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
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.
Henry is an idiot!
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.
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?
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 »
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.