"open carry" in Portland

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I had a question for you Oregonians. I live in Washington and have an Oregon CHL. I often go to Portland. I just read a story on the Washington page about a guy who was detained for openly carrying in Longview, even though he was attempting to conceal and it inadvertantly showed. If I was carrying concealed and someone saw it as it may have poked out while bending over etc will I get a MWG call and possibly be charged with openly carrying etc? I have a Fobus side holster that conceals well but sometimes the bottom of my shirt doesnt quite cover it while bending etc.

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Open carry is legal, and if you have a CHL then the only carry laws you need worry about are state laws. State laws have totally pre-emption. As long as you don't go into public buildings like jail, courthouses, etc...

You may still get a MWAG call and illegally detained or imprisoned. That's therisk of exercising your rights around corrupt criminals in postitions of power.



P.S. I'm not a lawyer, this is only my understanding ofOregon law.

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Thanks for the info...

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Can't say what might happen. But I can say that more often than not whether a MWAG call is made depends much more on your actions than anything else. Whether you like or not, think it's right or not doesn't matter, if you act or dress like a confident, focussed professional guy and you will be treated like one (or not treated at all) but if you look "shaky" you will get treated much more roughly. I also think that partially covering looks like you are trying to hide something and may get you more attention than carrying out in the open. I OC (IWB but not in a Fobus) in Portland all the time and have never had an incident.

KNOW THE LAW. If you do happen to get an opportunity to share a moment or two with your new friend in blue make sure you know how you are going to handle it. If you have an Oregon CHL you are good to go with a loaded OC firearm anywhere the state allows and Portland code has no affect on you.

-adamsesq

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There is an additional danger. Non-resident licenses are may-issue and a sheriff could consider revoking the license for open carry, which they couldn't in fact do for residents under state law. However, I personally have open carried in Portland on a nonresident CHL, however the lack of revocation could be due to Portland considering me a bit "Too hot to touch" if they started pressuring the sheriff who issued my license.

There is a case percolating in California called Sykes v. McGinness which may influence non-resident licensing in Oregon, considering the existence of the Portland ordinances.

http://www.hoffmang.com/firearms/sykes/Sykes-v-McGinness-Complaint-2009-05-09.pdf