Defining a "contemporary community standard"

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So, this was about 4 weeks ago. Has there been a response yet to the simple Yes or No question?

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DPS RESPONSE to the questions posed in emaildated June 2, 2009 to Sgt. Douglas Hall

June 9, 2009

Edward A. Peruta
American News and Information Services, Inc.
38 Parish Road
Rocky Hill, CT 06067-1051

Re: Your E-mail to Sgt. Douglas Hall Dated June 2, 2009

Dear Mr. Peruta:

I am writing in response to your e-mail to Sergeant Hall dated June 2, 2009 in which you pose various questions regarding the applicability of the firearms statutes. While it is not explicitly stated in your correspondence, it appears that your questions present a request or requests for a declaratory ruling in accordance with Connecticut General Statutes Sections 4-175 and 4-176. As you know, the case of Peruta v. Department of Public Safety, et al is currently pending before the state Appellate Court, which is an appeal of your claim to the Superior Court for a declaratory judgment concerning the same issues raised in your e-mail to Sergeant Hall. Due to the pendency of the appeal, it would be premature for the Department of Public Safety to respond to your requests.

Very truly yours,

Jennifer Janeiro
Legal Affairs Unit
Cc: Sgt. Douglas Hall
Lt. Mark Cassista
AAG Matthew Beizer





My response to DPS letter date June 9, 2009

Attorney Jennifer Janeiro,

I am in receipt of and have attached your letter dated June 9, 2009 in which you state your belief and opinion that my email of June 2, 2009 to Sgt. Douglas Hall amounted to a request for a Declaratory Judgment.

This appears to fly in the face of the fact that previous emails containing similar type questions were NOT considered requests for Declaratory Judgments. This statement of my belief is made due, to the fact that your department and the Office of the Attorney General have maintained and stated repeatedly that I did not exhaust my administrative remedies prior to filing the Peruta v. DPS action you reference in your letter.

Regardless of the current case that is on appeal, my email to Sgt. Hall contained a question not currently being appealed. The question posed on June 2, 2009 is as follows:

6. Are the decisions, opinions or rulings made by The Connecticut Department of Public Safety regarding the manner under which firearms are carried binding in any manner on sworn officers of local law enforcement agencies?

Obviously, I have a problem with being prohibited or blocked from seeking clarification on any further issues pertaining to firearms during the appeal of the three basic questions which resulted in my having to seek the assistance of the courts.

It was my understanding the court in New Britain was informed that the Commissioner and Department of Public Safety were willing able and ready to render Declaratory Rulings on questions posed by citizens.

If this is not the case, or if I am going to be denied an answer to my specific question regarding the binding effect of DPS Declaratory Rulings on local law enforcement agencies and personnel, I request leave to retain legal counsel to seek an answer from the courts in a new civil complaint for a Declaratory Ruling.

Given the fact that I find this information necessary to function as a certified firearms instructor, I request a timely response on whether the department now believes that I have exhausted my administrative remedy on this specific single question.

Respectfully,

Edward A. Peruta
38 Parish Road
Rocky Hill, CT 06067



THIS REPONSE FROM DPS HAS PROMPTED A MOTION TO BE FILED IN COURT.

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They wont be able to hide from your questions for much longer!!
I would ask you to keep us up to date, however I feel that my request is not needed, and you will keep us all informed.

Thanks again for fighting the good fight for all of us in Connecticut!!!

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I am not a lawyer by any stretch, I am extreemely interested in the answers to these questions as: a citizen of the state of CT, a holder of apermit to carry pistols and revolvers in the state of CT, and a pistol/revolver firearms instructor. I understand the hoops needed to be jumped through. I also already see fruits of the labor. I have seen changes to the Board of Firearms examiners pages online. I wondered what brought about the changes and that search has led me here. I am now trying to inform myself of the progress of the steps being taken to clarify the legal aspects of Carrying pistols and revolvers.

I have just become aware of the CCDL. I am pleasantly surprised to find so many people active at such a crucial time.

Mr. Peruta, I am trying to follow along this winding road and I am hoping to have the understanding correct. Please inform me if my understanding is close.It appears the initial case was against the Board of Firearms examiners and it was dissmissed due to" did not exhaust my administrative remedies prior to filing the Peruta v. DPS action." Also included in that ruling was that the DPS would grant Declaratory rulings on questions asked?

Currently that is being appealed.

So now Declatory rulings are being posed to the DPS and they are refusing to answer citing that the questions have already been asked and there is a pending appeal. One questionposedis not included in the initial requestand you are asking for a direct declaratory ruling on that single question.

A motion has been filed on that new singular declaratory ruling request from the DPS.

Does that sound close? It is hard to jump around so many posts and dates to try to timeline all of this stuff. Add to that so many different agencies involved and I can appreciate your frustration and I share it with you. I have spent a single day trying tocatch up on this and I am alreadydisgusted with the agencies working "for" us. I sickens me how much personal politics and opinionsgreatly influence agencies who's jobs it is is to simply enforce the statutes as they are written.

I will be spreading the word on these issues and I am hopingsomeone can verify my understanding of the situations as corrector not. I do not want to be spreading faulty information. Thanks for your time, guys.

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ESCH,
Please come and join us (CCDL) on the second Tuesday of the month 7pm at the Middletown Elks club for our monthly meetings.

Invitations are sent out to those on the mailing list, also if you're into Facebook we have a group on there which you can join and receive updates as well.

