Didn’t the Secret Service used to arrest people that got near the President with a gun?

[NNN0LHI]

http://trueslant.com/level/2009/08/18/didnt-the-secret-service-used-to-arrest-people-that-got-near-the-president-with-a-gun/

Hey remember that guy back in July 2002 who was arrested for having a gun near a small Maine airport that President Bush was flying into? From the Los Angeles Times:

A man was arrested on weapon charges near a small airport shortly before President Bush arrived on his way to his family’s seaside home, police said.

Christopher Willey, 38, of Springvale, was on a closed road near Sanford Regional Airport. He was held on suspicion of carrying a concealed weapon without a permit and having a loaded 9-millimeter gun in his vehicle, authorities said.

(Later, he was released, according to the Portland Press-Herald).

Or how about this guy back in May 2001 who happened within 60 feet of a jogging President Bush in Iowa with a registered firearm, also in the LA Times:

The Secret Service detained a man with a gun in a Des Moines park where President Bush was jogging, local police and White House officials said.

Secret Service spokesman Jim Mackin said the man was about 60 yards from Bush when he was spotted by officers. He said the man had a permit for the gun, but he was detained because he was so close to the president. Mackin said the man appeared to be in the park for reasons completely unrelated to Bush’s visit.

But hey, at least these two dudes had weapons. Consider the fate of Timothy Pinkston, who according to the Tampa Tribune last month will spend 57 months in jail and never even appeared to get a weapon:

[fishnfla]

1. I'd bet some of those people with guns are SS "undercover"

good cover, being right out there in the open and all.

I mean is a gunman supposed to trust someone else with a gun?

[MidwestRick]

2. How close to President Obama...

...did he actually get?

[tularetom]

3. You're confused - those are the rules for white presidents

For black presidents - completely different.

[SoCalDem]

7. exactly.. When Bush was in charge, people with signs they didn't like were herded into pens.

miles away from the action.

The Sec Ser needs to step up and make some NEW RULES.

Bring your guns, but you will be required to congregate TOGETHER, in a "designated fire-arm area"..which also happens to be far-far-away from any media & cameras..

Make it a "secure area", "protected" by some extra security.

A Free Speech Zone
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_speech_zone

If it was good enough for Bush, it should certainly be ok with the gun-goons.

Free speech zones (also known as First Amendment Zones, Free speech cages, and Protest zones) are areas set aside in public places for political activists to exercise their right of free speech in the United States. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution states that "Congress shall make no law... abridging... the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." The existence of free speech zones is based on U.S. court decisions stipulating that the government may regulate the time, place, and manner—but not content—of expression.

Free speech zones have been used at a variety of political gatherings. The stated purpose of free speech zones is to protect the safety of those attending the political gathering, or for the safety of the protesters themselves. Critics, however, suggest that such zones are "Orwellian",<1><2> and that authorities use them in a heavy-handed manner to censor protesters by putting them literally out of sight of the mass media, hence the public, as well as visiting dignitaries. Though authorities generally deny specifically targeting protesters, on a number of occasions, these denials have been contradicted by subsequent court testimony. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed, with various degrees of success and failure, a number of lawsuits on the issue.

The most prominent examples were those created by the United States Secret Service for President George W. Bush and other members of his administration.<3> Free speech zones existed in limited forms prior to the Presidency of George W. Bush; it was during Bush's presidency that their scope has been greatly expanded.<4>

Many colleges and universities earlier instituted free speech zone rules during the Vietnam-era protests of the 1960s and 1970s. In recent years, a number of them have revised or removed these restrictions following student protests and lawsuits.

[The Wielding Truth]

16. It is so unbelievable how brainwashed the RW is! Their reality is what they are told

it should be. They are told to be afraid of anything that would hurt billionaires and fight for their lives over things that are imaginary.

How can they be so easily manipulated?

Yet, we are too principled to play that game, because it would make us the same. It's a dilemma when we wish to live in a US that is an honest democracy.

