njeske
Regular Member
imported post
Sorry... this is kinda long.
For the July 04 holiday, my wife and I both oppen carried during our day long trip to Virginia City. We got there at little after noon just in time to see the first vehicles in the parade coming to their finishing turn off. We stood at that corner for nearly an hour before a Storey County deputy who had been directing cross traffic that whole time finally noticed our guns. As soon as he did, he asked us we had permits for them. I stated that no permit was required for OC, but he insisted we had to have one and directed us to go down one block to talk to his seargent.He was firm, but wasn't rude and made no attempt to even approach us let alone disarm us. We got down to the seargent and began our conversation with him. He also insisted that we had to have a permit in Storey County in order to open carry due to a local county ordinance. I started to talk to him about the new state preemption law and about how we'd heard that Storey County was no longer enforcing that ordinance and was working to change it. The seargent remained professional and calm, still no attempt to disarm us or act hostile in any way. Rather than continue to debate with me, he gets on his phone and calls his lieutenant. Thankfully, his lieutenant was up to date on his information and told the seargent the same thing we'd just been saying and also informed him that the only people needing OC permits anymore were the gunfighting actors that wander the city for the tourists. By the time the phone conversation ended, another deputy had pulled up and had just been calmly watching what was going on. The seargent informed us of what his lieutenant had told him, made sure we knew that if we unholstered for any reason it would be considered brandishing, and asked us to go over and talk to the new deputy that had just shown up. He asked if he could have the deputy run our IDs to check for felony or warrant status. I know I didn't have to agree, but in the interest of expediency and returning the courtesy that we had been shown so far, I agreed. We handed our IDs to the deputy, and while he ran them, he chatted with us about how he had heard the radio chatter and decided to come over because he was sure we weren't doing anything wrong. He knew about the new state preemption law, and knew that Storey County wasn't enforcing the OC rules. He was really nice and we had about a 10 minute conversation with him about laws and guns. He was definitely more informed than either his seargent or the originally deputy that started this whole thing. After we were cleared, I asked for cards from the deputy and the seargent. That way I could name drop if wewere bothered by any deputies later that day. This whole event took about 20 minutes out of our day. It's unfortunate thatthe Storey CountySheriff's officeisn't up todate on the laws, however they treated us professionally throughout the encounter andnever made any attempt to disarm us.The seargent even hinted that if his lieutenanthad told him we wereviolating the law, that we would simply be allowed toput our guns in the car and continue about our day.
All in all, we had a great time in Virginia City. We got some weird looks and bug-eyed glances a few times, but no comments and no more hassles. None of the shops or saloons told us to leave when we walked in to look around. The encounter was unfortunate, but it ended well and we had an opportunity to educate some people about the law.
Sorry... this is kinda long.
For the July 04 holiday, my wife and I both oppen carried during our day long trip to Virginia City. We got there at little after noon just in time to see the first vehicles in the parade coming to their finishing turn off. We stood at that corner for nearly an hour before a Storey County deputy who had been directing cross traffic that whole time finally noticed our guns. As soon as he did, he asked us we had permits for them. I stated that no permit was required for OC, but he insisted we had to have one and directed us to go down one block to talk to his seargent.He was firm, but wasn't rude and made no attempt to even approach us let alone disarm us. We got down to the seargent and began our conversation with him. He also insisted that we had to have a permit in Storey County in order to open carry due to a local county ordinance. I started to talk to him about the new state preemption law and about how we'd heard that Storey County was no longer enforcing that ordinance and was working to change it. The seargent remained professional and calm, still no attempt to disarm us or act hostile in any way. Rather than continue to debate with me, he gets on his phone and calls his lieutenant. Thankfully, his lieutenant was up to date on his information and told the seargent the same thing we'd just been saying and also informed him that the only people needing OC permits anymore were the gunfighting actors that wander the city for the tourists. By the time the phone conversation ended, another deputy had pulled up and had just been calmly watching what was going on. The seargent informed us of what his lieutenant had told him, made sure we knew that if we unholstered for any reason it would be considered brandishing, and asked us to go over and talk to the new deputy that had just shown up. He asked if he could have the deputy run our IDs to check for felony or warrant status. I know I didn't have to agree, but in the interest of expediency and returning the courtesy that we had been shown so far, I agreed. We handed our IDs to the deputy, and while he ran them, he chatted with us about how he had heard the radio chatter and decided to come over because he was sure we weren't doing anything wrong. He knew about the new state preemption law, and knew that Storey County wasn't enforcing the OC rules. He was really nice and we had about a 10 minute conversation with him about laws and guns. He was definitely more informed than either his seargent or the originally deputy that started this whole thing. After we were cleared, I asked for cards from the deputy and the seargent. That way I could name drop if wewere bothered by any deputies later that day. This whole event took about 20 minutes out of our day. It's unfortunate thatthe Storey CountySheriff's officeisn't up todate on the laws, however they treated us professionally throughout the encounter andnever made any attempt to disarm us.The seargent even hinted that if his lieutenanthad told him we wereviolating the law, that we would simply be allowed toput our guns in the car and continue about our day.
All in all, we had a great time in Virginia City. We got some weird looks and bug-eyed glances a few times, but no comments and no more hassles. None of the shops or saloons told us to leave when we walked in to look around. The encounter was unfortunate, but it ended well and we had an opportunity to educate some people about the law.
