Liberty4Ever
Regular Member
imported post
After the previous neighborhood association meeting in my Lexington neighborhood, I was walking out and noticed a sign on the inside of the door stating that the local government was prohibiting concealed carry in that city owned building. Legally, they can post such a sign and enforce it, as long as they do it according to state law, but posting on the inside of the door seemed like putting a sign on the interstate that says, "45 MPH - LAST TWO MILES". I'm sure they didn't want to post the sign on the outside of the door where someone could see it because it'd be vandalized. You know, if they encouraged people to be armed in the park, they'd probably have a lot more law and order, and a lot less vandalizing.
When I first saw the sign, I was carrying concealed. I'm always carrying concealed. My initial thought was that I wouldn't go to any more neighborhood association meetings, but I almost immediately revised that opinion and decided I'd open carry from now on, knowing that the city can't regulate open carry.
Two months later and we had our next meeting, last night. The guest speaker was Kathy Witt, the Fayette County sheriff.
http://www.fayettesheriff.com
She's not a good sheriff in my opinion. I've heard that she never approves any of the civilian firearms special requests that require the local sheriff to sign off (which is a load of crap anyway). I think she's very anti-gun, but this is Lexington, after all. Needless to say, I had some questions I'd like to ask her.
We almost always have a uniformed officer at our meetings, and he's a real good guy, but he's from Detroit so I wasn't sure where he stood on the issue of an armed citizenry. For all I know, he may believe that only the police should be armed. I resolved to see what he believes by openly carrying.
The president of the neighborhood association is a gun guy, but more in the serious sportsman sense, and apparently less in the Right to Keep and Bear Arms sense.
I showed up last night with my rather large and very noticeable Glock 20 on my hip. The police officer glanced down and noticed, but only briefly. As always, he had a big smile and a warm greeting. OK, he's not a problem. He knew me from many previous meetings. I'm the quiet guy who sits in the back of the small meeting. I print the neighborhood newsletter for them. I'm an OK guy, and not a threat.
A few other people may have noticed I was carrying, but if they did, they were even more discreet about it than the police officer. I neither tried to hide the pistol, nor prominently display it. I tried to act like everything is just as it always was.
The sheriff blew us off without any reason stated, but she'll supposedly be at the next meeting. I'll be there, with my Glock.
I called today to inquire about obtaining the sheriff's sign off for a short barrel rifle, as a law abiding citizen with no criminal record. I was on hold a lot, and was transferred to three other people, and nobody had a clue what I was talking about. I actually had to spell BATFE. Even if they routinely denied all such requests, I'd think someone would have known about their policy in this matter. They finally took my name and number and someone will call me back today or tomorrow.
Eventually, someone at the neighborhood association will be curious about my open carry pistol and they'll ask me, and I'll explain that I had been carrying concealed, as many people do, but the city put up a sign prohibiting concealed carry, so now I'm forced to carry openly.
When I open carry for political or educational purposes, I'm still carrying concealed. It's just a habit. Before last night's meeting, I was careful to remove my concealed carry pistol, in case there was some trouble. I was so concerned that I even left my SOG Aegis assisted opening pocket knife at home. It has a 3.5" blade. The definitions section for KRS 500.080 specifies a knife is a Deadly Weapon if it's not an ordinary pocket knife or hunting knife, but there didn't seem to be a blade length specification as other states have. The Aegis opens faster than a switchblade and it looks evil and black, and it's razor sharp, so I didn't want to trust that what I think of as an ordinary pocket knife would seem extraordinary in a deadly weapon sense to someone else.
I noticed that the sign that prohibits concealed carrying was moved in the last two months, from the inside of the door, to the wall adjacent to the door, but still inside the building. The sign was also changed. Now, it's a multipurpose sign that incorporates the concealed carry prohibition wording, along with other stuff.
I still think it'd be an interesting educational campaign to have significant numbers of people open carrying in city buildings that are posted to prevent concealed carry. If their goal was to prevent us from being armed, then open carrying, which they cannot legally regulate, will have the opposite result. Instead of a few of us inconspicuously carrying concealed, they'd have to deal with many more of us openly carrying firearms. Once they realized the result of their actions and the way they painted themselves into a legal corner, I bet those signs would come down, much as the gun buster signs in businesses went up when Kentucky first passed the concealed carry law, and those signs came down a few months later after the merchants realized that the signs were a bad idea for a number of reasons.
