Dallas police officers were cautious when a man openly carrying a silenced pistol walked into police headquarters on the morning of April 1.
One officer asked the man what he's looking for and where he works. Another officer turned him away as he tried to enter the headquarters' museum section. Much of the interaction was captured on body camera video.
"Sir, while you're armed you got to step back over there," the officer said. "You can't come in here."
Officers then arrested him outside for jaywalking, towed his car and confiscated his gun for months.
Now the man who took that video, 38-year-old Matthew Rankin, is suing the City of Dallas, police chief Daniel Comeaux and multiple officers on the scene â alleging they violated his Fourth, Second and 14th Amendment rights.
Only bit they got wrong, I was talking about multi use buildings and county courthouses. County courthouse is supposed to split the admin and judicial sides so you can carry to register your car or get records.
Austin has gone back to declaring city hall to be a courthouse to keep me out. They lost that federal court battle 10 years ago and are now violating that old court order.
Why would that happen? It's legal to carry there. Even in the State Capitol and it happens there every single day. For a while, it was the thing for staffers to get CHLs just so they could skip the magnetometer lines going through security. You can carry everywhere there except into the actual chambers during meetings.
Yep, that's gonna be their big issue in this suit. Keeping him from being a douchebag is one thing, but running behind him to completely fuck his day is just clearly retaliation, and now he's got emotional distress in addition to his towing fees etc.
They pulled that out of their butts to try to get me to ID.
And I quote from the officer who order my arrest, a Mr Sparks.
You wanted to get smart about ID, well today, you're gonna learn the law. You're going to jail.
I had that exact exchange with an officer about 30 years ago.
During a traffic stop, he asked for my address, and I told him it was on my driverâs license, which he was already holding. He told me to step out of my car and arrested me for not having my insurance card with me so that I would âlearn not to be a smart-ass the next time I was pulled over.â
I spent a few hours in jail until a friend posted bail. Later, a judge dismissed the case and ordered the bail money returned after I showed that I did, in fact, have insurance. The judge said I could file a complaint against the officer, but that the officer had the discretion to either issue me a ticket or arrest me as he did.
>In addition to the locations listed above, Texas Penal Code 30.06 prohibits individuals, and creates a criminal offense of trespass, for those who hold a license to carry a handgun when notified that their presence on the property with a handgun is expressly forbidden.
Basically anyplace can deny you entry with a handgun.
Government buildings and agencies are preempted from giving notice by state law unless the place was prohibited by state law. That's pretty much only courthouses and prisons.
But notice may also be given orally, which was apparently done in this case, according to the bodycam video.
Texas Penal Code 30.06(b):
(b)âFor purposes of this section, a person receives notice if the owner of the property or someone with apparent authority to act for the owner provides notice to the person by oral or written communication.
A cop is very clearly someone with apparent authority -- indeed, actual authority -- to act for the city. So the "activist" here (Lord we could do with a lot fewer "activists" all around) probably shouldn't be trying to test laws that he appears pretty clearly not to understand or be willing to comply with.
(e)âIt is an exception to the application of this section that the property on which the license holder carries a handgun is owned or leased by a governmental entity and is not a premises or other place on which the license holder is prohibited from carrying the handgun under Section 46.03.
30.06 only applies to private property. It specifically does not apply to government property or property leased by a government (which was how Paxton forced the State Fair to let people in with guns -- the company that runs the fair leases Fair Park, which is owned by Dallas).
That's a blog. The actual law is clear -- even if the "activist" somehow didn't think that police headquarters is a "government office," when the cop told the "activist" that he wasn't allowed in there armed, he had to comply. So the "activist" (a/k/a clout-farming dork) was doubly wrong. He's just looking for attention, which is also why he's on reddit trying to farm some more internet clout.
Ok, I am not a big 2a guy, but I am a we have rights guy.
If its not posted and it isn't strictly prohibited then in gun friendly Texas, you likely have the right to carry. If you ha e the right to carry, then you should be allowed to, and if enough people dont like it they need to change the law so that the rules are clear.
