A man named Bunny Boots Ink makes "First Amendment Test" videos

Works better in the USA than Greece.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1697862.stm

Depends on what side of the fence you happen to be on. He was on the outside, so they called in the local police who had jurisdiction. There are also civilian police assigned to military bases to handle the grey area.

That’s the bummer about having a Constitution and civil rights. Eventually some idiot is going to insist on exercising those rights.

5 Likes

I’m not entirely sure crossing fences as described by @longname is “exercising your civil rights”. This guy with the camera, mostly harmless and as far as I can tell was treated as such. The local cop invoking 9/11 leaves the same bad taste in my mouth that always does, but otherwise meh.

Stating the obvious contributes nothing.

Personally I don’t think the point was that the cops and MPs failed the test, but that it was an interesting test to apply. And hell, the fact that they passed the test so well makes it newsworthy, to me at least. And agreed, all behaved surprisingly well.

5 Likes

The missing camera was the one showing Bunnys face!

I’m assuming he used the slack half smile, not changeing or responding to any questions or statements…

Never! get into a poker game with Bunny Boots Ink!

:smile:

Oh and despite the follow on intimidation, they pretty much passed the test imho… Go USA!

2 Likes

The following!

One thing they forgot to ask him…his YouTube username. But at least now they know that too!

2 Likes

I believe the OSI, the base security police and the local PD that showed up all behaved the way that they should be expected to behave. It’s sad that seeing law enforcement respond without resorting to escalation now seems more the exception than the rule. In any case, I was glad to see that here.

2 Likes

No, someone.

1 Like

Everyone except the passive agressive guy who swore at him to take the “fucking go-pro down”. That wasn’t professional. But, I agree, in the grand scheme of things, relatively minor. If his supervisor sees this video, he should probably talk to him about how to NOT escalate a situation.

For those that don’t like them following him afterwards … tough. It works both ways. He gets to film on public property and the police get to follow him on public property. Most likely they wanted to see him get into a car so they could run the license plate and find out who he was. In my opinion, reasonable.

1 Like

The First Amendment. Otherwise known as the right to be an asshole.

Hey Bunny Boots, Yes you have a 1st Amendment Right, but there is no need to antagonize the MPs unnecessarily. They have a risky job to do. Fuck you! and stay away from military bases unless you have real business there. Let the warriors defend your rights.

There’s a lot of misplaced sympathy for the MP’s here.

Look, the ulimate fact is that they have no automatic right to answers from someone who was doing nothing illegal.

Sure, they were polite, but the boot that is stomping on your face forever doesn’t stomp any lighter just because they call you “sir” while they’re doing it.

If they don’t like the fact that in America that you are allowed to film whatever the hell you want, maybe they should consider going to one of those countries where they don’t respect the freedom of the individual and where the representatives of state authority are allowed to demand answers.

7 Likes

I find it interesting that you consider standing someplace outside a base with a camera “antagonizing”

How large of a buffer zone should military bases have and should that buffer zone have a gate with another buffer zone?

8 Likes

I would also like to know if the cameras on the base, very likely seeing and recording part of non-base area - in a 24-7 way, not just something ad-hoc, are according to him also considered antagonizing. If not, why.

Ugh, don’t get him started on the gas station at the corner that has a security camera whose corner catches all the license plates of cars coming on base!

2 Likes

I’m guessing part of the reason that so many people turned up to chat to him is because they were really bored.

4 Likes

Somebody has to.

The government is always “accommodating” when it chooses not to break the law by arresting you.

So, what? If you google “Elmendorf AFB, Anchorage, AK,” you can get much better pictures than you can from the street.

Obviously, not everyone. And obviously, it wouldn’t matter if nobody challenged him because he’s under no legal obligation whatsoever to provide any information to anybody. And I’m very grateful to live in an ostensibly liberal, free society where that’s the case.

1 Like