… please try to avoid the trap of getting busted for having controlled substances while possessing a firearm. I tend to think most people will frown on possessing a firearm with hallucinogenic substances, and it kind of destroys the whole being a sympathetic character for pulling off effective civil disobedience. Rosa Parks didn’t have pot in her purse when she got arrested.
But I will note this:
“Numerous police vehicles, including a light armored vehicle and two low-flying helicopters barricaded Adam’s street,†the news release says. “More than 20 armored SWAT team members surrounded the house, as well as a number of detectives, and plainclothes officers.â€
Two helicopters and an armored vehicle? To take down one guy who only kinda, maybe might decide it’s better to shoot it out than get taken in? I can get using a tactical team, given you just don’t know, maybe he’d rather shoot it out, but what’s so hard about waiting for him to leave the house and jumping him with 5 or so officers? Why invade the whole neighborhood? The problem is, you give the guys the toys, and it gets hard to resist taking them out to play.
He’s the face of gun rights? I thought he was the face of “Iraqi Veterans Against the War” or whatever.
He’s an attention whore. He got his attention. Hope he enjoys it.
If you are going to film an acto f civil disobedience, dont have shitake mushrooms or oregano around the house.
Does it matter if the shrooms were his or one of his five roommates?
For his purposes, yes. I was wondering why they didn’t arrest everyone. And how they knew the shrooms where his. They arrested him for possession of drugs and possession of a gun. So was he holding both at the same time? Or is this all BS?
He’s not the face of gun owners or any movement. He’s a dude with a drug fried brain that the media loves to use.
The shrooms were in a SWAT members pocket before the raid…
personally, outside of media portrayal, I don;t see a problem with him owning firearms and being in possession of mushrooms. If he were on mushrooms and waving a gun around, I have a problem.
I think we are much to strict in our nations drug laws especially for relatively non abused drugs like hallucinogens.
But definitely stupid of him to have been in possession after making a video he knew would cause his home to be searched.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
AVTM Official Press Release
RE: Raid on ADAM VS THE MAN Studios 10JUL13
(HERNDON, VA 10 JULY 2013)— On the evening of Tuesday, 09JUL13, at approximately 7:45 PM, a combination of US Parks Police (an arm of the DHS) raided Adam Kokesh’s residence. Local Herndon police assisted in the armed invasion. The officers used a battering ram to knock in the door after two knocks, and did not announce that they had a warrant. Immediately after breaking down the door, a flash bang grenade was deployed in the foyer.
Numerous police vehicles, including a light armored vehicle and two low-flying helicopters barricaded Adam’s street. More than 20 armored SWAT team members surrounded the house, as well as a number of detectives, and plainclothes officers. Assault rifles were aimed on all members of the team as they were handcuffed without being told why they were detained. Masked and armored police in full “Storm Trooper†gear flooded in and ransacked the residence. The team was cordoned in a front room, while Adam was pulled aside for questioning.
Over the course of the next five hours, the police searched every corner of the house with canine units and blueprints to the house obtained prior to the search. All officers refused to speak to the crew while they we being detained. They confiscated cell phones and personal items with force. Throughout the ordeal, the police repeatedly showed a volatile desire to initiate aggressive, forceful conduct with detainees. At one point, Adam politely requested to use the restroom and was kicked by the officer forcing him to sit handcuffed on the floor. After hours of determined attempts, the safe was forced open and all items inside were confiscated. Adam was arrested and his crew were told he was being brought to the Herndon Police department overnight. Well after midnight, police officers cleared the house.
Fairfax County Adult Detention Center has stated that it has Adam in custody.
The ADAM VS THE MAN Team will be continuing production on the podcast and the Youtube channel as long as Adam remains imprisoned for an act of civil disobedience. We will continue to spread the message of liberty, self ownership, and the non-aggression principle regardless of the government’s relentless attacks on our operation. We will continue to combat its desperate attempts to crush a worldwide, revolutionary shift in the people’s understanding of the state’s illegitimacy—after all, good ideas don’t require force.
Media Contact: Lucas Jewell – lucas@adamvstheman.com
I hate to be ‘that guy’ but I don’t trust the governemnt enough to believe their account.
I’m not some kind of fan of Kokesh; I think he’s an asshole, and he doesn’t speak for me. Still, I seem to recall allegations of funny business by the police regarding his arrest in Philly a few months ago, and it seems to be a long-running trend.
Quite honestly, I wouldn’t put it past the government to plant “evidence” at his residence just to have the excuse to lock him up; We’ve all seen how heavy handed this administration has been when it comes to anyone who embarasses them in any way…
Be that guy.
Adam’s father, Charlie Kokesh, owned Dakota Arms prior to it being sold to Remington (Freedom Group).
http://www.dakotaarms.com/
“getting busted for having controlled substances while possessing a firearm. . .”
