Let me qualify what I’m about to say: everything the Warwick Township cops did to George Donnely was wrong. Everything.

Below the fold is simply my opinion as to what he did wrong in his latest encounter, and why I feel that way. I’m a fan of George & what he does for the liberty movement, and I mean no disrespect. I just think he handled the situation less-than-satisfactorily.

I securely and legally carried a pistol openly. I failed to answer the questions of a person who didn’t even identify himself as a cop. I told a cop that open carry was legal and that he did not have the authority by his own rules to detain me simply for open carrying. I asked a cop to identify himself. I refused to identify myself in a situation where even the cop’s own laws don’t require it. These are my offenses. For this I was harassed, assaulted, kidnapped and imprisoned – just for starters.

That’s the world we live in folks.

But Donnelly screwed up big time.

After the situation had resolved itself, he returned and escalated by asking for the cop’s business card. I’m all for holding people accountable, George, and I’m not a fan of lying down, either. But you need to learn how to pick your battles a little more wisely. It should be obvious to someone with your experiences (previous open-carry detention, etc.) and to anyone (like you) who follows the current events and all, and who has a fierce libertarian bent, that 99 cops out of 100 don’t give a damn about what “their” laws oblige or proscribe; whether the laws are supposed to afford you certain rights or privileges, whether the law is supposed to prohibit law enforcement from certain behaviors.

As right as Donnelly was under these circumstances, arguing with a cop who’s already demonstrated (whether by word or deed) his ignorance and/or incompetence is a losing battle, returning to argue with him after one of your buddies has cooled him off and you’re free to be on your way is about as stupid as a football bat.

I get it: they started it.

But sometimes (i.e., most of the time) we just need to walk away. Most importantly, do not go out of your way to escalate these situations. IMO, returning to ask for his business card was careless escalation. And it’s the principle that George is trying to defend by taking this jackboot to task. Predictably though, George ended up in a holding cell and it’s unlikely that the cop will ever face any consequences for his thuggery.

More care needs be exercised towards avoiding these sorts of incident altogether. I mean, the whole point of agorism is like the shadow economy & stuff, and avoiding the state as much as possible — if for no other reason that pure pragmatism.

We can not fight them on their turf. We can not combat injustice with the very same laws which enable and encourage injustice.