Gun safety tables at Seattle police open house picnics.

On monday june 4, 2012 i sent this...

Dear Mrs. Pilon,

My name is Eric Miller and Maggy Olson directed me to you for permission to put on a gun safety table at the next police open house picnic. I attended all of the picnics last year, and my friends and I are concerned with all the accidents with children that have happened this last year, so we thought a gun safety table would be informative for the public.

At our table we will have gun safes, gun locks, Eddy the Eagle kid coloring books from the NRA and crayons. We will also have information on free gun home safety training.

I have a lot of volunteers, so we can cover all of the picnics on the one day if that's what the dept. is planning.

You can reach me by phone at 206-390-5200 if you have any questions. We are a non-profit community based organization, Open Carry.org.

Hope to here from you soon. Sincerely Eric Miller

COMMENT BY ADMINISTRATOR: Please note that Mike & I have never filed for non-profit status with the state of Virginia or with the IRS. We DO NOT represent ourselves as a non-profit but as an 'unprofitable' community based organization.

Please feel free to hold events as 'members' of OpenCarry.org but for legal purposes I must state that only Mike or I speak for the organization. Having said that, I hope the event is a great success!

John

On Thursday June 28 2012, I recieved this.....

Hello Eric,



Thank you for making contact regarding hosting booths at the Precinct Picnics this year regarding gun safety. Gun safety is an important safety topic, and we appreciate having community members who are interested in providing this information.



However, we will have Crime Prevention Coordinators, Precinct Officers, Community Police Team Officers, as well as SWAT Officers at the picnics, and it would be an overlap of resources to also have an additional booth providing gun safety information.



I hope you and your volunteers are able to come and attend the Picnics this year, and again thank you for the offer of hosting a booth!



Best Regards,



Diane Pilon
Seattle Police Foundation Liaison
Seattle Police Department
610 5th Avenue
PO Box 34986
Seattle, WA 98124-4986
206-386-1996

diane.pilon@seattle.gov

So what to do now....

Seattle police dept. is having all their open house picnics on one day, Saturday August 11, 2012. I don't think they are going to have any gun safety stuff put on by any of the police officers. I think there is room for our table and they just don't want us there. I am thinking of filing a complaint with OPA, Office of Police Accountabilty, but I haven't figured out the grounds just yet. I bet they are going to have plenty of room for the other community tables. This SUCKS!

You should ask her what the problem with "overlap" would be. You're volunteering, so there's no cost involved, and you might actually cover something that those so-called gun experts wouldn't.

jsanchez said:

Hello Eric,

Thank you for making contact regarding hosting booths at the Precinct Picnics this year regarding gun safety. Gun safety is an important safety topic, and we appreciate having community members who are interested in providing this information.



However, we will have Crime Prevention Coordinators, Precinct Officers, Community Police Team Officers, as well as SWAT Officers at the picnics, and it would be an overlap of resources to also have an additional booth providing gun safety information.



I hope you and your volunteers are able to come and attend the Picnics this year, and again thank you for the offer of hosting a booth!



Best Regards,



Diane Pilon
Seattle Police Foundation Liaison
Seattle Police Department
610 5th Avenue
PO Box 34986
Seattle, WA 98124-4986
206-386-1996

diane.pilon@seattle.gov

Click to expand...

They don't want you to make the SPD look bad.

Too bad most citizens know more about the handling and use of firearms. Maybe Dave Workman could mention this in an article sometime soon. Heck, this is one thing you could easily go to the media with. The headline would read "SPD refuses to allow gun safety booth at picnics" PR nightmare for them, PR bonanza for us.

MSG Laigaie said:

The plan is to conduct a weapons safety class once an hour during the picnic to anyone who wishes to listen. .

Click to expand...

Anyone else finds this boring & shows that guns are inherently unsafe?

OCDO, while publicly read, is private property and subject to user limitations.

jsanchez said:

--snip--

We are a non-profit community based organization, Open Carry.org.

Click to expand...

You should not be making such a claim w/o specific approval by either John or Mike, site owners, which I am disinclined to think that they would give. You do not speak for OCDO nor should be giving that impression.

Opencarry.org is the exclusive property of the aforementioned two gentleman.

davidmcbeth said:

Anyone else finds this boring & shows that guns are inherently unsafe?

Click to expand...

Nope.

The Picnic we had in Bellingham had weapons safety classes and it was well received by the Public. We bribed them with burgers and hotdogs and got quite a crowd when the classes started. We started with the description of semi and revolver parts, went to safe handling, and then moved to safe storage. We had a few bangers Moms in the crowd, very attentive. None of them seemed bored. I think (my pers opine) the People felt more comfortable listening to us than they would have listening to LEOs.

jsanchez said:

Seattle police dept. is having all their open house picnics on one day, Saturday August 11, 2012. I don't think they are going to have any gun safety stuff put on by any of the police officers. I think there is room for our table and they just don't want us there. I am thinking of filing a complaint with OPA, Office of Police Accountabilty, but I haven't figured out the grounds just yet. I bet they are going to have plenty of room for the other community tables. This SUCKS!

Click to expand...

Vandal said:

They don't want you to make the SPD look bad.
Too bad most citizens know more about the handling and use of firearms. Maybe Dave Workman could mention this in an article sometime soon. Heck, this is one thing you could easily go to the media with. The headline would read "SPD refuses to allow gun safety booth at picnics" PR nightmare for them, PR bonanza for us.

Click to expand...

What is to prevent anyone from setting up a table for purposes of gun safety anyway? I assume that the picnics are going to be outdoors, and that pesky First Amendment and pesky Washington Constitution sorta let us do this without their "permission" since sidewalks by the precinct grounds are public property. The way I read it, all someone must do is to apply for the appropriate Street Use Ordinance permit. SMC 15.04.020.
Moreover, as I read the ordinance, I believe that they cannot lawfully deny anyone a permit to set up an information table for constitutionally-protected purposes. SMC 15.02.027, SMC 15.04.017, SMC 15.02.035.

Then, if they do deny the permit, I suggest that’s when the issue is taken to the presiding judge of Seattle Municipal Court (Judge Kondo). SMC 15.02.090. Before taking the issue to the press, I suggest that all attempts to play nicely with them are exhausted first.

COMMENT BY ADMINISTRATOR: Please note that Mike & I have never filed for non-profit status with the state of Virginia or with the IRS. We DO NOT represent ourselves as a non-profit but as an 'unprofitable' community based organization.

Please feel free to hold events as 'members' of OpenCarry.org but for legal purposes I must state that only Mike or I speak for the organization. Having said that, I hope the event is a great success!

John[/QUOTE]

Sorry. It won't happen again.

simple enough, GUN TOTING CITIZEN = CRIME. thus crime prevention booth