tsa agents,light rail, and open carry

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i was wondering if you can carry on the light rail system.. if so, how does the tsa agents react to open carry...

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I carry on the light rail 2x a week. cc if im on my way to ASU, oc if going elsewhere. most tsa's look like they are headed to the 44th st stop to go to work at the airport, and are generally oblivious to the goings-on of the train car anyway. I'd be more worried about the City 'o Phoenix transit cops than TSA's confronting you. Know the law and your rights. Your knowledge is more powerful than any firearm that you have.

honestly, an aviation TSA can "kiss my grits" if i'm not in their "jurisdiction".

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Ironically, I had an encounter with psudo-LEO's on the light rail today. I was on my way from Tempe to the west-end terminal (Bethany & 19th ave). When I got on at the station near ASU I switched from CC (Apparently those ivory-tower bozos there don't read Article 2 section 26 of the AZ Constitution, but I digress) to OC. No problems, no funny looks, just business as usual. Later on the ride, at about Thomas and Central, I looked up from my Brad Thor thriller, to see uniformed "Police Assistants" going about their business checking tickets. Whatever. I fished out my pass and the "Assistant" sees my gun. He then asks if I have a permit for it. For the record, my XDm was in plain view, not even partially covered. I have my CCW on me all the time, because I often pull my shirt over my iron when I go places where it is against the "rules". I showed him the permit, and asked if there was any problem with my OC'd weapon. All I got back was a grumbled, "no, thanks".

In retrospect, I should have grabbed his name and badge number, and sent a letter of to PPD to make them aware of the situation, not as a complaint, but as an indicator of ill-trained "police assistants" (poor blokes aren't even allowed to be strapped themselves). This is one thing that starts to chap my bottom- official ignorance. I can deal with the Sally Muckinfutches of AZ not knowing about gun laws, but uniformed "Assistants"- c'mon now.

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I can sympathize, but just wait until you run into "official ignorance" from a certified LEO (young, full-of-juice, recently moved from PRK). I have been known, from time to time, to be somewhat stubborn. Dug in like a mule, explained numerous times the state of OC in our lovely state, and finally had to escalate the confrontation enough for him to call in a supervisor.

Needless to say, when the supervisor arrived (I know many of the long-term LEO's in the area), it was rather nice to see the dressing-down the young man received. He may not like me from here on out, but I'll bet my bottom dollar he doesn't harass another OCer around here anytime soon.

Sometimes training slips through the cracks, and sometimes they just cling to their prejudices...

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It also never hurts to ask for their name and badge number. Onto a slightly different subject, what about carrying a gun on a Valley Metro (Phoenix) or Sun Tran (Tucson) city bus? I rarely take public transport unless the car is in the shop for some reason but I vaguely remember seeing a "No Weapons" sign on a city bus one time. My understanding is that buses are considered public and are subject to the storage requirements. Does anyone know anything about this?

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In Phoenix, I have noticed that certain routes have certain busses. For example: the 7th St route (route 7) has 3 stickers in the bus that graphically display a gun and knife in a red circle with slash through it. That is the only mention of no weapons. I have looked up the city code regarding weapons on busses and it DOES NOT mention firearms. A few busses on the route have a "advertisement-size" poster on display that graphically displays approved and unapproved activities. Many of the unapproved items, such as music, open containers, etc have asterisks next to them which reference phoenix city code.
The graphic witha gun in a red circle and slash is non-asterick.

Then on other bus routes, like route 44 (44th St), Thunderbird, and Bell Rd have no such stickers ANYWHERE (believe me, I have looked).

I agree with you though that it may be one of those operator deals. There are "locker looking compartments" directly behind the driver. I carry concealed on 7th st, and have never asked the driver. Other routes, I OC and have never been approached about the firearm.

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protector84 wrote:

It also never hurts to ask for their name and badge number. Onto a slightly different subject, what about carrying a gun on a Valley Metro (Phoenix) or Sun Tran (Tucson) city bus? I rarely take public transport unless the car is in the shop for some reason but I vaguely remember seeing a "No Weapons" sign on a city bus one time. My understanding is that buses are considered public and are subject to the storage requirements. Does anyone know anything about this?

Click to expand...

There is no mention of the terms "guns", "firearms" or "weapons", on the Sun Tran web site.

http://www.suntran.com/index.php :celebrate

I wish they had routes out to Rita Ranch and Houghton/Valencia areas. Sigh. And a leg down to theCounty Fairgrounds/shooting range would be nice too.