[UPDATE BELOW] Active Duty Soldier Illegally Disarmed and Arrested
Channel: Texas 2A Attorney CJ Grisham
Date: 2013-04-16

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Before making an ass of yourself in the comments and blaming the victim here (me), I suggest you watch the full video for context here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLfGikbQkcM

UPDATE 26 MARCH 2017: The 3rd Court of Appeals ruled On Thursday, March 23, 2017, to uphold the bogus arrest and conviction. They said essentially that a cop doesn't have to know our articulate what law I'm breaking to disarm me if they find later I was breaking one - walking down the wrong side of the road.The system is corrupt and protects the police over the people.

UPDATE 18 NOVEMBER 2016: I want to really quickly give a shout out to SelfDefenseFund.com for their aggressive battle against a corrupt legal system. If you are a gun owner and you don't have legal protection, you're risking everything. I never thought I would ever find myself arrested and thrown in jail for not breaking law and for legally exercising my rights. I would be financially ruined now if I were not a member. If you join, let them know CJ sent you.

UPDATE 19 OCTOBER 2013:  Today, the prosecution was unable to prove beyond a shadow of doubt to a jury of six members that I had either resisted arrest or interfered with public duties.  As such, the judge declared a mistrial and rescheduled a retrial for November 18, 2013.  I want to thank my attorneys, Blue Rannefeld, Cole Combs, and Larry Kielberg for the outstanding job they did representing me this past week.

On March 16, 2013, my son and I were hiking along country roads among pastures and fields with my 15-year old son to help him earn his hiking merit badge.  I always enjoy these father/son hikes because it gives me time alone with my son.  As I always do when we go on these hikes and walks, I took my trusty rifle with me as there are coyotes, wild hogs, and cougars in our area.  In Texas, it is legal to openly carry a rifle or shotgun as long as you do so in a manner that isn't calculated to cause alarm.  In other words, you can't walk around waving your rifle at people. I always carry my rifle slung across my chest dangling, not holding it in my hands.  

At about the 5 mile mark of our hike, a voice behind us asked us to stop and the officer motioned for us to approach him.  He got out of his car and met us a few feet later.  He immediately grabbed my gun without any indication or warning and asked me what we were doing. I explained that we were hiking.  He then asked me, referring to my rifle, "Any reason why you have this?"  My response was a confused, "Because I can?"  If an officer pulls you over for doing the speed limit and then asks why you were doing the speed limit, wouldn't you say something similar?  These two questions and answers and were very cordial, but the officer didn't like my second response.

At that point, the officer said, "Oh, okay" while looking away and began to try taking my rifle from me.  He didn't ask for my rifle and he didn't suggest he would take it from me.  He simply began unhooking it from its sling.  My immediate reaction was to put my arms over the rifle and I calmly asked told not to disarm me.  At that, he slammed his right foot onto my left foot, pulled his service pistol on me and told me to take my hands off the weapon, which I immediately complied with.  I yelled for him to get off my foot, but instead he placed his gun to the back of my head and slammed me into the hood of his car. At this point, I remembered I had a camera on me (one of the requirements of the hiking merit badge is to document your hikes).  This video is the rest of that encounter.  Up to this point, I am not told why I am being stopped, why he tried to disarm me, or even that I'm under arrest.  He never once explained that he was responding to a call or that I am suspected of any crime.  All I knew at the time is that an officer of the law is trying to take my gun for absolutely no reason in the middle of the country in an area where people hunt all the time.  

We did not set out that Saturday morning to "make a point" or cause problems. Our goal was to complete a 10-mile hike and return home without incident. My son chose a route that was away from populated areas but near our home.  We intentionally avoided populated areas.

The arresting officer is Officer Steve Ermis and the supervisor is Sergeant Menix of the Temple Police Department.

I am being represented by the National Association For Legal Gun Defense.  If you would like to help fight for these rights, please donate here: https://www.selfdefensefund.com/donations.php

There is also a video with my story on the main site at www.selfdefensefund.com.  If you own a gun, I highly recommend signing up for these services.  For $12.50 per month, you have a $1 million insurance policy against similar abuses of authority.