imported post
My wife, daughter, and I all went to the fair on Saturday, thought it would be fun. We saw the sights and met Jesse James and all that stuff.We got thereround about noonish, and at about 4:30, four state police and one extremely obese rent-a-cop surround my family and i.The first officer to speak to mewas about 6'3 ish weighed maybe 160. very tall and lanky white guy. Said to me, "why you walkin' round here packin heat?" Whatin the world is that about? I was dressed in a pair of levi'scarpenter jeans and at-shirt. nothing about me or my dress was threatening, or "thuggish" as his language implied. I was mostly at a loss for words, so he asked again,my response was "Officer,I carry my handgun for the same reason you do, safety and it is my right." Another officer said, "well if it ain't concealed boy, you're breaking the law." We all know better, I respectfully told the officer that I excersize my right to open carry, and withno signage stating i can't,I was in the right. his natural reply "well you're disturbing the peace with that thing on your hip, i should just lock you up right now." I had been nice up to this point, but it was hot outside, I was with my family and started to get agitated. "well officer, if you 'd like to explainto your supervisor why you arrested a soldier in the US Army forlegally carrying a handgun, then i'll be more than happy to go along with you." Around this time, i was guided to a wall, hands and legs spread and an officer approached me from the rear to disarm me. OK. He then told me i could turn around after a brief (very poorly done) pat down. The officer then attempted to unload my pistol (bare bones 1911) after about 2 minutesof attempting to pull the slide back, he dropped the mag and kept pulling on the slide. I told him that he had to flip the slide safety and he looked at me like i speak chinese. i pointed at it and said "push that switch down" he still couldnt figure it out.After about 5 minutes he figured it out, and i got a lecture about carrying in public, and that "cocked and locked" is extremely unsafe practice. (safest way to carry a 1911 except unloaded) Another officer drove up, he was older and had been in the dept alot longer than these guys, drove me to my car appologizing the whole way about "ignorant officers making up rules as they go" So it was a very interesting day. I was a little hacked off, but the wife was just pissed.
My wife, daughter, and I all went to the fair on Saturday, thought it would be fun. We saw the sights and met Jesse James and all that stuff.We got thereround about noonish, and at about 4:30, four state police and one extremely obese rent-a-cop surround my family and i.The first officer to speak to mewas about 6'3 ish weighed maybe 160. very tall and lanky white guy. Said to me, "why you walkin' round here packin heat?" Whatin the world is that about? I was dressed in a pair of levi'scarpenter jeans and at-shirt. nothing about me or my dress was threatening, or "thuggish" as his language implied. I was mostly at a loss for words, so he asked again,my response was "Officer,I carry my handgun for the same reason you do, safety and it is my right." Another officer said, "well if it ain't concealed boy, you're breaking the law." We all know better, I respectfully told the officer that I excersize my right to open carry, and withno signage stating i can't,I was in the right. his natural reply "well you're disturbing the peace with that thing on your hip, i should just lock you up right now." I had been nice up to this point, but it was hot outside, I was with my family and started to get agitated. "well officer, if you 'd like to explainto your supervisor why you arrested a soldier in the US Army forlegally carrying a handgun, then i'll be more than happy to go along with you." Around this time, i was guided to a wall, hands and legs spread and an officer approached me from the rear to disarm me. OK. He then told me i could turn around after a brief (very poorly done) pat down. The officer then attempted to unload my pistol (bare bones 1911) after about 2 minutesof attempting to pull the slide back, he dropped the mag and kept pulling on the slide. I told him that he had to flip the slide safety and he looked at me like i speak chinese. i pointed at it and said "push that switch down" he still couldnt figure it out.After about 5 minutes he figured it out, and i got a lecture about carrying in public, and that "cocked and locked" is extremely unsafe practice. (safest way to carry a 1911 except unloaded) Another officer drove up, he was older and had been in the dept alot longer than these guys, drove me to my car appologizing the whole way about "ignorant officers making up rules as they go" So it was a very interesting day. I was a little hacked off, but the wife was just pissed.