imported post
straight shooter wrote:
Open carry while not as many hoops to jump through, can and one day may lead to a tragedy that could have been prevented by having a weapon concealed and not in plane view of the public. In an urban environment some people see firearms and just freak out.
This disturbs me greatly, as it indicates aclear and grosslack of proper education of all citizens, dispatchers, and law enforcement officialsas to the rights and responsibilities of all other citizens. The responsibility for this rests with all agencies, including all levels of law enforcement, media, and education, both public and private.
In ninth grade, during my high school civics class, I learned something very wrong. The teacher said (paraphrased) "Guns are bad. The sooner we get rid of guns the sooner we'll all be better off."
In eleventh grade, during my high school American history class, I learned something very different: "It is both the right as well as the responsibility of all citizens to be a participatory element in the peacekeeping activities of our society, each to whatever degree they're willing to shoulder. For something, that's merely calling the police to report a crime.For others, that means exercising Constitutional freedoms such as the right to keep and bear arms. Still others, that means joining a local, country, state, or federal law-enforcement agency, or even of joining themilitary."
I know now, after having served both here and abroad in the U.S. Military is that those efforts are the reason we pay$2.50 at the pump instead of $6.25, as do most other nations.
If people are "freaking out" at the sight of law-abiding citizens who are abiding by the law, I would argue those who are "freaking out" are either mentally unstable, uneducated, improperly educated, or are simply trying to push their own anti-gun agenda contrary to the local/county/state/country in which they live.
Let's keep things in perspective, if we can, please.
I propose we employ appropriate measures to ensure dispatchers ask clarifying questions of the caller which differentiate between lawful carry and suspicious behavior indicative of a crime or intent to commit a crime. "Is he or shebrandishing the weapon? Is he breaking through a window? Or is he shopping for underwear at Wal-Mart?"
The simple act of openly carrying a firearm commensurate with local, county, state, and federal law should
NEVER be grounds for entertaining calls from the "freaked out" crowd beyond that of discerning lawful from lawful activity and endeavoring to educate the caller that open carry is legal in most states, including California (via unarmed open carry). And at that, it should
only result in a response if the individual in question is engaged in an activity indicative of either a crime or intent to commit a crime. OC of a firearm is legal. It is therefore, in and of itself, not grounds for argument of a crime or intent to commit a crime.
Preferrably, this should happen at the properly trained dispatcher stage, and should never result in wasted taxpayer dollars with an LEO response to each and every call consisting of nothing more than MWAG (man with a gun).
It's legal for me to water my lawn. It's legal for me to carry a firearm. Why should one call to the dispatcher, barring any additional information, result in a several hundred-dollar taxpayer response while the other is ignored?
Seriously, people - garden tools are deadly weapons! So are kitchen knives, coffee cups, pencils, pens, hands, feet, blunt objects...
The ONLY time we observe responses to such calls are when people are
brandishing (key word, here) them in a threatening manner, or are actually using them to commit mayhem and harmful injury, or if they are otherwise using the weapons in an unlawful manner, such as shooting at ducks with a handgun.
Open carry is NOT "brandishing." Concealed carry is not "brandishing."
It's LONG past due that California and other police departments drop their ridiculous policies, some of which continue to violate federal, state, county, and local law, and start recognizing that we live in a great country!
Well, it's late, and I'm tired. Good evening, all.
