Mike
Site Co-Founder
imported post
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[align=center]OpenCarry.org[/align]
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[align=center]For Immediate Release – March 17, 2008[/align]
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[align=left]San Diego and Redlands Police Leaders’ Bigoted Attacks on Open Carriers are Unacceptable
Last year the United States Supreme Court held that the Second Amendment’s right to “bear arms[/b]” secures the right to “carry[/b]” guns. The court further noted that many state courts have said that the concealed carry of guns is not constitutionally protected while open carry[1] is protected. Open carry is lawful in 44 states today, usually without any permit.[2]
But this week leaders of two California police departments issued shockingly bigoted statements attacking the exercise of lawful gun carry rights in California. San Diego Police Department Attorney Paul Cooper had the gall to say that the lawful open carry of handguns in holsters “is dangerous to the public, the people carrying the weapons and to officers.”[/b][3]
Mike Stollenwerk, co-founder of OpenCarry.org, a national online gun rights community with 18,700 members, counters that[/b]
“Attorney Cooper ought to stick to his knitting and fix his erroneous legal opinion at http://www.hoffmang.com/firearms/carry/San-Diego-PD-TB-08-05-California-Open-Carry-Dec-2008.pdf which incorrectly says California law ‘prohibits carrying a loaded firearm in public in a vehicle or on one’s person. This section applies in any public place, on any public street, or in any place where it is unlawful to discharge a firearm.’ As Cooper would find out if he ever fired up his WestLaw, in California, openly carried guns need only be unloaded in cities. Californians are free to carry loaded guns in vehicles and public places in unincorporated areas of California except where the County, and only the County, has prohibited shooting.”[4][/b]
[/b]
Further Stollenwerk says,
“Cooper’s egging on of police officers to point guns at citizens in ‘hot stops’ is so irresponsible that the San Diego City Council should initiate an immediate investigation as to what kind of liability Cooper seeks to bring on City taxpayers when open carriers sue for damages after such unjustified assaults.”[5]
[/b]
And then there’s Redlands Police Chief Jim Bueermann who blurted out this week that
"I think this is absolutely reprehensible behavior. Not only is it dangerous to carry a gun in this day and age, but that they would attempt to goad the officers into behavior that would then allow them to sue or put them in a position where someone could get hurt."[6][/b][/align]
[align=left]John Pierce, the other co-founder of OpenCarry.org, disagrees with Bueermann and analogizes to police leader attitudes of an earlier era toward blacks and gays walking in the wrong neighborhoods. Says Pierce, "Is it taunting if a gay couple expresses affection in public? None of these things are taunting. They are educational.”[7][/b][/b]
[/b][/b]
In an effort to help California police agency leaders get up to speed on California’s law of open carry, Opencarry.org has urged its members to contact their local police chief and Sheriff with a few friendly reminders at http://opencarry.mywowbb.com/forum66/23131.html.
Meanwhile, OpenCarry.org members in California will continue to legally openly carry handguns through out California because, in the end, like our motto says, “a right unexercised is a right lost.”
Carry on![/align]
[align=center]###[/align]
[align=left][/b]Media Contacts[/b]:
OpenCarry.org co-founders:
John Pierce: John@OpenCarry.org
Mike Stollenwerk: MikeOpencarry.org
[1] As you can see from map at http://www.opencarry.org/opencarry.html, only 6 states ban open carry and bills have been introduced in 3 of those states to repeal those bans this year: OK, SC, and AR.
[2] A recent FBI study recently documented that, essentially, bad guys don't open carry, or even wear holsters: Anthony Pinizzotto, et al., Violent Encounters: A Study of Felonious Assaults on Our Nation's Law Enforcement Officers[/i][/b], FBI (2006) (finding that violent criminals carefully "conceal" their guns and "eschew holsters"), summary available at [url]http://www.forcesciencenews.com/home/detail.html?serial=62[/url].
[3] Amita Sharma, SD Police Fear Growing Number of Activists Carrying Guns Openly[/i][/b], KPBS, March 17, 2009, available at [size=[font=Calibri][url]http://www.kpbs.org/news/local;id=14132[/font][/url].]
[4] See People v. Knight decision of the CA Appeals Court at [url]http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/californiastatecases/c045858.pdf[/url] (citing to a 1968 Calif. AG opinion and holding that police cannot detain gun carriers in unincorporated areas to check to see if gun is loaded cause guns openly carried can be loaded except in areas where shooting is banned by county - evidence obtained in such illegal seizures will be suppressed under Fourth Amendment). See also our press release re Gov. Schwartzenagger's veto of the 2008 bill to ban loaded open carry in vehicles and public places in unincorporated areas at [url]http://opencarry.mywowbb.com/view_topic.php?id=17580&forum_id=12&highlight=veto[/url].
[5] Open carriers around the country are winning money settlements for much less draconian police harassment than official direction to point guns at people exercising constitutional rights. See, e.g., VA: [url]http://hamptonroads.com/2008/12/norfolk-pay-15000-harborfest-gun-arrest-case[/url]; LA: [url]http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/27706824.html?showALL=y&c=y[/url]; GA: [url]http://www.metrospirit.com/index.php?cat=11011612083586983&ShowArticle_ID=11011712084357501[/url].
[6] Stacia Glenn, Local views clash on carrying guns in public[/i][/b], San Bernadino Sun, March 14, 2009, available at http://www.sbsun.com/news/ci_11913496.
[7] Amita Sharma, SD Police Fear Growing Number of Activists Carrying Guns Openly[/i][/b], KPBS, March 17, 2009, available at [size=[font=Calibri][url]http://www.kpbs.org/news/local;id=14132[/font][/url].]
