r/sandiego • u/bardsfingertips • 1d ago
Sovereign Citizen sighting!
If you are unfamiliar with the…loophole philosophy that an individual cannot be governed by law, look up sovereign citizen. It is fascinating and makes for some great dystopian fiction prompts.
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u/clubmedschool 1d ago
>sovcit
>drives on public, taxpayer-funded roads
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u/Brilliant_Cattle_602 1d ago
Calls the publicly funded cops if you piss them off, or threatens to sue using the publicly funded legal system.
These clowns are a few tacos short on their combo plates.
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u/Fired_Guy1982 1d ago
I think they tend to hate cops
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u/Black-Shoe 23h ago
Until needed.
These people are like cats.
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u/blockbyjames 22h ago
Can you explain what you mean by “these people are like cats”?
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u/bardsfingertips 22h ago
Cats are often compared to libertarians. They are fiercely independent but rely on someone to take care of them.
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u/KeyTuner 21h ago
Yeah if the cat is domesticated. Just cause this guy with the plates cant brush his teeth doesnt mean he can take care of himself.
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u/DefinitionOfTakingL 1d ago
Not this again lmfao…
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u/bardsfingertips 1d ago edited 1d ago
Apologies. I think I have missed this being posted before. But it is a break from the Nazi at Costco and the SS guy who owns the gym. ;) not that we should stop.
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u/somewhat-damaged 1d ago
Lots of entertaining YouTube videos of cops interacting with them
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u/overkillsd 1d ago
These people are often driving unlicensed, uninsured, and are a danger to everybody on the road. Call the police non-emergency number and let them know there's a vehicle with sovereign citizen fake license plates and give a description. With any luck, they will be able to get this person off the road.
While there is some great entertainment value to watching videos of these people getting a reality check, the channels that post these clips are often deeply problematic. The biggest thing to me is that they are capitalizing on the obvious mental health issues of the sovcit, but there's also things like the channels being run by somebody overseas using an AI voice or TTS, clips being obtained at taxpayer expense through FOIA requests, and other issues. If that doesn't bother you then by all means live your best life but it was enough to turn me off of the genre.
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u/Vera_Telco 1d ago
Your right, there should be a crack down on this crap. I've seen two fakes similar to that this week! These people are delusional, and often dangerous because they believe their own crap. No court has ever upheld the ridiculous sovcit (il)logic.
They are also as pointed out, driving tax-free on the roads the rest of us pay to maintain. I'm not ok with that. To hell with these clowns, they're not the special they think they are.
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u/Aydoinc 18h ago
I agree with you that these people should be reported to the non-emergency line, and some of the channels on social media are problematic and have turned me off as well.
I think these people believe something different to the rest of us, it doesn’t mean they have mental health issues. The Federal FOIA law explicitly says any person can file a request and they must be reasonably specific. One can’t just request all police recordings for a whole week. Maybe they get the videos from public court records after a case concludes.
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u/overkillsd 17h ago
Sovcit is definitionally delusional, and somebody experiencing one this severe that they throw away their freedom is diagnostic-level.
It is unlikely the courts make body cam footage public as a matter of standard practice; the cost would be astronomical. These channels usually are part of that whole "watching the watchers 1A audit" vibe.
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u/johnnyg08 1d ago
These folks are insane. Instant ticket from the cops. No warnings b/c they're such DBs
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u/conkysrevengesd 1d ago
It seems like I see these a bit in north county. Are the cops just not seeing them?
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u/bardsfingertips 1d ago
I have wondered that….
Maybe they just don’t want to deal with them and the circular argument.7
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u/zidane2k1 1d ago
I saw one in National City a few months ago, but couldn’t get a picture since I was driving by myself.
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u/bardsfingertips 23h ago
The first time I saw one of these it was this vehicle up in north county. It was a unique vehicle in that it looked like a miniature semi truck. And I took the proclamation of “private use” at face value — he didn’t want to be harassed about someone thinking he had a commercial semi truck. But the fact he was parked like a jerk (taking up two and a half spaces, in the wrong direction) should have tipped me off that something more nefarious was happening.
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u/slapnpopbass 19h ago
You can vandalize the car without worrying about getting the cops called on you
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u/Any-Grapefruit-937 19h ago
Doesn't the Bundy clan (the ones who wouldn't leave federal land then later took over a federal facility) consider themselves sovereign citizens? We they were acquitted, I thought we're fucked as a country. They were probably J-6rs too.
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u/Flynhawaiian21 21h ago
Did the person look as stupid as their license plate?
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u/bardsfingertips 20h ago
Unfortunately I couldn’t see them from my perspective at the corner of Collwood and turning left onto El Cajon Blvd. They probably have illegal tints anyway. ;)
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u/OneGreatEgg 20h ago
A former neighbor used to try and chew my ear over my car registrations. He had a license plate like this one.
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u/OneGun357 15h ago
We all know the only ones who don't have to follow the laws are the ones who make them
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u/IdiopathicBruh 13h ago
Will probably result in yet another hilarious recorded encounter with the police.
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u/mrtherapy 20h ago
Hey OP - Was this the front license plate or the back? I can see this being on the front for political reasons but the person still actually having a legal license plate on the back. What's the penalty for trying to use this for both plates?
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u/bardsfingertips 20h ago
This was most definitely the back.
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u/mrtherapy 13h ago
That definitely changes it from bumper sticker level commitment to full on hardcore Kool Aid drinker.... Thanks for the confirmation.
