By Dean Weingarten
Arizona – -(Ammoland.com)- An American Muslim who open and concealed carries weapons got into trouble for a facebook live video.
He filmed and posted the video outside of a Christian event that some called “anti-Muslim”. The event occurred on April 9th, 2017.
Ehad Abdulmutta Jaber bought tickets for the event and was wearing the T-shirt pictured above. The Shirt says:
- I am an American
- I am a Muslim
- I open carry
- I concealed carry
- I am only dangerous
- If you are stupid.
Ehad entered the event wearing the shirt and openly carrying a holstered pistol. He was concealed carrying another pistol in an ankle holster. One account said he was filming the event, but he was only there for a few minutes.
Ehad was approached by a security guard and asked to leave, as firearms were prohibited at the venue. By all accounts, Ehad was asked to leave politely, and he politely left. It was after he left the venue and was inside his van in the parking lot, that he made a serious error.
He posted a live facebook video of himself, speaking of the event. Here are links to the video. I found the dailymail link easier to view, it is not a reverse image.
Ehad has First and Second Amendment rights. He says that he is an American citizen who has lived in Sioux Falls for 25 years. The T-Shirt is clearly a political statement.
The video may have been a bridge too far.
In the video, Ehad says that he was at the event. He is upset, and uses considerable profanity.
He says “And now if you really want to be scared, be scared,” he then briefly displays four semi-auto pistols, an AR-15 type rifle, and an AK type firearm that might be either a pistol or a rifle. He shows that he has ammunition. He says “be terrified”. Up to this point, the video may be taken as sarcasm.
A Police officer said that Jaber was not arrested at the rally. The officer is quoted as saying that there was no direct threat.
“He had a lot of guns with him, but he wasn’t breaking any laws. He didn’t threaten anybody directly, he didn’t threaten any groups of people anything like that and it’s not illegal to carry guns or have guns with you,” says Officer Sam Clemens of the Sioux Falls Police Department.
Police say Jaber does have open carry and concealed carry permits. They also spoke with him, so did the FBI. Police say the information was sent to the Lincoln County State’s Attorney’s Office and no charges will be made.
“You have to have some type of specific threat or manner, just having a gun just because it alarms people doesn’t constitute a threat. That doesn’t mean you are going to harm people,” says Clemens.
But Jaber’s last statement on the video may make a significant difference. His last sentence was “F*ck all ya all.”
I have written, read, and participated in open carry and Second Amendment events over considerable parts of the country. I have some sympathy for Ehad Jaber. Posting a video in the parking lot of an event that you are protesting, showing a number of legal weapons, while telling people to be scared, to be terrified, is extremely unusual and provocative.
Then to say “F*ck all ya all.” is over the line. I have never seen anyone at any of the events I attended or wrote about, or read about, tell people to be scared and terrified, as they handled weapons, or to make the F-bomb threat. Those are dozens of events over the years.
I could follow the sarcasm up to the last F-bomb. Then it became ambiguous.
After a little study, the Lincoln County AG made the decision to arrest Jaber and charge him with one count of a terrorist threat. From argusleader.com:
A man who authorities say brought weapons to an anti-Islam event earlier this month has been arrested on charges that he made a terrorist threat, according to a release from the South Dakota Attorney General.
Ehab Abdulmutta Jaber, 45, was arrested Friday and charged with one count of terrorist threat, despite an earlier indication from Sioux Falls police that the man would face no charges.
When Jaber was arrested, a search was made of his residence. Law enforcement reports that they found methamphetamine.
A SWAT team was dispatched along with local police, Forster said, but once they arrived, Jaber was taken into custody in a “standard operation.”
During a search of Jaber’s residence, the release said, law enforcement seized firearms as well as methamphetamine.
The methamphetamine find seems fortuitous for law enforcement; but it might explain the rant and poor choice of words in the facebook video.
To look at this objectively, consider if the religions were reversed. Suppose a Christian had worn the shirt with “Christian” instead of “Muslim” to a Muslim event. Suppose a Christian had made the facebook video. My experience is that the Christian would quickly have been arrested.
That is why you do not see such activity at other open carry events. There are many open carry events that you can see on the Internet. The participants are polite to the police, as was Ehab. They do not go to a van in the parking lot of an event they are protesting, and then post a video that can easily be taken as threatening.
I wish Ehad well, but fear he has made a mistake that will haunt him for the rest of his life. When you are politically active for both the First and Second Amendments, there is no room for foolish bravado.
©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
About Dean Weingarten:
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of constitutional carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and recently retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.
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Open Carry Muslim Posts Video with Weapons, F-Bombs at Christian Event ~ VIDEO