The gun-owner = "terrorist" nonsense again

Daniele Perazzi, president of the Italian Perazzi Shotguns firm, was taken into custody yesterday by Adams County Deputies [see update, below] along with several prototype shotguns. The executive was picked up in the parking lot of the Denver Merchandise Mart, hosting the high-end Colorado Gun Collectors show this weekend, after a taxi driver, likely reacting to a suspicious activity reporting outreach program conducted by law enforcement, told authorities he thought he could be transporting an armed “foreign speaking” terror suspect.

“He loaded prototype shotguns into the cab on the way to the Merchandise Mart,” gun rights activist and newly-elected National Rifle Association Director Steve Schreiner, who is attending the event this weekend, told Gun Rights Examiner this morning. “The cab driver notified law enforcement he suspected he had a terrorist in his cab, and they were waiting to intercept him, evidently oblivious to the fact that he was arriving at a highly-publicized area gun show.

“He has two lawyers, Schreiner continued, “one of whom went to the police station, and convinced the police that the owner of one of the most expensive shotgun companies in the world was not a terrorist.

Perazzi was released a short time later and his prototype shotguns were returned to him, but reports have emerged that he was ordered by law enforcement to leave the state by nightfall, and sources tell Gun Rights Examiner he has gone one step further and left the country. He is expected to be returning soon with an eye toward filing legal action.

Gun Rights Examiner also spoke this morning with one of the two attorneys involved with helping Perazzi straighten matters out to obtain his release. That attorney essentially confirmed the account provided by Schreiner, albeit she characterized the authorities’ position on Perazzi leaving the state more as advice than an ultimatum by the sheriff to get out of town by sundown -- something that would have no readily apparent legal basis. A call has been put in to the Adams County Sheriff’s Department Public Information Officer for comment and clarification on this and other details, but a response has not been received at this writing.

Schreiner attributes the cab driver’s reaction to training authorities have provided taxi companies, where they are encouraged to call law enforcement and report suspicious activities and people based on subjective criteria and limited training.

Further confirmation of the incident and its details has been provided in a report on Fox 31 Denver, which also states “Just this past week, some Denver taxi drivers were honored for reporting incidents while on duty. A program called Taxis on Patrol (TOPS) encourages cabbies to report suspicious activity while they’re on the clock.”

Gun Rights Examiner has reported several times on the dangers of law enforcement “terror” profiling to create suspicion for things as innocuous as shaving a beard, being a “prepper” and supporting the Constitution. That Perazzi was able to obtain his safe release in a timely manner is the one positive outcome of a situation that nonetheless left a foreign national admittedly “scared during the incident because he’s not familiar with U.S. gun laws and thought he’d done something wrong.”

How much more scared a person would be who is not a corporate president and who can’t summon two lawyers on a Saturday is a fair consideration to question, as is the physical danger an innocent person and bystanders could be placed in when untrained persons are encouraged and rewarded for putting the finger on others based on poorly-defined tripwires, stereotypes and official hysteria.

Those dangers may get some major media attention soon, since Gun Rights Examiner just received word that Good Morning America has noticed this story and will be investigating and reporting on it in the coming days.

UPDATE: While gathering statements for this story, there was confusion on whether or not the officers taking Perazzi and his guns into custody were with the Adams County Sheriff's Department or from the Denver Police Department. Steve Schreiner just called to say he spoke with Joe Leiper, a gun show official, who told him that the Adams County deputies were in his office at the time of the incident and knew nothing about it, meaning if this bears out, it was Denver PD -- whether this could also result in jurisdictional issues is not known at this time.


http://www.examiner.com/article/shotgun-executive-taken-into-custody-at-colo-gun-show-on-cabbie-terror-tip