First experience open carry, probably the last

[XDFender]

First order of action: Immediately contact an attorney in your jurisdiction and work with him/her to identify the best civil rights/tort lawyer in your jurisdiction, then hire that attorney;

Second order of action: Immediately after you have identified the appropriate attorney--but no later than in the next few days--file an official complaint with the officers' department (I hope you got their names--in any event, describe the events fully so that it will be clear which officers your complaint applies to);

Third order of action: Stick these right-violating, arrogant, badge-heavy fools who have discredited their uniform and office to the wall.

And I say all of that as someone who is probably as pro-LEO as anyone on this entire forum. I have volunteered countless hours working with various LE agencies across the country and will continue to do so. But I can assure you, there are too many--a minority, but too many nonetheless--who believe that their badge and gun give them the authority to enforce their "opinions" regardless of the law. And the best thing for LE generally and their agency specifically is for those types to be identified and rooted out. They are drunk on their power as an LEO and will only bring their agency discredit.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[ccroom]

In Ok our law says police officers can not take our fire arm to inspect it. When he pulled it out and said "is this a real gun" he was inspecting. See if your law is like ours.

[Timberline]

In Ok our law says police officers can not take our fire arm to inspect it. When he pulled it out and said "is this a real gun" he was inspecting. See if your law is like ours.

"inspecting"? ... sounds more like "confiscating"

[NavyLT]

John(OP),

Go to opencarry.org, the MN section and post your story there. If it is like Washington, you'll get about 10 guys/gals who would be more than happy to meet you over lunch/dinner and help you feel much more comfortable.

As to the posts about "just carry concealed and that won't happen", yep, Rosa Parks should have just sat in the back of the bus, too. She would have suffered a lot less hassle for not standing up for her rights. And heck, if I am not mistaken, she was even willing to stand up and do something that I believe was actually illegal at the time to exercise her RIGHTS! We are getting hassled for completely LEGAL behavior, but some of us are just willing to allow the abuse by police officers to just continue while we go and stick our wooly heads in the sand and pretend that our rights are not being eaten away at piece by piece.

[inspyrd]

If you decide to contact a lawer, I can give you the name of a guy that comes highly recommended in the carry community.

What city did this happen?

[plblark]

I suspect I have the same card in my wallet.
Please post about this on forum.twincitiescarry.com and mnguntalk.com

There was a similar incident at the Roseville Target a few months ago that while inconvenient, didn't end with guns drawn and eventually ended up with PD providing Roll Call training on the Carry law.

[joelr]

Could the OP give some more details, please? Time, city, PD, names of officers? When cops behave badly, it's probably best to name them -- and these did.

[Hopyard]

As others have pointed out, MN is an open carry state for those with a permit to carry, which allows cc or open.

The officers were in the wrong.

At a minimum, file a complaint. If this happened in a place with a small town newspaper, write the editor and publicly complain; visit the city manager and city attorney and complain. You don't need to confine your complaint to the police department itself.

I do think however, that you just learned how quickly and easily you can be overwhelmed and disarmed.

I would like the option to oc in Texas, but only to not have to worry about
clothing malfunctions.

[Landor]

I can relate to where you are coming from. Don't let them intimidate you. That's what they want. Every cause has to start somewhere. The more people open carry, the more the sheep will get use to it. In the end though we all have to do what we feel comfortable doing.

[Anubis]

I think it is a good idea to keep it covered.

Of course, it never would have happened had you been cc'ing......

Sorry, someone had to say it!

Not really. Perhaps you both missed "This is not a place to debate the virtues of open vs concealed carry." at the top of every page in this subforum.

[Precision]

let me tell you a brief version of a little event that happened to me.

I own a rental house. I met the termite guy out there to do his job. He left the front door open and I failed to notice.
My parents drove by a few days later and noticed the door open. They called me, I called the police to clear the house.
When the officer arrived, I showed him the courtesy of informing him I was armed by showing him my CCW license along with my DL, when he asked if I was the owner.

He freaked out to say the least. His eyes bulged and became saucer like, he backed up 5 feet and his hand hovered over his duty weapon. Then he demanded in a very loud voice that I disarm. I asked why. He again demanded that I disarm and stated that only he needed to be armed.

My parents were still there, so I retreated to their vehicle advised them to watch my gun as I disarmed. (all of this happened on the SIDEWALK in front of the house).

No one was in the house and eventually the cop left and I re-armed.

A few days later (after I cooled off), I went to the precinct and had a very polite discussion with the shift commander. Turns out the shift commander is a CCW trainer and strong 2A advocate and a very friendly if embarrassed man.
The net result. The entire department got a refresher course and the responding officer received extra CCW law training.

In your case, I would hire a lawyer and demand recompense as well as a formal apology from the officers, their leadership and it should be publicly done, preferably on the 6PM news. In my opinion, to do anything less is to encourage those with jackboot tendencies to continue unabated in their trampling of our rights. Not to mention that nothing makes a municipality or department take notice like a civil payout. If you don't want the money, donate it to JFPO or the NRA or something PRO-GUN related.

[David in FL]

Not really. Perhaps you both missed "This is not a place to debate the virtues of open vs concealed carry." at the top of every page in this subforum.

Main Entry: hu·mor
Pronunciation: \ˈhyü-mər, ˈyü-\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English humour, from Anglo-French umor, umour, from Medieval Latin & Latin; Medieval Latin humor, from Latin humor, umor moisture; akin to Old Norse vǫkr damp, Latin humēre to be moist, and perhaps to Greek hygros wet
Date: 14th century

1. That quality which appeals to a sense of the ludicrous or absurdly incongruous b: the mental faculty of discovering, expressing, or appreciating the ludicrous or absurdly incongruous c: something that is or is designed to be comical or amusing.


Having a tough Monday?

[mlr1m]

This could be a policy of the City or just the Police dept and not the officers. Unless you fight this you will never know. If it is allowed to go on your right is effectivly lost.

Michael

[ARothman]

As a Minnesotan who open carries, teaches carry classes and carry class instructors, and runs a nonprofit dedicated to carry rights, I'd dearly like to know which department's officer did this. You can contact me privately if you wish, here or at Minnesota Association of Defensive Firearm Instructors.

[retsupt99]

John Lock...note the above post from ARothman...contact him...I think it will be worth your time...