[/align]
[align=left]
[/align]
[align=center]OpenCarry.org[/align]
[align=center]
[align=center]For Immediate Release – March 17, 2008[/align]
[align=center]---[/b][/align]
[align=left]San Diego and Redlands Police Leaders’ Bigoted Attacks on Open Carriers are Unacceptable
Last year the United States Supreme Court held that the Second Amendment’s right to “bear arms[/b]” secures the right to “carry[/b]” guns. The court further noted that many state courts have said that the concealed carry of guns is not constitutionally protected while open carry[1] is protected. Open carry is lawful in 44 states today, usually without any permit.[2]
But this week leaders of two California police departments issued shockingly bigoted statements attacking the exercise of lawful gun carry rights in California. San Diego Police Department Attorney Paul Cooper had the gall to say that the lawful open carry of handguns in holsters “is dangerous to the public, the people carrying the weapons and to officers.”[/b][3]
Mike Stollenwerk, co-founder of OpenCarry.org, a national online gun rights community with 18,700 members, counters that[/b]
“Attorney Cooper ought to stick to his knitting and fix his erroneous legal opinion at http://www.hoffmang.com/firearms/carry/San-Diego-PD-TB-08-05-California-Open-Carry-Dec-2008.pdf which incorrectly says California law ‘prohibits carrying a loaded firearm in public in a vehicle or on one’s person. This section applies in any public place, on any public street, or in any place where it is unlawful to discharge a firearm.’ As Cooper would find out if he ever fired up his WestLaw, in California, openly carried guns need only be unloaded in cities. Californians are free to carry loaded guns in vehicles and public places in unincorporated areas of California except where the County, and only the County, has prohibited shooting.”[4][/b]
[/b]
Further Stollenwerk says,
“Cooper’s egging on of police officers to point guns at citizens in ‘hot stops’ is so irresponsible that the San Diego City Council should initiate an immediate investigation as to what kind of liability Cooper seeks to bring on City taxpayers when open carriers sue for damages after such unjustified assaults.”[5]
[/b]
And then there’s Redlands Police Chief Jim Bueermann who blurted out this week that
"I think this is absolutely reprehensible behavior. Not only is it dangerous to carry a gun in this day and age, but that they would attempt to goad the officers into behavior that would then allow them to sue or put them in a position where someone could get hurt."[6][/b][/align]
[align=left]John Pierce, the other co-founder of OpenCarry.org, disagrees with Bueermann and analogizes to police leader attitudes of an earlier era toward blacks and gays walking in the wrong neighborhoods. Says Pierce, "Is it taunting if a gay couple expresses affection in public? None of these things are taunting. They are educational.”[7][/b][/b]
[/b][/b]
In an effort to help California police agency leaders get up to speed on California’s law of open carry, Opencarry.org has urged its members to contact their local police chief and Sheriff with a few friendly reminders at http://opencarry.mywowbb.com/forum66/23131.html.
Meanwhile, OpenCarry.org members in California will continue to legally openly carry handguns through out California because, in the end, like our motto says, “a right unexercised is a right lost.”
Carry on![/align]
[align=center]###[/align]
[align=left][/b]Media Contacts[/b]:
OpenCarry.org co-founders:
John Pierce: John@OpenCarry.org
Mike Stollenwerk: MikeOpencarry.org
[1] As you can see from map at http://www.opencarry.org/opencarry.html, only 6 states ban open carry and bills have been introduced in 3 of those states to repeal those bans this year: OK, SC, and AR.
[2] A recent FBI study recently documented that, essentially, bad guys don't open carry, or even wear holsters: Anthony Pinizzotto, et al., Violent Encounters: A Study of Felonious Assaults on Our Nation's Law Enforcement Officers[/i][/b], FBI (2006) (finding that violent criminals carefully "conceal" their guns and "eschew holsters"), summary available at [url]http://www.forcesciencenews.com/home/detail.html?serial=62[/url].
[3] Amita Sharma, SD Police Fear Growing Number of Activists Carrying Guns Openly[/i][/b], KPBS, March 17, 2009, available at [size=[font=Calibri][url]http://www.kpbs.org/news/local;id=14132[/font][/url].]
[4] See People v. Knight decision of the CA Appeals Court at [url]http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/californiastatecases/c045858.pdf[/url] (citing to a 1968 Calif. AG opinion and holding that police cannot detain gun carriers in unincorporated areas to check to see if gun is loaded cause guns openly carried can be loaded except in areas where shooting is banned by county - evidence obtained in such illegal seizures will be suppressed under Fourth Amendment). See also our press release re Gov. Schwartzenagger's veto of the 2008 bill to ban loaded open carry in vehicles and public places in unincorporated areas at [url]http://opencarry.mywowbb.com/view_topic.php?id=17580&forum_id=12&highlight=veto[/url].
[5] Open carriers around the country are winning money settlements for much less draconian police harassment than official direction to point guns at people exercising constitutional rights. See, e.g., VA: [url]http://hamptonroads.com/2008/12/norfolk-pay-15000-harborfest-gun-arrest-case[/url]; LA: [url]http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/27706824.html?showALL=y&c=y[/url]; GA: [url]http://www.metrospirit.com/index.php?cat=11011612083586983&ShowArticle_ID=11011712084357501[/url].
[6] Stacia Glenn, Local views clash on carrying guns in public[/i][/b], San Bernadino Sun, March 14, 2009, available at http://www.sbsun.com/news/ci_11913496.
[7] Amita Sharma, SD Police Fear Growing Number of Activists Carrying Guns Openly[/i][/b], KPBS, March 17, 2009, available at [size=[font=Calibri][url]http://www.kpbs.org/news/local;id=14132[/font][/url].]
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