Posted on 08/24/2008 3:21:59 PM PDT by marktwain
A Wyoming hunter who accidentally caused a security concern at the Grand Hyatt hotel Saturday said he’s sorry for the problems he caused and didn’t know the Democratic National Convention was in town.
When Joseph Calanchini walked into the Grand Hyatt hotel with 2 rifles and 2 pistols Saturday around 4:00 pm, Denver Police evacuated House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) from the hotel until they arrested Calanchini and made sure it was safe for Pelosi to return.
“I didn’t even know the DNC was in town. I don’t watch the news,” said Joseph Calanchini from the Denver City Jail where he’s being held on bond. “If I had known, I would have done things differently. It was a simple mistake.”
Calanchini, who talked to 9Wants to Know from the Denver City Jail, says he had the weapons because he’s getting ready to go on a hunting safari trip in Limpopo Basin, South Africa on August 28. He planned to hunt warthog, impala, baboon and jackals with a friend there.
He says he had just picked up his rifles from the Sportsman’s Warehouse and had them in a locked gun case when he checked in at the Grand Hyatt. The clerk checking him in noticed the rifle case and called security.
“I’m amazed. It’s not like they were illegal weapons, they were all registered to me,” said Calanchini. “It was bad timing.”
Police say Calanchini had permits for the rifles, but did not have concealed permits to carry two pistols that were found in his luggage. Calanchini says he forgot they were in there.
He was charged with unlawfully carry weapons, a misdemeanor. Calanchini is being held on $10,000
Whoa wait 10K for a misdemeanor? What’s the fine on unlawful carry if found guilty? In Idaho it’s far less than the 10K bond.
So when the witch from the bay is around we all have to give up our rights?
Idiot desk clerk should have just asked him if he was going on a hunting trip, rather than panicking at the sight of gun cases.
This is why I don’t like journalists, politics aside, they are poor communicators.
What a stupid thing to say.
Nothing to indicate he committed any crime. It is generally not illegal to have legal firearms in your hotel room or in your luggage.
It sounds as if they are looking for something to hang an arrest on. Not unusual procedure for officers when they screw up.
The game is then to “drop the charges” in exchange for no lawsuit. It is hard to “drop the charges” if there are no charges to drop.
Or is it just illegal in Denver?
Or is it just illegal in the Denver Grand Hyatt Hotel?
Anyone know it the FOPA covers this kind of interstate travel with firearms?
If Colorado really is this screwed up, I'm not going to spend my tourist dollars there.
“Whoa wait 10K for a misdemeanor? What’s the fine on unlawful carry if found guilty? In Idaho it’s far less than the 10K bond.”
That’s just the bond amount. It is not uncommon for bonds to be set at higher than the maximum fine amount. The bond is to insure he’ll come back for court. If he pays a cash bond he loses the cash he put up if he doesn’t show up. If he goes through a bondsman like most people do the bondsman will go out looking for him if he doesn’t show up. Had he have been from Denver the bond might have been lower. But he’s from out of state and therefore more of a flight risk.
We can argue until we are blue in our faces whether it was a legal search—we don’t know and the article doesn’t tell us. But he committed a misdemeanor, and you can’t tapdance your way around it.
Or is it just illegal in the Denver Grand Hyatt Hotel?
Anyone know it the FOPA covers this kind of interstate travel with firearms?
If Colorado really is this screwed up, I'm not going to spend my tourist dollars there.”
From what I have been able to gather about Colorado law, The State of Colorado is not too bad, but the City of Denver does everything it can to obstruct and destroy the 2nd amendment rights of citizens that happen to be within its limits.
I am pretty sure this is a bad arrest, but heaven help this citizen if he does not get competent legal counsel.
All gun laws are unconstitutional.
is it illegal to have guns in a hotel?
Why would you say such a thing?
I will not insult you in return.
I will just say that it is not
a stupid thing to say if it is true.
Other than the two or three that I keep up with regularly,
I estimate there are a couple or three dozen more
(exactly how many I honestly do not have a clue)
that are packed up in various places
some are in storage, I think,
some are at a relative’s place, if he has not pawned them,
several that were borrowed a few years ago,
some I think may be locked in a chest in my basement,
and there are others,
many or most of which
that I have not seen in quite a few years.
In the middle of a leave for PCS, I went digging in my storage locker and found an ORIGINAL AR-7 by Armalite. I remembered buying it, I remember shipping it home.... after I found it.
It had to have been in storage for 7+ years. And I had a few bricks of ammo stored with it.
/johnny
PELOSI IS A WASTE OF SPERM, LET ALONE A BULLET!
He should never have been arrested and charged.
Where’s your outrage at the JBT morons on the Denver PD??????
http://csp.state.co.us/downloads/safety_firearmsbrochure.pdf
This is a link to a CO carry guide (pdf). Apparently carrying handguns in this fasion is considered concealed and would require a permit.
We have similar laws in CA, but can lock them in a case or lock them in luggage and be legal (or carry them unloaded and unconcealed). I suspect CO has similar language, but I couldn’t find it.
'Eff 'em.
I won't go where I can't transport, much less carry.
/johnny
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