Cop’s AR-15 Dust Cover Inscription Used Against Him in Court
Robert Farago
March 17, 2016 271 comments
FYI - image is a link
“The Mesa [Arizona] police officer charged with second-degree murder for an on-duty shooting in January pleaded not guilty during his first court appearance Tuesday,” tucsonnewsnow.com reports. Officer Philip Brailsford [above] was released without bond. ‘He is not a danger to the community,’ Craig Mehrens, Brailsford’s attorney said. ‘He has honorably served the community as a Mesa police officer and he was honorably serving the day he received the call [to the shooting scene].'” Yes, well . . .
So, it seems that those aggressive gun inscriptions can and will be used against you in a court of law, as some have warned. My advice: just as you shouldn’t have a tattoo where a judge can see it, don’t go all Molon Labe on your firearm. Still, freedom of speech and all that. Right?Attorneys for the victim, Daniel Shaver, argued Brailsford was malicious during the shooting and raised questions about the gun used.
The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office said Shaver was on his hands and knees when Brailsford shot him five times inside a Mesa hotel. The gun used was a personal AR-15 assault weapon that had been approved for service use by the Mesa Police Department. However, Mesa police noted that their investigation of the shooting turned up a vulgar inscription on the rifle that doesn’t meet department policy.
“Inscripted on the officer’s gun, and I hate to use profanity, but it said, “you’re f*****,”’ Laney Sweet, Daniel Shaver’s wife said.
According to several sources, the rifle’s vulgar inscription is on the inside of the rifle’s dust cover. The inscription is only visible if the dust cover is open, which happens automatically in order to eject spent rounds while the weapon is fired.
“That statement tells me this is a person who’s enthusiastic about killing people,” Marc Victor, lawyer for Sweet and her late husband, argued. “That’s what that inscription means.”
[h/t JY]
WARNING: Inscriptions on Firearms Can Haunt You
- 308Mike
- Posts: 16537
- Joined: Wed Aug 13, 2008 3:47 pm
WARNING: Inscriptions on Firearms Can Haunt You
This is really messed-up, keep this story in mind if and when you have certain inscriptions on your firearms and you used one in a shooting:
POLITICIANS & DIAPERS NEED TO BE CHANGED OFTEN AND FOR THE SAME REASON
A person properly schooled in right and wrong is safe with any weapon. A person with no idea of good and evil is unsafe with a knitting needle, or the cap from a ballpoint pen.
I remain pessimistic given the way BATF and the anti gun crowd have become tape worms in the guts of the Republic. - toad
A person properly schooled in right and wrong is safe with any weapon. A person with no idea of good and evil is unsafe with a knitting needle, or the cap from a ballpoint pen.
I remain pessimistic given the way BATF and the anti gun crowd have become tape worms in the guts of the Republic. - toad
- Steamforger
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Re: WARNING: Inscriptions on Firearms Can Haunt You
Any lawyer with more than a dozen operating brain cells will pounce on this kind of stuff faster than you can say "true bill." The potential fuckery that can result far outweighs any novelty the item can bring. This simplest of parts will be presented to a jury in a manner that will paint this officer as a blood-thirsty killer just itching at the chance to snuff the life out of a minority.
Once the jury has that in their head, good luck getting it back out.
Once the jury has that in their head, good luck getting it back out.
- scipioafricanus
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Re: WARNING: Inscriptions on Firearms Can Haunt You
That guy hasn't listened to Massad Ayoob.
If there is a Stairway to Heaven, is there an Escalator to Hell?
If God wanted men to play soccer, he wouldn’t have given us arms. - Mike Ditka
If God wanted men to play soccer, he wouldn’t have given us arms. - Mike Ditka
- Netpackrat
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Re: WARNING: Inscriptions on Firearms Can Haunt You
As I posted in the other thread, I seem to remember there being more to this than what the TTAG douche put in his article. The stupid inscription was the least of what the cop did to land himself in that situation.
Cognosce teipsum et disce pati
"People come and go in our lives, especially the online ones. Some leave a fond memory, and some a bad taste." -Aesop
"People come and go in our lives, especially the online ones. Some leave a fond memory, and some a bad taste." -Aesop
- Jericho941
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Re: WARNING: Inscriptions on Firearms Can Haunt You
Yep.Netpackrat wrote:As I posted in the other thread, I seem to remember there being more to this than what the TTAG douche put in his article. The stupid inscription was the least of what the cop did to land himself in that situation.
Almost a year ago, police were called to the La Quinta on a report about a man waving a weapon from his hotel window, and officers soon approached Shaver's room on the fifth floor.
Police reports state an unarmed Shaver was on his knees, begging police, "Please don't shoot me," seconds before Brailsford opened fire, striking Shaver five times after he made a movement with his hands near his waistband.
Brailsford was charged with second-degree murder and was soon fired from the police department.
- Odahi
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Re: WARNING: Inscriptions on Firearms Can Haunt You
I once bought a '66 Dart from a friend. It had a sticker, about 7" by 7", of the Zig Zag man on the rear window. Yeah, freedom of speech, but you're putting a big neon "BUST ME" sign on your ride. This is the equivalent. You may be allowed to do it, but that doesn't make it the smart thing to do.
Birds gotta swim, fish gotta fly, assholes gotta ass, until the day they die.
"Common sense" is an oxymoron.
"Common sense" is an oxymoron.
- Durham68
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Re: WARNING: Inscriptions on Firearms Can Haunt You
Saw a local cop's duty weapon when he brought it in to the LGS to have it cleaned. It had "Animal" laser engraved into the slide in huge block letters. I never understood how a department would even allow something like that.
"Unattended children will be given an espresso and a puppy"
- NVGdude
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Re: WARNING: Inscriptions on Firearms Can Haunt You
This is a local case.Netpackrat wrote:As I posted in the other thread, I seem to remember there being more to this than what the TTAG douche put in his article. The stupid inscription was the least of what the cop did to land himself in that situation.
Cop shot an unarmed man who was on his hands and knees on the floor by the officer's commands. Victim was a middle aged salesman in his own hotel room.
Cop deserves to fry.