Pro Gun Control State Senator Arrested With Loaded Gun At Ferguson Protest
Gun-control supporting State Senator Jamilah Nasheed was recently arrested at a Ferguson, Missouri, protest while carrying a fully-loaded 9mm handgun and extra ammo.
Nasheed, a St. Louis Democrat whose district includes Ferguson, has “a legacy of supporting strict gun control legislation,” according to the Western Journalism Review.
Cops also claimed that she smelled of “intoxicants,” but the senator refused to take a breathalyzer at the scene. She has strongly denied that she was drunk.
There is also a dispute as to whether Nasheed produced her pistol permit at the time of the arrest.
Nasheed said that she intended to be arrested outside the Ferguson police station as a form of peaceful and symbolic civil disobedience in connection with seeking justice for Michael Brown, the teenager fatally shot by Ferguson officer Darren Wilson on August 9.
The senator and an associate were detained because they were kneeling in the middle of the road and blocking traffic.
“Police said Nasheed and other protesters were told they could protest on the sidewalk but not on the street. Police said Nasheed and Nelson were arrested for violating the City of Ferguson ordinance for walking in a roadway where sidewalks are accessible. Police said they warned the two numerous times to move out of the street,” KMOX reported.
Nasheed apparently refused to post a $600 bond and spent the night in jail. She is due back in court on January 15, 2015.
In an interview with The Missouri Times about the incident, Senator Nasheed, who insists she is a supporter of the Second Amendment, offered this explanation for having a firearm on her person at the time.
I carry my gun with me everywhere I go. I have a valid CCW permit that I have had for a while. That wasn’t me going to a protest with a gun, that was me not leaving my gun at home when I went somewhere. It’s my right to carry that, as a citizen and elected official I support the right to carry a weapon, to legally carry a weapon. I’ve gotten threats as the result of all this Michael Brown news, before I was arrested. I’m a female who is sometimes walking around alone or in neighborhoods that have crime. It’s important to me that I can legally protect myself. I told the police I had a gun on me. And then I took out my CCW and showed it to them. I took it out just like this and showed it to them like I’m showing it to you. And then after I put it away he told another officer that I never showed it to him. It was nonsense.”
A Ferguson police spokesman, however, commented that “if she had a conceal carry permit, I’m sure she would have shown it to the officers.”
Leaks from the grand jury are suggesting that Officer Wilson won’t face any charges in the Michael Brown shooting, the aftermath of which prompted 24/7 news coverage for weeks on end.
[image credit: YouTube]
Watch a news report about the Sen. Jamilah Nasheed arrest in Ferguson.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SY3KQDiDPU
