Dulles Town Center Private Property

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Friday April 24 around 830pm was approached by mall security at DullesMalland was told that i was not allowed to have a BB gun in the mall, i told him it was not a BB gun, but i guess he didn't understand because he then asked me to put it in my bag and take it to my car. I then tried again to explain myself to him by telling him it was a real gun and i could not but it in the bag because that would make it concealed. I told him i was leaving anyways but he didn't want me to leave, so i asked to speak to a officer because it was really hard for me to understand what he was trying to say to me. He seemed fine with that and off we go through the halls behind all the stores in the mall, all of a sudden i have this lady come outof nowherefreaking out asking why the hell i have a gun and asking if it was real. I just asked again to speak to a police officer because i didn't feel like wasting my time trying to explain to them because i couldn't calm them down. We then went to a office with a glass window where there were more security guards and all of them were freaking out asking if i had a permit or if i was a police officer i tired explaining to them but they wouldn't listen. One of the security guard was talking to their boss over the radio about what to do and he told them that its legal in Virginia but since its private property i was to put it in my car or leave. So then i was escorted off the property by one of the guard and then left. I have open carryed there so many times for some reason i though i was public property.

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Well, think about it...


Would the Loudoun County Government hire private security to walk their property or would they just use the cops they are already paying. :lol:

http://www.shopdullestowncenter.com/2006/images/section_titles/leasing.html

Like most large shopping centers... they are private property.

In actuality.. I do not know of a single shopping center that is OWNED by the local government.

So in regards to the Dullas Town Center...

Is it "open" to the public? Yes.

Is it public property? No.

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Waterside in Norfolk FTW!!!

...then again...it's not really a Mall, but it sure felt good typing it!!!

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OMG!!! :lol:

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frgntsmtn wrote:

Friday April 24 around 830pm was approached by mall security at DullesMalland was told that i was not allowed to have a BB gun in the mall, i told him it was not a BB gun, but i guess he didn't understand because he then asked me to put it in my bag and take it to my car. I then tried again to explain myself to him by telling him it was a real gun and i could not but it in the bag because that would make it concealed. I told him i was leaving anyways but he didn't want me to leave, so i asked to speak to a officer because it was really hard for me to understand what he was trying to say to me. He seemed fine with that and off we go through the halls behind all the stores in the mall, all of a sudden i have this lady come outof nowherefreaking out asking why the hell i have a gun and asking if it was real. I just asked again to speak to a police officer because i didn't feel like wasting my time trying to explain to them because i couldn't calm them down. We then went to a office with a glass window where there were more security guards and all of them were freaking out asking if i had a permit or if i was a police officer i tired explaining to them but they wouldn't listen. One of the security guard was talking to their boss over the radio about what to do and he told them that its legal in Virginia but since its private property i was to put it in my car or leave. So then i was escorted off the property by one of the guard and then left. I have open carryed there so many times for some reason i though i was public property

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Oh, I loathe malls... Nevertheless I was at the Dulles Town Center this past weekend. I was in a hurry and not in a particularly good mood. Not wanting to deal with any potential spit [s/p/h] and be delayed, I CC'd under a t-shirt. After I bought my merchandise, I tucked my shirt behind my sidearm and left. On my way out nobody took notice of the OC to any degree that I could tell.

Mall security is there for the mall's protection, not the customers'. Their number one priority is to protect the mall from liability. If someone has a firearm in the mall and, after mall security verbally tells them that it's OK, that person opens fire on innocent customer(s); then the mall is probably open to all sorts of lawsuits by the victim(s). Not to mention the negative publicity, once the news reports that mall guards had questioned the shooter prior to the incident and let him go. In the least, the guard could lose his job.

It's obviously not in the best interest of the customers, but civilly speaking, it is in a mall's best interest to prohibit firearms. Of course, I'm not a lawyer so I fully expect a qualified person to rebut.

I think the chances of being questioned by any mall's personnel about your sidearm are equal to the chances of any mall's personnel seeing your sidearm. The chances of being told that you, a non-police-officer, are not allowed to have a firearm on the property are also equal to the chances of being questioned about it.

I wonder what would happen if I bought a shotgun/rifle at Dick's and carried it by a sling through the mall as I continued shopping. I highly doubt the mall guards would just leave me alone. I bet they'd ask me to show them my receipt; and/or ask me to put it in my vehicle to give the thieves a fair shot at it while I shopped inside. :banghead:

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When I bought a shotgun from Dick's in the Dulles Town Center mall, a manager walked with me out the Dick's entrance (not through the mall), and carried my boxed gun until we reached my vehicle. Only at that point did he leave the gun under my sole control.

