Interesting experience at Lakewood Verizon store

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My mother and I are on a family share plan with Verizon and we're due for phone upgrades. Aside from the sweet deal we're getting on Motorola Droids, I have an interesting experience to share.

I went in OC, we were looking at the Droid phone, and the security guard comes over after a few minutes and asks me if I could leave my gun in the car. I expressed concern over someone breaking in and stealing it, which he was very understanding of, and shared with me an incident that happened the other day.

Apparently some douchenozzle came in open carrying and was a complete jerk to everyone. He was being antagonistic and resting his hand next to his gun and just trying to start a problem. They asked him to leave his gun in the car and apparently he started yelling loudly about how it's his right and they can't tell him what to do. Well, an off duty Lakewood PD officer was in the store and escorted him out to talk with him outside. The LEO asked him to leave it in the car, at which point the bag of douche says "Well, what about THIS ONE?" and pulls another one out from concealment. Yes. Gun in hand, right in front of the officer. :banghead: He was arrested and hauled off.

Seriously, was this guy looking for a Darwin Award or something? I'm surprised he didn't end up with two .40 caliber holes in his chest! A small part of me wants to say it's an undercover Brady trying to troll people and make a bad name for us. Most likely the guy was just a complete ass trying to use open carry as a venue to cause problems.

I'm considering writing a letter to that Verizon store saying something along the lines of "On behalf of the Washington open carry community, we'd like to apologize for that idiot's behavior. In no way does he reflect the behavior, attitude, and goals of the OpenCarry.Org community." Perhaps we should invite Lakewood PD to our next Lakewood meet.

The security guard was really cool about everything, I grabbed a hoodie and concealed for the sake of convenience. We had a good talk afterward as well.


Does anyone else have any input or information about this incident? It's simply something I heard via word of mouth, I wasn't there, so I don't know for sure if it actually happened, but it wouldn't surprise me. I'm treating this story as a realistic rumor: Possible, but no hard proof as of yet.

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Info can be found out.... if a police report was filed. You can go to the clerk and get a FOI request.

If he was arrested then it usually can be found in the jail records which most are online. I will go look at the pierce co. jail roster for a violation of 9.41.270...

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G22Paddy wrote:

I'm considering writing a letter to that Verizon store saying something along the lines of "On behalf of the Washington open carry community, we'd like to apologize for that idiot's behavior. In no way does he reflect the behavior, attitude, and goals of the OpenCarry.Org community." Perhaps we should invite Lakewood PD to our next Lakewood meet.

Click to expand...

Why would we apologize for it? I do not think any of us are remotely stupid enough to do something close to that. I do not see why we should apologize.

I for one am not sorry for what that person did because it in no way reflects me. I am just sorry that they will be out on the streets again...

The rest would be fine..

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Verizon has a no guns policy for their stores. I wrote about it last summer in dealing with the store by the mall.

I wrote no less than 3 email to the supervisors, not one replied.

edit: Sept 2009, Tacoma Mall Blvd Location (next to red Robin)

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M1Gunr wrote:

Verizon has a no guns policy for their stores. I wrote about it last summer in dealing with the store by the mall.

I wrote no less than 3 email to the supervisors, not one replied.

Click to expand...

I have been in 2 locations that I can think of, Federal Way (The Crossings and The Commons) and have not been asked to leave.

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I work for Verizon and we do not ban firearms from stores.

(Unless you're an employee of course).

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M1Gunr wrote:

Verizon has a no guns policy for their stores. I wrote about it last summer in dealing with the store by the mall.

I wrote no less than 3 email to the supervisors, not one replied.

edit: Sept 2009, Tacoma Mall Location

Click to expand...

A mall location is different because the mall bans firearms. If you go into a lone standing Verizon store there is no policy banning firearms.

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Glocked and Loaded wrote:

G22Paddy wrote:

I'm considering writing a letter to that Verizon store saying something along the lines of "On behalf of the Washington open carry community, we'd like to apologize for that idiot's behavior. In no way does he reflect the behavior, attitude, and goals of the OpenCarry.Org community." Perhaps we should invite Lakewood PD to our next Lakewood meet.

Click to expand...

Why would we apologize for it? I do not think any of us are remotely stupid enough to do something close to that. I do not see why we should apologize.

I for one am not sorry for what that person did because it in no way reflects me. I am just sorry that they will be out on the streets again...

The rest would be fine..

Click to expand...

Ok, perhaps we can drop the apology part. Basically I'd like to get the point across that the guy that caused the ruckus is in no way representative of the OC community as a whole, invite them to the forum, and send a few pamphlets their way. The security guard there said he knew about all the laws, but his supervisor told him not to allow OC in the store because of the incident. It was a third party security company.

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Has anyone looked up that case????
Seriously? Even if it was a brady undercover...you can't be that stupid to do that in front of an officer ....not saying you cowpissing, G22, but maybe that guard exaggerated a bit....

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It's entirely possible. Which is why I wanted everyone who read this anecdote to take it with a grain of salt. It's possible, and can very realistically happen. However, just because one person said it (including me) doesn't make it the absolute truth.

If anything, this can serve as a reminder that when open carrying, be yourself, be courteous, be kind, and don't be a jerk! Even when not open carrying, those three conditions are good to keep. I try my best to be the best person I can. My goal is to be calm and courteous no matter whether I'm open carry, concealed carry, or not carrying.

Any way you look at it, there's something to be learned.

So, what say we invite Lakewood PD to one of our OC meets?

I have been to the same verizon store and had no problems.

I think it is harlarious that most individual citizens offer more protection in public places than the security guards do. Instead of calling them security guards they should just be called "the designated person to call 911 in case of an emergency". I know when I was security, thats what I was. I was employed so that if something bad happened, I was to call someone who could do something about it.

My trip to Federal Way Verizon

I was in the Verizon near the Seatac Mall (or whatever it's called these days...) with my 2 daughters the other day..... we were helped and had no issues with either security guard.... here is the video...

[video]http://www.youtube.com/user/MrGogodawgs#p/a/u/0/fKQWjLKtlUA[/video]

Shoulda gave the recorder to your daughter and had them keep it on ya when you were with the salesman, then had her go over by the door to see what they were saying when they all grouped together, it looked like they were ready to bust a move and flee in case you went postal.