Open Carry Activist Causes Lockdown At School, Then Taunts Police

An open carry activist in Madison, Michigan, caused a high school to be placed on lockdown last week, and then began taunting police officers who were called by parents who saw the man marching in front of the school while carrying a loaded shotgun.

The incident occurred last Thursday morning when a man carrying a shotgun and video camera began walking in front of Lamphere High School. As you might expect, police officials said they “received about a million 911 calls” from concerned residents in the neighborhood. The high school was then placed on lockdown for nearly an hour, until police,

“…determined the man was exercising his right to open carry and was not a threat.”

So a man near a school with a shotgun isn’t a threat? Excuse me if I beg to differ, but I happen to be a parent! If a guy is brandishing a gun outside the school my daughter attends, he is most definitely a threat!

The story, however, merely begins with the open carry lugnut and his “right” to have a loaded gun outside a school. The man, who as yet is unidentified—he goes by the YouTube handle Nunya Beeswax—then copped an attitude when the police began to ask him a few questions. An officer is heard asking the man how long he planned to be out in front of the school, to which he replied:

“Oh, the funny thing about you’re asking me a question is, I’m not going to answer it […] Anything I say can be held against me in a court of law, right?”

At this point, the officer tells Mr. Beeswax he has no plans to arrest him, and this only makes him angrier:

“Are you going to shoot me? […] That badge on my chest gives him no more rights than I have. You work for me and the tax payers, right?”

No, the officer says, he merely wants to have a conversation with Beeswax. Beeswax then took his lunacy to the next level, saying:

“No, I’m trying to talk to you, tough guy […] We all know y’all are chompin’ at the bit to put something on me.”

The officers got back into their cars and left Beeswax alone with his shotgun, his camera, and the voices in his head telling him to cause a scene and make a total asshat of himself.

Even other open carry advocates were offended by the actions of Beeswax. A pro-gun blog entitled “Bearing Arms”posted this message:

“Law enforcement officers were diverted, and school was disrupted, because this ‘gentleman’ insisted on open carrying past a high school, seemingly with the express intent of getting a rise out of authorities and making a public spectacle out of himself.”

I respect the right of Americans to legally possess guns for their personal protection. But the day you start doing so outside a school my child attends, I am going to call you on that action. As the old saying goes: Your rights end where my rights begin.

Watch the video for yourself!

 

This article was originally published by the same author at LiberalAmerica.org.

 

12 thoughts on “Open Carry Activist Causes Lockdown At School, Then Taunts Police

  1. Aside from the open carry issue. Walking past a particular site may while openly carrying a firearm may be legal. However walking back and forth or just standing Could be interpreted by a jury as an attempt to create a riot. This while in the possession of a firearm could easily then be construed as an attempt to create mass fear aka terrorism. At that point all rights are out the door. Then the idiot puts it on YouTube. Now it’s got a digital trace back to him. May as well have given his name. This shows he is an IDIOT WITH A GUN. Now there is reasonable reason to be in fear of life.

    • It’s easy to understand a parent’s alarm but unusual behavior and threatening behavior are two different things. Highly publicized massacre events lead to fears that assume the worst. The police arrived and found no intent to commit a crime and things worked as they should. His attitude is irrelevant. A great chunk of freedom is now lost at airports due to 9/11. More people are killed each year in car accidents but, we haven’t banned cars. In fact, I’ll bet the author picks their child up in a car. Life has dangers. I don’t want to sell my rights to government and then pray that gov’t. will treat me with benevolence. This is at the heart of American freedom. It’s not subject to practicality. And yes, there can be a price to pay. His exercising his rights is healthy. The saying, “If you don’t use them, you lose them” has merit.

      • Why is the argument always about cars killing more people than guns??? Cars were not made to kill people. Whereas guns are made for the specific purpose to kill and/or maim.
        There is a strict no firearms policy on school grounds. The Gun-free school zones act supersedes this man’s right to bear arms when it comes to being on school grounds. It was passed into law in 1990 and signed by your precious President Bush. So, what this man was doing was indeed illegal.
        As for banning guns. Why do you people always jump to the conclusion we want guns banned? It’s one extreme to the other with you people. We want better gun control laws, that will take steps in preventing the wrong people from having guns. We don’t want to take away guns.
        There are many laws when it comes to owning and driving a vehicle. You must register it every year, and if you are caught without insurance, or incur many traffic law violations, you will have your license and right to drive suspended or taken away completely. Personally, I find it sickening that we have more strict rules for driving a car than owning a gun, considering what both instruments were made for. One for transport, one to kill.
        Your point is moot on this subject, and I would suggest studying the laws a little closer before showing your ignorance.

        • And of course in most places you need a license and insurance to drive a car. I have no problem requiring that on both cars and arms.

      • It’s really quite simple. Stand in front of my kid’s school with a loaded shotgun and I’ll reach out and neutralize your idiot ass and you’ll never hear it coming.

        Just exercising my right to protect my family.

    • That stupid cars kill line. What was a car designed for? Now what was a guns designed for? They didn’t know if this douche was a threat until they talked to him. They then concluded he was just another Right Wong gun nut.

  2. There is a fine line between carrying a shotgun and brandishing one. When somebody starts marching back and forth in front of a school, the line becomes real fuzzy.

    • This man didn’t actually have the right to do what he did. The police should have taken him into custody. There is a law, which was passed and signed by President Bush, in 1990, declaring schools a gun free zone. This man was, in fact, breaking the law.
      I wonder to myself how the police would have reacted had the man been of a different race.

  3. Paula, I don’t use them, so I don’t care if I lose the right to carry them. Having people like this walk around with this right is what’s crazy, and demonstrates why we as a people don’t need it. I do need my car however, society is kind of set up for car ownership, unlike guns. Did the NRA come up with that argument that guns are as necessary as cars? I ask because I keep hearing from gun advocates that comparison of car deaths vs. gun deaths.

  4. The high school was then placed on lockdown for nearly an hour, until police,

    “…determined the man was exercising his right to open carry and was not a threat.”

    …I’m sure the students at Umpqua Community College would agree…oh wait…they’re dead…

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