I have little sympathy for the animal rights whack jobs protesting the Philadelphia Gun Club, but I will defend them on this:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmNU7Zmbe0s[/youtube]
They have every right to film the police, even if they have no right to trespass. Hat tip to Radley Balko on this one. Now that these people are bringing these issues to Bensalem, they need to train their police officers on the law. I can’t stand what these people are doing, but I admire this woman’s tenacity.
This blog covers the very issue: http://carlosmiller.com/
Sometimes we are our own worst enemies.
You’re right. In this case, the police appear to be out of line and the gun club members are out of line.
As a hunter and a firearm enthusiast, I’ll probably never see eye to eye with the animal rights guys. But I do agree with them on this: they have the right to peaceably assemble and draw attention to events and situations and discuss the ideas and principles involved, and they can videotape/record in public spaces even if the police are involved.
If one person’s rights are suppressed, eventually all of our rights will be. I’d rather defend them in this and be able to fight them in other areas than turn a blind eye and later find that we can’t speak out either.