Posted on 09/09/2009 8:35:10 PM PDT by majstoll
examiner.com — On September 8, 2009, United States District Judge Bruce D. Black of the United States District Court for New Mexico entered summary judgment in a civil case for damages against Alamogordo, NM police officers. The Judge’s straight shootin’ message to police: Leave open carriers alone unless you have “reason to believe that a crime [is] afoot.” . . .
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
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Yahoo.....
Yahoo.....
YES!!!! Score one for the good guys!
I may have done something stupid about 20 years ago in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
After living in Minnesota for a while I was so sick of the lack of freedom there that when I got to New Mexico I wore my pistol all day while in town, even in the Kmart and the little stores. I thought it was legal at the time but now I’m not so sure.
New Mexico has some great gun laws, and every NM cop should have them memorized.
You were perfectly legal. In New Mexico you can carry open without a permit. You can carry a concealed firearm without a permit if it isn’t loaded. You can carry a concealed firearm in your vehicle without a permit, and you can carry a concealed firearm on your person with a permit.
It was legal; NM is an open-carry state.
Ping worthy! :D
I thought it was legal at the time but now I’m not so sure.
Why do you doubt it now? A federal judge just reaffirmed it. It was legal then and legal now.
Did I miss the sarcasm tag?
Good News!
I can use some this week
If it’s legal under New Mexico law, why did a federal judge have to make the call? Just asking.
Sorry, what I meant is that in recent years I have seen some things that indicate that it may not have been legal 20 years ago.
When I say legal or illegal then, I don’t mean that after doing the sentence and losing the pistol, that today I would read an article saying that I was wronged, I mean that it may have been prosecuted 20 years ago if I had come across a cop that day.
I just hope that the judge limits the award to what the officers can pay — and then mandates that the cops themselves pay it. NOT the NM taxpayers.
It needs to be clarified in their and other LEO minds that the fact that they have been issued a badge and a gun does NOT shield them from the consequences of illegal actions.
>If it’s legal under New Mexico law, why did a federal judge have to make the call? Just asking.
Because the police don’t know the law... and neither do a majority of citizens, sadly.
I’ve included the relevant sections of the State Constitution which state you were WELL within your rights, multiple ways, to be carrying openly.
NM State Constitution, Article 2 (Bill of Rights):
Sec. 1. [Supreme law of the land.]
The state of New Mexico is an inseparable part of the federal union, and the constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the land.
Sec. 4. [Inherent rights.]
All persons are born equally free, and have certain natural, inherent and inalienable rights, among which are the rights of enjoying and defending life and liberty, of acquiring, possessing and protecting property, and of seeking and obtaining safety and happiness.
Sec. 6. [Right to bear arms.]
No law shall abridge the right of the citizen to keep and bear arms for security and defense, for lawful hunting and recreational use and for other lawful purposes, but nothing
herein shall be held to permit the carrying of concealed weapons. No municipality or county shall regulate, in any way, an incident of the right to keep and bear arms. (As amended November 2, 1971 and November 2, 1986.)
Woo ha! That’s the way it should be.
That was probably what I was going on when I carried that day.
Outstanding.
In a land where the individual is preeminant and his/her inalienable right to defend themself against their fellow man is king, that is the only decision to logically reach.
The best defense for a citizen run amock amongst the public.....is another citizen armed and ready to defend themselve’s and their fellow man.
When he made a summary judgment for St. John (the plaintiff), he also denied qualified immunity to the officers.
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