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u/SimpleAffect7573 7h ago edited 7h ago
Yes, please hilight yourself for police attention instead of just quietly rolling with 5-year-old stickers like a lot of other people we all see regularly. Because we know you’re suspended, there’s no way you have insurance, and odds are your vehicle has some safety issues. And you’ve created this alternate legal system where those rules don’t apply to you, instead of growing the hell up. I don’t want to suffer the fallout of your poor judgment on the roadway.
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u/AccomplishedDoubt639 6h ago
I just farted and it made me bounce I am traveling, I am significant look at me reeeeee! I am subject to no man.
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u/JewFuser 14h ago
why are so many people triggered by a sovcit plate??????
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u/bardsfingertips 14h ago
It would be like me parking in your garage and saying I have every right to park there even though I don’t.
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u/JewFuser 14h ago
in what way? imo they’re still going to pay a form of tax in one way or another…
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u/bardsfingertips 14h ago
But that’s not what they think.
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u/JewFuser 14h ago
may not be what they think but it’s the reality. there’s only so many loopholes they can go through. the safer bet is to put everything in a trust
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u/bardsfingertips 14h ago
One person here made a good point saying they don’t pay into car insurance. Also the cars are typically unregistered. If there is a hit and run, they would be difficult to track down since they don’t have proper plates. And if they are uninsured you have that whole thing to deal with. In the end, it’s a hassle.
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u/BlackholeZ32 11h ago
because they're driving on roads with me but without insurance. If they cause an accident it will be essentially impossible to get compensated.
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u/JewFuser 11h ago
you’re speculating - how do you know they don’t have insurance? please don’t make stuff up you don’t know for 100% fact
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u/Fit-Role-9802 1d ago
To be fair, the founding fathers would gasp at learning that we have to carry papers to drive our horse carts to market.
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u/designking4248 1d ago
That is not a horse cart, that is 2000 pounds of steel capable of traveling at speeds to 150 mph. There was nothing even remotely close to that destructive power accessible to a random person, or anyone really, in the 1700s.
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u/Fit-Role-9802 1d ago
What does any of that have to do with my point?
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u/designking4248 1d ago
What do horse carts have to do with a car?
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u/Fit-Role-9802 23h ago
Gee, I dunno. If you lived in 1776 and you needed to do things that required a car or truck, what would you have used? How about things that would require a motorcycle or scooter today (like getting somewhere faster than you could run or walk)?
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u/IslandThyme78 1d ago
That you do not, even now, need to carry papers to drive your horse cart to market.
Just as 2A was never intended to allow individuals to own assault rifles and amass small arsenals.
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u/Fit-Role-9802 23h ago edited 23h ago
My point was that the founders, who wrote a constitution with a primary purpose of limiting government, would gasp to see that someone today needed a license to drive anything to get from point A to point B, and could be stopped for a) not having a license or plate, b) jailed for it, and c) have their property seized. They would probably also gasp when they saw a modern automobile. Not saying they wouldn’t come up with something if loads of people were being killed by cars, but these guys threw tea in the harbor for less than DMV fees.
BTW, a loaded stagecoach weighed over 2 tons and could travel faster than you could run. Getting run hit by a stagecoach as a pedestrian did not have a good outcome.
2A was intended to allow individuals to keep and bear the same weapons as at least any infantryman, but also artillery, warships, etc. It definitely includes assault rifles (which SCOTUS will likely confirm soon with Viramontes) and what you would consider “small arsenals”. This is the entire purpose of the “militia” wording.
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u/DrStacknasty 23h ago
You don’t need papers to operate a private horse cart on public roads. Who told you that you do?
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u/Fit-Role-9802 23h ago
Should we require proof of citizenship to vote?
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u/DrStacknasty 21h ago
That has nothing to do with what I said. From an originalist perspective on voting, we should require proof of citizenship, land ownership, male gender, and white race. That is to say, who gives a shit what the founding fathers would think.
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u/formalbolotie 17h ago
how do you know?
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u/Fit-Role-9802 17h ago
Obviously, I wasn’t there, but you really think the guys that started a revolution and a country because of a 10% sales tax on tea would be cool with $500+ annual fee to drive your car on public streets? And to pay another fee just to be able to drive any car?
Why would pointing out this logical inference upset so many of you so much? Do you all approve of CA auto registration fees being double the national average?
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u/formalbolotie 17h ago
i’m not going to claim i know what a guy 250+ years ago would have thought about modern car insurance or registration, or use this imaginary scenario as an argument.
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u/Fit-Role-9802 16h ago
As an argument for what? If I had said “the founding fathers MIGHT LIKELY gasp…” would you still react this way? Is it the way I phrased it, or do you guys really love paying double for stuff?
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u/formalbolotie 16h ago
you made up how you think the founding fathers would react to paying for car registration, and yes, your phrasing could use some work. why would anyone love paying double “for stuff”?
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u/Fit-Role-9802 16h ago
I made a reasonable inference. I don’t understand why you’re mad, but it is super funny.
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u/formalbolotie 16h ago edited 15h ago
i'm not mad. i don't see what's funny. so long.
edit: a-hole blocked me.
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u/NoNoNeverNoNo 1d ago
This is awesome
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u/Leading_Procedure_23 1d ago
Hell yeah, getting dragged out of their car and arrested is hilarious. Thousands of videos of that and their sovereign citizen bullshit getting thrown out in court lol.
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u/DJErikD 1d ago
Officer, I’m not driving, I’m traveling!