Another Unicorn: Open Carrier Robbed by Armed Criminal

Gun Watch ^ | 9 October, 2014 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

Open carry event in Colorado

In a nation of over 300 million people, rare events happen.   Yesterday, another rare event happened.   A person openly carrying a gun was held up at gun point and their gun was stolen.  It last happened, that I know of, in Milwaukee in 2010, before the state passed their shall issue concealed carry law in 2011.  

In the Oregon event, 21 year old William Coleman had just purchased a pistol the previous day, and was openly carrying it in the Portland metropolitan area, in the early morning hours.  From oregonlive.com:

According to Gresham police, William Coleman III was talking to his cousin near 172nd and Glisan at about 2:10 a.m. on Saturday while openly carrying the gun he had purchased on Friday.

Coleman said a man, about 19- to 23-years-old, approached them, asking for a cigarette. Coleman said the man then inquired about Coleman's weapon, then pulled a pistol from his own waistband and said, "I like your gun. Give it to me." Coleman handed over his new handgun and the suspect left on foot.

Yes, people who openly carry firearms are rarely robbed.   So are police.  A police officer was robbed of his gun and badge just a month ago, yet it did not make national news.   It is unsurprising that both the police officer and the young citizen exercising his rights were robbed during the early morning hours, in urban centers.  Approaching victims and using a ruse such as asking for a cigarette, is a common tactic of armed robbers.

Open carry has become more popular, with the practice legal in the vast majority of states.   Only six states ban the open carry of modern handguns in public places.  Most of the existing bans stem from old laws based on racial fears or by criminals intent on disarming their victims, such as in New York.   The Texas ban has its origins in the reconstruction government following the  Civil war. 

California has been the only state to ban the practice recently, building on a ban on the open carry of loaded handguns that was enacted in response to  effective Black Panther lawfare in 1967. 

The Black Panthers showed up at the state capitol, armed with loaded weapons in their hands on the day of the vote.   They could not have pushed harder to get the ban passed by a panicked legislature, except if they had brought contributions and weeping widows, which is what those who promote citizen disarmament do today.   The Panthers claimed that they were against the law, but it is hard to believe that they were unaware of the likely outcome of their actions.

 California weapons law has always been aimed at disarming minorities.  It is the reason that California is one of only six states that does not have a right to keep and  bear arms provision in its state constitution.

The current California ban has had its unintended consequences.   It directly lead to the Peruta decision, that confirmed the right to bear arms outside of the home, for self defense.   The court directly said that if you ban open carry, you must allow concealed carry.  From the decision, available at this source on pdf:

See Cal. Penal Code § 26350 (prohibiting open
carry of an unloaded firearm); see also id. §§ 26150, 26155
(establishing a licensing procedure only for concealed carry).
And it has the power to do so: as the historical sources have
repeatedly noted, the state has a right to prescribe a particular
manner of carry, provided that it does not “cut[] off the
exercise of the right of the citizen altogether to bear arms, or,
under the color of prescribing the mode, render[] the right
itself useless.” Nunn, 1 Ga. at 243 (emphasis omitted).
California’s favoring concealed carry over open carry does
not offend the Constitution, so long as it allows one of the
two.

 Unicorns make great stories, but bad policies.   It is part of human nature to view events as though they happened to us, and to make decisions based on that information.   Selection of what events are presented to the  public is a major tool of how those who control the flow of information control the debate.  On the other side of the coin, events that occur all the time are not considered news.  When millions of people carry openly everyday, without problems, it is not news.


©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
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[marktwain]

Extremely rare events are bad drivers for policy decisions.

[Disambiguator]

According to Gresham police, William Coleman III was talking to his cousin near 172nd and Glisan at about 2:10 a.m. on Saturday while openly carrying the gun he had purchased on Friday.

I think I see the problem here.

[Georgia Girl 2]

That is one reason why we CC.

[dware]

The Black Panthers showed up at the state capitol, armed with loaded weapons in their hands on the day of the vote.

In 1967!!! Today, we write, call, fax and email our elected officials, when THIS is what we should be doing. And I don't give a damn what the laws for open carry are. If gun owners are not willing to sacrifice for the 2nd Amendment, they don't deserve it.

[cripplecreek]

Carrying open or concealed doesn’t make anyone immune to robbery but it sure lessens the chances.

[OneWingedShark]

But was the unicorn also a wizard?

[Tenacious 1]

According to Gresham police, William Coleman III was talking to his cousin near 172nd and Glisan at about 2:10 a.m. on Saturday while openly carrying the gun he had purchased on Friday

I too noticed the problem. There is nothing illegal about being out at 2:10 AM and nothing illegal about open carrying a legally purchased hand gun there. But I would like to hear what he was doing at 2:10 AM the morning after he purchased the "self defense" peice.

[kingu]

You never make laws based upon exceptions. Exceptions are what the courts and juries are supposed to make.

[Arm_Bears]

Yep—Keep the bad guys guessing.

[TribalPrincess2U]

CC is the SMART way.

Anyone that OC is like the guy driving a fancy car, if you know what I mean.

[Resolute Conservative]

Someone needs to hone is situational awareness skills and stop being naive.

[cpdiii]

I support open carry 100% because it is a constitutional right. However, I carry concealed as this give you and not the bad guy the advantage. Actually in Texas I can not carry open but when I am in states that allow open carry, I still carry my weapon concealed.

[Georgia Girl 2]

We also support open carry 100% but you have to accept that if you open carry you can bring unwanted attention upon yourself. Its just a personal choice.

[ansel12]

The tactic failed.

[marktwain]

I think it was a spectacular success. They succeeded in getting loaded, open carry banned for everyone.

“Make them follow their own rules.”

It is a basic Alynski tactic.

You will have a hard time convincing me that the Black Panther, who advocated armed rebellion against the United States, did not intend to degrade second amendment rights with this tactic.

Thinking that the left is open about what they want, in a particular instance, is naive.

As stated: the issue is never the issue. The revolution is always the issue.

[ansel12]

You agree with post 4, we should be duplicating the Black Panthers?

[marktwain]

It all depends on what you mean by “duplicating”.

If you mean using sophisticated political tactics to exploit their weaknesses, I agree. If it means attacking constitutional freedoms as a way of disrupting the system, I disagree.

If you are trying to say that the Black Panthers method of “open carry”, with long guns loaded and in “at the ready, in their hands positions” was what we should be doing, I disagree.

I think that open carry, as shown in the picture, is very different from what the Black Panthers did, and is an effective tactic to restore constitutional freedoms.

[marktwain]

By “in the picture”, I mean the lead picture for the article, not the pictures of the Black Panthers.

[Califreak]

I don’t believe in open carry.

[marktwain]

It is outlawed in California, so you do not have to worry about it.

But, if it were not for open carry advocates, you would not have got the Peruta decision which says that the state must issue concealed carry permits to people for the purposes of self defense.