We have what is called a Shall Issue concealed weapons permit law. That is, if you ask for one and are a citizen, not a felon, and not insane, you MUST be issued the permit. They have a blank on the form asking why you want the permit. I wrote "Because" in mine. A friend left his blank. We both got our permits.
You have the right to open carry without a permit, but in cases like this, they could arrest you or ask you to leave the area for "menacing" or some such thing as it could be seen as initmidation. I think that is what you're getting at.
In my ideal world, in this situation, they would have been asked to present their concealed weapons permits and when they were shown to be valid, I would have left them to their business, provided the officers assessment of the situation was that they were not going to cause trouble. They were not breaking any laws. I probably would have left an officer or two there to make sure things stayed in order, but I certainly saw no reason to detain them.
I reserve the right to change this should more information come out to contradict what has been told so far.
Thanks for the info - I live in California.