Indianpolis Agitators pull Pistols to intimidate Truck Driver as part of Blocking Street

Image from indystar.com video , cropped, scaled, arrows and lettering added by Dean Weingarten

At about 1:45 p.m. on Thursday, 6 August, at the intersection of Meridian Street and I-65, a group of agitators associated with Black Lives Matters were illegally blocking Meridian Street. A blue GM Sierra pick-up approaches.  There is plenty of room for the agitators to be off of the street. There are not many of them, somewhat less than a hundred by estimation.
Instead of getting out of the lane to allow people to freely travel on the public right of way, they are spread out to block the street.
Two agitators deliberately block the blue Sierra, pulling guns to reinforce their  blockage. In the video, it is clear there is plenty of room for the truck to pass, if the agitators simply move. 

Link to indystar.com video

 
Obstruction of Traffic in Indiana is a crime.

Sec. 13 . (a) Except as provided in subsection (b), a person who, with the intent to obstruct vehicular or pedestrian traffic, obstructs vehicular or pedestrian traffic commits obstruction of traffic, a Class B misdemeanor.

When the truck attempts to avoid the illegal blockage, the agitators run to get in front of the truck, to block it.  It is almost as if they want the truck to hit someone. 

The traffic blockers attempt to justify their blockage with the claim the truck attempted to hit them. 

No evidence of such an attempt is seen in the video. The truck driver appears to take significant action to avoid hitting the agitators.

One agitator, self identified only as "Icon" says he pulled his gun and jumped in front of the truck to protect a young girl. No such girl can be seen in front of the truck, although a girl appears later in the video, behind the truck.  From Indianapolis Recorder 

While members of the group tried to redirect traffic, a driver in a blue truck revved the engine, sending protesters scrambling to the sidewalk. One protester, who only identified himself as “Icon,” pulled a gun on the driver. 

"I was scared he was going to kill me,” he said. “I stepped in front of a little girl when he revved his engine, but, yes, I absolutely drew a gun to defend myself.”

The Recorder does not mention the other agitator with his gun, or the fact the agitators were illegally blocking the street. 

Several protestors who have blocked public right of ways have been struck by vehicles across the nation. This is not hard to understand. When hundreds of people deliberately block traffic by standing and walking in the street, often assaulting drivers and vehicles who are legally going about their business, some people are going to be hit.

Some protests in the streets are legal. In those case, drivers are at a high level of risk from both protestors and the law.

Run in front of a moving vehicle, or stand in a dark highway in dark clothing, at night, or aggressively surround a stopped vehicle and repeatedly strike it; you stand a good chance of being hit by a surprised and/or frightened driver.

It is almost as if a common format is taught to the agitators. Block legal rights of way. Get in front of vehicles. Stop them. Pound on them.  Consider them evil.  In a many cases, these actions are illegal, but are condoned by far left prosecutors or city governments, such as happened in Austin, Texas.

Drivers should maintain their cool, and refuse to be intimidated. Avoid the situation if possible. If you can, back up and leave the area, as the driver in the blue Sierra did.

If a vehicle is blocked to prevent its movement, and the driver believes themselves to be threatened, jurors may believe the driver acted prudently when they use the power of the vehicle to leave the situation. If the driver drove past legal barricades, they have a serious risk of being convicted of criminal acts.

Blocking a public right of way without the proper authorization is not a peaceful protest. It is a criminal act. 

Attorney General Barr has said agitators are using the protests to commit low level urban warfare against the United States. Interview with AG Barr

"Its a new form of urban guerilla warfare."

"The way the guerrilla...hides out among the people as a fish in the ocean...what they do is they are essentially shielding themselves or shrouding themselves in First Amendment activity," he explained. 

"They go into the demonstrations, which are exercising First Amendment activity, and they insinuate themselves in there to shield themselves. That's where they swim. And what they do is they hijack these demonstrations and they and they provoke violence."

BLM is extremely well funded. They can afford to obtain the best secure communications equipment. At last count, they have raised over 133 million dollars since 2016. How the money is spent is not clear. Agitators arrested at protests have their legal fees paid by outside organizations. 

Antifa is a well funded and organized international organization dedicated to destroying the United States government, to institute international communism.  It is not  clear how much interaction there is between BLM and Antifa.
In Indianapolis on 6 August, it appears the blockage of streets was completely illegal.

 Special event permit requirements, in Indianapolis require 30 days advance notice for the permit, and two weeks notice to neighbors. They have to use state approved barricades:

• If you are closing a street, you must use state approved barricades. If in the downtown area, an Indiana Law Enforcement Certified Officer must man the barricades.
• Submit the Street Closure Request Form to reserve state-approved barricades to block off the street. Barricades will not be delivered. Please return the barricades in a timely manner as other events may be waiting for them.