Since I wasn't parked outside that entrance, I had to walk to the JC Penney parking lot on the other side of the mall and drive around to Dick's before they would escort me out with my purchase.

Haven't been back since.

~ Boyd

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TexasNative wrote:

When I bought a shotgun from Dick's in the Dulles Town Center mall, a manager walked with me out the Dick's entrance (not through the mall), and carried my boxed gun until we reached my vehicle. Only at that point did he leave the gun under my sole control.

Since I wasn't parked outside that entrance, I had to walk to the JC Penney parking lot on the other side of the mall and drive around to Dick's before they would escort me out with my purchase.

Haven't been back since.

~ Boyd

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I've bought a couple of long guns at that same Dick's, and they only walked me out to the sidewalk, handed me the box, and left me to my own devices. Luckily, since my trip had been specifically for shopping there, my car was just outside, so it was no big deal.

Of course, I wasn't OCing at the time - that might have freaked them out. As far as I can tell, they've never even noticed when I do OC (lately, I swing by to get 38, when they have it in stock - hardly ever).

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I OC at that mall, Vapiano's, Food Court and Dick's all the time and have never been spoken too.

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virginiatuck wrote:

spit [s/p/h]

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echo bozbocoxd | tr '[a-z]' '[q-za-p]'


edit: do we know if the property has an official position on carry, concealed or otherwise?

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LEO 229 wrote:

Would the Loudoun County Government hire private security to walk their property or would they just use the cops they are already paying. :lol:

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Slightly off topic...but what the heck. They could potentially use security officers to walk their property, as securitycosts less per hour for the city. As a result you mightfind security guards in parks locking things up when it gets dark out. Also at airports (outside the airport, on airport property-TSAis a different entity, though that's security too, with police on site for when problems crop up), schools, and all sorts of other surprising areas. It's very cost effective to use security guards to do many routine jobs for cities/counties/states/etc.

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NightOwl wrote:

LEO 229 wrote:

Would the Loudoun County Government hire private security to walk their property or would they just use the cops they are already paying. :lol:

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Slightly off topic...but what the heck. They could potentially use security officers to walk their property, as securitycosts less per hour for the city. As a result you mightfind security guards in parks locking things up when it gets dark out. Also at airports (outside the airport, on airport property-TSAis a different entity, though that's security too, with police on site for when problems crop up), schools, and all sorts of other surprising areas. It's very cost effective to use security guards to do many routine jobs for cities/counties/states/etc.

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Sure... security guards are cheaper but their assigned task is very basic. TSA is different in that they have a single assignment. Airport police are also on scene and take over if something is found during a TSA check. You cannot have a TSA person make an arrest and then have the spot go unfilled.

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bdodds wrote:

edit: do we know if the property has an official position on carry, concealed or otherwise?

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Nothing is posted.. I would believe if you push them to post, they will.. then you make the mall off limits to folks that JUST want to CC. Maybe CC for a while there until things cool off... I am sure mall security has a pretty fast turn-over..

Ed

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bdodds wrote:

do we know if the property has an official position on carry, concealed or otherwise?

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To quote.. well, me :

"Item #4 of the "Rules of Conduct" for Dulles Town Center is: 'No guns, knives or weapons whatsoever allowed on premises'

Now, Loudoun County is pretty laid back, and the Sheriff is very pro-gun and both he and the Leesburg PD Chief have taken steps to make sure that thier deputies/officers are trained on Va firearms laws. IIRC, part of that is due to the aftermath of your (Ed's) conversation with some police officers during the Giovanni's dinner.

Dulles Town Center has the policy. They just may not bother to enforce all the time. There was an incident last December where a man was OCing in the food court and ran afoul of a LC deputy with an attitude and was asked to leave. They may not bother you, Ed, because you are such a fine looking fella :dude:."

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from the Springfleld Mall thread (which had much discussion on malls and Dulles also):

http://opencarry.mywowbb.com/forum54/15040.html

As Ed points out, though, it's not actually posted at the entrances to the best of my knowledge. You have to actually ask for a copy of the rules, which we all know would-be criminals do :shock:.

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Thanks, Red.. I need more time in the day so I can read every post in here.. :?

ed: yeah anywhere that's going to be a source for confrontation that has management with an itchy trigger finger (excuse the pun) regarding "public safety" i'm more likely to CC and not make waves.. I'm a firm believer in not stirring the pot if it doesn't need to be stirred.. yesterday i did a bit of a survey in the food court, and the only ABC licensee was the one that let their license expire as noted in the other thread, so in theory (wouldn't want to be the test case) CC everywhere should be legal..