Just finished a morning meeting with Elsensei and 6 LE officers, (public relations chief, division captain and 2 LT's., and 2 detectives) this occured at the site of the meetup for saturday, it lasted about an hour. The meeting went well, All the officers appreciated being informed and kept in the loop with regard to planning, they are keeping abreast by reading this forum as well as others (calguns etc.)
They understand the law specifically regarding long gun UOC and that many will still handgun UOC at the event. They understand it will be a fairly large group and media will most likely attend as well.
They had some safety concerns and requests that we promised would be passed along so everyone can make a decision whether or not to assist LE with making the event go more smoothly. I beleve they are not unreasonable, Elsensei will comment im sure for himself I will not presume to speak for him. Since LE has been willing to work with us please consider the following items.
1) Sling carry please! do not show up carrying without a sling for your long arm, it has to do with muzzle dicipline and responsible carry, I agree.
2) Side car shotgun shell carriers are fine, SDPD understands this is not a position to be fired from they wont have a problem with this
3) Actions open - this facilitates visual confirmation of unloaded chambers without having to touch the weapon, it is also facilitates a faster loading if the need ever should arise. This one action serves both our purpose tactically and LE, and being law abiding citizens take that into consideration. Long gun and handgun both.
4) Concerns about individuals not from open carry advocacy group mingling with us with an intent to rob/steal weapons. (gang members for example). Recomendation stay in small groups to lookout for one another and be mindful of suspicious people activity. Be in Cooper code yellow or higher, dont be white.
5) Concerns about length of time and dispersing, the event is planned to be about an hour or so. Media message out and thats about it, if you choose to patronize businesses be mindful of leaving business when asked in accordance with law, our objective is not to tie down police resources covering this large event that spreads out.
Thats about it. The general feeling I got is LE at the level we are dealing with them understand what we are doing they want the peace kept especially the image to the media that it is kept. SO long as we are working with them and not provoking unpleasant confrontations things should go very well.
