Brief encounter with a New Britain LEO while OC'ing

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Tonight I finally decided to remove a brokenstorm door at the font of the condo (hanging by only one f'n hinge) and when I went outside, I noticed a New Britain police cruiser parked in the lot. The LEO was no where to be seen.

So, I took off the door, the closer, and wind chain and carted the whole mess to our garage and on my way back, noticed that the LEO was getting back into the car. I walked past the drivers side and gave him a friendly wave. He waved back and then the following exchange took place:

LEO:'...isn't that (my SIG P239) supposed to be concealed?...'.

Me:'...no, open carry is legal in Connecticut....'.

LEO: '...really? I thought you had to conceal...'

Me: '...nope, there's a lot of mis-information floating around. I was taught that in my permit class, and found out that it's not correct. If you have access to a computer you can go to the Office Of Legislative Research and searchfor 'firearms' and find research results about this question. It causes some concern sometimes because it's not as common as it is in other states...'

LEO: '....like in Texas, where it's common...'

Me: '...actually, open carry is currently prohibited in Texas. It's common in Arizona though...'

LEO: '...do you live here?...'

Me: '...yup (pointing to my now storm-door-less condo entrance)...'

LEO: '...ok...'

At this point he had to leave on another call. He was a pleasant fellow(I forgot to write his name down),didn't seem at all alarmed or concerned about my OC'ing, and didn't ask for ID or to see my permit.

Not much of an encounter, really. No excitement at all.

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Yeah, you told him good! Connecticut ain't Texas.

Been there, done that with educating the law enforcement community. We here in the Keystone State finally got the people in charge to mention during LEO annual education that open carry is legal. Took a lot of letter writing by lots of us, but we prevailed.

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Did you point out that New Britain prohibits you to carry concealed?

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Rich B wrote:

Did you point out that New Britain prohibits you to carry concealed?

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Nope.

I didn't think of it.

I was thinking about washing all of the old-screen-door s*** off my hands and putting the tools away.

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MGoduto wrote:

LEO: '....like in Texas, where it's common...'

Me: '...actually, open carry is currently prohibited in Texas. It's common in Arizona though...'

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I love the fact that Texas, which has a reputation for being "gun loving" has more strict laws than "uppity" Connecticut. I recently traveled to Texas with a co-worker. While there, she made comments about how uncomfortable she was because she just knew that "everybody was packing." When we returned, she told me that she felt safer because she no longer had to worry about "gun packing rednecks." I then broke the news to her that CT law provides for concealed carry and even open carry unlike Texas. She was in complete disbelief that our liberal state would tolerate gun owners and have such loose laws.

I will tell you that I have been busy researching firearms laws all over the country and can honestly tell you that apart from CT's archaic and often violated (by local police) method for permitting carry, we have some of the loosest gun laws in the country. For example, we have few restrictions on where to carry (i.e. no restrictions oncarrying in restaurants, bars, public gatherings and other nonsensical laws I have seen from other states), no restriction on car carry, none of the unloaded or "two manual operations" requirements, even our requirements for permitting are looser than other states (i.e. no testing or proficiency requirements). I can honestly say that I am glad that I live and carry in CT. Our biggest problem at this point is educating local police which is a struggle all over the country.

MGoduto, you did great during the encounter. Your information was spot on and you did not back down. Good job.

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GunTotingLawyer wrote:

Our biggest problem at this point is educating local police which is a struggle all over the country.

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Plus citizens and business owners. Most of the ones that have a problem with OC believe it to be illegal.

It is going to be a long road, but we are well on the way at least.

Favorite BS line: "I am a gun person too, but CT law is vague and unclear on that issue."

I have heard that from LEOs, citizens and business owners. It shows a shocking amount of ignorance to the law and how basic law works.

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Nice job. I expect less static from the police in cities in general. The old "they've got bigger fish to fry" theory seems to hold pretty true. I've got acquaintances in both the New Britain and Hartford depts. and all say that they aren't bothered by OC. A gang banger OCing at Wal-Mart is just not very likely. A semi-well dressed person with a gun on his hip in a quality holster doesn't appear to be a threat to most level headed cops.

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GunTotingLawyer wrote:

MGoduto wrote:

LEO: '....like in Texas, where it's common...'

Me: '...actually, open carry is currently prohibited in Texas. It's common in Arizona though...'

Click to expand...

I love the fact that Texas, which has a reputation for being "gun loving" has more strict laws than "uppity" Connecticut. I recently traveled to Texas with a co-worker. While there, she made comments about how uncomfortable she was because she just knew that "everybody was packing." When we returned, she told me that she felt safer because she no longer had to worry about "gun packing rednecks." I then broke the news to her that CT law provides for concealed carry and even open carry unlike Texas. She was in complete disbelief that our liberal state would tolerate gun owners and have such loose laws.

I will tell you that I have been busy researching firearms laws all over the country and can honestly tell you that apart from CT's archaic and often violated (by local police) method for permitting carry, we have some of the loosest gun laws in the country. For example, we have few restrictions on where to carry (i.e. no restrictions oncarrying in restaurants, bars, public gatherings and other nonsensical laws I have seen from other states), no restriction on car carry, none of the unloaded or "two manual operations" requirements, even our requirements for permitting are looser than other states (i.e. no testing or proficiency requirements). I can honestly say that I am glad that I live and carry in CT. Our biggest problem at this point is educating local police which is a struggle all over the country.

MGoduto, you did great during the encounter. Your information was spot on and you did not back down. Good job.

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A few years ago I went to Texas (Corpus Christi) for a bowling tournament, and on the flight down to San Antonio I read a copy of Texas gun laws that I'd printed. If I remember correctly it was fifty or so pages and I was surprised that our laws in Connecticut weren't as strict as Texas.

Our laws here don't make a lot of sense; our state 'assault weapons ban' and ban on select-fire weapons being two examples of nonsense. We never had a magazine-capacity restriction andonly 'full-auto only'automatic weapons are allowed. So, I can't have a real M4 or AK47 but if I want to go through all of the bs I CAN own an M60 or a big honkin' M2. Ridiculous.

I try to talk to LEO's about OC whenever I can. So far I've only had one act in a confrontational manner (he was off-duty, out of his jurisdiction, and had been drinking beer); all the others were receptive when I pointed them to resources (like Office Of Legislative Research findings) that answered questions about the law.

Another piece of stupidity: there's no reciprocity between any of the New England states!