Gun Reports - News
California Man Open Carries, Gets Booted from Store
January 29, 2010
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MERCURYNEWS.COM--A news report in a San Jose, Calif., newspaper says that a man apparently inspired by Open Carry gun activists strolled into an East Palo Alto supermarket with a handgun on his hip Wednesday and began shopping for groceries, police said.
The store manager at Mi Pueblo Food Center in the Ravenswood 101 shopping complex alerted police after patrons became frightened, said East Palo Alto police Sgt. Roderick Norris.
About four officers responded and found the man with an unloaded, holstered handgun on his hip and a loaded magazine in his pocket shopping in the store. Police determined he hadn't broken any laws, but the store manager asked him to leave, Norris said.
"Each business has the prerogative not to serve anyone that they want," Norris said. "He's not part of any group or organization according to him. He just wanted to exercise his rights. I guess he ... saw on TV that it was legal to do so."
The man, who lives in Redwood City, later apologized to police and said "he didn't really think it out," Norris added.
Open Carry advocates have made headlines in recent weeks for displaying unloaded, holstered guns in public places around the Bay Area. The group has said it wants every state to legalize carrying loaded guns in public.
California Penal Code bars carrying concealed weapons without a county-issued license but says it isn't a crime to openly display a firearm in a belt holster. However, it remains illegal for the gun to be loaded in most cases.
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_14282441
Reader Comments
"He's not part of any group or organization according to him."
All that fuss for nothing. He just casually walked into a flock of sheep and sent them bleating in every direction. All he succeeded in doing was get himself targeted and hassled by cops and store management in one of the most antigun locales in the entire USA, the San Francisco Bay Area. He did nothing to further The Cause, he didn't join with a like-minded group, he didn't have a button, sign, or business cards to promote his point of view, and he didn't have any materials to educate the sheep or train the cops.
This is a clear demonstration of the axiom that just because you own a gun doesn't mean you're armed. Being armed is a great deal more than just carrying a firearm, whether open or concealed. It means training in social and political action, as well as gun handling, target acquisition, and spatial awareness.
What a shame. What a lost opportunity.
Gaviota
Gaviota, I completely agree with you. We do not need foolish, ill thought out actions.
Lee, I have to say that I love the thought and the vision of all those ignorant, blind sheep scurrying and "bleating in every direction." I'm laughing so hard I can hardly type this!They deserved every second of their horror!!
If the "man" was "inspired by Open Carry gun activists" then it is likely that he belongs to one or more gun rights organizations. So, if I understand you correctly, the "man's" only mistake was to not identify with such entities while in the store? Because that's how I see it.
Hmm, I suppose this would be an effective way to move towards the front of the "check-out" line on a busy day. And then the police show up and carry your groceries out to the car for you. It's odd how this guy didn't receive any of these benefits. What a wasted trip...
gunsdontkill - Could be he belongs to an org or two, but it didn't say so in the story. In fact, the cop who spoke to the press said: That's what made me think that he wasted a golden opportunity to advance gun rights in the San Fran area. If I intended to do that, I'd have brochures, buttons, cards, stickers, and whatever else I could carry to educate, inform, train, and reassure everyone, that I was on the up & up, peaceable, and no threat, just out minding my own business and being a good citizen, that it was actually safer with me around, armed, than not.
Not that it would do any good in East Palo Alto. Those people are doomed anyway.
Gaviota
Cool, thanks Lee.
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