MyWifeSaidYes
Regular Member
My son had a friend over on Wednesday evening. When the friend’s parents came to pick him up, I heard that the father needed to drive to the next town to pick up a family member whose car had broken down on the side of the highway. When I heard him say that he needed to pay for a tow truck, I offered to use my AAA membership to tow their vehicle. He accepted and I asked my kids if they wanted to go and “have an adventure”.
I loaded my kids (and their son) into my truck and I followed them to the broken vehicle. I made the call to AAA and we started to wait the 60 minutes in which they said they would have a tow truck to us.
My son and his friend are 14 and my daughter is 10. We also brought along our dog. I don’t know what I was thinking. Have you ever tried to keep two young male teens, a female 'tween' and an overgrown puppy in a truck cab? I couldn’t even keep them in the bed of the truck, so I let them take the dog for a walk on the side of the road. There was almost 100 feet of grass moving away from the road and ending in a hill about 20 feet high, so I was comfortable with their safety.
Soon boredom set in and the boys started roughhousing in the grass. That eventually turned into full-on wrestling. At some point, my daughter started jumping on top of their heads and shoulders. Much fun was had by all. So there’s the scene…3 vehicles on the side of a desolate stretch of highway, 3 people having fun in the grass and me walking around with a handgun on my side.
I don’t know exactly what time it was when the first cruiser pulled up behind us, but it was dark. It was dark enough for me to see the silhouette of the Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper in his high beams and spotlights as he was walking up behind my truck. I also saw the silhouette of his handgun, in his hand, at his side, as he approached.
At this point, I assumed the trooper was worried about me and my habit of open carrying. My truck was furthest back and I was standing at the front of it. I held up a hand and gave my best wiggly-fingered wave and said, “Evening, Officer. Just so you know, I’m open carrying.” This is not something I would normally offer up, but I had 3 adults and 3 children whose safety I wanted to ensure.
As the trooper got closer, he said, “Just stay there.” Then, suddenly, he started yelling, “Hands! Hands!” The trooper had moved to a spot where he could not see my son and his friend and was actually talking to them. I put my hands up and made eye contact with both boys and they immediately followed my lead.
That’s when I noticed the second cruiser pull up. And the third. And the forth, no, fifth, um, sixth…I stopped counting at seven. And that was just behind us. We had more state troopers, we had county sheriffs and even a city cop or two.
And here I am thinking, “All this for little old me?”
Wrong.
The first trooper asked what we were doing, and I told him we were waiting for a tow truck. He asked who was who and I told him. Then he asked if my kids had been playing on the side of the road. “Um, yeah. They were roughhousing for a while.” I was pretty sure there were no laws broken, but I have an open mind and simply listened to his next comment.
“We got a call that two guys were fighting on the side of the road.” I replied, simply, “Yep. It would have looked like that.” My son chimed in, “Yeah. Me and my friend were wrestling.”, then he spun around to show how much dirt he had on his clothes.
I almost snickered when the trooper asked me, “So you’re just waiting here for a tow truck, huh?”, as if he didn’t believe me. What was funny? The tow truck came past him AS SOON AS he finished his comment! Classic comedy timing! So, of course, I pointed at the truck pulling over in front of the lead vehicle and said, “Yep.”
That’s when the trooper gets on his radio, calls the city police dispatch and cancels the call. He turned to the sheriff and said, “We’re good here.” Then he tells me that I should go see the tow truck driver if I need to. I thanked him and shook his hand, then headed for the front of the group. The cruisers had all left by the time the disabled vehicle was hooked up for towing.
So, did the cops get called on the guy on the side of the road openly carrying a .45 caliber handgun? No.
The cops got called on the two 14-year-old boys wrestling in the grass! Every cop in a nine-square-mile area and from three departments! And none of them bothered the guy with the gun.
I’ve said it before and I’m saying it again:
Law enforcement officers in south-eastern Ohio KNOW that open carrying is legal !!
I loaded my kids (and their son) into my truck and I followed them to the broken vehicle. I made the call to AAA and we started to wait the 60 minutes in which they said they would have a tow truck to us.
My son and his friend are 14 and my daughter is 10. We also brought along our dog. I don’t know what I was thinking. Have you ever tried to keep two young male teens, a female 'tween' and an overgrown puppy in a truck cab? I couldn’t even keep them in the bed of the truck, so I let them take the dog for a walk on the side of the road. There was almost 100 feet of grass moving away from the road and ending in a hill about 20 feet high, so I was comfortable with their safety.
Soon boredom set in and the boys started roughhousing in the grass. That eventually turned into full-on wrestling. At some point, my daughter started jumping on top of their heads and shoulders. Much fun was had by all. So there’s the scene…3 vehicles on the side of a desolate stretch of highway, 3 people having fun in the grass and me walking around with a handgun on my side.
I don’t know exactly what time it was when the first cruiser pulled up behind us, but it was dark. It was dark enough for me to see the silhouette of the Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper in his high beams and spotlights as he was walking up behind my truck. I also saw the silhouette of his handgun, in his hand, at his side, as he approached.
At this point, I assumed the trooper was worried about me and my habit of open carrying. My truck was furthest back and I was standing at the front of it. I held up a hand and gave my best wiggly-fingered wave and said, “Evening, Officer. Just so you know, I’m open carrying.” This is not something I would normally offer up, but I had 3 adults and 3 children whose safety I wanted to ensure.
As the trooper got closer, he said, “Just stay there.” Then, suddenly, he started yelling, “Hands! Hands!” The trooper had moved to a spot where he could not see my son and his friend and was actually talking to them. I put my hands up and made eye contact with both boys and they immediately followed my lead.
That’s when I noticed the second cruiser pull up. And the third. And the forth, no, fifth, um, sixth…I stopped counting at seven. And that was just behind us. We had more state troopers, we had county sheriffs and even a city cop or two.
And here I am thinking, “All this for little old me?”
Wrong.
The first trooper asked what we were doing, and I told him we were waiting for a tow truck. He asked who was who and I told him. Then he asked if my kids had been playing on the side of the road. “Um, yeah. They were roughhousing for a while.” I was pretty sure there were no laws broken, but I have an open mind and simply listened to his next comment.
“We got a call that two guys were fighting on the side of the road.” I replied, simply, “Yep. It would have looked like that.” My son chimed in, “Yeah. Me and my friend were wrestling.”, then he spun around to show how much dirt he had on his clothes.
I almost snickered when the trooper asked me, “So you’re just waiting here for a tow truck, huh?”, as if he didn’t believe me. What was funny? The tow truck came past him AS SOON AS he finished his comment! Classic comedy timing! So, of course, I pointed at the truck pulling over in front of the lead vehicle and said, “Yep.”
That’s when the trooper gets on his radio, calls the city police dispatch and cancels the call. He turned to the sheriff and said, “We’re good here.” Then he tells me that I should go see the tow truck driver if I need to. I thanked him and shook his hand, then headed for the front of the group. The cruisers had all left by the time the disabled vehicle was hooked up for towing.
So, did the cops get called on the guy on the side of the road openly carrying a .45 caliber handgun? No.
The cops got called on the two 14-year-old boys wrestling in the grass! Every cop in a nine-square-mile area and from three departments! And none of them bothered the guy with the gun.
I’ve said it before and I’m saying it again:
Law enforcement officers in south-eastern Ohio KNOW that open carrying is legal !!
