Requesting Permission to OC on Private Property

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44 Brent,

I'm of the impressionthat you're pretty upsetover my approach to OC and the way I've conducted myself recently. I think there's probably some good insight in your posts, but its difficult tograsp among the insulting language.Fortunately, other forum members have been gracious and courteous in their discourse, and as a result I have learned a great deal.

I'm new to OC. I'm trying to behave honorably and respectfully within a community where, as far as I can tell, only 2-3civilians have ever open carried. I sincerely hope, for my sake and yours, that I haven't done anything to undermine the OC movement. I will continue to read this forum and take into consideration all of the input that people have graciously provided so that may participation in the movement only serves to advance it further.

cbpeck

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I'm new to OC. I'm trying to behave honorably and respectfully within a community where, as far as I can tell, only 2-3civilians have ever open carried.

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Your assumption that only 2-3 citizens have OCed in WA or in banks is incorrect. Washington has a lot more citizens who have OCed, and if you search the forums, you can see that OC in banks is a very old topic, that it has been fairly common, and that very few problems have occurred. There have been no documented instances of which I am aware, in whichpolice were called to arrest people.

If you do a search on the keyword "permission" you will probably find a lot of postings on various states in which people pre-emptively asked for property owners for "permission", and that there is a common response of DON'T do it.

This should probably be a sticky FAQ for every state of "Should I ask for permission before OCing". The reason why you saw me get fairly strident about asking you to stop, is because the topic keeps coming up over and over again.

No one doubts that you are acting honorably and respectfully. My objection is that asking for "permission" only causes problems. There are times when management should be contacted, and that's when an employee calls the police or tells someone to leave, or tells people that OC is illegal. Then, it becomes necessary.

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44Brent wrote:

I'm new to OC. I'm trying to behave honorably and respectfully within a community where, as far as I can tell, only 2-3civilians have ever open carried.

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Your assumption that only 2-3 citizens have OCed in WA or in banks is incorrect. Washington has a lot more citizens who have OCed.

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It seems likely that the OP was referring to his specific locale, which is Pasco, WA.

The reason why you saw me get fairly strident about asking you to stop, is because the topic keeps coming up over and over again.

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Just because, you've seen it come up multiple times, doesn't mean that the OP has. Yes, a search probably would have helped him to find a lot of this information, but no one's perfect.

And I disagree that every time a request goes up to corporate there becomes a policy banning firearms. Look at Walmart, seems like every few weeks there's someone that has to call Walmart because of problems with local managers. The response always comes back that Walmart follows state law.

Now, I'm not saying that I would ever ask permission to carry, I believe that it's a right that should not and cannot be infringed upon. I'll go anywhere carrying for the first time, and if they don't like it, they can ask me to leave. However, not everyone is comfortable doing that and we shouldn't be cross with them.

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44Brent & Kenshin,

Thank you for your posts. I'll make a point in the future of searching old threads before brining up new posts. That is something that's been helpful on other forums I've participated in over the years, and is something I should've accessed already.The old threadsundoubtebly contain much useful information.

Caleb

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However, not everyone is comfortable doing that and we shouldn't be cross with them.

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OK, I'll agree that I was a little "cross".

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cbpeck wrote:

For future reference, any thoughts on the appropriateness of asking permission ahead of time? I may have just been better off clearing it with corporate and then OCing to the branch without ever discussing it locally.

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I would recommend making any future request like this in writting. BofA is a huge corporation, and just a name and phone number may not be enough if this person won't confirm your story later. Try for an e-mail address and then e-mail your request to corporate.Then you can always e-mail the reply to the branch manager...

The way I would do it is to start with a phone call. Then send an e-mail, as soon as you get off the phone, that says something like "just to confirm our phone conversation...I'm correct in understanding that I'm allowed to carry a firearm in your banks as long as I'm in compliance with local laws..."

The rep will understand that you are doing some CYA, but if they aren't willing to e-mail back a one liner that says "you are correct...that's what I said," then they probably aren't going to come and testify on your behalf after you get arrested and try to admit a post-it not with their name and telephone number as evidence of permission from corporate.

Just my $0.02

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I guess it's now my turn to face the wraith of everyone...

I, too, did the same as the OP, but after talking with the branch manager & having him tell me that "for employee safety", he didn't want OC in his bank (CHASE branch by costco on 205th in shoreline).

I returned home & eventually got hold of chase's corporate security department. I spoke with danielle & she informed me that there was NO policy regarding open carry in their branches & that the decision was left up to the discretion of the branch manager. She also went on to say that "there are quite a lot of branches that don't even think "I" should carry a gun when i'm in the branch on official business"

all I've got to say is that if "quite a lot" of branches can't even trust their corporate security, there's no way they'll trust "john doe citizen"

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5jeffro7 wrote:

I guess it's now my turn to face the wraith of everyone...

I, too, did the same as the OP, but after talking with the branch manager & having him tell me that "for employee safety", he didn't want OC in his bank (CHASE branch by costco on 205th in shoreline).

I returned home & eventually got hold of chase's corporate security department.  I spoke with danielle & she informed me that there was NO policy regarding open carry in their branches & that the decision was left up to the discretion of the branch manager.  She also went on to say that "there are quite a lot of branches that don't even think "I" should carry a gun when i'm in the branch on official business"

all I've got to say is that if "quite a lot" of branches can't even trust their corporate security, there's no way they'll trust "john doe citizen"

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You will find that a lot of businesses have no policy on firearms at all and leave the decision up to the local manager. Safeway, QFC, AutoZone, Shucks, and a few others all do this.

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just go to wells fargo, they are nice and polite. making a pissing match isnt going to win you points.