Christopher Cantwell, a self-described asshole who celebrates the murder of police officers, found himself welcoming their arrival after he pulled out a gun to defend himself against a trio of enraged and possibly drunk citizens who did not want to end up on Youtube.
You can pretty much choose your irony in this video.
Cantwell had been walking home from a friend’s house at 3 a.m. Sunday in downtown Keene, New Hampshire when he came across two men and two women arguing on a sidewalk. He heard women crying and men yelling, so he decided to record in case things got violent.
He was recording from the center median without saying a word when they noticed him, ordering him to stop.
“I’m just here to make sure nobody gets hurt,” he said. He also assured him the video would not go on Youtube.
But that was before they charged towards him, telling him it was illegal to record them, including one young woman shrieking at the top of her lungs, followed by a skinny, shirtless guy and another man.
This is how he explains it in the [__Youtube description:__](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jU2fn_wVVI)
> At one point, one of the men said “Get the fuckin camera out of here now” and I told him “I’m not gonna do it”. A man and a woman began walking toward me in an aggressive posture, before the woman began screaming and ran toward me. I told them repeatedly to stay away from me, as I am a licensed concealed carrier, and had a revolver under my jacket.
> I ran across the street to get away from the woman, and then the men advanced toward me. One of the men wore a red sweatshirt, the other had no shirt on. The man with no shirt on began running toward me, so I told him “I’m not getting in a fight with you stupid, I’ve got a gun on my hip!”. He kept coming, so I pulled out my weapon, dropped my phone and told him to get the fuck away from me.
> He stopped his advance for a moment, then he advanced on me again. With my finger on the trigger I shouted “Don’t come any closer!” thinking to myself “This guy is advancing on a loaded gun pointed at his chest, he’s dangerous and I’ll kill him before I let him get within arm’s reach”.
> His friend, and the women all came closer to me, at one point saying something to the effect of “You’re not gonna shoot me, you’re not a cop bro”. Luckily, he did not test this theory. I am not a cop, far from it, but will end lives before I let multiple assailants attack me while I carry a loaded gun. The thought of one of these lunatics getting my weapon put me in survival mode like I’ve never experienced before.
The video goes black after he pulls out his gun because he lays the camera facedown on the ground, but it captures all the dramatic audio; the yelling, the screaming, the threats; which also drew the attention of police officers who were in the area.
One cop orders him to put the gun down, which he does, and the cops seem surprisingly nonchalant about the whole situation.
“If you know me, you know I’ve not been the kindest guy in terms of police accountability but I appreciate you being here,” Cantwell tells them at one point.
According to his Youtube description:
> Within moments, the Keene police arrived. The KPD knows who I am. They are all too familiar with the things I’ve said on this blog and on my YouTube channel. Despite that, they were professional, courteous, and fair. I allowed them to take my weapon, and check my pockets. I explained the situation to them, I showed them the video, and they were convinced I was in the right. They gave my gun back to me, shook my hand, and let me go.
For those of you who don’t keep up, Cantwell is a controversial figure in the libertarian movement, especially that faction based in New Hampshire. I won’t go into details because it mostly involves Facebook drama, but if you’re that interested, I suggest [__you read his blog__](http://christophercantwell.com/).
He does seem to relish in taking polarizing positions in what many times are already polarizing issues. But that seems to be his schtick. The following is just [__one example.__](http://christophercantwell.com/2014/05/13/dead-police-rant/)
> So I wrote an article celebrating the death of Brentwood, New Hampshire Police officer Steve Arkell, for breaking into a stranger’s home. Predictably, this upset a bunch of people. The conservatives call me a liberal, the liberals call me a conservative, and I laugh at both of their stupid tirades. I am happy about dead police, because police are violent criminals who almost never go to jail.
He and a couple of buddies were also featured on [__The Colbert Report__](http://thecolbertreport.cc.com/videos/dvppp6/difference-makers—the-free-keene-squad) last year in an episode that poked fun at them, but he [__took it all in stride,__](http://christophercantwell.com/2014/11/19/chris-cantwell-colbert-report/) despite criticism from his fellow libertarians that he made them all look bad.
Whatever you may think about him, he certainly taught those people in the video that photography is not a crime.
https://youtu.be/3jU2fn_wVVI
