Man arrested in Lexington library..

The article says that he was initially approached and asked to turn his music down.

I wonder if, on being asked, he said he was going to "shoot the place up" or made some other sort of threat along those lines. That, IMO, might justify a charge of terroristic threatening.

The information at this point is so sparse that I'm going to withhold judgement until more comes out. I agree that having the weapon on the table does not justify the charges he received. As others are saying, I'm guessing that there's a lot more to the story. If not, the arresting officer has a whole lot of explaining to do.

Curtis C said:

i was thinking along the lines of some degree of endangerment. if not jail time he needs his guns taken away for such ignorance.

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ASBOLUTELY NOT! You honestly believe we should deprive someone of their rights for such a minor infraction? Perhaps you could get arrested one day for something that you believe is ok but an officer may not. Should you have your firearms taken away because of something you thought was ok, but an officer determined in his own mind wasn't? We should not speak of such foolishness, and we certainly should not suggest taking someone's firearms for an action that was NOT illegal. Perhaps the firerarm was still in a holster while laying on the table; what would the problem be with this?

I personally would never take my firearm from my side unless I was using the rest-room, but I will NOT burn someone at the stake because they made a MISTAKE in judgement!

KYGlockster said:

ASBOLUTELY NOT! You honestly believe we should deprive someone of their rights for such a minor infraction? Perhaps you could get arrested one day for something that you believe is ok but an officer may not. Should you have your firearms taken away because of something you thought was ok, but an officer determined in his own mind wasn't? We should not speak of such foolishness, and we certainly should not suggest taking someone's firearms for an action that was NOT illegal. Perhaps the firerarm was still in a holster while laying on the table; what would the problem be with this?

I personally would never take my firearm from my side unless I was using the rest-room, but I will NOT burn someone at the stake because they made a MISTAKE in judgement!

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when ignorance of that level can take ones life, dam skippy i think so. its not something you take out in public cause its an inconvenience on your side when sitting down. your being reckless with that kind of behavior. its not a cell phone or a freaking toy.

Curtis C said:

when ignorance of that level can take ones life, dam skippy i think so. its not something you take out in public cause its an inconvenience on your side when sitting down. your being reckless with that kind of behavior. its not a cell phone or a freaking toy.

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Since when did sitting a firearm on a table become reckless?

garyh9900 said:

Since when did sitting a firearm on a table become reckless?

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I was wondering that myself.

Curtis C said:

when ignorance of that level can take ones life, dam skippy i think so. its not a cell phone or a freaking toy.

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Go ahead and explain this. I did not know that there was a recall on firearms that set on tables. I set my firearm on tables (or table like) surfaces every day. I have never had a ND. I am still alive.

garyh9900 said:

Since when did sitting a firearm on a table become reckless?

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When in so doing you point the muzzle at me.

IMHO whether the firearm was in holster or not makes a big difference. Insisting you have physical control of the firearm seems like an over reaction.
If someone went to sit in a tight chair and took the holster off and set it on the table I don't see any problem with that.

09jisaac said:

I was wondering that myself.



Go ahead and explain this. I did not know that there was a recall on firearms that set on tables. I set my firearm on tables (or table like) surfaces every day. I have never had a ND. I am still alive.

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in a public place, i'm not talking about your home. i don't care what he does in his home, walk around sucking on it like a pacifier dancing the hokey pokey the dude was in a public place where someone could come up and snatch it. please tell me your not that dense.

Curtis C said:

in a public place, i'm not talking about your home. i don't care what he does in his home, walk around sucking on it like a pacifier dancing the hokey pokey the dude was in a public place where someone could come up and snatch it. please tell me your not that dense.

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We're OC'ers, WE ALL RUN THAT RISK.

Then we come back to reality, we all like to talk about what could have happened, but most of us do come back to the real world. How many people do you know that was the victim of a gun grab? How many of those were not cops or by cops? One?

Do you want talk about why you shouldn't be able to use anything more than a pair of safety scissors and a trike? I can use YOUR logic to show you how you're the 2nd coming of apocalypse.

the thing that bothers me is he had it off his belt, sitting on the table in a public place. your not in contact with it, your not in control.

Curtis C said:

your not in contact with it, your not in control.

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So purse carry should also be illegal?

09jisaac said:

So purse carry should also be illegal?

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A gun in a purse, briefcase or backpack would be concealed.

A gun on the table whether in a holster or not is neither CC nor OC.

gutshot said:

We just don't have enough information in this case to make an informed judgement. Several of us have presented scenarios that make the reported actions of this man excusable. Let's consider a more sinister possibility. Suppose he was approached and asked to turn his music down and his response was to take out his gun, lay it on the table and say, "I'll play my music any way I want to and if you mess with me, this is what you'll get."

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I agree that we need more info before judging. But one of the things that bothers me the most about the lack of information is some people won't consider that there is more to the story and will be scared to OC because you can be charged with "terroristic threating" if you do.

Grapeshot said:

A gun in a purse, briefcase or backpack would be concealed.

A gun on the table whether in a holster or not is neither CC nor OC.

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A gun in a purse, briefcase or backpack on the table is neither CC nor OC.

