gun event is fine. Walking down the road with a long gun coming to and from the range or hunting is fine. Walking around in a city with a high crime rate late at night with a long gun is… Read more »

Chuck

You are always going to have cowards who are afraid of guns and don’t mind lying about what they see. Then you have stupid cops who just want to believe them with no evidence.

Mike

So let me get this straight. We should not exercise our rights because even though what we are doing is legal, many people think it should be illegal, so therefore we should act as if it is illegal? So now government does not even have to go through the trouble of passing unconstitutional laws to take our rights away, they just need to convince us to pretend they did. If you are a gun owner and you would shoot someone because they are walking around with a gun or you think they may have bad intentions or you are afraid… Read more »

MontieR

Oldgringo therein lies the problem and you are part of it. The police ARE acting as criminals and you want to hide from them. These actions from the police are no more legal than robbing a liquor store at gun point. This is NOT acceptable at ANY level. Our rights are only as secure as we make them.

hippybiker

“Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety, and will eventually loose both.” Benjamin Franklin
This man was exercising his rights, and will eventually win. I smell a Federal Civil Rights law suit.

Mac

This is long but please bare with me. I just don’t think it’s a very good idea to open carry in some areas. I realize it maybe legal but I am not so sure of how smart it is. My fear is that some other gun owner or shop keeper with a concealed carry permit is going to encounter someone open carrying while they are making their funds transfer from their business or another risky endeavor. I fear they will mistakenly view some action the open carrier does as hostile or readying themselves to rob them. Then we will end… Read more »

James B. Towle

Come On!….the cop was very respectful…he was responding to call about a man with a gun pointing it at people….he just wanted to do his job. Why not cooperate with him…who walks around at night in a neighborhood with a loaded rifle AND a camera phone at the ready. Come on…..who are you kidding Vichique was looking for a confrontation with Police. Why was he out there? Where was he going? Did he just decide he would take a little stroll around the neighborhood with my loaded rifle? Was the Tazer necessary…probably not but it could have been ovoided easily… Read more »

Dan

Never trust the police to do the right thing. The cops have a “us against them” attitude when it comes to dealing with law abiding citizens. Never trust a cop. Avoid them and have nothing to do with them.

Jim

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?

NDB

Not the recommended method of challenging an unlawfully enacted ordinance.

Too many bad cops out there to trust any of them anymore.

MR BILL

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.

oldgringo

I apologize…My comment did take…Although there are times when it doesn’t!

oldgringo

Another comment that didn’t take…Something is wrong with this web site!

oldgringo

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 »