:-)
Posted on 06/01/2007 1:26:08 PM PDT by em2vn
POST FALLS – Zach Doty typically wears a tie and dress shirt to church. But lately, a new accessory of his is raising alarm in Post Falls.
After turning 18 last month, the Post Falls teenager began strapping a loaded 9 mm Glock 19 handgun to his belt every day. He totes it in full view to Bible studies, the public library, city parks and neighborhood stores and on walks around town.
His 15-year-old brother, Stephen, has joined him, carrying a loaded Ruger .22-caliber rifle slung over his shoulder.
The brothers, who are home-schooled, say they're flexing their Second Amendment right, which allows citizens to bear arms. They say they're protecting themselves and others, deterring crime and making a statement about constitutional freedoms.
"If you don't exercise a right, eventually it will go away," Zach Doty said last week, a handgun tucked in a holster on his hip. "I'd like to raise people's awareness that it's a right, and I hope to encourage others to exercise that right."
The brothers are stirring up concern about citizen safety and gun responsibility.
Residents have alerted police and complained to the city. Police officers have stopped the boys on several occasions in the past six weeks.
And city officials say the brothers' action may lead to restrictions on carrying weapons on public property within city limits. At this time, the city doesn't have an ordinance that prohibits firearms in most public buildings.
"It obviously has created some controversy in the community. …We are fielding a significant number of calls from concerned citizens about how we're going to react to this and how we're going to ensure their safety is upheld," Post Falls City Administrator Eric Keck said. "It really is a matter of defining things very carefully and balancing maintaining one's rights and what has become the norm of society. It's something we're really going to have to examine."
betcha they, or anyone they’re around, don’t have to worry about being crime victims..
>>city officials say the brothers’ action may lead to restrictions on carrying weapons on public property within city limits<<
OK, so they arrest the boys on charges,
and it goes up the appeals process,
and the USSC rules that “keep and BEAR” means no restrictions on individuals BEARING their arms.
No ... a right is a right. It's not a right that society grants, but a right from God. That's the way they set it up when our country was established.
If the government wants to take away rights, then they need to change the Constitution. But you can't monkey with it based on "society's norms."
In another place this piece was discussed the piece had said that the police had talked to the boys to help them understand how people felt seeing them armed. I remember commenting at the time, the police are talking to the wrong people, The boys have done their homework on the law. The complaining residents obviousl, had not.
With Rights comes Responsibilities.
These boys are screwing up.
Yeah and segregation was the norm at one time. This jerk doesn't understand that we are talking about an inalienable right!
How so? It's legal. A right not exercised becomes useless in my book.
The government can't take away rights, it can only restrict their free exercise.
There was a time when it was not unusual for kids to be seen carrying firearms in public, or going shooting and hunting. Nobody thought anything of it. I used to shoot at a range in a public high school. Carried my rifle in every Tuesday and Thursday, and I was only 14.
How?
About 20 years ago, small town in CO. My brother had just purchased a pistol grip pump shotgun. We took it up in the hills and had a blast shooting. We put it in the gunrack of his pickup and were driving back when we were suddenly surrounded by five cop cars, guns drawn and all.
They politely took out their tape measure and determined that the shotgun was 1/4” over the legal length. They they asked us to please transport it in future out of sight, as people had called in freaked out about a “sawed-off shotgun.”
These boys sound like the women who think they have a right to upset others when breastfeeding by flopping it out in front of God and everybody. A little discretion never hurt anything.
“These boys are screwing up.”
Concealed carry means just that in some places.
Here in Indiana, allowing someone to see that you are carrying can be considered “brandishing” a weapon, and can get you in trouble.
How is exercising a right legally constitute abuse?
How are they screwing up?
How's that? Like going to church too often? Writing too many letters to the editor? Refusing to incriminate yourself too often?
Oh? Who have these kids shot? Who have they menaced? (I'm not talking about panty-waists feeling "threatened" by the sight of firearms either---I mean an actual armed threat.)
