Tag: open carry

After Phily Cops lose it over Open Carry, now what?

After Phily Cops lose it over Open Carry, now what?

By |

Anyone who is up on Gun laws, Gun Rights, 2nd Amendment issues and calls themselves an American has seen the Philly Cop vs LEGAL Citizen exercising his Open Carry Rights. I’ll post it here for context:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-vUYeJXSrA[/youtube]

Now here’s the latest:

After Altercation, Philadelphia Police Say They Won’t Look the Other Way on Open-Carry Gun Owners

With a shocking altercation between Philadelphia police and a 25-year-old IT worker putting the spotlight back on open-carry gun laws, local authorities are warning gun owners that they will be “inconvenienced” if they carry unconcealed handguns in the city.

Lt. Raymond Evers, a spokesman for the city police, told FoxNews.com that gun owners who open carry, which is legal in the city, may be asked to lay on the ground until officers feel safe while they check permits.

“Philadelphia, in certain areas, is very dangerous,” he said. “There’s a lot of gun violence.” Several officers have been killed in the line of duty in the past three years, local authorities say.

The warning comes after Mark Fiorino, a suburban Philadelphia IT worker, posted an audiotape to YouTube of his tense, 45-minute encounter with police in February over his exposed handgun. The video went viral and captured national attention.

After Fiorino released the audiotape, he was charged with disorderly conduct and reckless endangerment. He now faces up to two years in prison.

After you’ve read this story come back and lets talk about a few things.

And I will expect some LEO’s to chime in either here or email. Either one is fine.

Okay here’s my opinion on this issue. Philly is in an OPEN CARRY Friendly state with required documentation. PERIOD. The guy was well within his rights to carry his firearm. He was treated like a common thug for two reasons. ONE, the guy didn’t handle the police very well from the start. TWO the Police didn’t handle the guy very well from the start.

You have officers that are very on edge. You have a citizen that is taking advantage of his rights and the police are not use to seeing it. Which in and of itself is a sad sad reality. IF this was a black man, the cops would have been hit with all kinds of racially charged media, and internal investigation over WHY they treated him this way. This particular incident involved a white guy so it’s totally his fault. He will be charged with SOMETHING anything to get the attention off the PD.

Now the PD is going through training on dealing with people who exercise their rights? How sad is that?

Now I do understand the LEO’s being on edge, they are dealing with a lot of scum on those streets. But they need to ask themselves. How many thugs do they run into who have their guns visible? I would think the minute they see a gun being carried in a holster OPENLY, it would send up some “That’s odd” thoughts, and an investigation may be required. Perhaps even the officer having his firearm pulled while the “Suspect” was secured.

What say you guys? Is this a very isolated incident? or will this happen much more? How should these cops be handled? What do you think the “Suspect” deserves? Where do you stand on this entire situation?

Open Carry in the USA….

Open Carry in the USA….

By |

There has been a lot of discussion about gun control (I control my guns) and our 2nd amendment rights. There is a sort of cannibalism going on among us gun rights advocates. Meaning we all want the same thing but we are beating each other up over this issue.

Here’s the issue:

The “Open Carry” crowd (Of which I understand their stance) are exercising their rights in some very “Unfriendly” areas. While there should be NO UNFRIENDLY areas, this tactic tends to get people up in arms (Pun intended) and brings in the anti’s and their media friends.

Some of the “Gun Rights” advocates see the “Open Carry” folks as inciting the anti’s and actually hurting our cause.

So, here I sit after sifting through a couple long threads of “Cannibalism” between gun rights brothers and sisters and I think back to when I convinced an Anti-Gun liberal that he was dead wrong. The start of a friendship and mind opening came about because I had a gun on my hip.

The open carry issue is one I really don’t care for. I’d like to have the ability to Openly carry my firearm or conceal it. Given the choice I’d conceal it every time. My reasoning is simple. IF you can LEGALLY conceal, then you have to expect EVERYONE is carrying. If you can only carry openly, then everyone knows WHO is carrying. I don’t need to flash the iron, as long as I have it.

That being said, IF the only legal way I can carry my firearm is openly, then I’m going to carry it everywhere I can. PERIOD. And that is the fight.

In the P.R.O.K (Peoples Republik of Kalifornia) I can legally carry a firearm UNLOADED openly (I can have a loaded magazine on my belt too, but the two can’t be put together and carried) With that law, I don’t carry openly too often. Which is why the law was enacted. But is carrying in known unfriendly areas helpful or hurting our cause?

In my HUMBLE Opinion, I think the open carry folks can exercise a little more “Tact” in their confrontations. Maybe have one or two guys carrying and a few more advocates there to show support and try and recruit some of the anti’s to our side. The only way we get our rights back now is to get a groundswell of NEW recruits. We can’t lose the debate with facts and common sense, but we can lose it with emotions.

Stay focused on the goal, the goal is NOT to intimidate people. It’s not to create an atmosphere of fear, its to create an atmosphere of safety, and assurance that NOBODY is going to come in and lay waste to your area because you are unarmed.

As with the hunting/trapping community, it’s real easy to start picking apart each groups tactics and each persons methods. But the bottom line is we all want the same thing. We want the right to bear arms, we want to be able to carry our firearms, and we want the government off our ass because they sure as hell aren’t protecting it.

My two cents rendered.