Journalistic PSH From Utah(open carry)

freelibertywriters.com ^ | 1 March, 2012 | Bruce Krafft

[marktwain]

The Utah House is working on a change to the disorderly conduct statute to specifically state that open carry, absent "additional threatening behavior", does not constitute disorderly conduct. Naturally, the shrill shrieking hysteria has only just begun, but some of it has a disturbingly Geheime Staatspolizei tone. Witness one Peg McEntee who starts off her editorial (headlined Revised open-carry law obstructs law enforcement) by saying that she "honors" the Second Amendment. She is, however, a what David Codrea calls a Big "But" Second Amendment supporter:

"Right from the start, let me say that I honor the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment ...

Here in Utah, a lot of people think gun rights are sacrosanct. But when the right to bear arms..."

That right there is a Big "But" supporter. Whenever someone says they "support the Second Amendment but" you can be pretty sure that they do nothing of the kind. But I was talking about her support of police-statism, which you can see as she continues:

"... But when the right to bear arms comes into conflict with a law enforcement officer’s ability to protect the public, we have a problem.

Here’s one scenario. A person has a gun on her hip, and a cop wants to ask her some questions about it. Under current law, if she remains silent, she can be cited with disorderly conduct and formally charged by prosecutors."

Now keep in mind that in Utah open carry by permit holders is perfectly legal and open carry by non-permit holders is also perfectly legal as long as the firearm is "two actions from firing"[1]. So what Peg wants is for police to be able to stop someone who is breaking no law, question them and, if they choose to remain silent, be able to arrest them and convict them of a crime. Apparently Peg has a problem with more of the Bill of Rights than just the Second Amendment since she believes that people exercising their Fifth Amendment rights also conflicts with the cops' ability to protect the public.

But I doubt Peg's motivations is as simple as a desire to return to the days when you could just rack someone until they confessed and indeed, if we go continue reading we find:

"But seeing the whole open-carry picture from a regular person’s standpoint tells another story.

Simply seeing someone carrying a handgun, rifle or shotgun can cause fear among the unarmed. If I were to see someone with a .45 strapped to his hip, I’d have no idea who that person is and what his intentions are and would get out of there quick."

Kind of sexist to assume open-carriers are all men; in fact Jan Cushman open carries when grocery shopping:

Tell me Peg, would you run from her? Or how about my friend and firearm instructor Andy Rothman, if you saw him out grocery shopping would you run from him?

Or how about these folks:

Photo by Oleg Volk

If you are so afraid of guns that you would, Peg, perhaps you should seek professional help to deal with your hoplophobia.

If not, then you just acknowledged that absent "additional threatening behavior" open carry does not constitute disorderly conduct.

[1] This means that a semi-auto can have a mag loaded but no round chambered requiring you to 1) rack the slide and 2) pull the trigger. Oddly a revolver has to have two empty chambers; the one under the hammer and the next one. Hey, I don't write the laws so don't ask me.

[marktwain]

Pictures at the site.

[Falcon4.0]

I took the Utah Training and applied for the CCW permit last Saturday here in NJ.
The Instructor, who is a NJ Police Officer told us that when he was in Utah getting his training,
He saw a 12 year old boy in a store with a glock strapped to his hip and know body seemed to mind.
Not that he minded either it's just that being from NJ, it's kind of like seeing Big Foot walking down the street.

[n230099]

"...it's kind of like seeing Big Foot walking down the street."

Having been an Arizona resident for over 40 years where open carry was the law since before I arrived, I've seen the occasional wide eyed faces on the snowbirds when they encounter the armed citizen in the super market.

[Hawthorn]

Thanks, Mark T, for posting three times!