What an exercise in futility. You take the time to meet with the Chief and explain the nuances of UOC and invite him. He in turn has 4 officers waiting for you guys so they can exercise their "right"
to inspect your firearms. If only you guys had left the magazines out you could have avoided this.
Did they think it was an elaborate criminal mastermind scheme to meet with the chief about UOC then pull a bait and switch and show up LOC? What are the odds they won't e-check us next time? Did the Chief ever show for his "meet and greet"?
Ease up Born2Lose, first of all, the watch commander could not make it to the meet but did brief his people on the event, this was known before we got there. The fact that 9 officers were there is not becasue they were requested or needed to be there. NO one on this Department has ever done an E check and their most current training bulletin is over 2 years old and cut/pasted from some of the poorly written ones by other departments. Those officers elected to be there and show up to learn what to do and how to handle UOC. In a city of maybe 60,000 people, im pretty sure 9 officers was the bulk of the entire second shift.
Many of the officers were nervous, to the point of hands shaking, this to them was an unknown and never dealt with before, and many of them like many sleeping americans believe that propoganda line "Guns = Bad Guys". I think 6 comfortable relaxed and understanding UOC'rs who didnt give them a ration of S!!!, or a difficult time probably did more to help than hurt our cause.
The positives from this encounter...No one was asked for ID, the officers ASKED to do the check politely they didnt force or become dominating, they did not cuff or retireve ID illegally from anyone. The inspecting officer communicated clearly what he was going to do and was willing to listen to our comments. No real lecturing or soap boxing.
Negatives, drawing one weapon and sweeping it past several people, not understanding the difference between a right and legal authority, E checking semi autos with clips and avoiding revolvers and no mags in wells. (some of us felt un-wanted
.
So I will be in contact and give a report to the Lieutenant on the Department and hopefully this will lead to any further encounters being better for everyone.
The other positive from this outing was that we now have 3 Businesses that the OWNERS are aware of what we are and do and have invited us back to patronize their establishments.. that would be Por Favor mexican restaurant (3 locations in SD county). Kosmos Coffee, and directly across the street a used bookstore owner who is pro gun and is learning how he can carry in public and in his business.
Definitley NOT an exercise in futility.!!!
