Posted on 12/31/2009 9:46:30 AM PST by Still Thinking
It's open season on gun carriers.
A case out of the First Circuit has some painful lessons for gun carriers in Georgia. A United States Circuit Court of Appeals last week upheld the constitutionality of pointing a gun at any citizen daring to carry, lawfully, a concealed weapon in public.
The First Circuit Court of Appeals is the Court just below the United States Supreme Court in the New England states. The case stems from a lawyer who sued a police officer after he was detained for lawfully carrying a concealed weapon while in possession of a license to carry concealed. According to the case opinion, the lawyer, Greg Schubert, had a pistol concealed under his suit coat, and Mr. Schubert was walking in what the court described as a "high crime area." At some point a police officer, J.B. Stern, who lived up to his last name, caught a glimpse of the attorney's pistol, and he leapt out of his patrol car "in a dynamic and explosive manner" with his gun drawn, pointing it at the attorney's face.
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
Yeah, what was he thinking wearing something like that? He was just asking for it.
(Do I really have to to add a sarcasm tag?)
Gotta be careful walking around in the Castro district in SF. If you drop your keys, just kick them along the ground till you get out.
Little gator was wrong cop was right.......
How so?
Well keep on thinking there, still thinking!
Obvious profiling. This cop just has something against suits......
You didn’t read the full article, DID YOU?!
There is no law requiring the gun be concealed. Carry is carry.
No, but neither do we know that open carry isn’t legal in the state in question.
This trend will not be abated until people start resisting the unlawful actions of thug cops by any means at their disposal.
My understanding from the class I had to take to get my Michigan Concealed Pistols License was that if you flash your gun you could lose your CPL.
My sarcasm tag didn’t post........my bad......:(
Hope ya’ll know me better than that........:o)
Sorry !!!
That's my understanding as well, but I believe there's a legal distinction between "flashing", "displaying" and poor concealment.
“...Hope ya’ll know me better than that...”
-
I thought maybe you had fallen and hit your head...or maybe I had...
1. It’s not necessary to point the gun at the suspect. Draw it if you think you may need it, but pointing it the suspect’s head when he doesn’t have his weapon in his hand is way overkill.
2. You don’t aim your gun at someone’s head either, face or not. You aim for the torso.
This officer sounds like a total moron.
If the court’s ruling is correct, then when this officer travel’s outside his jurisdiction, he could be treated the same way for carrying a concealed weapon.
I believe most agencies would turn a blind eye to an officer having a concealed weapon. Now, it seems they would be wrong to have a policy like that.
How can they verify the I.D.?
If this cop is right, it rewrites the rules for a lot of people, and the court should be aware of that. This is just plain idiotic.
I hope the attorney takes this to the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court addresses the lower courts and the officer for the moronic behavior/ruling they have exhibitied.
LOL.....reading that I thought I did !!
Snowed in for the day, made a pizza and drinking some home brew, just me not reviewing my post as usual before I hit SPEW !
Stay safe and Merry New Year !!!
It is important that cops understand they are to respect peoples’ constitutional rights. When the cop jumped out agressively after seeing the gun, I can understand that. You don’t confront an armed man with a howdy if you want to survive as a cop. The gun was not concealed so he was right to make the assumption he was dealing with an armed criminal until he saw the registration.
However, not only did this cop act unprofessionally when presented with the gun documentation, he has a judge who has just pronounced that anti-constitutional behavior and attitude as dandy. He is probably unprofessionally rude and crude with citizens in this way every day on his beat.
So, there needs to be an education program for the cops in Georgia to understand and respect the second amendment rights of legally armed citizens and there has to be penalities for the unprofessional harassment of gun owners. There should be merely a ticket given to the concealed carry guy if his his gun is visable even though he took measures to conceal it, presented his documentation, etc.
WRONG! There is precisely such a law in Texas.
http://www.georgiacarry.org/cms/georgias-carry-laws-explained/frequently-asked-questions/
(Excerpted)
I Do Not Have a Firearms License. What Can I Do?
Q: Can I carry a handgun openly, without concealing it?
A: No! Georgia is one of the minority of states that requires a firearms license to carry a pistol openly outside of your home, car, or place of business.
Please be sure to read the history of Georgia’s licensing law and find out why a license is required to carry a handgun openly. It is not what you think.
Also,
Method of Carry
Q: Do I need to carry my firearm concealed or may I carry openly?
A: Under the law, a firearms license holder may carry a firearm openly or concealed in any location that is not off limits. However:
It is quite possible that a given law enforcement officer in a given jurisdiction may not have been properly briefed on (or may not have understood) the changes in the law brought about by HB89 and thus may still choose to challenge or even arrest someone carrying openly in the new locations, believing they are doing the right thing under the law. The legality of detaining people openly carrying firearms is the subject matter of two federal lawsuits filed by GCO.
Interesting stuff at their site, georgiacarry.org
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