Curtis C said:

in a public place, i'm not talking about your home. i don't care what he does in his home, walk around sucking on it like a pacifier dancing the hokey pokey the dude was in a public place where someone could come up and snatch it. please tell me your not that dense.

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Curtis C said:

i was thinking along the lines of some degree of endangerment. if not jail time he needs his guns taken away for such ignorance.

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Funny, I've seen, read, and heard of Anti-2nd Amendment persons say the EXACT. SAME. THING. about carrying, and owning Firearms, be it in public, or in private. It makes me wonder, where do you actually stand when it comes to our rights; by the above qouated sentence, and the one prior about confiscating all of the person in questions firearms, I have to remind myself that you are a Kentuckian, who is a part of our Sub-forum, and supposedly an avid OC'er as well as any of us. But, your previous two inflammable statements lead me to think otherwise.

No offense intended, Although if I may add, I've often times un-buckled my holster from my belt, and laid it upon a table at a restuarant, muzzle pointed to the wall for safety, and have never had any problems whatsoever with any other customer, friends, family, or any LEO's I've seen, and/or dated. Nor have I ever been charged with any criminal, or non-criminal offense for doing such, not even so much as a verbal reprimand from anyone. And anyone who has OC'd a Hi-Point, knows they get very uncomfortable in a sitting position.

Curtis C said:

the thing that bothers me is he had it off his belt, sitting on the table in a public place. your not in contact with it, your not in control.

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So when I take my firearm and place it in my night-stand it then becomes a dangerous firearm becuase my hands are not on it? I believe it would become a SAFE firearm since my hands were not on it, because hands are what makes it go BANG!

So my firearms that are setting in my gun-safe are dangerous because they are laying on a flat surface?

If all this man did was set his firearm on a flat table then I see no problem other than he made a poor decision doing so in front of other people he did not know. It is not dangerous to place a firearm on a table, and I don't understand how anyone could argue a firearm laying on a table is more dangerous than a firearm setting in a holster.

You claim that setting a firearm on a table is enough to strip someone of their right to bear arms? How can you even justify such rhetoric? In no way should this man lose his gun-rights, and thankfully we don't have tyrants in office that believe he should lose his rights over something I do every single day! If he should lose his rights because he placed a firearm on a table, then I would guess we would all have lost our rights.

If this man actually threatened someone while placing his firearm on the table then I see a severe problem. However, I cannot "assume" this is what he did based on the story.

If we stripped folks' rights from them for such a petty mistake (getting his firearm out in public; not setting it on a table) then ALL of us would have lost our rights by now.

If setting a firearm on a table is dangerous, then shoulder-holsters should be banned.

Do we know that his firearm crossed anyone? No. Do we know if he placed the firearm on the table with malicious intent? No.

All we do know is that he had a firearm on a table, and nothing more.

With this logic, anyone that carries a firearm in a shoulder-holster is more malicous than this man because their firearm is pointing at anyone that walks behind them. Would someone be charged for such a crime as this man for carrying a firearm in a properly holstered firearm in a shoulder-holster? I doubt it. So, if all this man did was place his firearm on a table with no mens rea then he never should have been charged with a crime. I guess we will just have to wait for more details to derive a logical conclusion of his acts.

I wonder if the police that have left their service weapons unattended in a public restroom were also arrested for TT?

Of course I most likely know the answer to that one.

MrOverlay said:

I wonder if the police that have left their service weapons unattended in a public restroom were also arrested for TT?

Of course I most likely know the answer to that one.

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I doubt it. I also doubt we will ever know anymore details about this case than what we do now. Remember the guy at Arby's in Louisville that was arrested for OC? To my knowledge we never did learn more about what that was all about. I have no idea what the outcome of that case was or if it is still pending. This case will probably be the same. To bad we don't have a way to keep tabs on these types of arrest so we can know the full story and the outcomes.

PUBLIC, PUBLIC PLACE not your home. i guess i'm a little more paranoid of the situation than others on this. way i'm looking at it is this. he had his gun on the table,in the public library not his home. he is at a library more than likely reading a book. story said his music being to loud he obviously is not paying attention. some one could come up grab the gun and run. then what? he needs some classes. taking his guns may be a little harsh i take that back. give him a fine.

drake, no offense taken, call me a milk cow call me what you want, i don't care. what i'm trying to get at is he was in public with the gun off of his person. i do not agree his actions. if he had it holstered on him that would different.

gutshot said:

We just don't have enough information in this case to make an informed judgement. Several of us have presented scenarios that make the reported actions of this man excusable. Let's consider a more sinister possibility. Suppose he was approached and asked to turn his music down and his response was to take out his gun, lay it on the table and say, "I'll play my music any way I want to and if you mess with me, this is what you'll get."

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No doubt this guy could have been doing something illegal. Also a big doubt that he wasn't doing something illegal. The media is never going to report the "criminal" with favor. If I were a guessing man, I would bet that they couldn't charge him with a crime so they harassed the hell out of him til he shot something out of his mouth that he shouldn't had. Then guess what?? There's a charge. It may have been one of those famous situations that would have been better handled using the ole "am I being detained or free to go" approach and saying nothing more.

It could have been a new LEO, it could have been an ill informed LEO, the guy could have really been a threat. But as you have said, we just don't have enough information to make a sound judgement. All we can really offer at this point is the "could have's".........