The Open Carry Argument

[Unfettered Might]

Arrest charges under that scenario are NOT on your record. That is not correct info.

If an officer tries to arrest you for Open carry, and it is indeed legal where you live, you just inform him that it is not an arrestable act, and ask him tp call his supervisor to the scene. When the supervisor gets there, inform him/her that you will comply with their orders, but if they persist in arresting you, it will cost them and the city a lot of money and embarrassment, due to the lawsuit you will file, and the TV coverage of the Keystone Cop event.

I don't think you'll have a problem if this occurs and you handle it properly. You see, I hate lazy, ignorant cops as much as I hate criminals...because there is no excuse for either one.

+1000

I was in this very situation. Backwater LEO saw my holster, freaked out and said I couldn't OC.

This is Kentucky, he was very, very wrong.

Then when asked where the firearm was, I told him in was in the glove box (the only place inside a car that a firearm cannot be considered concealed by law), he said, "Well that's a concealed deadly weapon!!" The whole time he's freaking out and I was very calm and matter of fact. Told him to call his supervisor or he was facing a lawsuit by deprivation of rights under color of law(that really confused him). He said he wanted to secure the firearm and I told him no, that it was also a violation of the KRS to take my firearm unless I had committed a crime or he had RAS to think I was about to commit a crime I could be jailed for.

He went back to his patrol car, came back about 20 minutes later, handed me my speeding citation and told me to have a nice evening.

Guess he got educated by me and his supervisor that night.

[hardballer]

+1000
Guess he got educated by me and his supervisor that night.

Congrats and good job.

I've had fairly positive contact with public servants.(LEOs)

I've interacted with two small town chiefs of police while armed and several sheriff's deputies. One fella was a bit edgy so I spent quite a bit of the conversation calming him down. My truck was hit by a car and he was the officer on scene. He noticed two mags on my off side first and kinda freaked. Put his hand on the hilt of his gun and unsnapped it. That was tense but I assured him he was in no danger and I legally had the right to carry. I was his first OCer so I guess it went fairly well. There's more to it but some other time.

The other officer was un-informed and actually asked me if I needed a permit for "that thing". In Wisconsin, none are issued nor needed. So when you say you educated the officer, I can relate. The sheriffs deputy and I spent a half hour shooting the bull and never even broached the subject of OC.

If you think you're doing yourself a favor by vilifying OC, you're sadly mistaken. OC is just as valid if not more so than CC. It is your God given right to bear arms. People are afraid because the psycho, libtard, radical left, co-opted media says we are the bad people. We in fact are the good people. Folks, if you keep bowing to this liberal Alinsky crap, you will end up having your gun taken from you, chopped in half for publick safety and you will spend time in a re-education camp. I am only half joking with that last line.

[GOV5]

My CCW instructor was a retired LEO from our city. He said emphatically that cops do not know the law very well. They make mistakes all the time. That's the reason they get their butts kicked in court so much. People think it's all about smart attorney work. It's not. Most of it is common sense law that cops get wrong on the street.

[handgonnetoter]

Hey, thedoc96, I'm with you. I also live in Indiana and knew about OC here, but thought to myself "I think that it would just attract the wrong kind of attention". I have my CCW and that will have to be good enough for me. If the time came, Heaven forbid, that things got so bad that I was carrying on the outside of my clothes, I think the police would be dealing with bigger problems than me and how I am carrying!

[GOV5]

Hey, thedoc96, I'm with you. I also live in Indiana and knew about OC here, but thought to myself "I think that it would just attract the wrong kind of attention". I have my CCW and that will have to be good enough for me. If the time came, Heaven forbid, that things got so bad that I was carrying on the outside of my clothes, I think the police would be dealing with bigger problems than me and how I am carrying!

S.C. is not an Open Carry State, but you can bet if it was, I would be Open Carrying. Concealed Carry is a pain in the butt, as far as I 'm concerned. If it's the law, who cares? What did you mean by " I think it would attract the wrong kind of attention." ? If it's legal, there isn't any "wrong kind of attention", is there?

[NavyLCDR]

What did you mean by " I think it would attract the wrong kind of attention." ? If it's legal, there isn't any "wrong kind of attention", is there?

Open carriers will be shot first! Geez, don't you pay attention?!? That's what "they" have been telling us for years! Hasn't happened yet, but I am sure it will, because "they" say it will!

[handgonnetoter]

GOV5, all I'm saying is that, unfortunately, we don't live in the old west anymore. I agree that CCW is a pain in the butt, but I think the police giving you a hard time because they don't like your gun out in the open is a bigger pain in the butt. I also agree that if open carry were perfectly fine then the police should not have any reason to mess with you, but I'm also smart enough to know that around here you will be approached and asked what is up even if the butt of your gun is printing a little through your oversized shirt. I know, its happened to me twice. Some of the police seem not to get too shook up over it, but there seem to be more that do. I don't like it, but that is the way it seems to be around my neck of the woods.

[NavyLCDR]

GOV5, all I'm saying is that, unfortunately, we don't live in the old west anymore. I agree that CCW is a pain in the butt, but I think the police giving you a hard time because they don't like your gun out in the open is a bigger pain in the butt. I also agree that if open carry were perfectly fine then the police should not have any reason to mess with you, but I'm also smart enough to know that around here you will be approached and asked what is up even if the butt of your gun is printing a little through your oversized shirt. I know, its happened to me twice. Some of the police seem not to get too shook up over it, but there seem to be more that do. I don't like it, but that is the way it seems to be around my neck of the woods.

And how do you expect that to change?

[hardballer]

Keep in mind that we all have accepted the "reasonable" infringements to the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution. "Reasonable" gun laws that have only served to disarm and endanger honest citizens. The Constitution is the only carry permit that is required but because we have allowed 'little by little' and 'give 'em an inch and they'll take a mile', we have surrendered our 'right' to bear arms till it is almost unrecognizable and bandied about as a mere privilage.

They would like you to think it is a privilege. This is patently false. It is your right, not given but written on your heart. It comes with the operating program we are equipped with from birth. As the Constitution says in 9th Amendment: The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. They used the word 'enumerated' because it was assumed those rights were endowed by a higher power, in effect, already retained by "We The People".

We have been led to believe that we are now too sophisticated to need such crude devices such as tools for self defense. We are not to be trusted with our own self defense. Media wants the world to believe that our guns are dangerous. We are dangerous. More so than cars driven by drunks, or knife and club wielding thugs. Guns in fact, are the real problem.

So does it not anger you that you need a permit to exercise your right to carry or as the Constitution puts it, "bear arms"? Every activist judge that ruled against the Constitution because they felt it was 'reasonable to limit your right to bear arms needs to be re-schooled in Constitutional law at the least.

The Constitution is as constant as the morning star. It is black and white. No grey areas. Unchangeable. Shall not be infringed means, just that. If we continue to accept tiny little infringments in the name of "reasonable" we will soon not have a Constitution at all. Just a faint memory and one day an archeologist will dig up a digital copy and see what they missed.

[GOV5]

A very well phrased. and documented, post!!!