Gun-rights activist Adam Kokesh arrested in Herndon

[R. LaCasse]

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Date: Wed, 10 Jul 2013 09:26:58 -0600
From: "Wbr Tvatevpu" rot13
Subject: Gun-rights activist Adam Kokesh arrested in Herndon

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/activist-adam-kokesh-reportedly-arrested-in-herndon/2013/07/10/73dbc8c2-e943-11e2-8f22-de4bd2a2bd39_story.html

Gun-rights activist Adam Kokesh arrested in Herndon

By Trishula Patel,

Police searched the Northern Virginia home of activist Adam Kokesh Tuesday
evening and took him into custody, according to a news release posted on
Kokesh's Web site.

Kokesh, a former Marine, was held overnight at the Fairfax County Adult
Detention Center, charged with possession of schedule I or II drugs while in
possession of a firearm, said Lt. Steve Elbert, a spokesman for the Fairfax
County Sheriff's Office.

He was scheduled for arraignment in Fairfax County General District Court on
Wednesday morning, and a preliminary hearing was scheduled for Oct. 2.

"We were expecting this. We were expecting the government to raid our
house," Darrell Young, Kokesh's roommate, told WRC-TV (Channel 4).

U.S. Park Police Lt. Pamela Smith said her agency executed a search warrant
at Kokesh's home in Herndon, looking for a weapon. The park police are the
federal agency responsible for policing Freedom Plaza, the concrete park a
few blocks from the White House where, in a video posted to YouTube on July
4, Kokesh appears to load a shotgun in violation of D.C. gun laws. Smith
said she did not know if the YouTube video was the trigger for the search
warrant.

(READ: Kokesh has a history of rabble-rousing and self-promotion)

"We will not be silent. We will not obey," Kokesh says in the video. "We
will not allow our government to destroy our humanity. We are the final
American Revolution. See you next Independence Day."

According to a news release posted on Kokesh's Web site, police in cars and
helicopters approached Kokesh's house in Herndon, a suburb 25 miles west of
Washington, about 7:45 p.m. Tuesday and staged an "armed invasion." The
house is in the 1500 block of Snow Flake Court.

"Numerous police vehicles, including a light armored vehicle and two
low-flying helicopters barricaded Adam's street," the news release says.
"More than 20 armored SWAT team members surrounded the house, as well as a
number of detectives, and plainclothes officers."

The release says police used a battering ram to knock in the front door and
detonated a flash grenade in the foyer, then ransacked the house in a
five-hour search while handcuffing Kokesh and detaining others who were in
the house in a separate room. Those details could not be independently
confirmed.

Herndon police assisted in the search, a communications technician from the
department said. But she declined to provide details.

Authorities would not say what drugs Kokesh is accused of having in his
home, but Smith said he was arrested on "narcotics" charges. Possession of
Schedule I or II drugs is a felony in Virginia, punishable by up to 10 years
in prison and a maximum $2,500 fine. If convicted of possession of Schedule
I or II drugs while also in possession of a firearm, Kokesh would face an
additional minimum of two years in prison.

Schedule I drugs under the U.S. Controlled Substances Act include various
opiates and opiate derivatives, hallucinogenic substances, stimulants and
salts with a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical use in the
United States. Schedule II drugs are defined as having a high potential for
abuse leading to severe dependence but with an accepted medical use under
tight restrictions. Schedule II drugs include codeine, morphine, opium,
cocaine and methamphetamine.

(PHOTOS: Kokesh has promoted a variety of causes over the last six years.)

The Iraq war veteran and Internet talk show host unveiled plans in early May
to lead an armed "Open Carry March" into the District on July 4. He
described the proposed event, in which he said participants would carry
loaded guns across the Memorial Bridge from Arlington into Washington, as an
act of civil disobedience against "tyranny."

But the march was canceled after police said they would enforce D.C.'s
strict gun laws, which prohibit the carrying of loaded weapons.

In six years of headline-grabbing activism, Kokesh has embraced causes
including peace in Iraq, free speech in the United States and the
unsuccessful 2012 presidential candidacy of Ron Paul. He has invoked Mahatma
Gandhi and the First Amendment, and he's used both dancing and loaded
weapons to make his political points.

"We will continue to spread the message of liberty, self ownership, and the
non-aggression principle regardless of the government's relentless attacks
on our operation," a statement posted on Kokesh's Web site on Wednesday
morning said.

"We will continue to combat its desperate attempts to crush a worldwide,
revolutionary shift in the people's understanding of the state's
illegitimacy - after all, good ideas don't require force."

In 2007, Kokesh was arrested at the Hart Senate Office Building wearing a
T-shirt that read, "Iraq veterans against the war." He was arrested again in
2011 when he led a group dance party at the Jefferson Memorial. He has
gotten into trouble for protesting in a Marine uniform and for taking a
souvenir gun home from the battlefield.


William Branigin, Justin Jouvenal and Martin Weil contributed to this
report.

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