OK Man Conducting So-Called 'Second Amendment Audits' Arrested

Last week, Cam wrote about a guy by the name of Timothy A. Harper. Harper, it seems, has a habit of openly carrying firearms and filming himself doing so in an effort to get a rise out of people. He calls these incidents “Second Amendment audits,” though he’s really just trying to get someone to object and become the object of attention in the Second Amendment community.

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For what it’s worth, Cam’s not a fan of this guy’s antics and neither am I.

Which is probably why I’m experiencing a bit of schadenfreude right now.

A self-described Second Amendment “auditor” was arrested Tuesday after being accused of illegally taking a rifle into an Oklahoma City restaurant.

Police allege Timothy A. Harper, 52, of Choctaw, violated a state law that prohibits possessing or carrying a rifle in any establishment where alcoholic beverages are consumed.

Prosecutors already have agreed to file a felony charge against Harper in Oklahoma County District Court, according to a police affidavit. If convicted, the gun rights activist faces up to two years in prison and a $1,000 fine.

Harper admitted Monday in an online interview with another “auditor” that he took his rifle into Twin Peaks Nov. 2.

He said he was celebrating the state’s new permitless carry gun law by carrying “my rifle everywhere I can for one day.”

Except, he carried it somewhere he couldn’t.

Whoops.

Look, if you’re going to describe yourself as a “Second Amendment auditor,” you need to make sure you’re dialed in on your state’s firearm laws to an impressive degree. Harper didn’t. That’s because doing that would require work on his part, something he clearly didn’t put in.

Now he’s faced with losing his Second Amendment rights permanently because of it.

Don’t get me wrong. I think Oklahoma’s law banning the carrying of firearms in a place that serves alcohol is beyond idiotic. While I don’t think guns and alcohol should ever be mixed, it’s certainly reasonable to assume that someone who enters a restaurant that serves alcohol can patronize the place without drinking.

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That’s not something that should be mandated by law, either.

However, it is and while Harper wanted to conduct audits like an idiot, he’s not looking at auditing the inside of a prison cell.

In truth, it’s entirely possible that nothing would have come of this if Harper wasn’t out there trying to be the center of attention. If you want to have all eyes focused on you, you need to be as above reproach as you can possibly manage. You need to be familiar with all the laws and follow them scrupulously, especially if you’re going to do something as high-profile as carry an AR-15 pistol with you.

Had he simply had a handgun like most folks and not been trying to be the center of attention, he likely wouldn’t have raised any eyebrows. That’s not quite what happened, though, and now Harper is in deep water.

My hope, though, is that he can work this out where he doesn’t lose his Second Amendment rights but does pick up a valuable lesson from this. We’ll have to see.

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