Alaska Police chief says open carry OK with him

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http://www.fortmilltimes.com/124/story/465403.html

Fairbanks gun rights group backs open carry days
(Published February 20, 2009)

FAIRBANKS, Alaska — A Second Amendment rights group in Fairbanks is encouraging members to bring their guns out into the open.

Scaheffer Cox with the group Second Amendment Task Force is urging everyone to wear their guns during open carry days this weekend and next. He expects about 500 people to participate.


He says there's a social stigma that only "cops and robbers have guns." But he says more people than that pack heat, they just conceal their weapons.


Fairbanks Police Chief Dan Hoffman doesn't oppose the show of arms, saying there's no law against carrying open, legal firearms in Alaska.

Hoffman believes this is in reaction to the election of President Barack Obama. Hoffman says there's fear and concern the Democrat will crack down on gun ownership.

Information from: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, http://www.newsminer.com

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Having just returned to Washington Statelast summerfrom a 3 yeartour of dutyin Homer, Alaska, and a 1 year tourin Juneau before that,I can honestly say that the open or concealed carry of a firearm is NOT an issue to LE there, aside from isolated instances of officer ignorance.

In most cases, these officers are transferees from other states that either statutorily ban open carry or take a dim view on it, such as Wisconsin. Not surprisingly, they carry their training with them, and since most people in Alaska choose to conceal due to weather and clothingconsiderations, its not something that comes up often enough to be a "training point" for their departments.

Most incidents that I have heard aboutor experiencedon a LEOs attempting to enforce against open carry have been able to be handled at the department level by a simple call and or letterto the department chief. Letters of reprimand or "re-training" for the offending officer usually follow.

Its great to see my brothers in Alaska taking steps to remind people of their rights, and keeping the option "in the open" as it were.

Use it or lose it.

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FMCDH wrote:

...Use it or loose it.

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Or "lose" it.

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BB62 wrote:

FMCDH wrote:

...Use it or loose it.

Click to expand...

Or "lose" it.

Click to expand...

Darn spell checker! It should know what I wanted to say.

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I open carry her e in mo and wold like to get a group of firearms owners together to support open carry here in mo if any one can send me info on how to do this i would be very greatfull.



Now even more than ever we need to be excersizing our 2nd amendment right to carry firearms for the purpose of personal protection. we also need to show it in a large group so that we stand a chance of stopping the hr 45 bill from being signed into law. USE OUR RIGHT OR LOSE IT FOREVER,, IT IS THAT SIMPLE.

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opencarryinmo wrote:

I open carry her e in mo and wold like to get a group of firearms owners together to support open carry here in mo if any one can send me info on how to do this i would be very greatfull.



Now even more than ever we need to be excersizing our 2nd amendment right to carry firearms for the purpose of personal protection. we also need to show it in a large group so that we stand a chance of stopping the hr 45 bill from being signed into law. USE OUR RIGHT OR LOSE IT FOREVER,, IT IS THAT SIMPLE.

Click to expand...

You need to start with fixing your state's lack of preemption re open carry - a real problem.

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FMCDH wrote:

Having just returned to Washington Statelast summerfrom a 3 yeartour of dutyin Homer, Alaska

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I live in Homer, Alaska right now. How come I've never seen you open carry?

I only know a couple people who open carry, one strong arm which doesn't often anymore since he gets an oddly severe negative reaction...

In addition, of course I open carry.

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insane.kangaroo wrote:

FMCDH wrote:

Having just returned to Washington Statelast summerfrom a 3 yeartour of dutyin Homer, Alaska

Click to expand...

I live in Homer, Alaska right now. How come I've never seen you open carry?

I only know a couple people who open carry, one strong arm which doesn't often anymore since he gets an oddly severe negative reaction...

In addition, of course I open carry.

Click to expand...

I guess the return question is, had you even seen me at all?

The town of Homer may only have an official population of 3000 - 5000 (depending on season) but the surrounding boroughs count about 30000 people.

If you ever came down the spit to the Hickory, or spent any time at the movie theater, you probably had seen me at least once, and if you did, the fact that you didn't notice I was carrying is evident to how much people even pay attention to such a thing.

Never mind that I was underway 6 months out of the year, so in fact I only spent half of that 3 year tour IN Homer, minus vacations and trips to Anchorage and Seward, and minus any time I was in my car or wearing a sweatshirt or jacket due to inclement weather.

Also, I have self proclaimed that I only carry openly about 30 percent of the time anyway, even in Alaska.

All that being said....why didn't you ever see me?! Gezzz....

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Okay, I'll give you that one. I don't go out of the way to see if people are carrying on the other side of their hip.

Don't know if you saw me any on the spit last year, frequently was I cleaning up trash from the first drive in spot to the place where buildings started.

I even went out of my way to explain to people why I was open carrying when they asked me if I was with Fish and Wildlife... (wtf? :/ F&W don't carry guns do they? )

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insane.kangaroo wrote:

I even went out of my way to explain to people why I was open carrying when they asked me if I was with Fish and Wildlife... (wtf? :/ F&W don't carry guns do they? )

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Actually, they do, depending on where they are going and working at the time, but your intention to mean that they carry handguns as a standard part of their daily wardrobe, no.

And its the Alaska Department of Fish & Game. They just have a wildlife conservation division.

At a cursory glance, I didn't find anything about their practice or policy on their agents carrying firearms, but the CG being a Federal LEA that enforces conservation law, I have dealt with them before and have seen them wearing sidearms, but mostly rifles when they are doing field work.

http://adfg.state.ak.us/