A very good encounter overall, we think

The recorded conversation between William Kostric, who was legally and openly carrying a firearm outside the school where President Obama spoke on Tuesday, and a Portsmouth, New Hampshire police detective lieutenant (who is unfortunately unnamed at this writing), before Kostric moved his protest onto private property (a nearby church) at the invitation of a local clergyman.

Notice how the lieutenant was polite, professional and service-oriented, and how he lacked even a trace of jack-booted thuggedness (Yes, he knew he was being recorded by multiple cameras, as he made reference during his discussion with Kostric, but we'll give him the benefit of the doubt anyway and laud his handling of the situation). Even though the officer (as far as we know) is in fact incorrect on that particular point of law (as pointed out by Kostric), his calm and professional demeanor had a huge impact in keeping things civil in the middle of that crowd, in our opinion.

Kudos must also to go Mr. Kostric as well for being polite, calm and reasoned right back, making sure to get his (seemingly correct) interpretation of the law on record, and for ultimately deciding that discretion was the better part of valor, at least in this instance, and peacefully moving onto the church's property in order to continue his protest.

There will be plenty of opportunity for Kostric to follow up with the local chief of police at a later time about his being asked to vacate the school grounds under duress and in violation of the law, although we remind him that he should perhaps thank the chief for at least some of his actions as well when doing so, as numerous other stories reported that the chief went to bat with the Feds and the media regarding Kostric's right to peacefully protest while armed, especially once he was on the church's private property. That counts for a whole lot around here as well.

Overall, even though we think that the officer was wrong to "encourage" Mr. Kostric to leave the school under threat of arrest (and that the lieutenant should have refused that unlawful order from his superiors), we praise the manner in which he ultimately performed his job, and wish that other cops throughout the country take note of how he deftly handled this delicate matter.

Mr. Kostric also admirably demonstrated the fact that law-abiding gun owners respect law-enforcement when the same courtesy is shown them, are knowledgeable and obey the laws regarding the lawful carrying of firearms, are just as polite and respectful (if not more so) than the rest of society, and truly are not the ones that the cops and Secret Service should be worried about.