OC at a Norfolk Tides baseball game

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Will be attending my first Tides game tonight the 25th. I wanted to know if anyone has OC'd at a game yet. Never been to Harbor Park yet so not sure of the weaponpolicy.

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This subject has come up before here. There are no, no weapon signs. Someone said the property is owned by the City Of Norfolk and leased to the Tides owner, so OC should be legal. There are Norfolk PD at every entrance and walking around the park and my guess would be you will have soem sort of encounter. The only down side I see to carying there is sitting in one of those seats with a gun on your hip. They do sell seats on the concourse that are more roomy. Have fun and post how it went.

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GLENGLOCKER wrote:

This subject has come up before here. There are no, no weapon signs. Someone said the property is owned by the City Of Norfolk and leased to the Tides owner, so OC should be legal. There are Norfolk PD at every entrance and walking around the park and my guess would be you will have soem sort of encounter. The only down side I see to carying there is sitting in one of those seats with a gun on your hip. They do sell seats on the concourse that are more roomy. Have fun and post how it went.

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+1 and don't forget your recorder!

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I am going to the game on the 31st. It would be interesting to find out for sure.

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Well all I know is our seats are on the 3rd base line. I do not have a recorder yet so I'm on my own with my wife and kids.

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Well thing didn't quite work out as I had planned.The wife was in one of those moods and put up a nasty fuss over me OCing. I didn't want push it so I left it in the car. I'm sure we have all been there as one point or another.

We had great seats and great weather. I counted at least 20 different LEO's just around our area. I asked one of the Norfolk PD officers about thestadiums rules on OC. I spoke to SGT N. Tindell and he seemed less than thrilled to be talking about it. Mainly after I corrected himin that I meant OCing a gun and not pepper spray.He said the stadium is owned by the city but leased to the Tides owner. Therefor during the season its considered private property and OCing to a game would be illegal. He also said its a family place, a safe place so why would someone want to OC their anyway. I didn't feel like getting into an argument over it so I let it be. A call came over the radio and he excused himself but not before wishing me a good evening.

So I didn't OC after all but still had a good time with the wife and kids. Some checking to will need to be done as to what he said about the park being private property due to the lease and OC being illegal because of that.


EDIT for typo

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I seem to recall a story about a fan at a major league game suffering a gunshot wound, although I believe that it originated from outside the stadium.

Just today, was there a huge minor league brawl where a pitcher threw a ball at a fan. I read one account where a player was going to use a bat to attack someone before being stopped.

Stuff happens........

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If Harbor Park is owned by the city then shouldn't we be allowed to view the lease agreement? The LEO is also wrong in the legality of OCing there. If the person leasing the property does not tell you no firearms then you haven't broken the law until your told not to have it there.

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GLENGLOCKER wrote:

If Harbor Park is owned by the city then shouldn't we be allowed to view the lease agreement? The LEO is also wrong in the legality of OCing there. If the person leasing the property does not tell you no firearms then you haven't broken the law until your told not to have it there.

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I didn't see any sign at the gate we entered next to the picnic area. They may have had one at the main entrance and or ticket booths. But I didn't see one. I figured to get the kind of response I did but I saw no harm in asking. I think I'll call the ball park office tomorrow and see what I can find out.

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I'm sure if you call and ask they'll tell you no weapons allowed. Worth a shot though. There was a radio guy here in the early 90s that took his kid to either a Tides or Admirals game and they didn't give straws with drinks because they considered them a weapon.

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Bullbuster wrote:

GLENGLOCKER wrote:

If Harbor Park is owned by the city then shouldn't we be allowed to view the lease agreement? The LEO is also wrong in the legality of OCing there. If the person leasing the property does not tell you no firearms then you haven't broken the law until your told not to have it there.

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I didn't see any sign at the gate we entered next to the picnic area. They may have had one at the main entrance and or ticket booths. But I didn't see one. I figured to get the kind of response I did but I saw no harm in asking. I think I'll call the ball park office tomorrow and see what I can find out.

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I would have to add that you refuse to leave after being told they do not want firearms on their property.

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have not tried to OC at Harbor Park but I was looking and there is nothing on the website that mentions anything about weapons at all.

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Bullbuster wrote:

I didn't want push it so I left it on the car.

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Not to be nit-picky but I'm hoping you meant that you left itin the car and not on it. :lol:

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vbnative73 wrote:

Bullbuster wrote:

I didn't want push it so I left it on the car.

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Not to be nit-picky but I'm hoping you meant that you left itin the car and not on it. :lol:

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You are correct andI fixed it. Thanks for pointing that rather BIG typo out. Looks like my eyes failed me again.

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I called the box office/ customer service office at the ball park twice. I left a message both times do to no answer asking to speak to someone in relation to park rules and regulations that I had a question about. I did not say it was in relation to carry a firearm as I figured I wouldn't get a call back. So far no call back. I will try again today.

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Have you heard anything else about this? I am currious to know as I will be going to a couple more games this season.

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No I haven't. The 2 Ladies I did speak to didn't have a clue but said they didn't think it was or even a good idea (go figure). But they said they would pass it on to management and get back to me (somehow Ithink that will happen). I think I'll just stop by the box office and ask in person.

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Seems to me, if they require an admission contract for attendees, they can refuse to admit pretty much anybody, or they can order anybody to leave. A person who violates the contract of admission can have that contract revoked or denied. Failure to leave at that point would constitute trespassing.

By contrast, if they do NOT regulate admission, there is no contract for them to deny or revoke.

Where the area is public space, not subject to any controlled entry, an "event sponsor" cannot exercise any more right than the entity which granted the sponsorship.

I'm pretty sure you can be ordered out of a ballpark for being "disorderly." The event-operator has wide latitude in defining "disorderly."