Posted on 06/01/2007 1:26:08 PM PDT by em2vn
You have a right to refuse a police searchm sans warrant or cause. But you would only do that if you have something to hide.
>>However, the city I live in (Durham)
My condolences, on that one. The whole Nifong thing, and the city’s general attitude, was not an encouraging thing.
$$$$$$$ perhaps millions....Wonder who would back them in that regard?
Pennsylvania supposedly has open carry, but if you do it you WILL be arrested. I chatted with a PA State trooper once and asked how it is possible to be arrested for doing something that is clearly in the State Constitution. He basically said don't worry about what the Constitution says, because if you try it you will get arrested for either brandishing or disorderly conduct as the primary charge, but since a weapon is involved in the commission of the crime you will lose your "right" to own guns at all if arrested and multiple other charges such as "terroristic threat" whatever the hell that means, will get tagged on.
You obviously haven’t called the State Police and asked about this. I have. They told me that if they saw me doing it and I was off of my own property, I would be arrested. As noted in my post below, I was once chatting with a State Trooper in town and asked him about it to get a second opinion, and he said the same thing. Don’t do it, you will get arrested. I have a friend who did get arrested and convicted (disorderly conduct as I recall). He was carrying an unloaded shotgun in open view on his bike, and someone called and complained about it.
Believe me,
Don’t ever ask a cop for an opinion on the law. A lot of times, they are ignorant of it. You are right though that it is not smart to do. However, if you have the time and money to fight it, you will prevail in the end as long as you were just openly carrying and not brandishing. Most of the stories that I have heard, people were not arrested but asked to leave establishments (such as malls). Again, as I said it’s not a smart thing to do in this state unless you are looking for trouble. However, that does not change the fact that it is legal. If a cop tells you otherwise ask him to show you the law, ordinance (other than Philly) or statute that says otherwise. He won’t be able to point it out (unless he’s a Philly cop).
Also, this only applies in suburbs, city etc.. out in the country, people do open carry.
“The original intent of the federal Contitution was to limit the power of the federal goverment to specifically enumerated powers.”
You are half correct. The other intent of our founding fathers in writing the bill of rights (that is part of the federal constitution) is to outline basic human rights that they stated did not come from the government, but come from your creator. The only role of the government in this case is to outline those rights and safeguard those rights for us. Rights such as free speech, unreasonable search and seizures, right against self incrimination, right to a speedy trial etc. Among those listed rights is also the right to keep and bear arms.
That means that the federal government has a duty to protect our civil rights as outlined in the bill of rights. Be it from an outside source or from a state government. For instance, you probably do not believe that a state government has a right to outlaw trial by jurys because that is one of our civil rights. Why is it different for keeping and bearing arms?
I wanted to break up my reply to you in two sections. Your example of judges telling local schools what to do based on the first amendment is flawed. The federal government does have a right to protect the first amendment if it is being violated in a public school.
The problem with the federal judges are that they are misinterpreting the original intent of the freedom of religion clause in the first amendment. The clause says: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”
This was put in not to protect the government from religion, but the people from a state sponsored government religion. Our founding fathers did not want a system set up like England whereby the government proclaimed the state religion to be the Church of England (Episcopals).
If a bunch of students want to have a prayer meeting before school or something like that, the federal judge should be protecting the state or federal government trying to prohibit them. It is the judge misinterpreting the first amendment that you are angry with, not the first amendment.
Well I grew up differently, if you’re packing you keep it discretely tucked away.
Except when hunting, of course.
I thought they had CCLs there.
Neither is old enough to qualify for a concealed carry permit and there isn’t anything rude about open carry.
“That said, I think they are being obnoxious and stupid.” I don’t see how you arrive at such an unsupported conclusion but do you feel the same about the right to vote and free of speech?
No, I’m not missing the point. I support their rights.”
Good, quit complaining about them exercising them.
t’s perfectly legal here in Idaho. We have 15 year olds driving cars too. Far more dangerous.”
I got my first DL in Idaho when I turned 14.Came in the mail on Friday and Sat. morning I was driving a flatbed loaded with prune baskets in Homedale and got hit by a drunk,illegal alien.In 1966.
Looks like the cops just want to be our overlords here to protect the serfs who till the land.
“Silly peon! You are not elite enough to protect yourself! You could hurt someone with that weapon, give it to me instead.” Go about your daily business and when your house is being broken into...remember to call 911!
However, walking down ‘main street’ doing so might not be a good idea.”
Why is that?
I walked two blocks down Main in downtown Santa Ana,CA with a pistol and a shotgun and hardly attracted any attention.I was 13.
I got off a Greyhound and walked through the bus station in L.A, with an uncased British .303, that I had kept in the overhead storage over my seat all the way from Caldwell,Idaho
and nobody said boo.I was 15.
I also never heard of someone shooting up a school full of kids back then.
IMHO, there’s a lot more cowards in America now.
You have a right to refuse a police searchm sans warrant or cause. But you would only do that if you have something to hide.”
You might, I’ve told them no.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.