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Old 06-17-2012, 11:56 PM   #1
Stigator
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LEO & Open carry

Hello,

This is mainly for the Delaware LEO's. I was wondering whats your take on the right to openly carry a firearm? Have any of you dealt with this situation before? How do you handle it? Also are most DSP AND NCCPD Officers aware of the right to open carry?

Thank you,
Chris
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Old 06-20-2012, 12:06 PM   #2
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Many people don't know this, but the right to open carry a firearm in Delaware is legal. This is assuming you are legally allowed to own a firearm.

However, I DO NOT recommend doing it. You will attract negative attention, and Police will soon show up.

I dealt with this for the first time ever just a couple months ago. To make a long story short, two guys were walking down a major roadway here in Delaware. One had a handgun on his hip (plain view) and the other had a very large knife on his hip (plain view). We received numerous 911 calls and I was the first on scene. Considering I have no idea who these guys are and their intentions, I removed the weapons from them. They questioned why I was there and whatnot and I answered. After talking to them and checking their ID's, they were legit and their handgun checked out. We explained that it's not a good idea to carry weapons in plain view...think about it, COPS don't even do it. They seemingly wanted to do it to simply see what kind of attention they attracted...and they quickly learned. In fact, the guys handgun wasn't even loaded! They got their weapons back and continued to walk home (about 5 minutes away). We even got 3 more 911 calls on their quick walk home.

Legal? Yes. Do I recommend it? Absolutely not. In fact, don't be surprised to be drawn down on if you do it. We take no chances and are perfectly justified in doing so.

All Delaware Police Officers should be aware of the open carry law.

If you want to protect yourself I recommend taking the course and obtaining a CCW.
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Old 11-18-2012, 03:50 PM   #3
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Wigwag,

Thank you for your response, but I still have a few questions. I respect your answer and wanted to go into the oc issue a little more. I'm a little confused about your statement. You acknowledged that oc is perfectly legal, but you also recommended that it should not be done because officers could draw their weapons on you. I'm not a lawyer and I understand that you are giving me your experience with the subject, but what would your reasonable suspicion be in order to stop someone for OCing? As I understand, an officer would need to witness you in the act of something suspicious or illegal to stop you. As stated before oc is legal, so they would be legally going about their business. Again I'm not looking to start any arguments or undermine your answer, but I'm still somewhat confused. My over all goal is to make oc comfortable for both law enforcement and civilians alike.

Thank you again
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Old 11-19-2012, 07:10 PM   #4
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I'm as Pro 2nd Amendment as you can get and I'm also as anti OC as you can get.

Keep it concealed

And for the love of christ don't be the guy that goes out looking to cause a confrontation then be surprised when one happens

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Old 11-20-2012, 12:05 PM   #5
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Thank you for your input Bane. I would still like to bring up a few points. You say you are pro second amendment, but are you not pro 4th amendment? I try to have this discussion with any officer that is willing to talk about it, many have different opinions then wigwag and yourself, some feel the same as you do. You also stated you are anti open carry. Do you open carry when on duty? Assuming yes, why? There is obviously an advantage to oc.

1) As for an unwanted confrontation, I beleive the officer is the one prevoking this. If a Leo stops someone only for open carry then they are 1) unaware of the laws or 2) they are aware of open carry, but still feel the need to harass civilians.

A good example of this is driving a car. Not everyone that is driving a car is allowed to for one reason or another. This does not give police the right to stop every car on the road unless they witness the driver doing something illegal. Why would this be any different for open carry?

2) I don't believe my 2nd or 4th amendment rights are a game. In fact I open carry because I have to pay money and be approved to conceal and it is free to open carry, this process also takes several months. With all the crime in my area there is no way for an officer to be on every street corner in order to stop these crimes from happening.

Thank you again for your input, I respect your opinion, but I also strongly disagree. Oc is becoming more and more popular, I am hoping that the police start to realize that open carriers are law abiding people, that don't want to be harrassed by criminals or law enforcement. We are supposed to be on the same team.
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