Guns Worn In Open Legal, But Alarm Va, 'Exercising Right' Called 'Unreasonable' by Some

WashingtonPost ^ | 07/15/04 | Tom Jackman

[Pikamax]

Guns Worn In Open Legal, But Alarm Va. 'Exercising Right' Called 'Unreasonable' by Some

By Tom Jackman Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, July 15, 2004; Page A01

On July 2, Fairfax County police received a 911 call from a Champps restaurant in Reston. Six men are seated at a table, the caller said. They're all armed.

Dispatchers quickly sent four officers to the scene. The officers were "extremely polite" and were hoping that some of the men were in law enforcement, said Sgt. Richard Perez, a spokesman for the police department. None was.

The men told the officers "they were just exercising their rights as citizens of the commonwealth," Perez said.

Turns out, packing a pistol in public is perfectly legal in Virginia. And three times in the last month, including at Champps on Sunset Hills Road, residents have been spotted out and about in the county, with guns strapped to their hips, exercising that right.

In the first episode, at a Starbucks, Fairfax police wrongly confiscated weapons from two college students and charged them with a misdemeanor. Police realized their mistake, returned the guns and tore up the charges the next day. Police commanders have since issued a reminder to officers that "open carry" is the law of the land in the Old Dominion.

Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, an organization of thousands of Virginia gun owners, said members were involved in all three police encounters. But he said there was no coordinated campaign to start packing heat publicly.

"It was probably more of a coincidence, but not completely," Van Cleave said, noting that word of the improper confiscation spread quickly among members through e-mail. "This is a good opportunity to educate people. We have this inherent right, and not many people exercised it."

[kAcknor]

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[steplock]

Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom of Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretence, raised in the United States.

-- Noah Webster

[ikka]

Hmmm ... pick a day each month for "Open Carry Day" and eventually the sheeple will get it.

[ECM]

Wow...and I thought a relatively low cost of living was the only reason to move to VA!

[HairOfTheDog]

We have the same law here in WA.... but acting on it anywhere but in the woods will get ya looks!

[NotQuiteCricket]

from the article:
Ricker said the gun owners "are probably doing their cause more harm than good by raising this issue. It raises an awareness and gives people who are more rational emotional thinkers the opportunity to go to their legislators and make their views known."

[unixfox]

If the cops don't even know what the laws are how the hell do they expect to enforce them? They obviously do not belong in law enforcement.

[ScottFromSpokane]

Guns is scawy!

I'm not entirely sure why carrying guns openly--as opposed to hiding them so you never know who's carrying what--is particularly frightening to these people.

I particularly like this part:

"Crime is at 20-year lows in the county," Lt. Col. Charles K. Peters pointed out, even with the population is soaring. The county's homicide rate was the lowest in the nation last year among the 30 largest jurisdictions. "Hopefully no one feels the need to carry a gun, lawfully or unlawfully," Peters said.

It's the same logic that lies behind the stories about prison populations booming "in spite of" lower crime.

Maybe crime is so low there because it's the kind of place where people feel comfortable with privately-owned guns.

Openly carrying weapons is "not a good idea," said Kristen Rand of the Violence Policy Center in Washington. "This is the gun lobby's vision of how America should be. Everybody's packing heat and ready to engage in a shootout at the slightest provocation."

Ditz.

[two23]

shall not be infringed bump

[Lancey Howard]

BUMP!!!
This is great!

[T-Bird45]

Openly carrying weapons is "not a good idea," said Kristen Rand of the Violence Policy Center in Washington. "This is the gun lobby's vision of how America should be. Everybody's packing heat and ready to engage in a shootout at the slightest provocation." Ditz.

Please allow me to pile on and add: brainless twit!

[patton]

Relatively low cast of living?

Are you on drugs, or dogfood?

[PoorMuttly]

NOT "Exercising Right" Called "Unreasonable"' by Others.

Go figure.

[PUGACHEV]

Back in the '70s, when I lived in D.C. for a while, I had a roommate who had just moved from Lynchburg in S.W. Virginia. Apparently, the open carry etiquettte down there was to place your weapon on the passenger's seat of your car in plain view. Not knowing any better, he continued the practice after he moved, and would drive all around D.C., to work and on errands, with a loaded 45 auto sitting on the seat beside him. He did this for months before I discovered it and set him straight, but even then, he had a hard time understanding what the problem was.

[PUGACHEV]

Back in the '70s, when I lived in D.C. for a while, I had a roommate who had just moved from Lynchburg in S.W. Virginia. Apparently, the open carry etiquettte down there was to place your weapon on the passenger's seat of your car in plain view. Not knowing any better, he continued the practice after he moved, and would drive all around D.C., to work and on errands, with a loaded 45 auto sitting on the seat beside him. He did this for months before I discovered it and set him straight, but even then, he had a hard time understanding what the problem was.

[Drango]

We have the same law here in WA

We do? Seriously, I own a gun which I bring out once ever 10 years and then put back into my safe. (Translation: I'm not into guns very much) So, I can strap it on to my side and walk around? Do I need to register it? Can I take it on the Ferry?

[Mulder]

The officers were "extremely polite" and were hoping that some of the men were in law enforcement, said Sgt. Richard Perez, a spokesman for the police department

How come? Exactly what law is so important that it requires police being armed, while the rest of us aren't.

[Darnright]

"Van Cleave said the gun owners might have been out celebrating a law that took effect July 1. Virginia statute 15.2-915 now completely prohibits any locality from enacting any regulations on gun ownership, carrying, storage or purchase, except for rules related to the workforce. Alexandria, for example, had an ordinance prohibiting openly carrying guns. It is now invalid, Van Cleave said."

Man, won't this law have ol' Sarah Brady's panties in a major wad!

Chuckle, chuckle.

[Mulder]

In the first episode, at a Starbucks, Fairfax police wrongly confiscated weapons from two college students and charged them with a misdemeanor. Police realized their mistake, returned the guns and tore up the charges the next day

The college students should sue the pants off the arresting officer and his department.

They were unlawfully detained, had private property unlawfully seized, and their civil Rights were violated.

As such, they should be millionaires.