Posted on 09/01/2008 10:21:30 PM PDT by CE2949BB
A Beaver County man who regularly wears a pistol on his hip says police violated his rights by arresting him before a rally featuring Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama.
(Excerpt) Read more at post-gazette.com ...
Ok, right or no right, this was just kinda pushing things.
Did the guy really expect to just waltz into a secured area containing a presidential candidate with a gun on his hip?
I don’t think I’d want to be caught with a gun with 25 miles of any presidential or presidential candidate rally. But that’s just me.
I understand removing a questionable fella away from the action if he had a gun on his hip. But charging him with “disorderly conduct” seems unecessary. If it was legal to carry the gun in plain sight, there was no threanening behavior, and he cooperated with the police, what was disorderly about it?
CONSTITUTION OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA
Article I - Section 21.
The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State shall not be questioned.
Yep. He broke no laws.
However...those of us who carry would rather that no one knows that we are carrying.
To our advantage.
Yeah, right.
What a load!
“But charging him with “disorderly conduct” seems unecessary.”
They have to charge him with something to justify removing him from the area...or tasing/shooting him.
I’m not sure what the “disorderly conduct” threshold is, but I’d guess in some circumstances it’s not immediately doing whatever the nice officer tells you to do.
NO official trumps constitutional rights.
This is part of what’;s wrong with America. Law abiding citizens are harassed and a crooked liar who may not even be a citizen gets to run for president.
I’m waiting for the JBT boot-lickers to show up and defend what these idiot cops did.
I remember when I saw Bush. We sent the kids to put our handbags in the car because they were searching everything, and then they wouldn’t let them in when they came back. They didn’t let you bring in anything.
I still feel guilty about it.
Oh, I have. Well, I wasn't caught, but I was outside the venue.
Got to agree with you on this one.
Sometimes people just have to stop and think about what they are going to do. And a firearm into the vicinity of a Presidential Candidate? Just say no!
The answer under the Constitution is none.
When first approached by Secret Service agents, he responded, “Me? You talking to me? Well they ain’t no one else here...”
Rally of 30? I thought The Messiah only spoke to the multitudes.
Either you’ve got a right or you don’t; there is no middle ground.
A politician’s presence does not suppress everyone’s rights in the area, unless carrying arms in that area is posted as illegal or is among the prohibited venues in a state’s statutes. Neither seems to be the case in this instance. Therefore, this guy should legally pursue the arresting officers aggressively, and should do it on an individual basis. That’s the ONLY way petty tyrants ever learn that their badges don’t give them carte blanche to violate people’s rights as the mood strikes them.
Concealed carry is much more closely regulated than open carry in states like PA, in which open carry is legal unless specifically prohibited in statutes. Back in VA, for example, the only way I could be legally armed in a restaurant was to carry openly. Concealed carry in a VA restaurant that serves alcohol is prohibited. There were some high-profile cases of VA CCW-holders who were harassed by cops for openly carrying in places where it was legal to do so. It only took a few of those cases for cops to understand that they were putting their own career security at risk when they acted outside the statutes. LE is now much less disposed to harass lawful carriers than they were before. They require occasional reminders that their purpose is to serve the public, not oppress it.
If you don’t stand up for your rights, you will lose them, and it is that simple.
>Sometimes people just have to stop and think about what they are going to do. And a firearm into the vicinity of a Presidential Candidate? Just say no!<
It’s a shame there wasn’t 5000 people openly carrying. Don’t expect to keep a right that you aren’t willing to stand up for!
When “The Messiah” was in Chester, VA a couple of weeks ago, I was practically just across the street gassing up with my Kahr PM9 in my pocket and a pump shotgun in the gun-rack in my truck.
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