Brett, did you ever consider a public or written (to the MPD) apology for talking about shooting them??
Maybe you could explain your frustrations and share some of your stories, and people could grow and move beyond this crap?
So you are just assuming that his (chosen, cut and presented) words defined an intent to shoot police due to some kind of grudge he has against them?
I would think first and foremost, before admitting anything as crazy as that, is to see the whole video, unedited and see what context his actual sentence(s) were taken from in the first place.
I could see alot of people talking about how they could have shot a cop, even other cops and then cut out of context could easily be made to appear as if there was some type of intent involved driven by emotion.
A police officer could be telling someone on tape a story as to how they almost shot their own partner, and though the circumstances would have been accidental all the media has to take from his story is "I could have easily shot him based on what he was doing." Couple that cut with a cut of that same officer yelling at someone on the street and it looks like the dude is a ticking time bomb ready to kill anything he comes in contact with. I could think of several different scenarios where someone could make the statement, "I could have easily shot them." such that within the entire context, no real alarm would be raised. If a police officer forced open your bedroom window in the middle of the night and climbed in it without identifying himself, don't you think you could shoot a police officer in that scenario?
In this scenario at Wal Mart, Brett is right. He could have shot at the officers and so could a dozen other armed people within that store if they were the kinds of people who would take that action. What you are assuming and what the clip is trying to lead you to believe is that Brett is actually that kind of person. If the police were worried most about their safety, they don't show it by casually walking up to or calling over an armed person of interest without at least having drawn their weapon first. I could see how that could be part of the explanation as to why the excuse of officer safety isn't exactly crystal clear in this particular situation by mentioning that their actions under different circumstances could have very well lead to them being shot. To me, its obvious the police approached him feeling extremely comfortable in the presence of an open carrier, knowing there is very little to no history to suggest that open carriers are actually a bonified threat to their safety and his conversation within the jail could have very well been explaining that situation logically to another person for all we know right now without having the luxury of seeing the entire conversation as the media and the police both had access too.
There is good reason to question why only very small parts of that tape were released as opposed to the whole thing. In my opinion, it was to fit an agenda, to craft a story that wasn't there to begin with.
I think before any potential wrong confessions are to be made and responsibility be acknowledged for an act that might not even have existed in the first place, Brett needs to get that entire video to refresh himself with it. It could very well be possible that the TV station and the police department releasing it or parts of it are the ones that owe him an apology.
