Belmont NC Sake Express

So, I've OC'ed for around 3 years now, and the first six months I had the same type of reactions that most people newly carrying describe. A lot of attention, some questions, and stares. After you get used to it, you must carry yourself differently because I've gotten much less attention over it the past couple of years.

I've carried to the Belmont Wal-Mart pretty much every time I've been there, and never had an issue.

Now to the point of this: Saturday June 11th, me and my family had gotten back from Carowinds, stopped at the house, washed up, and went out to the new Sake Express right beside the Pizza Hut. We ordered our food, and sat down. Shortly after we sat down, a Belmont Police Officer came in with a big group of people. They moved two tables together to fit them all. Right after our food was brought to the table, the officer approached me, and told me that Belmont had a no firearms ordinance. I asked if he wanted me to cover it up, since I had my CCP, and he told me I needed to go put it in the car, because I wasn't allowed to carry it at all. Not wanting to disturb our dinner any further, I complied, but due to most of the restaurant seeing me deposit a firearm in my vehicle, I opted to unload and bring the magazine back in with me. I tried to do some google searching on my phone while we were eating to no avail. I couldn't find anything solid about it. He got a call shortly after that, so I followed him out to the car to ask about it. I got the address of the police station and paid a visit Monday after work. The secretary said she asked the chief and neither of them had heard of this before. I left my name and number for a call back about it, because I want to carry legally.

So I suppose the question is, do any of you know anything about this?

Dreamer definitely knows better than me, but the only cities that ban carry are Durham and Cary. In fact, they don't even completely ban carry, they just have certain regulations against it. Does this place serve alcohol? Maybe the cop was referring to that.

Cities and counties cannot regulate carry on private property. Only on city or county owned property. And that is even limited. In absolutely no way can they regulate CC, except in buildings and parks. You could have covered up and told him to pound sand. You could have done the same OC too. Or taken a less aggressive route.

CC statewide uniformity

http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_14/GS_14-415.23.html


City firearms statute

http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_160A/GS_160A-189.html


County firearms statute

http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_153A/GS_153A-129.html


Statewide uniformity

http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_14/GS_14-409.40.html

i definitely want to hear more. for one, were you on private property?

It may be in fact true that Belmont DOES have such an ordinance, but if it does, it is illegal, and a direct violation of State Statute...

Neither "MuniCode.com" or the City of Belmont's website list that city's municipal code, so I can't look it up for sure.

However, NC does have a "Preemption Statute", which EXPLICITLY prohibits cities, counties, municipalities, and other political subdivisions from enacting limitations on the possession, sale, carry and ownership of firearms which are more restrictive than State Law (with the "grandfathered exceptions" of Durham County and the City of Cary)

http://www.ncleg.net/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_14/GS_14-409.40.html

§ 14‑409.40. Statewide uniformity of local regulation.

(a) It is declared by the General Assembly that the regulation of firearms is properly an issue of general, statewide concern, and that the entire field of regulation of firearms is preempted from regulation by local governments except as provided by this section.
(b) Unless otherwise permitted by statute, no county or municipality, by ordinance, resolution, or other enactment, shall regulate in any manner the possession, ownership, storage, transfer, sale, purchase, licensing, or registration of firearms, firearms ammunition, components of firearms, dealers in firearms, or dealers in handgun components or parts.
​

Click to expand...

And also, THIS State Statute also prohibits cities from passing ordinances or codes that prohibit lawful carry:

§ 14‑415.23. Statewide uniformity.

It is the intent of the General Assembly to prescribe a uniform system for the regulation of legally carrying a concealed handgun. To insure uniformity, no political subdivisions, boards, or agencies of the State nor any county, city, municipality, municipal corporation, town, township, village, nor any department or agency thereof, may enact ordinances, rules, or regulations concerning legally carrying a concealed handgun. A unit of local government may adopt an ordinance to permit the posting of a prohibition against carrying a concealed handgun, in accordance with G.S. 14‑415.11(c), on local government buildings, their appurtenant premises, and parks. [FONT=Times New (W1)](1995, c. 398, s. 1.)[/FONT]
​

Click to expand...

[FONT=Times New (W1)]
[/FONT]


So unless the Sake Express is posted, it would be 100% legal to carry there, because according to their menu they do NOT serve alcohol:

http://www.thesakeexpress.com/?page_id=170


And it's kind of hard to tell, but their front door does NOT appear to be posted:

http://www.thesakeexpress.com/?cat=16

It is my opinion that this LEO was lying to you. However, I'll make a few phone calls tomorrow, and see what I can find out from the Belmont City Attorney...

I'm assuming that you did not get this officer's name or badge number, and that you probably didn't have a voice recorder rolling, eh? If you do have any of that info, PM it to me--it might be helpful.

I'll post what I find form the City sometime Wednesday, if I can get a straight answer from them in the morning...

Good post Dreamer

Garnock this is a good example of knowing the law before you go.

was this person in uniform? and if not, did you get ID from him?

I live in Belmont and have never heard of a ban on carrying. Sounds to me like big bad police man wanted to flex his muscles to impress his group he was with. These are the type of LEO's I can't stand. They give a bad name to the good ones.

Thanks for all the replies, and it's good to know all of that information that was posted. I'm going to call Belmont PD back today or drop by there if I have time. I don't have the officer's name, but I'm still trying to get it. If I do receive that information, I'll pass it along.

I would bet that either the LEO was mistaken OR he was lying. Ask them why a LEO would lie about such a thing, because unfortunately most of the sheep hang on every word by them, after all, they are also human. Not LE bashing, but if a cop lies, (which they will) I have ZERO tolerence.

Dreamer said:

However, NC does have a "Preemption Statute", which EXPLICITLY prohibits cities, counties, municipalities, and other political subdivisions from enacting limitations on the possession, sale, carry and ownership of firearms which are more restrictive than State Law (with the "grandfathered exceptions" of Durham County and the City of Cary)

Click to expand...

What are the grandfathered exceptions of Durham County? Are you talking about the requirement that Durham has about registering handguns or is it something else?

Not sure which he was doing, showing out, or simply misinformed. I just talked with the receptionist again, who had talked with the chief. The crew that was working Saturday night, is working tonight, as is in the Chief, so she said he would talk to them about it, find out who it was, and get back to me on the outcome. She said they also looked up all the information and there is no statute to that effect for Belmont NC.

I've lurked here for a long long time, and had never seen anything mentioned about it, so I was fairly certain there wasn't an ordinance like that. As I said before though, I didn't want to start anything while having dinner with my kids. I figured a follow-up with the department and an education of the officer will hopefully prevent misinformation in the future.

Edit: The chief just called, and knew the Officer in question from Saturday night. He told me that Belmont most assuredly does not have any ordinance to that fact, and that the officer was mistaken, and has been corrected, and to feel free to carry any time. Yay.

Garnock said:

Edit: The chief just called, and knew the Officer in question from Saturday night. He told me that Belmont most assuredly does not have any ordinance to that fact, and that the officer was mistaken, and has been corrected, and to feel free to carry any time. Yay.

Click to expand...

Good to hear!

Stay safe out there

Very nice! Good job with the follow through.

A place called "Sake Express" that DOESN'T serve alcohol?!