imported post
Richard6218 wrote:
It's some coincidence that I was at the Bellingham office of DOL today -- renewing my drivers license -- and was greeted by a very large sign pasted on the front door with a pistol and knife with the big red circle/slash and huge letters proclaiming No Firearms/Weapons. Below that was areference to RCW 9.41.270, which I think is a huge error on their part. (I took a pic of it but I can't figure out how to paste in into this post). Discretion being the better part of valor here I left the weapon in the car, as I didn't want to give them a test case.
The real question here seems to be on what authority can they prohibit carry, if not by preemption? Section .270 provides an almost unlimited right to carry with very specific exceptions, and Section .300 lists specific places where carry is prohibited. DOL offices (and other state offices) are NOT among those prohibitions. So are there any grounds to challenge the sign on the door? You guys are the experts -- let me hear your take on this.
I have walked right past such signs while OC'ing after carefully reading them and verifying that the location is not on the RCW 9.41.300 prohibited list.
If they cite RCW 9.41.270 I'll walk right past it and confront the first person with authority I can find. I have done so at a state liquor store, which had a home-made sign posted like that. (Since minors
are permitted in such places and the liquor is not being consumed there and it is [/b]not[/b] a place that's on the 9.41.300 list I walked right past the sign. I also informed the employee who was at the till that their sign was misleading and inconsistent with state law. The sign has been changed to simply say "NO MINORS" in bold-faced black text on white paper. (This store has a serious problem with straw-purchases for liquor.)
If they cite RCW 9.41.300 but are
not one of the places actually listed in .300 I'll walk right past as well, but I've never come across this before.
A local state agency had a .270 sign on their door with a big red no-no circle. Another person (not me) contacted someone with legal knowledge at that agency and informed them that the sign was deliberately misleading and no weapons are actually prohibited in that agency. Lo and behold, the sign was removed.