I strongly disagree. First of all, the officers were not acting on their own initiative. They were responding to a complaint. We might all agree that the law is silly, but do you want the police to decide which laws to enforce? I understand that in our society today, a rational and reasonable officer might do well to ignore most of the laws. But that is that their job. We make them enforce all of the laws. If the officers had not responded, they might well have faced disciplinary action. The problem is not the police, it is the laws.

Second we can agree that merely being "offensive" is not grounds for legal action. However, here in Austin, I have seen and heard these street corner Jeremiahs haranguing and harassing people. They use electric megaphones ("bullhorns") to amplify their voices. In one building that I guarded downtown, a financial advisor moved his office at the end of his lease because his customers were, indeed, offended by the noise of these religious idiots. The preacher in question there called out women for being "harlots" and "whores of Babylon." It is one thing to walk up to a woman and say that. It is another to magnify it to fill the streets in three dimensions.

People petition all the time across from UT. The Church of Scientology is across the street from where this video was taken. They never shout at anyone. We have pro-lifers and Planned Parenthood out there on Guadalupe across from UT and not one ever complains about the other... because they mind their own business and do not shout at people. They just ask for a signature, membership, and money, nicely, and politely. We call it "civility" because it is how civilized people behave in the cities.