If you can't come up with instances of such abuse by these kids, I'd like you to tell us what you consider to be the "abuse" here.
From the article....
And city officials say the brothers' action may lead to restrictions on carrying weapons on public property within city limitsThere are better ways to promote the Second Amendment rights rather than going around scaring people.
His 15-year-old brother, Stephen, has joined him, carrying a loaded Ruger .22-caliber rifle slung over his shoulder.
I thought there was an age limit on carrying arms. I guess it depends on the state. It would definitely be surprising to see a 15 year old walking around with a loaded weapons.
When you abuse it to the point of having these rights removed..... useless.
Kind of like this?
There are better ways to promote religous rights rather than going around preaching to people.
That's what I mean by "menacing." But I fail to see how not wearing a coat or jacket over your holster means you're "brandishing" the weapon.
The boys are acting dumb. They should know that the ignorant public can’t distinguish between a crook with a gun and a law-abiding citizen with a gun, and so they do what all idiots do when they don’t know what to do, they call the police.
This must have the Lon Horiuchis of the country twitching.
That was my Mississippi of my youth too.
I walked around with a loaded weapon when I was 15 years old.
There is no open carry in Indiana.
Even with a permit, a weapon must be concealed.
It’s a minority of states that have open carry laws (arizona, alaska and some others, IIRC).
Well done reference...
What a crock of poop.
Idaho, like here in MT, is chock-full-o-guns! There are gun racks in almost every pickup, and they are a part of every-day life.
"Packing" here (as there I am sure) is an inconsequential thing and hardly even noticed. The only times I have had any trouble is when entering banks, or when being stopped by a sheriff... Even then it is no real problem, provided one handles the situation well.
This is a couple of Nancy-pants libs with their undies in a bunch. I doubt it is an hue and cry from the general community.
Bruce
No the parents of other peaceable law abiding young people are screwing up in not encouraging their law abiding young men and women to join them.
W
Scaring criminals seems like a good thing to me.
Wha?
When a citizen exercises their rights, they’re not “abusing” them.
And they’re not scaring anybody.
People with irrational fears are scaring themselves, and that is not a basis for restricting rights.
How many crooks go around with their weapons unconcealed? Not a whole lot I'm sure. And by the way, unless you've been convicted of a crime, you do have a constitutional right to bear arms. In theory, anyway.
My 13 and 11 year old both know how to shoot, safely handle, and recognize different firearms. As a parent, I believe it should be taught as a part of growing up. It is how I was raised..having a healthy respect for firearms but never wondering, fearing or questioning.
It’s the American way.
Too bad those in the inner city have negative connotations towards firearms.
Add NM to your list.
Thinking back. I know that I shot at my Grandfather’s house when we visited, but my Grandfather and my Father were always there to ensure that we were safe. We never walked around outside my Grandfather’s property though. I know for a fact that I would not have been able to go into the mall with it.
Obviously, one can not "legally" abuse what they have a "legal" right to do. However, one can ethically abuse a legal right, and people often have.
Now in this particular case I don't see any abuse of a right legal or not. However if they were waving the guns in peoples faces that would be abuse, even if there were not (yet) a law against it.
“These boys are screwing up.”
How so? They would be in jail if they even approached breaking the law. They are merely doing what a hell of a lot more people should be doing every day.
the boys are creating what educators call a “teachable moment.”
They need to follow up on the publicity their actions bring to teach other lawful citizens why there is no threat from lawfully armed citizens.
Yeah, it’s actually humorous -
the cops KNOW they don’t have anything on them, or they’d already have taken action.
Yeah..kinda depends on the kid. My teen handles shotgun and pistol safely and responsibly..still I can see how some people would freak out at ANY armed teen in today's society.
The Second Amendment says nothing about the right beign subject to conceal the arms in questions. In many states, you need a permit to carry concealed, but no permit to carry openly.
“A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded sexual and emotional maturity” - Sigmund Freud
You seldom see an article about Uzi-toting gangbangers that refers to their religious and scholastic activities.
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