I am an attorney. Oklahoma (believe it or not) has a very similar setup. The legislature refuses to exempt uncompensated volunteer security teams and leaves the statutory interpretation so vague that a prosecutor can do just about anything he wants. The real problem here in Oklahoma is not the regulatory violations of the Oklahoma Securi…
I am an attorney. Oklahoma (believe it or not) has a very similar setup. The legislature refuses to exempt uncompensated volunteer security teams and leaves the statutory interpretation so vague that a prosecutor can do just about anything he wants. The real problem here in Oklahoma is not the regulatory violations of the Oklahoma Security Guard and Private Investigators Act which have rather mild penalties but rather the fact that violation of that act automatically escalates any other possible charges into in the commission of a crime or "other illegal activity" language of a host of other statutes. Using the regulatory violation as a bootstrap, a prosecutor can literally throw the book at a church security team member. For example three or more security team members responding to a disturbance at their church or on the property could be charged with riot since Oklahoma statutes make no distinction between inciting a riot and defending against one. This lets the prosecutor charge whichever side is more politically favorable. Further, Oklahoma has a particularly strong "anti-paramilitary activity" statute which makes organization and training which includes the present ability to project force of any kind a felony. This lets the prosecutor legally label the people who defended AND THE PEOPLE WHO TRAINED THEM as "TERRORISTS" or "MILITIA." This is a national movement aimed to assuring that citizens and particularly churches are not able to organize and train to defend themselves, their families and their churches/communities.
I am an attorney. Oklahoma (believe it or not) has a very similar setup. The legislature refuses to exempt uncompensated volunteer security teams and leaves the statutory interpretation so vague that a prosecutor can do just about anything he wants. The real problem here in Oklahoma is not the regulatory violations of the Oklahoma Security Guard and Private Investigators Act which have rather mild penalties but rather the fact that violation of that act automatically escalates any other possible charges into in the commission of a crime or "other illegal activity" language of a host of other statutes. Using the regulatory violation as a bootstrap, a prosecutor can literally throw the book at a church security team member. For example three or more security team members responding to a disturbance at their church or on the property could be charged with riot since Oklahoma statutes make no distinction between inciting a riot and defending against one. This lets the prosecutor charge whichever side is more politically favorable. Further, Oklahoma has a particularly strong "anti-paramilitary activity" statute which makes organization and training which includes the present ability to project force of any kind a felony. This lets the prosecutor legally label the people who defended AND THE PEOPLE WHO TRAINED THEM as "TERRORISTS" or "MILITIA." This is a national movement aimed to assuring that citizens and particularly churches are not able to organize and train to defend themselves, their families and their churches/communities.