After the previous neighborhood association meeting in my Lexington neighborhood, I was walking out and noticed a sign on the inside of the door stating that the local government was prohibiting concealed carry in that city owned building. Legally, they can post such a sign and enforce it, as long as they do it according to state law, but posting on the inside of the door seemed like putting a sign on the interstate that says, "45 MPH - LAST TWO MILES". I'm sure they didn't want to post the sign on the outside of the door where someone could see it because it'd be vandalized. You know, if they encouraged people to be armed in the park, they'd probably have a lot more law and order, and a lot less vandalizing.
When I first saw the sign, I was carrying concealed. I'm always carrying concealed. My initial thought was that I wouldn't go to any more neighborhood association meetings, but I almost immediately revised that opinion and decided I'd open carry from now on, knowing that the city can't regulate open carry.
Two months later and we had our next meeting, last night. The guest speaker was Kathy Witt, the Fayette County sheriff.
http://www.fayettesheriff.com
She's not a good sheriff in my opinion. I've heard that she never approves any of the civilian firearms special requests that require the local sheriff to sign off (which is a load of crap anyway). I think she's very anti-gun, but this is Lexington, after all. Needless to say, I had some questions I'd like to ask her.
We almost always have a uniformed officer at our meetings, and he's a real good guy, but he's from Detroit so I wasn't sure where he stood on the issue of an armed citizenry. For all I know, he may believe that only the police should be armed. I resolved to see what he believes by openly carrying.
The president of the neighborhood association is a gun guy, but more in the serious sportsman sense, and apparently less in the Right to Keep and Bear Arms sense.
I showed up last night with my rather large and very noticeable Glock 20 on my hip. The police officer glanced down and noticed, but only briefly. As always, he had a big smile and a warm greeting. OK, he's not a problem. He knew me from many previous meetings. I'm the quiet guy who sits in the back of the small meeting. I print the neighborhood newsletter for them. I'm an OK guy, and not a threat.
A few other people may have noticed I was carrying, but if they did, they were even more discreet about it than the police officer. I neither tried to hide the pistol, nor prominently display it. I tried to act like everything is just as it always was.
The sheriff blew us off without any reason stated, but she'll supposedly be at the next meeting. I'll be there, with my Glock.
I called today to inquire about obtaining the sheriff's sign off for a short barrel rifle, as a law abiding citizen with no criminal record. I was on hold a lot, and was transferred to three other people, and nobody had a clue what I was talking about. I actually had to spell BATFE. Even if they routinely denied all such requests, I'd think someone would have known about their policy in this matter. They finally took my name and number and someone will call me back today or tomorrow.
Eventually, someone at the neighborhood association will be curious about my open carry pistol and they'll ask me, and I'll explain that I had been carrying concealed, as many people do, but the city put up a sign prohibiting concealed carry, so now I'm forced to carry openly.
When I open carry for political or educational purposes, I'm still carrying concealed. It's just a habit. Before last night's meeting, I was careful to remove my concealed carry pistol, in case there was some trouble. I was so concerned that I even left my SOG Aegis assisted opening pocket knife at home. It has a 3.5" blade. The definitions section for KRS 500.080 specifies a knife is a Deadly Weapon if it's not an ordinary pocket knife or hunting knife, but there didn't seem to be a blade length specification as other states have. The Aegis opens faster than a switchblade and it looks evil and black, and it's razor sharp, so I didn't want to trust that what I think of as an ordinary pocket knife would seem extraordinary in a deadly weapon sense to someone else.
I noticed that the sign that prohibits concealed carrying was moved in the last two months, from the inside of the door, to the wall adjacent to the door, but still inside the building. The sign was also changed. Now, it's a multipurpose sign that incorporates the concealed carry prohibition wording, along with other stuff.
I still think it'd be an interesting educational campaign to have significant numbers of people open carrying in city buildings that are posted to prevent concealed carry. If their goal was to prevent us from being armed, then open carrying, which they cannot legally regulate, will have the opposite result. Instead of a few of us inconspicuously carrying concealed, they'd have to deal with many more of us openly carrying firearms. Once they realized the result of their actions and the way they painted themselves into a legal corner, I bet those signs would come down, much as the gun buster signs in businesses went up when Kentucky first passed the concealed carry law, and those signs came down a few months later after the merchants realized that the signs were a bad idea for a number of reasons.