Open carry Question?....Ask someone else.

I went to my local court house to pay the auto taxes an license fees this morning. I do have my CCDW but I often open carry because I like to an its easier in warmer weather. Now the court House is old an there is no court there. The sheriffs office is there as well as other county offices. I did some checking an as far I kind find there is only prohibition on Concealed Carry, but being a good citizen that I am. I did not push my luck by carrying were I wasn't 100% sure. I didn't ask the deputy clerk that waited on me,that would be barking up the wrong tree in the worst way and I know this. No I had the be walking out and see 3 county Detectives smoking in a breeze way, they would be the ones to ask since,as I will tell you later on they told me, they only enforce the law. I asked them if I could ask them a question about open carry. The look s i got were chilling. I asked if it was OK to open carry here in the court house, that i had done some checking an couldn't find anything that said it was prohibited. I also stated that i had my CCDW an was familiar with the restrictions on the concealed but was making sure about the open carry. Blank stares followed by " Why do you want to Carry in court? of in here?" question meet with a question....Defensive??? So i explained the question again in which they had no answer for. Never had it happen... don't know. Call KSP ( Kentucky state police). then comes the story about how one Detective had a call for a guy at a restaurant, he sit with the guy until he left.( New Open Carry Baby Sitting Service) brought to you for you by your tax dollars. OK so since you brought it up, If you get a call on me open carrying will it be a conversation or will it be a terry stop? again blank stares.....I mean I don't have to provide ID for doing something legal right? and that question was shut down. You need to do what ever the cop tells you I was told. an Again I should call KSP regarding my open carry question. So I should call another Police agency to see if i can open carry in the building that you office is in when you would be the ones responding to a call about me open carrying. Up until now i haven't mention the county but the black eye on general knowledge that was just shown to me by people paid by my tax dollars should be made PUBLIC. Daviess County KY. Please educate you deputy's on the law that they enforce. That was the last thing I was told. " That's above our pay grade we only enforce the law" one said. As i walked away It occurred to me that not only did they tell me to ask another police department if I could carry in carry in the building that they would be the ones responding to, they didn't care to know the answer, not wanting to know the law that they enforce. I also paid close attention to the new paint job on all the county cruisers. Why does the Black Knight now represent the DCPS????In every fairy tale or story I can remember the Black Knight was the bad guy..Yes the have a giant Black Knight on both sides of their Cruisers now.
Had to throw that last part about the cars in....so what do you think about the answers i got?

That was difficult to read for many, many reasons. You would have been just fine to open carry in the county courthouse that you specified. I don't really care about the responses that you got because they are irrelevant. It doesn't matter what a cop's opinion is and you sure as hell don't need their permission. The one cop that replied, "That's above our pay grade we only enforce the law", seems very wise to me.

When you put cops on the spot like that, they want to know why you're asking, what your angle is. They might also be thinking about legal liability because they know that it's not their job to disperse legal advice. They're also fallible people with their own (sometimes ignorant opinions). Mix all these reasons together and top it off with the fact that after all of this, whatever they say really doesn't matter--and you get precisely why you shouldn't ask cops legal questions.

Ask around here on the forum. Use the search feature. At the end of the day, look at the KRS yourself and learn what the actual text of the laws are.

langzaiguy said:

That was difficult to read for many, many reasons. You would have been just fine to open carry in the county courthouse that you specified. I don't really care about the responses that you got because they are irrelevant. It doesn't matter what a cop's opinion is and you sure as hell don't need their permission. The one cop that replied, "That's above our pay grade we only enforce the law", seems very wise to me.

When you put cops on the spot like that, they want to know why you're asking, what your angle is. They might also be thinking about legal liability because they know that it's not their job to disperse legal advice. They're also fallible people with their own (sometimes ignorant opinions). Mix all these reasons together and top it off with the fact that after all of this, whatever they say really doesn't matter--and you get precisely why you shouldn't ask cops legal questions.

Ask around here on the forum. Use the search feature. At the end of the day, look at the KRS yourself and learn what the actual text of the laws are.

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sorry about the difficulty to read. I did a spell check....
as far as they're response being irrelevant. As they would be the ones responding to call about a man with a gun...Did i mention that Their Office is in the court house I'm speaking of. I.E They would be the ones drawing down on my head.....So i figured asking about it would be the way to show some curtsy.
As for checking KRS....I did. Nothing that prohibits the open carry, but as I described in the conversation THEY were unaware of the legal or illegal nature of open carry in the court house in the first place, so what do you think there reaction would have been.
As far as putting them on the spot I'm not sure how you came to that conclusion but as far as i know asking a simple question about Can i Open carry here is not putting them on the spot. Hell getting a call about a man open carrying an NOT knowing if its legal or Not is PUTTING THEM ON THE SPOT.
I will try an take a more easier to read approach when writing on a topic. (thanks for the heads up)
I am curious from your response...Are you now or at one time were you Law enforcement?

