Vet cuts down flags

[Guest bkelm18]

Don't think this has been posted here, but here's a clip from CNN where a Vet who is obviously outraged at the fact that a store in Reno, Nevada chose to fly the Mexican flag above the American flag on the same flag pole, cuts them down with a Ka-Bar and basically challenges anyone to try and take the American flag from him. I'd like to buy this man a beer.

An advertisement plays first followed by the news story:

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2007/10/03/krnv.mex.flag.flap.krnv

[Smith]

We need more people like this. +10000000

[Mark@Sea]

To he11 with a beer, I'd like to buy him a rifle.

[Guest bkelm18]

To he11 with a beer, I'd like to buy him a rifle.

I like the way you think!

It's good to see a real American standing up for what he believes in.

[Cannon Fodder]

Bad part is that he will probably be arrested for stealing, brandishing a weapon and carrying a knife over 4". Now all the liberals will start crying saying it was done because he was a racist and it is a hate crime against mexicans.

Bleh.

[Guest bkelm18]

Very true, however I think there would be a pretty big public outcry if charges were filed.

[waynesan]

I told you in this thread, http://www.tngunowners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2376

Don't mess with us "old guys".

We need a nation full of guys like these.

[Guest bkelm18]

Heck yeah we do.

[towerclimber37]

I told you in this thread, http://www.tngunowners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2376

Don't mess with us "old guys".

We need a nation full of guys like these.

we HAVE a nation of them. it's just a question of how much crap will YOU take from people who want to see our nation fail?

[Guest Grizzly Johnson]

we HAVE a nation of them. it's just a question of how much crap will YOU take from people who want to see our nation fail?

Yes, we just have to ALL come together and make a stand and be heard. May have to use force if necessary. Take this country border to border back from the politicians and crooks in our government. Kinda be like the "REAL AMERICANS" taking the country back from the "SO CALLED AMERICANS" ............ flashback..........like the colonists fighting off the British in the revolution!!!

How long this kind of action would take to happen I have no clue, but I can tell you this "I WILL NOT BE STEPPED ON" ..... like a guy said one time "I don't wanna have to fight you, but I darn sure will" and "if I catch somebody breaking in my house, I got a 12ga shotgun a wait'in on the other side".....

[MexicanDragon]

Bad part is that he will probably be arrested for stealing, brandishing a weapon and carrying a knife over 4". Now all the liberals will start crying saying it was done because he was a racist and it is a hate crime against mexicans.

Bleh.

Personally, I think many people will see the guy as an extremist. IMO, it was decidedly the wrong way to go about things. He very easily could have gone in to the store, and asked to see the manager or owner of the store and at that point figured out whether or not this was intentional or just a simple misunderstanding. Instead, it turned out to be a small fiasco (which just so happened to have taken place when a television crew from (I believe) an NBC affiliate) was across the street. Convenient, maybe?

The guy did steal something (1-3 items... not sure about the Mexican flag, but the US one and at least some rope, but the rope is nit-picky). I don't believe he, by definition, "brandished" a weapon, but the knife I guess would be illegal to carry, no?

The first thing that this reminded me of was someone in the Chattanooga area, a woman by the name of June Griffin, who stole a Mexican flag out of a Hispanic grocery store in Dayton, TN last year. (If interested, an article can be found at http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_90690.asp)

I understand being supportive of your country, and I understand that the shop owner was in violation of the Flag Code (I was in charge of the flag duties when I was in school at one point). I'm also not sure that it is illegal to violate the Flag Code. I believe on a National level, it is not (thousands of people do it every day, including the sitting President himself). I believe there may be state laws which put the acts as punishable, but I'm not sure about the particular state in which this occur, or any, for that matter (as of now). I do feel that this was an over the top gesture, and out of line.

Now, comes the question of theft. He did in fact steal the flag, the property of the store. I DOUBT charges will be filed, as there would be a small uproar, and I'm sure (as in the June Griffin case, albeit a little different) that the charges would be dropped.

I don't think that the guy is necessarily a racist (juding solely from this act), but definately one who loves his country. I also don't think this was a hate crime (my opinion differs with the Griffin case).

Just some of my thoughts on this matter...

**BRENT**

Edit: I'll keep all edits down here to keep the original text intact. Upon further inquiry into the illegal knife part, after realizing that the 4" law is a TN law and that this incident happened outside of these borders, I have found no apparent length limit for a knife in the state of Nevada, so his "Iraqi Freedom" Ka-bar seems to be a legal carry piece.

[Mark@Sea]

Yes, there was a misunderstanding. The store owner was mistaken in believing he'd get away with that crap that day.

There are 2 kinds of mexicans in this country today. Visitors (tourists, and the like), and invaders.

A mexican who comes to this country to be a citizen, who obeys the laws of the land and wants to jump in the great melting pot, isn't a mexican. He's an American.

Politically correct crap like 'hate crimes' and calling patriotism 'extremism' is just a socialist tool to divide and destroy my country. Don't expect me to give it a polite response - although it will certainly get a warm one.

Millions of people from around the world have immigrated to this country, and up until recently it was usually a wonderful success story. They had little in common, just the desire to become Americans.

If seeing a foreign flag flying over an American flag on American soil doesn't churn your gut and fire you up, perhaps you should re-evaluate your loyalties, and reconsider your residence.

[DaveTN]

If seeing a foreign flag flying over an American flag on American soil doesn't churn your gut and fire you up, perhaps you should re-evaluate your loyalties, and reconsider your residence.

Amen. I also believe that those that fly a flag of another county over the American flag are not doing so to honor their flag, but are doing so to show their disrespect for the American people and their flag. They should be arrested and if found to be illegal; returned to where they came from.