On Sunday, 19 November, a gun turn-in event, also known by the Orwellian nomenclature of “buyback” was held at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
San Antonio police attempted to move private purchasers away from the line of cars forming for the gun turn-in “buyback” event. CJ Grisham, of Open Carry Texas and Texas legislative fame, schooled the police. He kept them from overstepping their bounds. CJ Grisham is now a practicing attorney in Temple, Texas.
This was the first known event of this sort for San Antonio. The temperature was about 65 degrees in San Antonio on Sunday morning, with light rain falling during the event from about noon to four p.m. It appeared to be overcast most of the day. CJ Grisham live-streamed video of the event. That video is available above.
This conversation occurs between CJ Grisham and Captain Earwood before the event really starts. It lasts for two minutes starting about four minutes and 15 seconds into the video. The entire video is two hours and 53 minutes long.
Captain Earwood is polite, well-spoken, and smart enough to know when to retreat in good order.
Summary of Incident by Dean Weingarten
Captain Earwood of the San Antonio Police Department: Good Morning, How are y’all doing?
CJ: Hey good. How are y’all doing? Mr. Earwood?
Captain Earwood: Captain Earwood, 5013.
CJ: Captain Earwood, nice to meet you.
Captain Earwood: 5013.
CJ: 5013. Doing well.
Captain Earwood: So, We have confirmed that the sidewalk is part of the Alamodome property.
CJ: Nope. You haven’t confirmed that. ‘Cause I already looked at the GIS survey. This is a public sidewalk.
Captain Earwood: Ok.
CJ: Guess who maintains the sidewalk? And, you know how I know? Because the easement, see this telephone pole right here (pointing)? Who owns that?
Captain Earwood: Public Works.
CJ: Yeah. Public Works. Thats because there is an easement right here because this is a public sidewalk. This sign right here, no parking, towaway zone? Because this is a public sidewalk. So. You might want to go and look at your GIS service,
Captain Earwood: Ok.
CJ: And tell them, no, you’re wrong, this is a public sidewalk. When this breaks, guess who fixes it?
Captain Earwood: Public Works.
CJ: Public Works does. Not the Alamodome. Public Works does. That sewage pipe right there? Guess what that is on? Its on a public easement, a sidewalk.
Captain Earwood: Ok.
CJ: So.
Captain Earwood: I will have my GIS check.
CJ: Yes, please do.
Captain Earwood: My information is from the Alamodome manager.
CJ: The Alamodome manager is not very smart on this.
Captain Earwood: Ok, fair enough.
If you have never been to a gun turn-in event, also known by the Orwellian term “buyback”, this is an exceptionally good depiction of what they are like. The video is from a private buyer’s point of view. CJ Grisham attended the event with his father. both are featured in the video, along with several other private purchasers. Grisham recorded the event with a body camera, including audio.
About Dean Weingarten:
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.
More and more I’m disappointed at Police departments across this country.
They are suppose to be for the people, but it’s clear to me that they have become the red coats for their kings in government.
They certainly are not with us, we are alone.
When their king tells them to arrest every law abiding gun toting American (terrorist to them), they will do it in a new York minute, without question.
So someone got up this morning and decided that removing citizens from a public place conducting legal business not causing harm nor any issue was a good idea and somehow thinks they are on the right side in doing so and a “good guy”?
In their view a cop’s paycheck is more important than your liberty. They justify their illegal behavior by saying they are just following orders and not involved. Interestingly the parallel to that are the nazis at Nuremburg. It didn’t work well for the nazis and hopefully it won’t work well for cops in future, but we shall see won’t we?
I wonder if Mr. Captain Earwood understands the Irony of the Alamodome supporting a “Buy Back” Scheme?!!
Remember, the Police can and will lie to you, that is a fact.
This is CJ. Thanks for covering this, Dean. After retiring from the Army, I had no idea that my 2A activism would lead me to law school, but I saw firsthand how corrupt and uninformed law enforcement is. I got tired of fighting them in the streets and decided to fight them in the courts because too many people aren’t aware that cops are lying to them. The police use their bully power to push us around, falsely charge us with bogus crimes, and get away with it. My goal as an attorney to chip away at qualified immunity until… Read more »