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Letter to WinCo

nathan

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Vancouver, Washington, USA
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Here is a letter I am going to mail to the Vice President of Public and Legal Affairs at WinCo. I would like to get some input of things to add or other thoughts. Thanks.

"Dear Michael: Recently a WinCo employee informed me that the carrying of firearms is prohibited at all WinCo stores. I am writing this letter to request clarification of WinCo policy regard the legal carry of a firearm by a WinCo customer. The state of Washington has licensed me to carry a firearm and I have had my background checked and cleared by the FBI.
It would be unfortunate if WinCo enforces a policy of disarming legally armed citizens.
Sincerely,
Nathan "
 

dt

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nathan wrote:
The state of Washington has licensed me to carry a firearm and I have had my background checked and cleared by the FBI.

Hmm, I wonder if it would be better to leave this part out, and keep the focus on the fact that you were carrying legally, not in violation of any law. This could sound as though you are really fighting for theability to carry concealed. As long as it's not posted (wasn't last time i checked, a week or so ago), for all intents and purposes we can CC all we want, right?

I would assume the response we want to get is that WinCo will allow carry in accordance with state law. I'm worried it might force inspection of OC vs. CC - y'know the old BS argument of OC causing alarm, while no one being aware of CC.

Just my 2 pennies worth...
 

nathan

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Thanks for the advice. I will post when I get a response.

I went down and picked up the 911 and dispatch audio of the incident at Winco. Where can I post a 10mb mp3 file? This site doesn't allow files that large. Youtube only allows video so.. ? Thanks.

I picked up the audio from CRESA ([font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"][size="-1"]Clark Regional Emergency Services Agency). There is a sign on the door saying "Secure Facility" and there is a camera. I had to push a buzzer and state my reason for being there. The camera is in the upper left corner of the door so I doubt the person letting me in could see the OC'd SIG on my right hip. When I got inside the employee looked at my firearm but didn't say anything about it and everything went smoothly.


[/size][/font]
 

nathan

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joeroket wrote:
nathan you can go over to http://forum.nwcdl.org/index.php?action=downloads;cat=3 to upload the audio. I set the limit at 15 megs to accomodate your file. You have to be registered to upload however, if this is an issue let me know and I will do some adjusting for you.

Thanks joeroket.

Here is the link for everyone else. CRESA gave it to me as one long audio file and I left it like that but did edit out my personal info.

http://nwcdl.org/audio/WinCo911.mp3
 

team one

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Camas, Washington, USA
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I thought of you when I saw this article on the front page of the Columbian a week later. The picture was huge, about 1/4 of the page.

Friday, January 04, 2008
BY JOHN BRANTON, Columbian staff writer


Police feared the worst Thursday after 911 dispatchers said a man with several handguns had been seen inside the WinCo supermarket along Northeast Highway 99 in Hazel Dell.

About 4:25 p.m., a customer told dispatchers she'd just seen a man drop a gun on the floor of the produce section, said Sgt. Tim Bieber with the Clark County Sheriff's Office.

"He went to pick it up and she saw three other guns around his waist," Bieber said.

Sheriff's deputies and officers with the Vancouver Police Department rushed to the scene.

The man with the gun was described as 6 feet tall, in his 60s and balding. He reportedly wore a burgundy shirt and striped pants that looked like those of a sheriff's deputy.

Two officers in plainclothes went inside to find the man.

Meanwhile, other officers watched from outside and told newly arriving customers to return to their cars.

As five uniformed deputies entered the store, officials spoke with the caller out front.

"She certainly seemed credible," Bieber said.

In the end, however, no man with guns was found, either in the store or outside.

It is not against Washington law to carry a concealed weapon if you have a permit, but law enforcement officers routinely respond to reports of armed subjects.

At first, store employees who viewed the security video system said it contained no suspicious images.

After searching the building, including back rooms, deputies left about 5:20 p.m.

Later, an employee told deputies there might be an image of someone dropping something in the store.

Today, Bieber said, a deputy will watch the video to see if the dropped object was a gun, and if the man can be identified.

Anyone with information is asked to call 911.

Less than a half-hour before the WinCo call, about 4 p.m. Thursday, officers hurried to the 5300 block of Northeast 72nd Avenue, near Andresen Road, after a caller said gunshots had been fired.

