Roy Warden Rides Again

Roy Warden, the anti-immigrationist who burns Mexican flags (an activity which I think is rather stupid, but I none-the-less recognize as being constitutionally protected symbolic speech), will be holding a new First Amendment fest next week on Aug. 17th at 6pm in Armoury Park. I won’t be able to make it, but if anyone wants to show up with a video camera, I would love to have a copy of your footage. Should be inflamatory… little joke.

What struck me was Roy’s email press release, which said:

“By now, everyone in Tucson should know what
my roped off areas mean,” said Warden. “It means: unless you represent
the Tucson Police Department, or are expressly invited in, stay the freak
out. I don’t give a damn who you are; the media, Mayor Walkup, whoever. If you
enter my zone uninvited, I will consider it an attempt on my life and put you
down.”

That’s a recipe for a first degree murder charge if I ever heard one. A person engaged in self-defense does not have the luxury of setting arbitrary conditions as to what he will consider to be a threat and then killing people of if they transgress those arbitrary boundaries. Rather, the police, the prosecutor, the judge, and ultimately the jury decides what a reasonable person would consider a threat; you only get off the hook if they mostly agree with you. I guarantee that crossing a rope barrier ain’t it. Roy might want to reconsider any legal advice he’s getting in this whole thing here. If he continues on this path, he’s going to wind up with a lot more legal trouble than he’s already got.

In fact, were I this bozo’s attorney (which I would never agree to) I would advise this unstable fellow to get evaluated by a psychiatric professional, and to stop carrying a goddam gun during his little stunts. If he keeps up with making thinly veiled threats against public officials, he’s going to end up a prohibited possessor and not have the option of carrying a gun anymore at all.