Ed has taken the opportunity to discuss with us during the breaks in the proceedings various aspects, nuances, and plain idiocy in some areas of law regarding the carrying of firearms in the state. I'd encourage you to visit us and extend a warm invitation to see what we are about.

Regards

Robert

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Thanks Robert! I will deffinately be attending. I just checked out the Facebook page! I see I missed the June meeting I will also not make the July meeting as I will be in Vegas for my 10 year wedding anniversary from July 12 to 16th. After that I will be happy to attend and participate!

This is just the type of informative/active group I have been looking for. Does one need to registerbefore attending a meeting or just show up? I hope I don't miss much and if anything is planned in between the meetings I will look forward to helping all I can.

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No need to register, join the facebook page and show up, we are a friendly bunch and we are starting off as a grass-roots organization.

Fully understand about Vegas, congratulations on that milestone!

Looking forward to seeing you at a meeting!

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ESCH wrote:

Thanks Robert! I will deffinately be attending. I just checked out the Facebook page! I see I missed the June meeting I will also not make the July meeting as I will be in Vegas for my 10 year wedding anniversary from July 12 to 16th. After that I will be happy to attend and participate!

This is just the type of informative/active group I have been looking for. Does one need to registerbefore attending a meeting or just show up? I hope I don't miss much and if anything is planned in between the meetings I will look forward to helping all I can.

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ESCH

This forum stuff can get pretty complicated, call me on my cell 860-978-5455 or email me direct at edperuta@amcable.tv.

It will be easier to explain much of what is going on verbally.

You almost have the timeline and issues, but there are pieces missing that you should know. This all started on my part in July of 2007 with the arrest of a friend's son in Glastonbury for Breach of Peace because GPD officers DID NOT KNOW THE LAW.

I have been actively involved since, and now ALWAYS OPEN CARRY unless prohibited by law or the owner or agent of where I intend to do so.

I don't post much on cayying openly, but have had many postitive comments and many questions. It always seems to end up with a class on the topic.

Rather than attempt to type the information, please call the number I posted and I'd be glad to explain.

I only wish that every NRA instructor could get the facts and teach the law correctly, it would solve many problems.

We should hold a seminar for all individuals with Pistol Permits to clear the air.

And I do have some ideas on this topic.

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Edward Peruta wrote

I only wish that every NRA instructor could get the facts and teach the law correctly, it would solve many problems.

We should hold a seminar for all individuals with Pistol Permits to clear the air.

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What about going to the source first?

Do you think the NRA would provide you with a contact list of all CT based certified NRA Basic Pistol Course instructors?

If you were able to get that, then a mass mail invitation (listed individuals and clubs) announcing this seminar should get you a decent attendance.

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Douglas in CT wrote:

Edward Peruta wrote

I only wish that every NRA instructor could get the facts and teach the law correctly, it would solve many problems.

We should hold a seminar for all individuals with Pistol Permits to clear the air.

Click to expand...

What about going to the source first?

Do you think the NRA would provide you with a contact list of all CT based certified NRA Basic Pistol Course instructors?

If you were able to get that, then a mass mail invitation (listed individuals and clubs) announcing this seminar should get you a decent attendance.



OOPS!
I see that great minds think alike....
- only that some are S-L-O-W-E-R than others.

Just saw your 9:30 ish AM post.

All the best! :celebrate:celebrate

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Douglas,

I have contacted one local community about the cost of using their High School Auditorium and need to plan this out with key individuals that I relay on for advice and guidance. Then again, maybe someplace other than a K-12 school facility would be better for a firearms permit seminar.

If it's going to happen, it more than likely won't be until sometime in the Fall.

NRA may, and I emphasize MAY, find this topic important enough to fund a mailing to all NRA instructors and then again, they may not want to get involved.

But I know that every NRA Instructor in Connecticut needs to be on the same page regarding training and certifying individuals under NRA standards.

The cadre of NRA instructors who use their NRA status to obtain certification should be better trained and allowed by the NRA to amend the standard courseand offerstate specific information. DPS has accepted NRA instructionand used it as the litmus test for obtaining permits, and more than likely condoned the lack of understanding on Open or ConcealCarry because it served their purpose.

That is one of the reasons I wrote my own course outline and training materials and had them certified by The Connecticut Department of Public Safety. I could not teach a permit course without offering the facts on open carry.

We'll have to watch and see what happens, but I'm dead serious about planning some type of seminar for Instructors and interested permit holders in the not to distant future.

Thank you for your comments, and let's hope we can get the NRA on board.

I also have reason to believe that the Connecticut Citizen's Defense League will be interested in this idea, and they deserve the opportunity to have some input and involvement. They have a great deal ofpotential in this area.

What the heck, if there wasa good pre-seminar response, we could even invite the Commissioner of Public Safety,key legislators, and memberof the ConnecticutPolice Chiefs Association.

IfTV cameras show up I'm sure the Attorney General would want to be there to get some air time!!

I've edited this post because my mind is now in a fast forward mode.

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Ed,

I was thinking that you may try using the same place that we use for our CCDL meetings. May be a little easier to set up than in a school.

Lenny

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Lenny,

I have to leave for Florida inthe morningdue to a family emergency and may be gone for a week. Iam investigating this concept and will continuewhile in Florida.

I have discussed it with several individuals who think it is a great idea.

Put your thinking hat on and we can talk, you know how tofind me.

ED