outlaw13 said:

sorry about the difficulty to read. I did a spell check....
as far as they're response being irrelevant. As they would be the ones responding to call about a man with a gun...Did i mention that Their Office is in the court house I'm speaking of. I.E They would be the ones drawing down on my head.....So i figured asking about it would be the way to show some curtsy.
As for checking KRS....I did. Nothing that prohibits the open carry, but as I described in the conversation THEY were unaware of the legal or illegal nature of open carry in the court house in the first place, so what do you think there reaction would have been.
As far as putting them on the spot I'm not sure how you came to that conclusion but as far as i know asking a simple question about Can i Open carry here is not putting them on the spot. Hell getting a call about a man open carrying an NOT knowing if its legal or Not is PUTTING THEM ON THE SPOT.
I will try an take a more easier to read approach when writing on a topic. (thanks for the heads up)
I am curious from your response...Are you now or at one time were you Law enforcement?

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Well I Left this part out but I will address it here.

Above our paid grade an we only enforce the law seems wise??????????
How do you enforce a law that you have no idea about. As shown by the conversation
Not to mention the pure insult that that they are not paid enough to every put forth one small bit of effort to find out the answer to a simple question about an action that is legal but may have life changing or ending consequences.

Please believe me I'm not try to be confrontational. I just know that ignorance of the law is no excuse, And if i break a Law there is no forgive and forget. I get a ticket or arrested. So in a simple case of asking those that ENFORCE the law if I were in there boundaries. So I am try to Figure out how a elusive insulting answer from those paid to know an enforce the law is wise?

gutshot said:

Never ask cops for legal advice. They don't know. If they think they know, they are usually wrong. You are better off asking a bartender or a barber. You do realize that there are literally hundreds of laws in the KRS, don't you? Do you think anyone can come up with the answers to questions about situations that they rarely encounter, on the spot? LEO are the ones that will respond to any calls, that is the reason for their existence, but they don't know every one of the laws by heart. If you want to know the laws, go straight to the KRS and read them for yourself. That's what they would have to do, but they are too lazy to do it and they just don't care. If you want to know how a law will or should be enforced you can look up court cases and in some cases you can find out what the Attorney General has said about a situation. In fact, the Ky. Attorney General issued an opinion on this subject in 1997. It's Attorney General's Opinion 97-09. In that opinion the Ky. Attorney General wrote:

We recognize access to county offices and local courts may as a practical matter be obtained through shared building entrances and hallways. We can find no authority, however, for the proposition that local courts may ban deadly weapons in county offices located in the same courthouse or courthouse annex as those local courts. Indeed, we note that ownership, operation, and maintenance of a county courthouse, generally, are county functions. KRS 26A.090(6); 26A.110; 26A.130; 67.080(2)(b); 67.130.

You can find the entire opinion at:http://ag.ky.gov/civil/opinions/Pages/1997.aspx
After that page opens, click on AGO9709 in the column on the left side.
The county can't regulate open carry, because KRS 65.870 says they can't.

You can also get some information on this subject from the Ky. State Police. If you go to their website at:http://www.kentuckystatepolice.org/conceal.htm#faq
you will find this:

Where can I openly carry a firearm? Click here for answer

There are no Kentucky Revised Statutes that govern the open carry of firearms by persons who lawfully possess such firearms except for the following:

• 527.070 - Unlawful possession (whether carried openly or concealed) of a weapon on school property, except for certain specified exceptions.
• KRS 244.125 - Which bars loaded firearms (concealed or otherwise) in places where alcohol is sold by the drink, except for certain specified exceptions.

Do your local police and deputy sheriffs know all of this? No, and they don't care; its there for them to look up, just like you and I can do, but they won't. Be aware that after you do all of this, you will know more about this subject than anybody that you will ever encounter. There is no assurance that you won't be confronted by a LEO who, out of ignorance of the law or just plain arrogance, attempts to bar you from entering or kick you out of a county courthouse with the threat of arrest. In addition to all of this, by Judicial Order(not by statute) you can not carry a gun into a courtroom, court office or court proceeding. The members of this board have encountered judges that have attempted to extend that to the entire courthouse without any apparent authority to do so. Its not legal, but very difficult to combat. A few of those fights have been won by us. Good luck.

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WOW......Lots of info there. Thanks man

Since you were wondering how open carry may play out at a county courthouse, I'll describe my encounters:

I openly carried my firearm as I went to register my vehicle. There was a county magistrate there that told me that I couldn't carry a weapon in there. I simply, quite flatly, told him that I could and that it was perfectly legal. He simply shrugged his shoulders and said that he didn't know that. Nothing bad happened, in fact, someone learned something.

I witnessed a friend of mine openly carry a handgun in the county courthouse while there was a deputy on duty. The deputy did not like it, told my friend to take it outside. My friend respectfully protested. At that, the deputy phoned the sheriff which cleared everything up. Nobody drew their weapons. Sure, a couple deputies were ignorant, but now they're not anymore.

I know that carrying in a public building can be intimidating, but I think that you'll find that either 1)nobody cares, or 2)somebody gets educated. I think that it's highly unlikely that you would be drawn upon.