derndrtjr said:
Ok...so I know I'll get a lot of grief for this but here goes! In Indiana open carry is actually a very grey area. If you are at say a restaurant as you described and a patron feels...let's say uncomfortable by your open carry they can legally call local law enforcement and THEY can ask you to leave and or escort you from the establishment. In addition, while the owner can not legally ask you if you have or own a gun and no firearms signs "have no weight" in IN, if the owner sees your firearm he can legally ask you to leave, and at that time if you don't can be arrested for trespassing!
Sorry if I ruffled any feathers but sometimes it's just not worth the hassle. When carrying a firearm...no matter how you do it...you definitely have to be aware of EVERY aspect of the law.
Fallschirmjäger said:
Well... sorta, kinda true.
You can be asked to leave a private establishment and if you don't leave you are subject to being charged with criminal trespass. However, it's the manager or an authorized representative of the business that must make the request. You are allowed a reasonable time to leave, such as to gather up children or belongings, one isn't expected to magically apparate or teleport instantly away.
Oh, and the establishment's owner/manager certainly can legally ask if you have a gun. It's no more illegal to ask 'do you have a gun?" than it is to ask "do you like the color blue?" or "was the steak rare enough for you?" He just doesn't have the authority to demand an answer.
Ok...here we go...no it's not "kinda sorta" anything. I did say the owner, I never said you had to magicaly[sic*] leave imediately[sic] and in IN it IS illegal to ask if you have a gun! Anything else you'd like to dispute?
My most sincere apologies, derndrtjr, I apparently have a problem understanding posts made when they use sub-standard grammar. My fault entirely for not realizing the phrase "they can legally call" and "THEY can ask you to leave" were in reference to an establishment's owner/manager when such owner/manager was not previously mentioned. In fact, the only personage mentioned previously to the mysterious "them" was was in the phrase "If you are at say a restaurant as you described and a
patron feels...let's say uncomfortable by your open carry they can legally call local law enforcement and THEY can ask you to leave and or escort you from the establishment..." Normally, the following pronoun 'they' would be used to refer to the antecedent 'patron' and not to a yet unmentioned 'manager/owner.'
Now, on to other pleasantries. Since you mentioned that it is apparently illegal in the great state of Indiana, would you mind citing said portion of the Indiana code? I collect such tidbits of information and would greatly appreciate the opportunity to increase my knowledge of such pernicious laws.
Is it specifically just guns that a shop owner may not inquire about?
May he also not inquire if someone is armed with a bow or a blowgun?
Is it specifically shop owners that are mentioned, what about a manager, night clerk, or other employee?
Is it also illegal for Mr. Average Citizen to ask another citizen, "Hey, is that a gun?" and just how many years in prison would Mr. Citizen serve for making such an inquiry?
* For those who are curious, [sic] is the Latin adverb sic ("thus"; in full: sic erat scriptum, "thus was it written") added immediately after a quoted word or phrase (or a longer piece of text), indicates that the quotation has been transcribed exactly as found in the original source, complete with any erroneous spelling or other nonstandard presentation. In short it means "I didn't misspell that word, blame the guy who originally wrote it for his poor spelling."