I am mostly a spectator here but recently had an experience that may bear telling the forum.
I had an interesting OC encounter with the police on SUN, 11 DEC 2011 at the 4th Avenue Winter Street Art Fair. My wife and I arrived at the Fair at approx 1115 and we spent several hours browsing the vendors and other shops. The entire time I was there I carried my Glock and two spare magazines open on my hip.
Yes, I realize that 4th Avenue is ground zero for collectivism and government supremacism in Tucson outside of the City government offices. There was even a shabby table in front of Revolutionary Grounds Coffee Shop for the Communist Party USA manned by two drones that had the intellectual efficacy you expect of their ilk.
I passed by uniformed (and most likely, plain-clothes) cops the entire time we were there. No problems. Then…
My wife wanted to go into Antigone Books later in the afternoon. While I was browsing the books, a Tucson PD patrolman approached me at approx 1450 in the store and informed me the proprietor of the bookstore called the police because I was open carrying a firearm in her store. Mind you, there was no signage prohibiting firearms. I am respectful of private property and am glad to spend my money elsewhere when a businessman seeks to disarm his clients but that is their decision, I control my own wallet. The cop was very cordial and seemed slightly embarrassed. I agreed to leave the store as soon as I fetched my wife. Then it got more interesting, he mentioned that unless I had a CCW I could not conceal the weapon and had to leave the fair because the Fair promoters frowned on the carrying of firearms at their event but again, no signage or warning anywhere. One has to have a police encounter to be informed of this. I asked him how that request squares with the CC law but he simply gave a Gallic shrug with the knowing nod of “I am simply following orders”. He was kind enough to bring his LT on-board to explain but I had had enough and my wife does not like any encounters with police, at all. I chose to be a well-mannered ambassador for firearms etiquette and we left the fair.
I am a member of AZCDL and hope they can figure out how Fair promoters using public (e.g., government) streets can prohibit the carry of firearms using the local police as proxies to enforce what I think is an illegal prohibition on OC.
Even if a private business does not have the signage and the sight of firearms on non-government personnel makes them fill their pants, I will always leave their establishment on request immediately (after I hand them the merchandise I will not purchase) and respect their decision but public streets used for a quasi-private venue?
I live in Sierra Vista and for the longest time, the signage in Veterans Park prohibited firearms even though they violated state statute. I am accustomed to hoplophobia and an ignorance of laws regarding carry but this appears to be an instance where the police willfully violate the law to satisfy the whims of folks who are not only ignorant of weapons but philosophically hostile to their mere position by the mundanes.
I had an interesting OC encounter with the police on SUN, 11 DEC 2011 at the 4th Avenue Winter Street Art Fair. My wife and I arrived at the Fair at approx 1115 and we spent several hours browsing the vendors and other shops. The entire time I was there I carried my Glock and two spare magazines open on my hip.
Yes, I realize that 4th Avenue is ground zero for collectivism and government supremacism in Tucson outside of the City government offices. There was even a shabby table in front of Revolutionary Grounds Coffee Shop for the Communist Party USA manned by two drones that had the intellectual efficacy you expect of their ilk.
I passed by uniformed (and most likely, plain-clothes) cops the entire time we were there. No problems. Then…
My wife wanted to go into Antigone Books later in the afternoon. While I was browsing the books, a Tucson PD patrolman approached me at approx 1450 in the store and informed me the proprietor of the bookstore called the police because I was open carrying a firearm in her store. Mind you, there was no signage prohibiting firearms. I am respectful of private property and am glad to spend my money elsewhere when a businessman seeks to disarm his clients but that is their decision, I control my own wallet. The cop was very cordial and seemed slightly embarrassed. I agreed to leave the store as soon as I fetched my wife. Then it got more interesting, he mentioned that unless I had a CCW I could not conceal the weapon and had to leave the fair because the Fair promoters frowned on the carrying of firearms at their event but again, no signage or warning anywhere. One has to have a police encounter to be informed of this. I asked him how that request squares with the CC law but he simply gave a Gallic shrug with the knowing nod of “I am simply following orders”. He was kind enough to bring his LT on-board to explain but I had had enough and my wife does not like any encounters with police, at all. I chose to be a well-mannered ambassador for firearms etiquette and we left the fair.
I am a member of AZCDL and hope they can figure out how Fair promoters using public (e.g., government) streets can prohibit the carry of firearms using the local police as proxies to enforce what I think is an illegal prohibition on OC.
Even if a private business does not have the signage and the sight of firearms on non-government personnel makes them fill their pants, I will always leave their establishment on request immediately (after I hand them the merchandise I will not purchase) and respect their decision but public streets used for a quasi-private venue?
I live in Sierra Vista and for the longest time, the signage in Veterans Park prohibited firearms even though they violated state statute. I am accustomed to hoplophobia and an ignorance of laws regarding carry but this appears to be an instance where the police willfully violate the law to satisfy the whims of folks who are not only ignorant of weapons but philosophically hostile to their mere position by the mundanes.
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