Well, about a month ago, Zach did something that may hurt him in the long run.  He was running around south Texas, open carrying his AK, and apparently thought it was a good idea to have his picture taken with the rifle in front of local police stations.

This went well until he got to McAllen.  They didn’t like the idea, so they told him to leave (apparently giving him a trespass warning, it’s not clear), which he did.

Then he thought about it.  And went back.

But only after calling them and telling them he was coming back.

Yeah, that’s a good idea.  It’s legal, don’t get me wrong, but poking a sleeping mountain lion with a sharp stick has never struck me as being especially bright.  But, hey, if that’s your thing…

So of course the police are there and when he doesn’t comply with their commands, arrest him for having a firearm where prohibited, see Tex. Pen. Code Ann. § 46.03.  That’s a felony.

Now granted, from what I’ve seen, it’s a BS charge, because you have to actually go into the building to be charged with it, and the AK never left his car.  So Zach sees the inside of a jail cell, then a judge, who sets bond at $25K (meaning a bail bondsman will likely charge $2,500, and maybe twice that, since he’s not from the area).  You don’t get that money back, either.  Of course his rifle and cellphone are now evidence, and the last I saw, they had a hold placed on his truck.

Of course the DA should drop the charges, but this is Hidalgo County, where the niceties of the law haven’t always been observed, like the sheriff’s son (head of a local drug task force) who was indicted and pled guilty for stealing drug loads.  Or the eleven recruits in the academy fired by the sheriff last year for trying to cheat on tests.  Or the previous sheriff and county commissioners in the 1990s. Or – well, you get the picture.

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