The first arriving deputies reported hearing more shots, Bieber said.

Sheriff's deputies took positions around a small house, then asked dispatchers to call inside and tell two men to come out unarmed.

Once the men were detained, officers learned that another man had been at a home across the street, doing an assessment as part of a repossession of the house.

A man from the first home had walked across the street and confronted the man doing the assessment, Bieber said.

The men argued and may have exchanged threats, Bieber said.

When the neighbor returned to the first home, someone thought he heard gunshots and notified police.

Deputies think the "shots" may have been noises from a compressed-air nail gun that was being used nearby.

"Nobody saw a gun being shot," Bieber said. "They just heard what they thought were shots."

Since there was no evidence of any crime being committed, the two detained men were released, Bieber said.
 

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nathan

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team one wrote:
I thought of you when I saw this article on the front page of the Columbian a week later. The picture was huge, about 1/4 of the page.

Friday, January 04, 2008
BY JOHN BRANTON, Columbian staff writer


Police feared the worst Thursday after 911 dispatchers said a man with several handguns had been seen inside the WinCo supermarket along Northeast Highway 99 in Hazel Dell.

I was at the Hwy99 WinCo a couple days ago, concealed carry. For the first time in any of the WinCo stores I have even been in they had a 'Greeter' at the front door. I wonder how related that was to my case and now this odd case.

I am in my 20's and not balding so it wasn't me carrying four guns.. ;)
 

team one

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If it was even a gun he was carrying... I wouldn't be suprised if the 3 other "guns" around his waist, were some magazines and a tactical flashlight.
 

Phssthpok

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nathan wrote:

I was at the Hwy99 WinCo a couple days ago, concealed carry. For the first time in any of the WinCo stores I have even been in they had a 'Greeter' at the front door. I wonder how related that was to my case and now this odd case.

I am in my 20's and not balding so it wasn't me carrying four guns.. ;)
Funny you should mention that. That's the first thing I thought when I saw the 'greeter' when I went shopping tonight.....OC. He greeted me on the way in, and 'have a good evening'-ed me on the way out.

Spent about an hour wandering around picking up the "almost forgot's" and nobody said boo to me. I almost screwed myself though as a 12 pack of MacTarnahan's was one of my purchases, and I had deliberately left my ID (my whole wallet infact) in the car. Only thing I had on me was my recorder, my keys, Me Pistola, and my BORSE.;)
 

zakst1

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Bremerton, Washington, USA
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So, what I gather from the 911 tape is that the operator is ignorant and the store supervisor as well as the concerned customer are pussy-ass, bitches. people like that absolutely disgust me.
 

Dave The Welder

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Watch the language on the board. I wouldn't say that about them, as much as they're uninformed. They all may well support the carrying of firearms but just have never seen someone openly carrying a firearm. It is so rare that when you do see someone openingly carrying a firearm, it's often very easy to assume the worst. That's why we're here, to inform the public about the legalities of it and show them that gun owners are some of the best people that you can know. Calling other people names on a public forum only serves to hurt our goals.
 

nathan

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Phssthpok wrote:
Funny you should mention that. That's the first thing I thought when I saw the 'greeter' when I went shopping tonight.....OC. He greeted me on the way in, and 'have a good evening'-ed me on the way out.

Spent about an hour wandering around picking up the "almost forgot's" and nobody said boo to me. I almost screwed myself though as a 12 pack of MacTarnahan's was one of my purchases, and I had deliberately left my ID (my whole wallet infact) in the car. Only thing I had on me was my recorder, my keys, Me Pistola, and my BORSE.;)
Did the greeter see your firearm? Yeah, I have OC'd at that WinCo many, many times without a problem.
 

heresolong

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OC'd my Ruger KP345 in the Marysville/Arlington area last night. Hadn't intended to but my ride wanted to stop for corn nuts or something like that. Went in, greeted in a friendly manner by the greeter, used the restroom, walked by about eighteen employees (man that place has a lot), asked another where the bottled water might be, wandered around a bit rather than wait for my friend in the freezing parking lot, bought a bottle of water, chatted with the cashier a little, then went out and stood by his truck in the parking lot while I waited for him to get done.

Not a hint of a problem.
 
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