Gee, I know my father’s and grandfather’s generation was in possession of firearms while doing their controlled beverage businesses during Prohibition. But they didn’t get caught, and if they had, no one in those days would have thought a thing about their gun possession. :-)
This is why you need to stash most of your firearms outside the reach of law enforcement. They can’t confiscate what they don’t know you have!
It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if the drugs were planted, either. I’m not saying that’s what happened, but who knows these days?
Adam was pretty open about his drug abuse.
Use does not equate with abuse.
He’s the only guy in the US who has the balls to take a stand against the Federal Government… unlike the rest of you.
Someone, please tell me, what did this man actually do wrong? Carry a loaded weapon in our nations capital? Had some drugs? Big whoop.
And what has it gotten him? What has it gotten us? I’m not against Civil Disobedience, by any stretch, but like any other tactic, it can be used wisely or stupidly.
He did what he did knowing the consequences, and did it anyway. His intent was to act as an inspiration to us all by living up to the ideals set down by the Founding Fathers of the United States.
His act basically shows this: its worth risking the few freedoms you have left in order to stand up for the ones you lost.
In my opinion, modern day heros like Kokesh and Snowden are doing more to help the cause of freedom and liberty in the United States than groups like the NRA and ACLU have ever done. Just because they didn’t get immediate action or change doesn’t mean their actions were fruitless.
Even the Founding Fathers had to fight a war before they got the Freedom and Liberty they wanted to found our nation upon.
Devil’s Advocate:
IF I lived in Illinois, I would be real happy what NRA just accomplished. Read the next post.
When I got my first carry license (likely before you were born) I could only carry in PA. Now there is reciprocity in most other states I care to visit. NRA and lots of other local groups did that, plain and simple.
I am truly concerned with the loss of other freedoms, but the NRA works.
Great. For you guys. The rest of us in NJ and CA are still screwed. Illinois still has an AWB (as do so many other states).
Oh, not to mention, I still can’t buy a full auto machine gun or suppressor without a rectal examination by some Federat.
All this is dependent upon the Courts… and we’re only so fortunate to have a SCOTUS who is tolerable of the 2nd Amendment… and who knows how long that will last.
>What has it gotten us?
It certainly has shown me what the likely reaction government has to a little bit of sabre rattling. I count the whole thing as educational.
What did he do wrong? He tried to pose as a poster-boy for the right to keep and bear arms, and allowed himself to be used as a tool for those that oppose that right because of his own stupidity. That’s what.
How so? He did nothing wrong.
“He’s the only guy in the US who has the balls to take a stand against the Federal Government…”
The “only” guy? Hardly. There have been dozens of them, and the majority have been loons who served only to discredit serious dissidents and their causes. This guy did enough in the past to lay down a serious record of non-credibility and self-aggrandizement, that even if he is as innocent as a new-born babe this time, he will be the one who handed credibility to the JBTs.
Dozens eh? Like who?
Seriously: How far back do you want to go? Start with Gordon Kalb (sp?) ?
Make that “Kahl.” Montana Freeman standoff, February 13, 1983, died in Arkansas shootout, June 13, 1983.
Being anti-government, anti-tax, anti-IRS, anti-name-it does not automatically imbue people with heroic status, nor mean they are not loons, or mean they contribute anything useful to the cause of individual liberty, or that their personal doctrines offer anything admirable.
Kokesh is a dangerous asshat, and it’s fortunate that no one other than him got wrapped-up in this drama. Having said that, the libertarian in me says the guy hasn’t harmed anyone so it seems like the police reaction was hugely overblown. I agree with Sebastian that the whole event looked like a police department looking for an excuse to trot out their shiny toys.
I’m more complaining about poor tactics than defending the law.
And let us not forget the Feds selective enforcement either.
Kokesh posts his little seen youtube protest? Holy crap! Send in the SWAT team! Send in the tanks and choppers! Hurry hurry hurry!
David Gregory breaks the D.C. gun laws on national TV? Huh? What? He broke the law? Let us carefully consider our legal course. Months later we decide, no charge!
And what strikes me about the state drug charges against Kokesh is the lack of any Federal charges so far. How convenient. The Feds are looking for a way to get Kokesh without the blatant selective enforcement of Federal law looking too blatant.
The Virginia State Attorney General has stated that they have filed no charges against Adam Kokesh and they do not plan to file charges against him. This was a Federal operaton conducted bt the US Parks Police with support of the Herndon PD.
Meanwhile, TJIC just put in an Application Form for a SWAT Team to go after him…
What’s so hard about sending 2 cops to knock on the door and ask him to come out to be arrested? If they wanted to make sure he came out they would just need a TV news crew…easily arranged.