TFred
Regular Member
Here's an interesting question for our lawyerly types.
Yesterday I noticed a sign on the entry door to a large building that is private property.
The sign read:
So my question is this: is it illegal to claim something is illegal, when it is not illegal?
One would have to really stretch to claim that a person carrying a handgun is automatically trespassing, and thus breaking the law, if for no other reason than the sign does not say handguns are prohibited from the property, but simply gives the false assertion that carrying one would be unlawful. This strategy would seem to be especially troublesome since this facility exists to provide services to the general public.
My point is, I don't think you can (or should be able to) just arbitrarily say that an action is illegal, just because you don't want someone to do it on your property.
Thoughts?
I plan to follow this up with the property management by asking them to cite the specific law they had in mind when posting this sign.
TFred
Yesterday I noticed a sign on the entry door to a large building that is private property.
The sign read:
No Weapons!
It is unlawful to carry a Handgun in this facility or on the property of [name withheld for now.]
To the best of my knowledge, the facility and property are not among the list of prohibited places to carry in the state of Virginia.It is unlawful to carry a Handgun in this facility or on the property of [name withheld for now.]
So my question is this: is it illegal to claim something is illegal, when it is not illegal?
One would have to really stretch to claim that a person carrying a handgun is automatically trespassing, and thus breaking the law, if for no other reason than the sign does not say handguns are prohibited from the property, but simply gives the false assertion that carrying one would be unlawful. This strategy would seem to be especially troublesome since this facility exists to provide services to the general public.
My point is, I don't think you can (or should be able to) just arbitrarily say that an action is illegal, just because you don't want someone to do it on your property.
Thoughts?
I plan to follow this up with the property management by asking them to cite the specific law they had in mind when posting this sign.
TFred