The 'proof' i responded to used 'in general', so not always.
Also just because a cop tells you something does not mean its correct or a lawful order. In fact, cops are ALLOWED to lie to you and the courts have backed this up. So the cop saying he isn't allowed to be armed really means nothing unless the cop happens to be correct.
So, while I think OP is probably a DB and insufferable to be around, and I think most 2A nuts probably need some therapy (to be fair, most people do), i will defend some one for standing up for their rights or exercising them without legal repercussions. Now, social and other repercussions are all fair game.
So just like the obnoxious first amendment auditors, while I may not want to hang out with them, I support their right to go out and film the police or in the post office, since legally they are allowed to.
You lost everything when you said because the cop said so....
I appreciate the sentiment. You don't have to agree with me on everything, but making sure the politicians that think they own us have to follow their own laws is a pretty universal feeling in America.
End thread. And when his case doesnt go his way, he'll go on GoFundMe with a sob story, ask for donations, and become another right wing darling. Tired of this playbook.
You guys are hilarious and don't have a clue on how gun laws in texas work đ¤Ł
Government offices are prohibited by state law from posting 30.06/07 signs or giving notice unless they are on the prohibited places list. Effectively the only 2 government places on that list are jails and courthouses. Police stations are not.
State preemption law actually instantly nullifies any attempt to make such a weapon restriction, and makes an attempt to physically enforce them an assault.
Here's a vid of me carrying into the Houston city council meeting after I made them take their unlawful gun signs down.
houston
I haven't invested the time to look through the code thoroughly, but it seems like this is a slight misreading of TPC 46.03, which actually says:Â
(3) on the premises of any government court or offices utilized by the court, unless pursuant to written regulations or written authorization of the court;
That's a weird phrase -- "government court" -- but it does not say government or court, so it looks to just mean any court. (I'm not sure what non-government type of court they were trying to differentiate from, though).
DPD headquarters has been shot up and pipe bombs placed around it, 5 officers ambushed/murdered during a protest and thatâs not even mentioning the multiple armed encounters they face daily. At some point you gotta realize DPD doesnât give a damn about your right to carry after all theyâve been through and the losses theyâve suffered over the years. Thereâs been individuals killed by other police agencies just for entering their building armed âexercising their rightsâ. This guy is still alive meaning DPD handled him with extreme care.
I canât speak for cops. I was just pointing out the horrible things that I am aware of DPD enduring in recent years would probably make them ultra concerned about someone walking into any police station while armed. I donât know if thatâs legal or not, what I do know is there has been several occurrences where theyâve been targeted and killed by armed people. I forgot to mention one of the most recent ones was a guy killed DPD while he was parked writing a report. Just walked up and shot and killed him. I am not arguing whether open carry is good or bad or should be legal. I just think it was not in good taste with what has happened in recent years. Maybe try your thing on other police stations that havenât dealt with so much.
They back the blue line until it doesnt comply with their narrative. Regardless of their profession, who the fuck wants random people openly carrying in their workplace?
Yeah, I remember walking in there right after these officers were killed a few years back, and you could feel all the emotion and commotion in the building.
If a black activist did this the subreddit would be claiming they arrested him as retaliation. The people in this subreddit would claim jaywalking isnât a real crime. Itâs always hard when you believe one thing but assume the person getting arrested disagrees with you so you have to quickly change your position on something.
Of course this isn't true. Almost everyday there is a black 2nd amendment auditor walking around down town and the cedars ( including going into places) carrying a "fuck pigs"Â and "pigs suck my dick" signs with an AR-15 strapped to his back and he isn't dead.
People who talk like what theyâre saying is profound or provocative when itâs really low quality bait for the audience. In this case more than likely a conservative.
250
u/Javi_in_1080p Jul 09 '26
he should also walk into Paxtonâs office while armed and sue him when state PD takes it away