In general, I doubt ANY jurisdiction will look favorably toward somebody who is hand-carrying a handgun (long guns are not in the scope of this entire website, so we'll leave that out of the discussion for this thread). Even though I open carry about half the time, any time I saw a firearm in somebody's hand, I would immediately assume there's a threat somewhere. In my mind, a gun in the hand means only one of four things:
- An instructor or student in a classroom environment
- A person practicing, training, or just shooting at an established range area (both of these can easily be determined by physical environment)
- A bad guy who is intent on doing harm
- A good guy, who may or may not need backup.
Do you have a link to the story you're referring to?