Gun rights activist released
A YouTuber accused of illegal ly taking an AR -15 rifle into a restaurant was released Friday night from the Oklahoma County jail.
Timothy A. Harper, a selfdescribed Second Amendment "auditor," got out on bond after a judge ruled Friday he did not have to put up cash to be released.
The judge had refused Harper's request to reduce the bail from $100,000 to $5,000.
Harper, 52, of Choctaw, was arrested Tuesday and charged Friday with a felony. He is accused of violating a state law that prohibits possessing or carrying a rifle in any establishment where alcoholic beverages are consumed.
District Judge Ray C. Elliott said he was keeping the bail at $100,000 to protect the public. He said common sense should tell an individual in today's environment, even in Oklahoma, that you don't walk into a restaurant, particularly when children are present, carrying a loaded AR-15 rifle. He said a parent carrying a concealed handgun could have started shooting.
"I don' t think any true Second Amendment advocate — who I confess to be — thinks it's appropriate to do what Mr. Harper did," said the judge, who is a longtime member of the National Rifle Association. "The potential was for mass chaos."
Harper regularly livestreams himself on YouTube walking in public places with an AR-15 pistol or AR-15 rifle and being confronted by police. He claims he is exercising his Second Amendment rights and conducting "audits" to make sure police officers understand gun laws. His YouTube video of a run-in with police at Edmond's Hafer Park earlier this year has been viewed more than 1.3 million times.
Harper admitted to police after his arrest that he went into Twin Peaks in northwest Oklahoma City with his AR-15 rifle on Nov. 2, a day after the state's new permitless carry law went into effect. He claims he didn't know at the time that was illegal.
"He said he was made aware after that that he had messed up," an Oklahoma City police lieutenant, Aron Sharp, testified Friday.
District Attorney David Prater told the judge Harper is not motivated by the Second Amendment. Prater said Harper is provoking people for his YouTube videos to make money.
The DA accused Harper of trying to provoke members of the Israel United in Christ Church earlier Nov. 2 by standing outside their front door on NE 23 with his AR -15 rifle. Prater praised those at the church for calling Oklahoma City police rather than reacting to the "racist" act.
"This has got to stop," Prater said. "This man is incredibly dangerous. ... He's lucky he's not dead."
Defense attorney Doug Parr said Harper is a Navy veteran who served aboard the aircraft carrier USS America during Desert Storm. The attorney said Harper now works as a pipe fitter at Tinker Air Force Base.
The attorney told the judge Harper said "he's done with all this Second Amendment stuff" and just wants to get on with his life.
Another judge had required the $100,000 bail to be cash only but Elliott said that restriction was contrary to the law.
Harper agreed to surrender all his firearms to his attorney, to not talk to the media, to not speak at public events, to not go to gun shows and to not make social media posts about his case or about firearms. He also agreed to wear an ankle monitor.