Cinemark Theater Boss Demands Texas Border Cop Stop Carrying Gun

PHARR, Texas — A Cinemark theater’s managerial staff demanded that a local, off-duty cop stop carrying his service pistol in their location.

The incident has sparked outrage among local law enforcement officers and law enforcement groups in south Texas who are calling for a boycott of the local theater.

According to information provided to Breitbart Texas by the pro-law enforcement support group South Texas Sheepdogs, an off-duty officer and his family were patronizing the Cinemark Pharr Town Center Theater when the confrontation took place. The organization is spearheading the boycott of the theater as a way to fight back against the anti-law enforcement sentiment that they claim has been spreading around the nation.

According to the group, the law enforcement official had been carrying his service pistol and badge concealed. When the cop was putting his wallet in his pocket, he momentarily displayed the handgun and badge around his waist. That is when the theater management identified only as Mrs. Vega and Mr. Scott demanded that the police officer disarm.

“They had stated that they had the authority under the posted 30.06 and 30.07 sign to ask him to disarm or leave,” a prepared statement from South Texas Sheepdogs revealed.

The comment refers to Texas law that prohibits the carrying of firearms by civilians with a license to carry in private business with those signs. The sign does not apply to Texas peace officers. The law enforcement official went back to his vehicle to drop off his weapon and badge in order to be able to watch the movie with his family.

After hearing from the officer, members of South Texas Sheepdogs posted the information on their Facebook page and began to communicate to other pro-law enforcement pages nationwide to spread word about the incident in Pharr. Over the 9/11 weekend, the Facebook post by South Texas Sheepdogs had more than 66,000 views.

Breitbart Texas requested a comment from the Cinemark Corporate office via email and called the theater in Pharr. As of the publishing of this story, no response had been provided by either.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project and you can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.