Woman Cited for Bringing Gun to Court...

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Tuesday, September 29, 2009
WENATCHEE — A 70-year-old Wenatchee woman was cited Monday morning after trying to bring a loaded weapon into the Chelan County District Court.
The woman was stopped at a security checkpoint at about 11:30 a.m. Officers discovered she was carrying a .25-caliber semi-automatic pistol, said Wenatchee Police Sgt. Cherie Smith.
The woman told authorities she didn’t realize she wasn’t allowed to bring the pistol into the courtroom, and didn’t see the sign stating weapons were not allowed. Smith said she did have a concealed weapons permit.
She was cited for carrying a weapon in a prohibited area and released, Smith said.
Source: http://www.wenatcheeworld.com/news/2009/sep/29/woman-cited-for-bringing-gun-to-court/#c1326
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Since it did not have her name listed, I have no way to contact her and advise her that what they did was illegal. If you notice, she reached the checkpoint, had her CPL and did nothing wrong!!! I left a comment (that's me "Nobody").... I just hope someone can tell her so that she can get ahold of her lawyer...

As far as I know, according to
RCW 9.41.300In addition, the local legislative authority shall provide either a stationary locked box sufficient in size for pistols and key to a weapon owner for weapon storage, or shall designate an official to receive weapons for safekeeping, during the owner's visit to restricted areas of the building. The locked box or designated official shall be located within the same building used in connection with court proceedings. The local legislative authority shall be liable for any negligence causing damage to or loss of a weapon either placed in a locked box or left with an official during the owner's visit to restricted areas of the building.

But they DID NOT inform her of that... they cited her for doing nothing wrong, when they in fact did not know the law!!!

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Also, I'd like to know the law regarding CC to a police department. Is that legal? Is it illegal? I have my CPL. If they don't have signs posted, can I? Tomorrow I want to walk down to the local police department and ask why this woman was arrested, but I hate to leave home ever without my pistol. I'm certainly not going to do anything illegal by carrying where I can't, I just wonder if I can. The last thing I want to do is get arrested for telling them they did wrong if somehow I'm doing wrong and I don't know it.

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Daath 474 wrote:

The woman told authorities she didn’t realize she wasn’t allowed to bring the pistol into the courtroom, and didn’t see the sign stating weapons were not allowed. Smith said she did have a concealed weapons permit.
She was cited for carrying a weapon in a prohibited area and released, Smith said.

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Sounds like the old "What signs? I didn't see the signs. Are there signs?" dodge....

All the sharpies tout thisapproach on the gun boards. The rationale, of course, is that: "You can't prove I didn't see the sign, officer!"

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Yeah, but she was at the checkpoint before entering the courtroom. They ask you if you have any weapons or metal objects in your pocket. This is the point that you declare that you have your firearm and they place it in a lock box for you.

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The place to declare is not as you are going through the checkpoint. It is before you get there and start unloading your stuff.

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I suppose, but the point is that the court house doesn't even have a lock box for anything like that. You pretty much walk in and there is a security guard at his desk with a metal detector. Where are you supposed to go? I know that she should not have even brought her pistol to the courthouse in the first place, but the argument stands that they also aren't following law. She's 70 years old and has probably been carrying her entire life. They should have just let her go on a warning.

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Daath 474 wrote:

She's 70 years old and has probably been carrying her entire life. They should have just let her go on a warning.

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Yeah! Let's have different rules for different people.

Uhm, notnecessarily using made-up-on-the-spot criteria exactly, just, y'know, common sense!

Like, if "we know ole Bubba, he's OK" kind of stuff. Or if "she's got aRACK on her that won't quit, 's'OK, baby, jes' don't do it again, honey."

Flexibility!

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From the way it is worded it sounds like she tried to get past the metal detectors with it. If she didn't declare any weapons and tried going through the checkpoint then she is in violation.

Ignorance of the law is not a viable excuse to breaking it.

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Every courthouse that I have been to has the "No Weapons" signs but NONE of them say you have to declare a weapon prior to entering the security checkpoint. Once the weapon was found and proof was shown that she was legal the security officer SHOULD have informed her of RCW 9.41.300 and processed her weapon accordingly.

She should have known the laws, as well as security.

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I agree with both of you sirpuma and m1gunr... it really is in the legal gray area. I wasn't there, so I don't know exactly. Maybe I get a little too passionate about human rights sometimes. I made mention of it on the newspaper's board and if her family and friends read it, maybe they know more about the situation than I do.

I'll leave it at that. Interesting article to read anyway. I do agree that all laws do apply to all people... she was cited and not put in jail or anything ridiculous. If she was put in jail at that age I might argue that punishment should be a little different. I've seen cases where it has been.

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Do we know for a fact that that place does not provide a place to secure ones weapon?

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Daath 474 wrote:

Also, I'd like to know the law regarding CC to a police department. Is that legal? Is it illegal? I have my CPL. If they don't have signs posted, can I? Tomorrow I want to walk down to the local police department and ask why this woman was arrested, but I hate to leave home ever without my pistol. I'm certainly not going to do anything illegal by carrying where I can't, I just wonder if I can. The last thing I want to do is get arrested for telling them they did wrong if somehow I'm doing wrong and I don't know it.

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Read the RCW's cited in the FAQs. You can carry legally into any NON SECURE area of a police station, open to public traffic.

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HankT wrote:

Daath 474 wrote:

She's 70 years old and has probably been carrying her entire life. They should have just let her go on a warning.

Click to expand...

Yeah! Let's have different rules for different people.

Uhm, notnecessarily using made-up-on-the-spot criteria exactly, just, y'know, common sense!

Like, if "we know ole Bubba, he's OK" kind of stuff. Or if "she's got aRACK on her that won't quit, 's'OK, baby, jes' don't do it again, honey."

Flexibility!

Click to expand...

Go away

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Ok... I know this about the Wenatchee court house:

The court rooms are on the third floor. You have to enter the building and walk upstairs to the area that has the signs that say no firearms, etc.

When you get up there, there is a checkpoint. You surrender all metal objects; keys, etc. to the security guard posted.

At this point you are asked if you have any weapons or metal objects in your pockets. You would tell them that you had a gun if you had one. So you would either surrender it willingly to the guard and have it put in a lockbox or held, or you could try to make a "run for it" into the court room.... which is just ridiculous. Obviously the situation happened at the checkpoint, she had her CPL and was cited for carrying into the court house itself. She never made it past the legal checkpoint. I wasn't there, but I'd like her and her family to know the law in case anything is illegal about this. I'm hoping to bring attention to it.

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Daath 474 wrote:

Ok... I know this about the Wenatchee court house:

The court rooms are on the third floor. You have to enter the building and walk upstairs to the area that has the signs that say no firearms, etc.

When you get up there, there is a checkpoint. You surrender all metal objects; keys, etc. to the security guard posted.

At this point you are asked if you have any weapons or metal objects in your pockets. You would tell them that you had a gun if you had one. So you would either surrender it willingly to the guard and have it put in a lockbox or held, or you could try to make a "run for it" into the court room.... which is just ridiculous. Obviously the situation happened at the checkpoint, she had her CPL and was cited for carrying into the court house itself. She never made it past the legal checkpoint. I wasn't there, but I'd like her and her family to know the law in case anything is illegal about this. I'm hoping to bring attention to it.

Click to expand...

It should be matter of public record. With a little research you should be able to find out the info you are after.