By: Leon Kwasi Kuntuo-Asare
In a country where the Second Amendment is often championed as a sacred pillar of American freedom, a viral bodycam video out of Boston serves as a chilling reminder that for Black men, those “rights” often come with a disclaimer written in blue ink.
The footage, which began circulating after being posted by Malcom J. Johnson on April 21, captures a tense encounter on the streets of Dorchester that has reignited the conversation around the “Second Amendment for me, but not for thee” reality facing Black gun owners. On April 4, Johnson, a licensed gun owner and security professional, was legally open-carrying his firearm in a holster on his belt. He wasn’t waving it around; he wasn’t making threats. He was simply minding his own business and existing on a sidewalk in a majority-Black neighborhood. Then came Boston Police Officer James Verderico.
The video shows Verderico pulling up in his patrol car, stepping out, and immediately initiating physical contact. Without a single preliminary question or a request to see identification, Verderico grabbed Johnson by the forearm and snatched the firearm from his holster.
“I have a gun license,” Johnson said very calmly, a statement that should have de-escalated the situation immediately. Instead, Verderico maintained his grip on Johnson’s arm and began calling for backup.
“I stayed calm because I feared for my life,” Johnson wrote in the caption of his video. “I was already being physically handled and disarmed. At that moment, I knew any reaction could escalate things further.”
This fear is not unfounded. For Black men in America, the mere presence of a firearm, legal or illegal, can often act as a death warrant in the eyes of law enforcement. From the 2016 killing of Philando Castile, who was shot after calmly informing an officer he had a licensed weapon, to the countless other unintentional or intentional tragedies, the message is clear: a Black man with a gun is viewed as a threat first and a citizen second. As the encounter unfolded, Verderico’s confusion regarding the law became glaringly obvious.
Despite Johnson’s compliance and his repeated assertions that he was licensed, Verderico stuttered through a justification, telling Johnson, “You can’t, you can’t,” before trailing off. When Johnson asked if open carry was illegal, the officer pivoted to a vague, generalized excuse: “I want to make sure everything is copious. Nothing personal, my friend. A lot of violence.”
The irony was thick enough to choke on. Verderico admitted, while holding the license in his hand, that it was his own department, the Boston Police Department that had issued Johnson the permit to carry.
Massachusetts law is clear: citizens with a License to Carry (LTC) are permitted to carry firearms in public. There is no specific state statute that bans the open carrying of a firearm if you possess that license. Yet, even after confirming the license was legitimate and the gun was registered to Johnson, Verderico forced him to wait for multiple backup units to arrive in three separate patrol SUVs.
“You’re going to have to cancel the Lyft,” Verderico told Johnson, indifferent to the fact that he was disrupting a law-abiding man’s day based on a hunch and no real personal evidence.
The interaction reached a peak of absurdity when a female officer arrived, ran Johnson’s information, and confirmed he had five active firearms registered to his name. “Yeah, but everything is legit, right?” Verderico asked, still seemingly unable to wrap his head around a Black man being a legal, multi-gun owner.
After running the serial number to ensure it wasn’t stolen, Verderico finally returned the weapon to Johnson’s holster. But the harassment didn’t end there. He told Johnson, “Don’t walk around like that,” and insisted on taking a “snapshot” of him for the record.
Johnson, who is exploring potential civil rights claims and seeking a formal review of the stop, isn’t letting the incident slide. Under his stage name, “Primo DOLLAZ,” he shared the full video to highlight the systemic profiling that turns a legal activity into a life-threatening ordeal.
“Being grabbed, disarmed, surrounded, and detained when you’re following the law is something that deserves scrutiny,” Johnson said.
This incident is more than just a “misunderstanding” or an officer being “cautious.” It is a display of the state’s refusal to acknowledge Black personhood and Black rights. If the Second Amendment truly belongs to all Americans, then a license issued by the Boston Police Department should be enough to protect a Black man from being manhandled on a Dorchester sidewalk.
Until “legally armed” stops being synonymous with “suspicious” for Black men, the right to bear arms will remain a privilege reserved for those the police choose not to fear.
For Additional Information Use Link Below:
‘You Can’t! You Can’t!’: Bodycam Shows Boston Cop Snatch Gun from Licensed Black Security Guard Despite Legal Open Carry, License Issued By His Own Department
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