Visiting VA in July

Well, if you have a CCW, the only place at risk it would seem is in an ABC restaurant or club. Elsewhere, it wouldn't matter as both CC and OC would be legal for you. So in an ABC location, an officer walks in, arrests you for CC and then I guess that is a simple matter of going to court and having the hearing -
Judge: "You arrested this man for CC in an ABC establishment?"
Officer: "Yes ma'am"
Judge" "How did you know he was CCing?"
Officer: "I saw the grip of the pistol sticking up out of his holster above his waistband and upon seeing he had a CC firearm I approached him and arrested him."
Judge: "You saw the weapon in plain sight, recognized it as a weaopn and so arrested him for concealing the weapon."
Officer: "Yes, ma'am"
Judge: "I passed English and Logic my freshman year in college -- DISMISSED"

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deepdiver wrote:

Well, if you have a CCW, the only place at risk it would seem is in an ABC restaurant or club. Elsewhere, it wouldn't matter as both CC and OC would be legal for you. So in an ABC location, an officer walks in, arrests you for CC and then I guess that is a simple matter of going to court and having the hearing -
Judge: "You arrested this man for CC in an ABC establishment?"
Officer: "Yes ma'am"
Judge" "How did you know he was CCing?"
Officer: "I saw the grip of the pistol sticking up out of his holster above his waistband and upon seeing he had a CC firearm I approached him and arrested him."
Judge: "You saw the weapon in plain sight, recognized it as a weaopn and so arrested him for concealing the weapon."
Officer: "Yes, ma'am"
Judge: "I passed English and Logic my freshman year in college -- DISMISSED"

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While entertaining, I think that is an oversimplification of the statute. If it was obscured, and required investigation by the officer to identify it as a gun, it would fit the statute....like I said, just my opinion.

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deepdiver wrote:

I guess my point was that I think it would be pretty obvious to an officer whether or not someone was attempting to conceal or attempting to follow the law. It seems to me it will be LEO discretion whether to just say something to the citizen about being more careful or to follow the letter of the law to it's natural conclusion. It is incumbent on us to do our best to be in full compliance with the law like it or not.

Reply:

Attempting to follow the law is a good point, and a valid one. That said, it's probably why we haven't seen any case law on the topic. The LEOs are giving the benefit of the doubt. They don't have to do that, and at some point, some narrow minded LEO is going to testthis for us.

I behave the same way in all my daily life. I drive at 55 indicated, if that's the speed limit, even though I know that radar doesn't show me at 55 until I indicate 58+. I try to follow the spirit of the law, as well as the text. The spirit of this law is that it be plainly obvious to everyone that you are carrying a firearm, so that's how I make it...your mileage may vary.

Cal

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