critter
Regular Member
imported post
Well just had my first police confrontation. It was wonderful
I go to a number of sbux around town to do work on my notebook. All the ladies/gentlemen that work at the different stores know me and we get along just fine.
Today a couple of Greentree's finest (Greentree is just outside PGH) came up to me while I was working and asked if they could speak to me. The first question was "are you a police officer?". I, of course, said "no." They asked if I had a license to carry and I handed it to them; then the one fellow told me that I *had* to carry concealed because I was causing alarm. I told him that I do carry concealed when I put my jacket on (loosely, you can still see my sidearm if you look) but most of the time, if I don't feel the need for a jacket I prefer to carry open. He pushed the point and I resisted: "sorry, I prefer to carry openly, thank you. How can I educate people to the legality of open carry here in PA if they can't see my gun." He got steamed.
After talking to the DA (they said) they did come back in and let the sbux ppl know that I checked out ok. Now making a Terry stop like that was completely out of line but they were courteous enough, I guess. The officer told me that it was an undercover cop that saw me and complained. Of course, that's bogus because any undercover cop would simply confront me, not call for "backup".
A few tidbits that I got from the officer that was waiting with me while the other guy ran my "rapsheet" (which is non-existent--thank goodness speeding doesn't count).
1/ Sir, how do they know that you're not coming in to rob the place when you're wearing a gun like that?
--> Well if I was wearing concealed it would be much easier to rob them because I would have the element of surprise. In fact, how do any of them know that *anyone* isn't coming in to rob them, Armed or not?
2/ Sir, you obviously know the finer points of the law but you must be reasonable as well.
--> That's funny, you know I was speeding the other day, and I thought I was being quite reasonable, but I got stopped and charged anyway. Seems the officer was more interested in the law in that case.
Now one thing I didn't say, but should have, was when they told me about having to come out and investigate the whole "man with the gun" thing and how it was a waste of resources, caused panic (which it didn't as far as I could see--the girls behind the counter afterwards said to me "the cops hassling you Pete?"), etc. I should have said to them "you know, officer, the next time you get a call like that you can tell the person on the phone that open carry is perfectly legal, and unless the 'man with the gun' was waving it around or drilling customers they should stop calling them and wasting their time." But I didn't say that. I'm a tool.
Very important point however: the police were very adamant about telling me that they were *not* arresting me when I asked if they were. And eventually did drop the whole "you have to carry concealed" bit when I told them in no uncertain terms that I was not going to. They *are* starting to get educated about this concept and are left with intimidation, not the force of law. If you are not easily intimidated (I'm, ummm, not) they will back off.
I was still carrying my Walther P99 on my hip openly when they left.
Everyone have a wonderful day now.
Well just had my first police confrontation. It was wonderful
I go to a number of sbux around town to do work on my notebook. All the ladies/gentlemen that work at the different stores know me and we get along just fine.
Today a couple of Greentree's finest (Greentree is just outside PGH) came up to me while I was working and asked if they could speak to me. The first question was "are you a police officer?". I, of course, said "no." They asked if I had a license to carry and I handed it to them; then the one fellow told me that I *had* to carry concealed because I was causing alarm. I told him that I do carry concealed when I put my jacket on (loosely, you can still see my sidearm if you look) but most of the time, if I don't feel the need for a jacket I prefer to carry open. He pushed the point and I resisted: "sorry, I prefer to carry openly, thank you. How can I educate people to the legality of open carry here in PA if they can't see my gun." He got steamed.
After talking to the DA (they said) they did come back in and let the sbux ppl know that I checked out ok. Now making a Terry stop like that was completely out of line but they were courteous enough, I guess. The officer told me that it was an undercover cop that saw me and complained. Of course, that's bogus because any undercover cop would simply confront me, not call for "backup".
A few tidbits that I got from the officer that was waiting with me while the other guy ran my "rapsheet" (which is non-existent--thank goodness speeding doesn't count).
1/ Sir, how do they know that you're not coming in to rob the place when you're wearing a gun like that?
--> Well if I was wearing concealed it would be much easier to rob them because I would have the element of surprise. In fact, how do any of them know that *anyone* isn't coming in to rob them, Armed or not?
2/ Sir, you obviously know the finer points of the law but you must be reasonable as well.
--> That's funny, you know I was speeding the other day, and I thought I was being quite reasonable, but I got stopped and charged anyway. Seems the officer was more interested in the law in that case.
Now one thing I didn't say, but should have, was when they told me about having to come out and investigate the whole "man with the gun" thing and how it was a waste of resources, caused panic (which it didn't as far as I could see--the girls behind the counter afterwards said to me "the cops hassling you Pete?"), etc. I should have said to them "you know, officer, the next time you get a call like that you can tell the person on the phone that open carry is perfectly legal, and unless the 'man with the gun' was waving it around or drilling customers they should stop calling them and wasting their time." But I didn't say that. I'm a tool.
Very important point however: the police were very adamant about telling me that they were *not* arresting me when I asked if they were. And eventually did drop the whole "you have to carry concealed" bit when I told them in no uncertain terms that I was not going to. They *are* starting to get educated about this concept and are left with intimidation, not the force of law. If you are not easily intimidated (I'm, ummm, not) they will back off.
I was still carrying my Walther P99 on my hip openly when they left.
Everyone have a wonderful day now.