Remember the two “open carry activists” who strapped on body armor, gunned-up with semi-automatic rifles, and walked into a Dearborn (MI) police station in order to file a complaint, almost leading to their shooting deaths when they failed to comply with officers inside the station?

Those morons are now facing felony charges.

Two men were expecting to be arraigned on misdemeanor charges for carrying guns and wearing body armor into the Dearborn police station, but were instead hit with felony charges. James Baker, 24, of Leonard, and Brandon Vreeland, 40, of Jackson, are both charged with carrying a concealed weapon, disturbing the peace and assaulting, resisting or obstructing a police officer. Baker was also charged with brandishing a weapon. “The ultimate objective is public safety for everyone; including police officers,” Dearborn Police Chief Ronald Haddad said. Baker and Vreeland allegedly entered the Dearborn police station Feb. 5 dressed in body armor and carrying firearms. Baker was allegedly wearing a ski mask. The incident was livestreamed on Youtube. … Sergeant Carpenter of the Dearborn police spoke at length about why a high bond should be set. Carpenter said that since the incident, both Baker and Vreeland have organized other individuals to carry out similar acts and called the men “professional provocateurs.” Carpenter said some 7,000 text messages have been investigated between Vreeland and Baker about their “protests” and taking advantage of “Trumpophobia” by wearing full Muslim robes and carrying AK-47s at demonstrations. “There’s discussion of having a death wish, making funeral arrangements and embracing the idea of being known as the public enemy,” Carpenter said. The defense attorney, who represented both men, argued that they are well-known activists and that a high bond would be the same as a political witch hunt. Bond was set at $50,000, cash or surety, for Baker, and $20,000, cash or surety, for Vreeland. Both men must turn over all their weapons if they post bond and must wear a GPS tether. Another condition of bond is that they may not have contact with one another. Both men are due back in court March 10.

Let me be very clear on the following point: after Dallas and Baton Rouge and several dozen other attempted assassinations of police officers and deputies in the past two years, Dearborn officers would have been morally, ethically, and legally justified in burning down Baker and Vreeland in the police station lobby when they failed to immediately comply with lawful commands of those officers to put down their weapons. Instead, Baker and Vreeland tried to argue with officers while holding weapons apparently held in a low-ready position in which they could have immediately opened fire. No credible prosecutor would have filed charges against the officers if they had dropped these men after seeing so much as a twitch that they took as a threat indicator that Baker or Vreeland was about to raise his weapon to a firing position. The officers showed incredible restraint in this incident.

NOTE: Baker and Vreeland are not part of Michigan Open Carry, and the group deplores their behavior.

As I noted just after the incident:

Let’s be very clear: these are not gun rights activists. These are two men who hate law enforcement who use “open carry” to show their disdain for police, just as we’ve seen from several other open carry activists in Michigan and Texas. None of these men seem to really care about the right to bear arms, but instead are attempting to use the right to bear arms as a shield to torment and terrorize both their fellow citizens and law enforcement officers, which always seem to be the real targets of their ire. These are the kind of radicals that gun control supporters love, and real gun rights supporters—including sincere open cary activists—loathe.