Jim Brossard

Jim Brossard is a U.S. Army veteran who, angered by a Reno bar owner flying a Mexican flag above the U.S. flag, cut the U.S. flag down. He is variously being hailed as a hero and a patriot or decried as a criminal and a vigilante for this act.

Background

On October 2, 2007, Brossard heard on a local talk radio show that the Cantina El Jaripeo near downtown Reno was flying a Mexican flag above a US flag. He drove to the site and cut down the flags. [cite news |title= Veteran:'fight me for this flag |url= http://news.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071003/NEWS18/71003043&oaso=news.rgj.com |publisher=Reno Gazette-Journal |date= Oct 3 2007 |accessdate=2007-11-28]

Aftermath

Brossard appeared with talk radio host Bill Manders on Fox News' Your World with Neil Cavuto on October 3 and said that he "heard on Bill Manders' show that the flags were flying as they were. I found it disturbing to the point that I had to do something about it. I grabbed my Ka-Bar, I went down there, I left my vehicle a couple of doors down, I found TV cameras rolling as I walked up, I did what was in my heart."cite video
people = Jim Broussard, Bill Manders, Neil Cavuto
title = Interview
medium = Television
publisher = Fox News
date = Oct 3 2007 ]

Talk radio host Mike Gallagher told Brossard during an October 3 interview, "I can promise you that Americans view you as a hero." [cite video
people = Jim Broussard, Mike Gallagher
title = Interview
medium = radio
date = Oct 3 2007 ] During that interview Brossard explained that his primary concern was what Gallagher referred to as the 'Hispanification' of America. Brossard said, "I feel there’s a lot of this turning our heads on things in concern to the Hispanic community and the things they do. They seem impervious to our laws in a lot of situations."

A veterans' group, the U.S.S. Intrepid Association Inc., in November 2007 presented Brossard with a U.S. flag that had been raised over the Intrepid July 12, 2007.cite news |title= Man who cut down U.S. flag honored |url= http://news.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007711210432 |publisher=Reno Gazette-Journal |date= Nov 21 2007 |accessdate=2007-11-28]

Although Cavuto,Gallagher, [cite video
people = Jim Brossard, Mike Gallagher
title = Interview
medium = radio
date = Oct 3 2007 ] and other reporters stated that flying the U.S. flag in this manner is illegal, the Reno Police Department and the Nevada chapter of the ACLU issued separate press releases stating that while both U.S. code and Nevada statutes contain protocols relating to the display of the American flag, the protocols are advisory only and carry no sanctions for violation. [cite news |title= Police share details on flag flying |url= http://news.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071003/NEWS18/71003043&oaso=news.rgj.com |publisher=Reno Gazette-Journal |date=Oct 3 2007 |accessdate=2007-11-28] [cite news |title= Reno police, ACLU join flap over Mexican flag |url= http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nevada/2007/oct/03/100310202.html |publisher=Las Vegas Sun |date=Oct 3 2007 |accessdate=2007-11-28]

The Director for the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, Bob Fulkerson, called Brossard's actions "criminal". Right Wing Watch, the online newsmagazine of People for the American Way, called him a vigilante. [cite web |first = Ezra |last= Kautz|title= Worried about 'Hispanification,' Vigilante Ties in Flag Debate |url= http://www.rightwingwatch.org/2007/10/worried_about_h.html |publisher=RightWingWatch |date= Oct 4 2007 |accessdate=2007-11-28]

The owner of the bar did not press charges against Brossard. [cite news |title= Vet cuts down Mexican flag flying above U.S. banner |url= http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57960 |publisher=WorldNetDaily |date= Oct 4 2007 |accessdate=2007-11-28]

Ka-Bar, the manufacturer of the knife Brossard used, made a Jim Broussard commemorative edition of the military knife [ [https://www.kabar.com/product_search.jsp?searchString=brossard&mode=search KA-BAR Knives Inc ] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.jimbrossard.com/ Brossard's website]