Superlite27
Regular Member
O.K. , I admit the title is a little misleading, but true.
Requiring the signature of my local sheriff, I go to his office only to be told he's at a local restaurant eating lunch. Not wanting to spend my time waiting around, I decide walking into the restaurant and simply asking for his signature will save time. So, I drive on over and go in.
Needless to say, as the county sheriff, he wasn't eating alone. As I approach the table, I can't help but notice the four sheriff's deputies, two Bowling Green city officers, one Louisiana City officer, two Missouri State Troopers, .....
...holy cow! At the next table, there's the mayor, state's attorney, the city clerk, and several judges. As I'm standing there with my Springfield Armory 1911 holstered on my hip, the Sheriff explains that they just had a local area law enforcement meeting at the courthouse and decided to all go out for lunch.
Which I happened to stand in the middle of for five minutes surrounded by every single type of law enforcement representative in my area. The only thing I failed to see was a game warden.
Talk about "running the gauntlet". I thanked the Sheriff, apologized for interrupting his lunch, and walked out of the restaurant without so much as a blink from anyone. I'm just a little surprised that, with all the badges present, I didn't even get even a cursory question about why I'm carrying, or what for, or anything. Not a blink.
My guess is that, since I was standing there talking to the Sheriff, and he wasn't saying anything about it, the "herd mentality" might have been present and nobody else wanted to be the one to be different by asking questions. I just felt rather "vulnerable", is all. (And DAMMIT, I didn't have my recorder running. Out of all the times I wish i was recording! I'm an idiot!)
Requiring the signature of my local sheriff, I go to his office only to be told he's at a local restaurant eating lunch. Not wanting to spend my time waiting around, I decide walking into the restaurant and simply asking for his signature will save time. So, I drive on over and go in.
Needless to say, as the county sheriff, he wasn't eating alone. As I approach the table, I can't help but notice the four sheriff's deputies, two Bowling Green city officers, one Louisiana City officer, two Missouri State Troopers, .....
...holy cow! At the next table, there's the mayor, state's attorney, the city clerk, and several judges. As I'm standing there with my Springfield Armory 1911 holstered on my hip, the Sheriff explains that they just had a local area law enforcement meeting at the courthouse and decided to all go out for lunch.
Which I happened to stand in the middle of for five minutes surrounded by every single type of law enforcement representative in my area. The only thing I failed to see was a game warden.
Talk about "running the gauntlet". I thanked the Sheriff, apologized for interrupting his lunch, and walked out of the restaurant without so much as a blink from anyone. I'm just a little surprised that, with all the badges present, I didn't even get even a cursory question about why I'm carrying, or what for, or anything. Not a blink.
My guess is that, since I was standing there talking to the Sheriff, and he wasn't saying anything about it, the "herd mentality" might have been present and nobody else wanted to be the one to be different by asking questions. I just felt rather "vulnerable", is all. (And DAMMIT, I didn't have my recorder running. Out of all the times I wish i was recording! I'm an idiot!)