According the the hysterical liberal media, a mass shooting was narrowly averted in Missouri on Friday when a man with two guns, 100 rounds of ammo, and body armor was apprehended at a Walmart. The truth of the matter is, he was a guy open carrying firearms who never once threatened anyone. He broke no laws, but is now facing felony charges and serious prison time. When did exercising a Constitutional right become a crime?
Fox News reports that 20-year-old Dmitriy Andreychenko was arrested and hit with a felony terrorist threat charge, facing 4 years in prison for an incident at a Springfield, Missouri Walmart. Sounds bad, but here’s what he actually did:
Andreychenko went to the Walmart wearing what has been described as body armor. He had a holstered hand gun and an AR-type rifle slung across his chest. He grabbed a shopping cart and entered the Walmart, filming people’s reaction to him as he went.
This is very important to the potential charges against him: he had one hand on the shopping cart and the other was holding his phone. He didn’t brandish either weapon or threaten anyone in any way.
This is also important in the case:
The probable cause document quoted Andreychenko as saying he “wanted to know if Walmart honored the Second Amendment.” He said he had bought the rifle and body armor because of three recent shootings and a stabbing, and wanted to protect himself.
In answer to the question: does Walmart respect this guy’s 2nd Amendment rights? No, they absolutely don’t. The manager saw Andreychenko walking peacefully armed through the store and pulled the fire alarm, sending all the customers in a panic towards the exits.
Andreychenko also left the store and a retired fireman carrying a concealed weapon drew on him and held him until police arrived. You can see the citizen’s arrest here and note that Andreychenko surrendered without issue.
Getting back to the question in the headline: why was this guy arrested? Missouri is an open carry state and in fact is a Constitutional carry state that requires no permit to carry a concealed weapon. This applies to everyone over the age of 19 and, as was mentioned before, Andreychenko is 20-years-old. He didn’t threaten anyone and was legally carrying firearms. What am I missing?
I get it that people are on edge because a leftist lunatic shot up a Walmart in El Paso last week, but Andreychenko didn’t even brandish his weapons.
As far as I can tell, this guy was arrested for simply exercising his 2nd Amendment rights. In fact, check this out:
“Missouri protects the right of people to open-carry a firearm, but that does not allow an individual to act in a reckless and criminal manner endangering other citizens,” Greene County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Patterson said in a statement announcing charges. Patterson compared the actions of the accused to “falsely shouting fire in a theater, causing a panic.”
How? This guy did nothing but enter a Walmart while legally open carrying firearms. I haven’t see one report, even from the anti-gun liberal media that says Andreychenko threatened anyone. Therefore, his threat was simply being legally armed. The only panic came from the Walmart manager who pulled the fire alarm.
The potentially good news here is that Andreychenko has one hell of a solid lawsuit against Walmart and the Springfield police department for denying his civil rights. I’m certain the ACLU will not take up his case but there has to be a lawyer out there who wouldn’t mind a guaranteed paid day.
