Mike
Site Co-Founder
OpenCarry.org
(A pro-gun Internet community of over 28,000 registered members)
For Immediate Release – June 3, 2012
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OpenCarry.org Welcomes Oklahoma as America’s 44th Open Carry State
But Police-State Style “License Checks” Will Not Be Tolerated
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OpenCarry.org’s 28,000+ members join the Oklahoma Second Amendment Association (OK2A) in welcoming Oklahoma as America’s 44th open carry state. Though we are disappointed that the Oklahoma legislature saw fit to require a license to open carry, this reform is still a great step forward for freedom and self-defense rights.
But we are also alarmed that some Oklahoma law enforcement officials seem ready to hijack the license requirement as an excuse to violate gun owners Fourth Amendment rights. For example,
“Midwest City police will check for permits when they encounter someone openly carrying a gun” [chortles] Assistant Chief Sid Porter. ‘When public safety comes up, that is No. 1,’ Porter said. ‘If we see someone carrying a weapon in a holster, they have to have a permit on them and would be asked to show it. Anybody with a weapon on their side is considered a suspicious person.’”
OpenCarry.org co-founder and spokesperson John Pierce says that it “sure looks like some Oklahoma police officials have missed the boat” on basic Second and Fourth Amendment concepts. “Earth to Oklahoma police: In the United States, guns are not contraband, and gun ownership is not suspicious,” adds Pierce.
OpenCarry.org and OK2A join in urging Oklahoma Attorney General E. Scott Pruitt along with all Oklahoma county sheriffs and city police chiefs to ensure that all Oklahoma law enforcement officers are reminded that gun, or no gun, the Fourth amendment requires at least “reasonable articulable suspicion” of crime afoot before they may seize any a person. And this goes for license checks as well.
The US Supreme Court held in Delaware v. Prouse (440 U.S. 648) (1979)
“that, except in those situations in which there is at least articulable and reasonable suspicion that a motorist is unlicensed or that an automobile is not registered, or that either the vehicle or an occupant is otherwise subject to seizure for violation of law, stopping an automobile and detaining the driver in order to check his driver's license and the registration of the automobile are unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment.”
Applying Prouse and Terry to Oklahoma’s new open carry law, the police may not seize or detain open carriers just to demand production of a license to carry.
Police officials must review Fourth Amendment basics “before open carry becomes legal on November 1,” warns Tim Gillespie, Director and Founder of the Oklahoma Second Amendment Association (OK2A). “We will be watching the police, and if need be, we will conduct open carry freedom of movement exercises and file lawsuits if we detect unconstitutional practices aimed at chilling the right to open carry.”
Carry on!
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Media Contacts:
John Pierce, co-founder and spokesperson, OpenCarry.org
Tim Gillespie, Oklahoma Second Amendment Association, http://ok2a.org
(A pro-gun Internet community of over 28,000 registered members)
For Immediate Release – June 3, 2012
---------
OpenCarry.org Welcomes Oklahoma as America’s 44th Open Carry State
But Police-State Style “License Checks” Will Not Be Tolerated
---------
OpenCarry.org’s 28,000+ members join the Oklahoma Second Amendment Association (OK2A) in welcoming Oklahoma as America’s 44th open carry state. Though we are disappointed that the Oklahoma legislature saw fit to require a license to open carry, this reform is still a great step forward for freedom and self-defense rights.
But we are also alarmed that some Oklahoma law enforcement officials seem ready to hijack the license requirement as an excuse to violate gun owners Fourth Amendment rights. For example,
“Midwest City police will check for permits when they encounter someone openly carrying a gun” [chortles] Assistant Chief Sid Porter. ‘When public safety comes up, that is No. 1,’ Porter said. ‘If we see someone carrying a weapon in a holster, they have to have a permit on them and would be asked to show it. Anybody with a weapon on their side is considered a suspicious person.’”
OpenCarry.org co-founder and spokesperson John Pierce says that it “sure looks like some Oklahoma police officials have missed the boat” on basic Second and Fourth Amendment concepts. “Earth to Oklahoma police: In the United States, guns are not contraband, and gun ownership is not suspicious,” adds Pierce.
OpenCarry.org and OK2A join in urging Oklahoma Attorney General E. Scott Pruitt along with all Oklahoma county sheriffs and city police chiefs to ensure that all Oklahoma law enforcement officers are reminded that gun, or no gun, the Fourth amendment requires at least “reasonable articulable suspicion” of crime afoot before they may seize any a person. And this goes for license checks as well.
The US Supreme Court held in Delaware v. Prouse (440 U.S. 648) (1979)
“that, except in those situations in which there is at least articulable and reasonable suspicion that a motorist is unlicensed or that an automobile is not registered, or that either the vehicle or an occupant is otherwise subject to seizure for violation of law, stopping an automobile and detaining the driver in order to check his driver's license and the registration of the automobile are unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment.”
Applying Prouse and Terry to Oklahoma’s new open carry law, the police may not seize or detain open carriers just to demand production of a license to carry.
Police officials must review Fourth Amendment basics “before open carry becomes legal on November 1,” warns Tim Gillespie, Director and Founder of the Oklahoma Second Amendment Association (OK2A). “We will be watching the police, and if need be, we will conduct open carry freedom of movement exercises and file lawsuits if we detect unconstitutional practices aimed at chilling the right to open carry.”
Carry on!
###
Media Contacts:
John Pierce, co-founder and spokesperson, OpenCarry.org
Tim Gillespie, Oklahoma Second Amendment Association, http://ok2a.org