A D-Kos account of an Open Carry incident.

[RandySF]

So, on Wednesday, we had a guy come in, not quite one of our regulars, but more than an occasional guest. He had a 1911 strapped to his hip, and was informed we do not allow open carry on premises. He unloaded the weapon, locked the slide, and I checked it into our safe. I explained it was a courtesy, since he was riding a bicycle, and that, in the future, he would simply need to leave it at home. No problem. He had lunch, and a beer, and left.

He came back two hours later, and asked if I could check the gun again, because a friend was going to come pick him up, rather than having to ride the 26 miles home. Same deal, unloaded, slide locked, into the safe. Here's where things got stupid.

Apparently, when he left, he had several more drinks, and then, because he had just purchased the gun, he decided to unload and load it, repeatedly, in the doorway of the business two doors down from my place. Playing with his new toy, you see. When the ladies that own that business attempted to leave, they saw a man in their doorway, working the action on a pistol, and then coming into the bar. The women, quite naturally, locked the door and called the police. Mind you, I'm unaware of any of this. I've been in the kitchen, working. I'm a cook, not a bouncer.

So, ten minutes later, the police show up. Right as he is getting ready to leave, with the pistol IN HIS HAND. He was about to holster it. The police, again, quite naturally, do not like this, and immediately snatch it out of his hand, and take him outside. As the senior employee, I followed. They bawl him out for his stupidity, and then ask for his ID, to make sure he has no felonies or warrants. He becomes belligerent, keeps asking, "am I free to go?" The long and short of it is, he has previous felony convictions on Washington State. They are unable to immediately discern whether he is disqualified from owning a firearm, and eventually confiscate it. (After an hour of calls back and forth to Washington, it is determined he is indeed allowed to own the weapon.) They tell him he can retrieve it, if he is entitled, at the police station. This whole incident takes nearly an hour, by the way.


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/06/17/1307546/-Open-Carry-incidents-at-my-place-of-employment-The-cops-got-involved

[wandy]

1. A tale worthy of the Draco tavern...................

The Draco Tavern by Larry Niven is a 2006 collection of science fiction short stories concerning the activities of Rick Schumann, the bartender of the Draco Tavern/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Draco_Tavern

Just what we need. Life imitates Science Fiction.

[gejohnston]

2. what state is this?

Some states that would be criminal trespass. Most if not all states have laws against felons possessing firearms, and being intoxicated while armed. It has been a federal crime for a felon to possess a firearm since the 1930s.

[ileus]

3. No one goes from new gun to carry gun in 4 steps.

I'm going to call BS on this "story"

[beemer27]

4. I too wonder about this story

Why would the cook be called from the kitchen to lock the pistol in the safe. Why would they do this more than once for a person who has been drinking? Handing a firearm and ammunition to a person who has been drinking is leaving yourself and your business very wide open to lawsuits.

In many states, if the business allows concealed carry, they also allow open carry. They can deny any carry at all, or allow all carry. I have not heard of a state that allows a business to vbe selective about the matter. Either all carry is allowed, or none.

It takes most people a month or two to qualify for a CCW. There are a couple of background checks for public agencies to perform ( they do this when they have time, not on your schedule), there are the pictures and fingerprints to get from your local law enforcement agency( again, at their convenience), the class to attend and pass (usually a day, sometimes split into two days), and then waiting for the state to approve and mail it.

And perhaps the most troubling point is the handling of the firearm on the street. When the firearm is removed from the holster (open or concealed) and handled in public, it is called brandishing. Brandishing is against the law, and can be a reason for losing your licence. It is also a valid reason for being arrested. If a person who has been drinking brandishes a firearm, they will be arrested in most cases.

This story MAY be true, but it does have some very big holes in it.

[Lurks Often]

5. Not buying the story, a felony conviction prevents a person from buying a firearm legally

and if police find out someone has a felony conviction and is in possession of a firearm he is going to jail. Additionally they could have jailed him for brandishing, public intoxication and carrying a firearm while intoxicated.

And anecdote does not equal data

[AtheistCrusader]

7. Actually the right can be restored, post-conviction, by a judge.

Same with your right to vote, etc.

[Lurks Often]

8. Granted, but in such case it is unlikely to have

worked out the way the story alleges to have occurred. Besides NICS is Federal, not state and I'm not entirely sure that a state judge can have the felony conviction record removed from the Federal NICS system

[blueridge3210]

10. The conviction would remain on the record;

I think the NICS check would include a note "Firearms rights restored effective *date*; but I'm not sure. In GA the Parole Board restores firearms rights in order to ensure uniformity and to take the responsibility away from the Governor's office.

[Jenoch]

6. In some states,

a convicted felon can get their voting rights back. Is the same true for getting the right to possess a firearm?

[sarisataka]

9. This story reminds me of the Brazilian footballer

Kaka

-is a place that doesn't allow guns going to offer their safe as storage for a person's gun?

-is the place that doesn't allow guns then going to serve the gun carrier beer with his lunch?

-the person then goes in stands in the doorway of an open business to load and unload his gun for fun?

-the person then returns to a place he occasionally frequents to have his gun locked up. Since he rode a bike with his gun why does he need to lock it up when a friend will get him a ride?

-police responding to a MWAG call and then finding the man with it in his hand are not going to snatch the gun. They are going to draw, put him on his face and cussed him

-if the check came back absolutely clear he might get off with a lecture

-when the check comes back with felony convictions they will haul him in to sort it out, not deal with it on the street


Also this story is internally inconsistent. the storyteller says he has a cook so doesn't see everything but he is the one who has to tell the person to disarm and take care of the gun. It seems the bouncers he alluded to would be to people to do that. Yet on the return trip the man bypasses the bouncers to ask a cook to lock up the gun for him.

This should have a disclaimer Based on a True Story

[Styx]

11. You did a great job ripping this up...

but you missed one of the most glaring holes. The police officers are telling some cook what they find out? Letting him observe their interview? B.S. The most obvious reason the story is FOS isn't the gaps in it, it's that there's too much information. He'd have been immediately separated from the guy so stories could be cross checked.