NH: Seized by the Manchester Police for Open Carry (vanity)

self | March 29, 2004 | Michael Pelletier

[mvpel]

PLEASE NOTE!!! - I am posting this here for your information and discussion. This is not a call for activism, not yet. I beg of you not to Freep the Manchester Police Department - I have the situation well in hand at this point, and I would like to keep this discussion with them on a polite and professional level, and angry phone calls on my behalf would only weaken my position.

And remember, July 4 is New Hampshire Open Carry Day.

[Mulder]

Great letter!

If it were me, I'd be tempted to bring federal charges based on them violating your civil Rights.

[mvpel]

Believe me, I'm tempted. We'll see how the situation plays out.

[GeronL]

Oops!

This is you??

Oh man, I'm sorry!

I just sent them an e-mail saying that thousands of us were your faithful followers and we would storm the city with heavy arms in open revolt.

I hope that won't impact your case. Sorry 'bout that.

/kidding

---

Seriously. I see nothing wrong with open carry. I think they have the law in Arizona where people don't even need a license as long as the gun is openly visible.

[CindyDawg]

A latte? Cops in a book store ? :')

[AlbertWang]

Call Jesse! Call big Al Sharpton!


Oh, wait a minute, wrong kind of cival rights. I guess you're on your own..........

[VeniVidiVici]

Great letter! Would've been funnier though if you were a cop.

And why did you follow thru with your purchases? One of those folks ratted you out!

[GeronL]

Did they have donuts or pastries at this book store?

[Mulder]

Believe me, I'm tempted. We'll see how the situation plays out.

I would be tempted to do it, if for no other reason than to prevent a bad situtation from occuring the next time these bozos put their hand on the holster or gun of a peaceable citizen.

Anyone who has had weapon retention training is going to respond very assertively to someone who attempts to seize his weapon...

[mvpel]

Evidently it wasn't the management who got particularly alarmed by my sidearm, but rather store patrons with cellphones, according to the officers. Probably some of the 75,000 Massachusetts transplants.

And besides, I didn't want my wife to know what had transpired until we were home, and I had all the money.

For those of you who don't know, New Hampshire only criminalizes unlicensed concealed carry - open carry is legal, though as my experience demonstrates, not terribly practical.

[mvpel]

I was fortunate that there was a uniformed officer to my right that I saw out of the corner of my eye, and I thought fast enough to not put an elbow in the face of a cop.

[CindyDawg]

I thought about that (lol) but I know there are some freeper cops around and didn't want to insult the "good guys" I'm just impressed his gun was returned. In Texas they have to be concealed and can be taken at any officers whim and you have to go to the station to get them back.

[cricket]

Great letter; horrible experience.

Isn't Vermont the 'Live Free or Die' state? Or used to be?

A community needs good, sane and sound policing - not paranoid responses. The Officers seem like they themselves are victims; not of guns; just 'gun PC'.

They need a re-education program on the value of guns and gun ownership. And so do the rest of the citizenry; and not just in New Hampshire.

[GeronL]

I know, I'm in Texas. I like the Arizona law though.

[coloradan]

In Texas they have to be concealed and can be taken at any officers whim and you have to go to the station to get them back.

So there's no open carry, and CCW is by permission only? Gee, I guess there's no right to defend one's life in Texas - only a government-dispensed privilege.

[KarlInOhio]

However, I expect better discernment from fellow sheep-dogs.

I think you presume to much in thinking that they are fellow sheep-dogs. They are just as likely to be merely a different pack of wolves than you are used to dealing with.

[CindyDawg]

Me too. I don't know where you live but I usually eat lunch out and it really irritates me that LE walk around with an attitude, carrying their jackets while wearing their weapons in sight. I'm talking about plain clothes guys. It's not like people don't know who they are because they wear their badges. You think they get casual like this when working? I don't. As long as we are a concealed state I think officers in uniform should be the only ones that can routinely display their gun.

[kaboom]

As an ex-Granite Stater, Live Free or Die guy, I must say that you are motivating me to get off my butt and finally get myself a pistol.

Just one question...Why is your sidearm opern-carried in the small of your back? I understand the practical implications of it when covered by either your shirt or coat(as mentioned), but unconcealed, doesn't it make a nice holster for anyone behind you? I really am trying to learn this stuff before getting and practicing with a sidearm, so I don't mean to be sound like a wise-ass. Now I could never thing of holstering towards my crotch, the consequences are unthinkable!

[Long Cut]

I have a Florida CCW, but unfortunately it's no good where I'm currently stationed, in Maine.

Experiences like yours make me wonder what's so great about "open carry" (besides, of course, the fact that it's a citizen's Right) when even in a state that HAS it, its exercise will get you rousted in a heartbeat.

I've spent a great deal of time in NH (love Portsmouth, BTW) and some in VT, and despite the freedom repected there, I've never seen ANYONE carrying in public, probably because they fear what happened to you, or WORSE if the cop is a bit nervous.

I guess that's New England...it's so polluted with Leftists, especially Massachusetts ones, that even in a "good" state, you really DON'T have the rights you THINK you do.

Hell, even Maine, the land of hunters and Bushmaster, is thinking of banning semiauto rifles that look mean.

[Ichneumon]

realize that some of the patrons of Barnes & Noble thought of me as a wolf, rather than a sheep-dog, and reacted accordingly by calling in the authorities. Needless to say, I will be careful to carry my firearm more discreetly in the future to avoid spooking the sheep.

ROFL!

Poetic, to the point, *and* appropriately insulting to those who deserve it. Bravo.