Published on May 23, 2013
by Jordan K.
I am currently a student at Southeast Missouri State University as a Philosophy Major and Psychology Minor. As an active volunteer in the community (worked at MoMOM after classes, volunteered for the past three years in the "Smiles of Hope" dental program-formerly operated on the S.H.O.W. Mobile), I have a deep love for our local well-being and for our country in general.

On the evening of April 30th, 2013, at around 7:30 p.m., I was operating a Mosin Nagant (that I had recently traded a shotgun for) on our property in Kelso, MO. An officer of the Scott County Sheriff Department responded to the call as a peace disturbance. As I had already left, he spoke with my mother and stated that he merely had to show up and that no peace disturbance was filed. He went on to respectfully inform her that we were not prohibited to use our firearms on our own property in the manner in which we were, as there is nothing but open field behind our property (I was firing no more than 5 yards directly into the ground anyways) and that no noise ordinance or firearm ordinance is in place within the Village of Kelso- not to mention that I had the consent of my two closest neighbors, saying that they had no problem with it.

Per his information that I was abiding by local law, I went back out to our rural Kelso residence the next day, only after finishing up my classes at Southeast Missouri State University. I was open-carrying my Del-Ton AR-15 with a 100 round drum mag in it on my chest, my Springfield Armory XD-40 handgun on my hip, and my 1942 Russian Mosin Nagant on my right shoulder, all legally obtained through local shops in Cape Girardeau (other than the Nagant-traded), in my name. As I was operating the Mosin Nagant in the same way I had the night before, I knew that I was within the boundaries of the local laws.

I was arrested at 7:50 p.m. on the evening of May 1st, 2013 in Kelso, MO at my mother's home. I was given the ultimatum to either hand over my firearms or be arrested. I responded to this ultimatum with respectful questions, and after Lt. Jerry Bledsoe was clearly unable to answer my questions on why he felt he had the right to take my firearms and what can constitute as a "peace disturbance", as I was carrying and operating within the boundaries of the law and on private property against no ordinances, I was disarmed and arrested on the fabricated charge of "unlawful use of a firearm" (a Class D Felony) in order for him to be able to detain me for up to 24 hours. I was released after 17 hours (right in time for me to miss my Ancient Philosophy course!) with a ticket for disturbing the peace as my only charge.

I acted within the local and state laws, but because I refused to give my firearms to the single Kelso Police Officer, Lt. Jerry Bledsoe of Scott County Sheriff Department, I was arrested. This treatment as a criminal has left me feeling violated & victimized. It is also a prime example of the on-going war conducted by other anti-gun activists (or just corrupt, harassing officers) throughout the country by infringing upon our 2nd Amendment rights. This should not go unrecognized, and I will not stop until true justice has been done.

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