Gun owner says pistol at Hanover theater not a message(open carry)

The man who attracted local attention when he carried a pistol into a Hanover theater Monday night said his actions had nothing to do with the gunman in Colorado three days before that killed 12 movie-goers and wounded 58.

Ryan Ruby, 27, of Littlestown, said he wasn't trying to make a point or draw attention to himself when he went to see "The Dark Knight Rises" openly carrying his pistol. For him, he said, it was habit.

Ruby said he's been carrying a firearm openly for about two years. He goes to the movie theater in Hanover at least once a month, and the gun has been visible there before without any problems, he said.

But R/C Hanover Movies Manager Chris Young said if Ruby has carried a weapon before, no one ever noticed it. Young said the gun was obvious, visibly tucked into Ruby's waistband, which is why the theater took action.

"I'm not judging him one way or another, but we have a heightened sense of awareness right now," Young said. He added that in his 11 years working at the theater, he has never encountered an incident like this.

The theater called police on Monday night to report a man with a firearm. Hanover Police responded but said the man was breaking no laws and the theater had no policy against firearms. Police did not identify Ruby, who called The Evening Sun on Thursday because, he said, he wanted to tell his side of the story.

Young said the theater was being extra careful after a man opened fire early Friday morning at a midnight showing of the same Batman movie in an Aurora, Colo. theater. Accused of the crime is James Holmes, 24, who police have said legally purchased and stockpiled weapons.

The exercise of a constitutional right is its own purpose. Rights that are not exercised are lost.

Funny you should say that in a country where:
People are afraid to speak freely about Obama because those who do are attacked as "racists",
The press allows the White House to edit or approve quotes as a condition of attending press conferences,
Citizens (subjects?) are ordered by the government to violate their deeply held religious beliefs if they wish to conduct business as a pharmacist, a nurse, a doctor, a fast food restaurant serving chicken sandwiches, or even an HVAC contractor employing more than 50 workers.
Citizens are ordered by the courts to rent to couples who flaunt their violation of religious beliefs, ordered to make "wedding" cakes celebrating actions that they consider a violation of God's Word or to pay tens of thousands of dollars in fines if they refuse, and otherwise compelled to associate with those they choose not to deal with, despite their personal preferences,
Liberal bastions systematically violate the fundamental, God-given human right to keep and bear arms,
Unreasonable searches and seizures have become routine, with government-sponsored groping by TSA at airports, millions (literally) of "emergency" warrantless searches of our Internet activity and our GPS locations transmitted by our cell phones annually,
The young are being forced into medical insurance that they do not want, devout Christians are similarly forced to include unwanted coverage in their insurance in order to subsidize others, a stealth mechanism of taking private property for public use, without just compensation,
And in summary, the only part of the Bill of Rights that is respected by this reprehensible White House is the Third Amendment on quartering soldiers in our homes, at least for now.

Agreed. But a gun tucked in his waist so it’s visible, at “Dark Knight”, after a mass murder, with a country full of wussies doesn’t work. Use some common sense and “conceal”.

So you disagree, but you say "agreed" in order to feel better about it?

In most places "the right to bear arms" is restricted to open carry, and a license is required to conceal. So the guy is right. And, the "unease" felt by the "wussies" can only be resolved when they get THEIR minds right about the potential for guns around them.

If you can't trust the guy sitting next to you with open carry, then the logical conclusion is can't trust anyone in the theater who may be carrying for good or ill and you MUST insist that TSA frisk everyone in the theater. This guy's doing everyone a favor, to make them think about their inconsistency if nothing else.

I agree with the other posters, that while my first inclination would be to CC (though it is my preferred way of carrying), Civil Rights are too essential for “niceties”.

“Honey, why did you let police officers inspect our house?”

“Well, they knocked, then they asked if they could search our home looking for any evidence implicating us in a crime. They did it so politely, I just had to let them in. It would have been rude to say no.”

There *must* be a public realization that guns are a Civil Right *everywhere*, and *all the time*. That these rights are *not* the product of government and the law, *nor* of the “social sanction” of the public mood and opinion, the unwritten law.

Those rights are inherent, and can never be taken away, only suspended in the case of severe mental illness or felony conviction, comparable only to the right to vote as being inalienable. And you see how ferociously the right to vote is defended.

“You can’t vote in this election, because in the last election, *your* kind voted for the wrong candidate.”

A statement guaranteed to make most Americans enraged.

Not trying to be critical of you Albie, but I do disagree.

Frankly I’d rather conceal or holster on my belt, but if this guy wants to carry it in his waste band, that’s his choice. I support his choice.

Sounds like the officers waited until the show was over to check him out, and did so in a respectful manner. I think that was reasoned.

I find no fault here.

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