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Open Carry @ GMU's Second Amendment Symposium, 7 OCT 072006

Mike

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And no campus swat team either!

There were some long stares and double takes but I counted5 folks open carrying today, including one fellow who drove all the way from Ohio!

I believe most are or will become OCDO members.

Discussion opportunities about open carry abounded. The only slightly "negative" encounter was during a break when one middle aged white man, with several younger women, motioned to me as I left the bathroom near some elevators to return to the conference area - he said somthing like "I know it's a right but you shouldn'thave that here." [pointed to my gun in holster]

Me: "Why not."

Him: "Becauseit's aschool andagainst the statute."

Me: "What statute?"

Him: "Virginia's."

Me: "Nope, 18.2-308.1 only applies to grounds of K-12 schools, not colleges. I have an AG opinion that says the public can carry on college campuses - would you like to see it?"

Him: [Wrinkles face and turns ti side as if coming down with a headache.]

Me: "Excuse me." Walked past the party to the conference area.

Comment: I have no idea who the guy was - maybe a law professor? The use of the term "statute," while common on this board, is not commonly used by the public.
 

possumboy

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Mike --- Can you enlighten us with what documentation you carry? I have a short list of things I carry, but you seem to be ready to "show" someone just about anything related to questions that may be asked about carry.
 

norahc

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possumboy wrote:
Mike --- Can you enlighten us with what documentation you carry? I have a short list of things I carry, but you seem to be ready to "show" someone just about anything related to questions that may be asked about carry.
I do the same thing, but electronically (since I'm a techno geek). I carry copies of all relevant statues and court cases on my PDA, so that I can pull them up on a moments notice. There are several free programs such as iSiloX and Adobe Reader for Palm that are very useful for this.

I carry every state CCW page from PDO, the entire firearms chapter for WA (9.41) and any other states that I may be travelling to. I'm currently working on doing the same thing for OCDO that I've done for PDO.
 

Mike

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possumboy wrote:
Mike --- Can you enlighten us with what documentation you carry? I have a short list of things I carry, but you seem to be ready to "show" someone just about anything related to questions that may be asked about carry.

I really never carry any documentation - but today I had the college carry AG opinion with the following parentheticallanguage highlighted in yellow: see [url]http://www.vcdl.org/pdf/OP-05-078.pdf[/url]("Governing boards of Virginia’s public colleges and universities may not impose general prohibition on carrying of concealed weapons by permitted individuals. . . The right to carry openly has not been revoked by the General Assembly").

It's not a great opinion, but it's good enough to get us carrying on campus generally. So far I bet no college has created narrowly taylored "rules" restricting carry, so theri blanket bans, in my opinion, are simply facially invalid.

The code section cite I just had memorized.

Everybody needs to simply "know" Title 18 firearm laws in VA inside and out, as well as section 15.2-915 (locality preemption).

You should be able to cite these in an off hand manner while sipping a latte anywhere, anytime.
 

Riverdance

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Had excellent open carry discussions with gentlemen from New York and three different guys fromOhio. All very supportive of open carry. The NY guy is on the NRA Board of Directors among other things, so I was a bit leery of him atfirst, as NRA has not been very supportive of OC;but he wascool; evenasked me to get him signed up on VA-ALERT.
 

Dutch Uncle

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Mike's citation above is helpful in supporting our case generally, but as the resident dutch uncle, I have to point out that one sentence was somewhat chilling: "The right to carry openly has not been revoked by the General Assembly". Excuse me, but when did the General Assembly acquire the power to revoke RIGHTS? I'm not aware of any such authority. Do we only enjoy freedom of expression here because the GA hasn't suspended it yet?

I suspect the choice of words was inadvertant, but even "slips of the pen" like this need to be recognized as invalid. It still grates on me when lawyers, politicians and others who should know better talk about the rights "granted" by the Constitution.

Eternal vigilence, my friends!
 

Tess

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Mike, I found myself wondering how many concealed carries there were there, too. I did note those of you who OCd, and found myself wishing again and again there was a good way to do so in women's business clothes.
 

Tess

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"I know it's a right but you shouldn'thave that here." [pointed to my gun in holster]
WOW. Should we not speak freely, either?
 

VApatriot

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Does anyone know when and where the videoof the eventwill be available. I had to leave early, and unfortunately that meant that I missed the talk on self defence and concealed carry legislation. I would really like to see thatonce it is out.
 
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