Police Officer jokes on Facebook about shooting gun rights advocates

Aaron Gee

It's being reported that a police officer from East Palo Alto joked about gunning down proponents of the second amendment on Facebook. The article in today's Mercury News tells of the police officer in question joking about shooting someone as "2 weeks off".

After several more comments in the thread, Tuason apparently joked that officers should shoot the advocates, who have made recent headlines throughout the Bay Area for sipping coffee at cafes and performing other everyday acts with visible weapons.

"Sounds like you had someone practicing their 2nd amendment rights last night!" Tuason wrote. "Should've pulled the AR out and prone them all out! And if one of them makes a furtive movement ... 2 weeks off!!!"

The officer public remarks are causing a huge uproar at the popular calguns.net web site and among second amendment advocates. Several blogs and other news outlets have already picked up the story. Several members of the calgun.net website have filed complaints regarding the officers questionable comments with the East Palo Alto police department.

Will this be another Van Jones moment where the press ignores stories it doesn't like? The fact that I was alerted to this incident via email when I read the NYT, WSJ, and several other papers as part of my morning routine tells me that this story won't get much traction until it's so big the media can't ignore it. How will this be spun by the media when they do finally cover it? My bet's on the press story line going like this "Second amendment activists are dangerous and have no sense of humor, threaten police officer for making joke."

• Police Officer jokes on Facebook about shooting gun rights advocates
  
• East Palo Alto cop takes heat for Facebook remarks
  

Gotcha!

Radley Balko | December 6, 2008, 1:28pm

"Like Mark Draughn, I've been somewhat skeptical of Barry Cooper, the former drug cop turned pitchman for how-to-beat-the-cops videos. He comes off as more of a huckster than a principled whistle-blower, which I think does the good ideas he stands for (police reform) more harm than good.

But damn. I have to hand it to him. This might be one of the ballsiest moves I've ever seen.

KopBusters rented a house in Odessa, Texas and began growing two small Christmas trees under a grow light similar to those used for growing marijuana. When faced with a suspected marijuana grow, the police usually use illegal FLIR cameras and/or lie on the search warrant affidavit claiming they have probable cause to raid the house. Instead of conducting a proper investigation which usually leads to no probable cause, the Kops lie on the affidavit claiming a confidential informant saw the plants and/or the police could smell marijuana coming from the suspected house.

The trap was set and less than 24 hours later, the Odessa narcotics unit raided the house only to find KopBuster’s attorney waiting under a system of complex gadgetry and spy cameras that streamed online to the KopBuster’s secret mobile office nearby.

To clarify just a bit, according to Cooper, there was nothing illegal going on the bait house, just two evergreen trees and some grow lamps. There was no probable cause. So a couple of questions come up. First, how did the cops get turned on to the house in the first place? Cooper suspects they were using thermal imaging equipment to detect the grow lamps, a practice the Supreme Court has said is illegal. The second question is, what probable cause did the police put on the affidavit to get a judge to sign off on a search warrant? If there was nothing illegal going on in the house, it's difficult to conceive of a scenario where either the police or one of their informants didn't lie to get a warrant.

Cooper chose the Odessa police department for baiting because he believes police there instructed an informant to plant marijuana on a woman named Yolanda Madden. She's currently serving an eight-year sentence for possession with intent to distribute. According to Cooper, the informant actually admitted in federal court that he planted the marijuana. Madden was convicted anyway.

The story's worth watching, not only to see if the cops themselves are held accountable for this, but whether the local district attorney tries to come up with a crime with which to charge Cooper and his assistants. I can't imagine such a charge would get very far, but I wouldn't be surprised to see someone try.

Here's some local media coverage:"

• Gotcha
• Fourth Amendment