Well, other agencies in Oklahoma seem to have a more restrained approach to handling “man with a gun” calls (i.e. without running hot with weapons drawn). And it doesn’t seem to cause any problems for them, so I’m skeptical of the need or benefit of police reacting so…proactively.Since I used to almost always OC, I’ve been the subject of multiple “man with a gun” calls in Norman and officers have only responded once, a couple weeks ago. How did they respond? Code 1, approached me completely relaxed, asked for ID, thanked me for carrying, and left. This is Norman I’m talking about. It’s not exactly a haven for conservative values, but even they don’t freak out about people carrying guns.
I wonder how Norman PD would respond if you strapped on a couple of pistols, a knife or two, tactical vest, and slung an AR and strolled around a bit, close to OU. Not on campus, that would be illegal.
Tim wasn’t wearing a tactical vest, based on what we can see of him in the video. And I haven’t seen any credible evidence he had more than one sidearm. There are a lot of pictures around of him doing audits and I can’t find any that show him carrying anything other than a single pistol. And when photos show him carrying a knife, it’s always a folding knife in his pocket, which most people wouldn’t even notice, let alone find threatening. So to match what Tim was probably carrying in Hafer Park, based on the best information available, let’s call it one holstered pistol, a folding knife carried discreetly in a pocket, and a slung AR. So the only thing out of the ordinary would be the AR.
Granted, NPD’s response might be different than how they respond to sidearms. I’m not going to be the guy to find out. But given that dispatch seems to be trained to ask questions to assess whether the subject is an active threat, and given officers’ typical relaxed attitude toward guns, I would honestly be surprised if they responded with lights and sirens and guns drawn, in particular after November 1st when they will have received training on the new law and related department policy. It all depends on what a caller says to dispatch.
I thought he had more than one side arm, more than one knife and some kind of vest, but that might have come from an unreliable source, or I could be mixing these events up.
Be glad Bob Ricks isn't still in charge or he'd be in jail and this video wouldn't exist. I will go on record to say that what this guy did was completely legal, so I can't down him for that. The officers also handled this amazingly well.
I watched the video again and it appears there are straps around his neck other than the sling. One of the cops gestures toward him and mentions a GoPro, so I’m thinking he has a camera hanging from his neck. That might be the source of the confusion on the “vest.” The woman who witnessed him and made a video about it said he had a rifle on his back, “guns in his holster,” and “what appeared like maybe knives and ammunition around his belt loop.” She sounds pretty unsure of what she was looking at and uses plural nouns when it doesn’t make sense (e.g. saying he was carrying “rifles” at one point), possibly in an attempt to emphasize. It’s really tough to tell what she actually saw based on what she said, and it’s common to have memories of stressful or traumatic experiences that are distorted by subsequent events. For example, a victim of a robbery, if asked “what did the gun look like?” may begin “remembering” a gun when there actually was no gun and they didn’t remember a gun up to that point. So with how imprecise she is in her description and unsure of what exactly she was looking at, I don’t think it makes much sense to try to pin down the details of what exactly he was carrying based on her video.
If I had to present him with an answer, my response would be, "Right now, nothing. But, if a need does arise, I'll not be caught empty handed. If you see a need arise, get behind me unless you want to volunteer to be cover."
Woody
Well, other agencies in Oklahoma seem to have a more restrained approach to handling “man with a gun” calls (i.e. without running hot with weapons drawn). And it doesn’t seem to cause any problems for them, so I’m skeptical of the need or benefit of police reacting so…proactively.
Here’s the link to the Norman Campus Response. 4 units responded.
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