Posted on 05/20/2010 8:35:55 PM PDT by marktwain
A group of gun-rights activists on Tuesday protested an open-carry ban in the City of Taylor by wearing guns to a City Council meeting, an open violation of the ordinance they say is at odds with state law.
The Detroit News reports roughly 20 people, handguns holstered at the hip, attended the meeting to stand up for their Second Amendment rights and urge the council to revisit their ordinance.
"All we're doing is following the law like were supposed to be doing. We're law-abiding citizens," said Scott Webb, a member of Michigan Open Carry Inc. "This is the public way of putting it on record to the city of Taylor that we are formally asking you to abide by state law to change these ordinances so you are not misleading the public."
As The News-Herald reported this weekend in anticipation of the protest, Michigan law allows any person who is over the age of 18 and does not have a criminal record to carry a holstered firearm in public, except at a bank, church, court, theater, sports arena, day care center, hospital, bar or federal facility.
But the Taylor ordinance indicates that "no person shall use, carry or possess firearms of any description" or they'll be confiscated and could be sold at auction.
The Mayor, City Clerk and Police Chief have said the ordinance was on the books long before they took office and is under review.
We have trained our officers, who know what the new standards and rules are with the open-carry law, Police Chief Dale Tamsen told the News-Herald. We are aware of the laws and, obviously, well do what we legally have to do.
(Excerpt) Read more at mlive.com ...
That alone is BS.
Agree.
Where has Violence struck in the Past?
Churchs=In the South during the Civil Rights Struggle.
Theatre= Lincoln Asassination.
Day Care Center = Detroit, Jewish Day Care in California
I am sure there are other Examples I leave them for others to fill In.
These so called exceptions to the Second Amendment are nothing more than Victim Disarmament Zones.
Michigan has total state preemption of local gun ordinances for years. All they could do would be to remove their local law from the books, or at least announce that it cannot be enforced.
It's really no problem. The cities and the state can still hassle you with innovative application of other ordinances that do not mention guns, but have the same effect.
Although open carry is the law of the state, it's one that the politicians and police actively ignore, and do their best to dissuade you. If lucky, you'll get friendly "advice" not to try it again. Not so lucky, and it's an armed take-down followed by a trip in handcuffs to the local station, where it will take them all night to realize you were right all along, just no too smart. Then you get your weapon back, and the "friendly advice" speech.
When "shall issue" for concealed carry became law, all the police chiefs and county prosecutors announced their plans for ignoring the law. Until they looked at all the lawsuits that were already locked and loaded, waiting for them to try. Now, after all these years, Detroit follows the law grudgingly, while for most other counties, it's no big deal, one way or the other.
In Michigan, it is best to carry a couple copies of this in your pocket if you open carry.
http://www.mcrgo.org/mcrgo/doc_pdf/msp_legal_update_opencarry.pdf
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