The Indianapolis Department of Business and Neighborhood services issues permits for special events in Indianapolis. Brandi Pahl, Chief Communications Officer, responded to an email, and stated the Department of Business and Neighborhood Services did not issue a permit for the August 6 protest march.
According to the indystar, BLM claims people who hit agitators who are blocking streets are "white racists".

"It’s always a double standard," the group said. "White racist are killing and hitting protesters and then get mad when (we) defend ourselves."

The radical left has defined anyone who refuses to bow down to their demands as racists. In the case where a protestor was killed in an incident near Seattle, it was at night, the protestors had permission to block the freeway, but there were no barricades to warn the driver, who, it appears from the video, attempted to avoid hitting the protestors. The driver took an off ramp onto the freeway.  The driver is a black immigrant.  

The people orchestrating these protests seem to be looking to create incidents where the people blocking traffic can claim victim status.
If the protests are legal, the protestors may have legal rights to be in the streets. Most of these events are occurring where the local government is in sympathy with the agitators. Some are legal, many are not. Be aware of barricades which have been erected to direct traffic elsewhere.

The ability to travel freely, in reasonable safety, is a signal mark of civilization. The blocking of public right of ways without legal consequence, is evidence of a breakdown of the civil order, of anarchy and mob rule. 

©2020 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

MT: Pheasant Hunter Kills Charging Grizzly with 12 Gauge

11 year old Elliot Clark killed this charging grizzly with a shotgun in Alaska in July of 2017.  He used a 12 gauge shotgun. The first shot was ineffective, with bird shot. The second shot was a perfectly placed slug in middle of the nose. The third shot was to the shoulder. It is likely both would have been fatal. There were powder burns on the bears mouth from the third shot. The fourth shot was an insurance shot after the bear was down.

In Montana, a few days ago, in early November, 2017, a 60-year-old pheasant hunter shot and killed a charging grizzly bear, mortally wounding it. He used a 12 gauge shotgun. While details of the story are a little muddy, one account says  he shot in air, then shot the bear in the chest, as it ran at him. The final shot was said to be in the bear's face.  From ktvq.com:

PENDROY - A bird hunter shot and killed a grizzly bear five miles east of Pendroy Saturday. Pendroy is about 80 miles northwest of Great Falls.

According to Mike Madel of Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, the hunter shot the adult female grizzly in the face with a 12-gauge shotgun.

The bear ran off. Then next day, the bear was found, dead.

Shotguns are powerful firearms. A 12 gauge bird load is commonly 1 to 1 1/4 of an ounce of shot at close to 1300 feet per second. Some bird loads have  up to 1 3/4 ounces.  1 1/4 ounces is a standard 12 gauge pheasant load.

It seems a unlikely that a pheasant hunter would have slugs in his bird gun. To be effective on big game, bird shot has to be fired from very close range. The pellets have to be close enough together to reinforce each other and act like a single, pre-fragmented projectile.

My father taught me this when I was about 11. I suggested that bird shot was useless for larger game. He said it didn't matter when you were very close. He then recounted killing a doe with a 20 gauge as she came up to him on a trail, within a few feet. He said at five feet, the shot pulverized the deer's skull.

Even at those ranges, choke matters. A cylinder bore gun's pattern will disperse faster than a full choke.  A full choke keeps a tighter pattern. Here is a test I did with a full choke 12 gauge and 1 1/8 ounce of #8 shot.

The top hole is a pattern five feet from the muzzle. The very top hole is from the wad. The hole below that is from the shot charge. Almost all of the shot is in one hole about 1 inch in diameter. This will act as a pre-fragmented projectile and penetrate about six inches into flesh. It will smash through skulls unless the shot is at a very oblique angle.

As a pellet in the front of the shot string encounters the target, it starts to penetrate and slow down. Then the pellet behind it hits it and pushes it ahead, then the pellet behind that one hits it, and so on.  The mechanics can get pretty complicated, but you get the idea. That is why a closely packed shot string will penetrate much further than individual pellets.

The middle hole is from 10 feet from the muzzle.  While the pattern has increased to about 1.5 inches with a few fliers, it will still penetrate about five inches into flesh and smash into a bear skull if the angle is not too oblique.

The bottom hole is patterned 15 feet from the muzzle with a full choke. Over half of the shot is still in a 1 inch circle in the center of the pattern.  Penetration in flesh will still be about 5 inches. Beyond five yards, the pellets are starting to penetrate as individual projectiles, instead of reinforcing each other. Pellet size and density become very important after five yards.

Shotguns with bird shot inflict incredibly destructive wounds at very close range.

The grizzly ran off and died. If the face shot missed smashing into the brain case, it could have cause massive damage to arteries, or enough damage inside the brain, from the concussion, to cause a delayed death. Not all brain shots are instant killers. There is also the possibility of secondary projectiles from bone fragments.

If the investigation determines that bird shot was used, a conclusion of justifiable self defense is likely.

©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch