imported post
Jack! Nice to see you ringin' in from No Car. First, let me point out that you could have handled your suspicion in a more appropriate fashion. I don't know you from Adam, so I'll assume, given the time of your post, that you don't sleep much better than I do, and that you were just tired. Nuff said.
I don't mean to imply from my statement above that you should have handled it privately, at least at first. Rather,that calling me a liar because you don't believe my story is inappropriate, baseless and rude.
Let's take 'em in order from what I can recall with all the steam blowing out my ears.
First, Northern Virginia is serviced by the Washington, DC Field Office, located in, you guessed it, Washington, DC. I didn't say I reported the incident to FBI headquarters, you did.
Second, you are apparently ignorant of the fact that the FBI, like many other organizations, has both a procedure and a staff for addressing complaints of assault, violation of civil rights, etc. against it's agents. As you are ignorant of these facts, you should not be blasting me with your assumptions.
Third, the nice lady that called me back was asking if I wished to file suit for assault against the agent. The reason that she asked this important question, was because there are specific and different steps that they follow if you make a complaint against an agent that is in it's basic nature criminal or civil or basically just "I want you to know what he/she did!"
As a side note, when you make a complaint against another in a criminal matter, you are in fact filing, or causing to be filed, a lawsuit against the person who committed the crime. You are represented in that suit by the locality which passed the ordinance, regulation or law, because you personally did not create the statute. This is done so that everyone charged in a criminal case is prosecuted by the community at large. That, whether you can beheld pending dispositionand the types of penalty you may incur, if found guilty,are the basic major differences between criminal and civil courts.
Third.5, "No, Virginia there is no" Agent Leaner. I declined to state the agent's real name because I, for one, am sensitive to the impact of the Internet. I would want control of how and where my name appears anywhere, not just on the Internet. I therefore chose not to provide easy fodder for the screamers to shout about. I continue to decline to do so, as this matter is between he and I. I am satisfied with the situation and see no need to expose him to backlash from uninvolved third parties. I did not post the story to say "Hey, look what I did!" I posted the story because it is in fact my only real negative encounter while carrying. No one, let me repeat that, no one was, or could be, more amazed at his actions than I.
Fourth and Fifth, please see "ignorant", etc. under Second.
Sixth, likewise, see "ignorant", etc. under Second.
Seventh, ditto.
As for the rest of the post, please note that I have not called you "idiot" or referred to your post as BS. I'm still gonna be surprised if an "agent shows up at my door." Some people need a cause, I guess that today I'm yours. Beyond clarifying points about my post, I feel no need to substantiate the post further. I was there for the whole thing. Your opinion of reality doesn't reallycount.
Now, on to the concerns of more polite posters...
Neplusultra: I know that rubbin' is your way of saying what I call leaning. The point of this was clearly to pin my gun to my side, as the agent considered me a threat. I actually think that it was a nice way for him to do it. An alternative would be to attempt to disarm me, but someone always gets shot in a struggle for a gun... He could have drawn a bead on me and yelled "FBI! FREEZE", forever making me "the guy that the FBI pulled on" at one of only two all-night eateries in my area. Not good, as it might have made me unwelcome based on suspicion, not fact.
As a method, I liked it that way as well. While I don't usually condone getting within arms reach of an adversary, he needed to hedge his bets. What if I had been LEO and he had taken another tack? It works pretty well if you need to converse with someone that's carrying on his hip with nowhere to go, since you've effectively added the sense of touch to knowing where his gun is. It also puts you in a comparatively good position to take him down if he attempts a draw or other shady activity. I'm reasonably sure that it's not what the FBI trains the agent to do, assuming they were in the right to begin with. Also, it could be construed as assault, "but other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?"
I appreciate that you had concerns about the truth of the story, and that you were willing to give me the benefit, as it were. Next time, speak up! Your comments were well written, and civil,and would have been welcome earlier, as they are now!
Actually, I have to say that was pretty shocked when I checked back on this post. I don't have my threads set to notify me about replies unless I asked for info, volunteers, etc.so I have to rely on a posts proximity to the top of the list to see if it's still active. When this one didn't sink, I got curious, then WHAM! As this is pretty much just something that happened to me years ago, I never even considered that someone would call me a liar. I hadn't even thought about it for years, until I found OCDO a couple of weeks ago and thought you all might like a chuckle. Though it didn't make me laugh at first, it does now. That said, it's still my only negative response to carry, though I've been carded twice since. I guess that part of my motive for posting this was that "people don't freak out when I carry." I guess that's a good thing, but not much worth reading.
As always, I have, and will continue to post from my experience, opinion and personal knowledge. What you choose to believe is always up to you. I hope that you WILL question things you think questionable.
Dan Brooks aka caltain
Edited to add...
PS: In light of recent political fiascos, I wish to apologize for referring to the Great State of North Carolina as No Car. It's a beautiful place, and I'm sure that Jack has a car...