We thought the political majority would bring civility and reason to an outright bizarre corporate run government,but the fight is still in full swing.

I think it's time to do some big-time demonstrating against the roll of big business in government.

[NYC_SKP]

4. Timothy Pinkston: Link to Story here:

"A federal appeals court today upheld the conviction of a mentally ill homeless man who threatened to kill President George Bush in 2007.

Timothy Wade Pinkston, 49, is serving a 57-month prison term at a federal prison in Alabama after being convicted of threatening the president.

Pinkston was arrested after being interviewed by the Secret Service at the psychiatric unit of St. Joseph's Hospital, in Tampa, where he had been committed under the provisions of Florida's Baker Act, according to a complaint affidavit filed in U.S. District Court. Pinkston was hospitalized after he made threats against the president and said he was going to kill himself, the complaint states."

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/jul/08/conviction-upheld-homeless-man-who-threatened-kill/news-breaking/

[Turbineguy]

5. If he was threatening Bush

how could he be mentally ill?

[NYC_SKP]

9. yup... nt

[brooklynite]

6. They're not "near the president"

In each of the recent cases, the President was inside a building, and the gun nuts were outside and as much as 1,000 feet a way (3-4 city blocks) and under constant Police surveillance. Let's assume the Police and Secret Service know how to do their jobs.

[librechik]

8. heard the SS guy yesterday--they establish perimeters and nobody

really gets close.

But then, I'm a kook who believes the Secret Service were somehow involved in the Kennedy murder.

So don't listen to me.

[brooklynite]

11. Allow me to offer a comparable...

At the tail end of the Presidential primary, I was invited to a top dollar fundraiser with Senator Obama in a private apartment. Nobody who wasn't invited got anywhere near the lobby, and nobody who attended, trusted Democrats all, got in the front door without being patted down. They know what they're doing.

[AlinPA]

19. I hear you - but they make scopes for guns and that's a big problem when the gun people

show up in large numbers. The SS can't watch them all.

[LeftinOH]

10. The Secret Service may be allowing the morons to "advance" slightly -

In other words, deliberately allowing suspicious persons to gain a greater-than-normal degree of noticeably hostile posturing. Doing so certainly makes it (much) easier to identify them -by name, even. The volume of threats against the President is probably higher than the SS has ever dealt with before, and its very likely that shitheads like the "strap-on patriot" in New Hampshire won't be seen at or near any future Presidential events. My guess is that the Secret Service is letting the "rats nibble at the edge" somewhat -in order to find out who they are, where they are coming from & whom they associate with.

[barbiegeek]

13. I've thought that 2, but I hope we're right

McVeigh was underground militia, so I truely hope this is a new approach.

If any of you guys are at an Obama townhall make sure you get these jerks license plate numbers.

[Incitatus]

18. I had thought about that, and thanks to the Patriot Act they are probably reading their emails,

monitoring their Internet activity, and listening to their phone calls.

[dbonds]

12. The real danger is not to Obama...

It is to Obama's supporters on the street that might grab the ire of the nut with a weapon.

[Better Today]

20. You're 100% right there, or more likely, grabs one of the guns from

one of the individuals that is carrying, even if that individual had no intention of becoming aggressive. Open carry in a crowd is a bad idea and very difficult to ensure the gun stays with the original carrier.

[no_hypocrisy]

14. Squeaky/Lynette Fromme of the Manson Family spent 30+ years in jail for getting near

President Ford with a gun.

Go figure the discrepancy.

[auditguy]

17. she actually pointed the gun at President Ford..

more to it

[onenote]

15. and some folks with guns near obama have been arrested

http://www.infowars.com/man-arrested-outside-obama-event-had-loaded-gun/\

And others have been arrested or detained by the secret service, both during the campaign and after. The thing is, the secret service knows what they're doing.

[mmonk]

21. I think it is legitimate to ask questions of authorities about this.

Liberal groups of protesters are denied their rights regarding protests but are peaceful and reasoned human beings. These threatening loons with guns are left alone. Something is very fundamentally wrong in America.