A gun rights activist who uploaded a video of himself loading a shotgun in downtown D.C. was arrested and is refusing to come out of his cell for an arraignment.
Adam Kokesh was arrested late Tuesday after U.S. Park Police searched his Herndon home. He is charged with possession of a Schedule I or II drug and possession of a Schedule I or II drug while in possession of a firearm.
Kokesh had been scheduled to be arraigned at 9 a.m. Wednesday. A coworker close to him told NBC4 Washington's Adam Tuss that Kokesh's refusal to leave his cell is meant to be an act of civil disobedience.
It is unknown whether Kokesh has a lawyer yet.
However, Kokesh could be ordered by a judge to appear. If he refuses, he could be held in contempt of court. It's also possible for the judge to delay the arraignment or hold it without Kokesh present.
He is being held at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center.
On the Fourth of July, Kokesh posted a YouTube video of himself loading what he claims is a real shotgun with live ammunition at Freedom Plaza in D.C.
It is illegal to carry guns in the District of Columbia.
During their search of Kokesh's home, officers were reportedly searching for the shotgun he displayed last week, according to Kokesh's producer and roommate Darrell Young.
It's not known whether that particular weapon was located.
"We were expecting this," Young said. "We were expecting the government to raid our house."
Kokesh, an Iraq war veteran, told Washington's News4 Monday that his actions were intentional. It doesn't make sense that he can have a gun on one side of the river and not the other, he said.
"I was ready to stand by my word, and I was ready to commit the civil disobedience that I had committed to," he said.
In the video, titled "Open Carry March on DC a Success," Kokesh looks directly into the camera as he loads bullets into a shotgun.
"We will not be silent. We will not obey. We will not allow our government to destroy our humanity," Kokesh says in the video, punctuating his words by loading bullets and then cocking the gun. "We are the final American Revolution. See you next Independence Day."
Kokesh said he believes he is the legal owner of the gun shown in the video, but declined to say where -- or if -- it was registered.
"I was here, and I loaded a shotgun on Independence Day, but I didn't kill anybody. I didn't drone any children," he said Monday. "I didn't steal any children's future. I didn't sell this country into debt. I didn't do any of the crimes that the man two blocks over at the White House is responsible for."
A spokesperson from Kokesh's organization, Adam vs. The Man Studios, released this statement following his arrest:
"...We will continue to spread the message of liberty, self ownership, and the non-aggression principle regardless of the government's relentless attacks on our operation. We will continue to combat its desperate attempts to crush a worldwide, revolutionary shift in the people's understanding of the state's illegitimacy -- after all, good ideas don't require force."
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