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i happen to be one of the men who was pulled out of the restaurant that night, scaring the bejesus out of my g/f and our kids. i'll start by saying that i'm not in the habit of carrying openly often; i'm still a little uncomfortable with it, but i shouldn't be made to feel like a criminal if i choose to carry that way.
i'm not a cop basher. i have a deep respect for any person who puts on a uniform, and willingly steps into harms way for the public. my problem is with overzealous, ignorant LEOs who ignore the law they are supposed to uphold and enforce, while making up their own laws as they go along. this is what Dickson City police did. they demanded one man to produce a paper ID, which is not required by state law (Commonwealth v. Hawkins). they confiscated his BUG, because it wasn't "registered" in PA (there is no state registry). they threatened to arrest his wife who was recording the incident on digital video; she was told that her recording violated "the wire tapping act, which is a federal offense," and that her camera would be confiscated and that she'd join her husband in jail while her kids were taken away. they broke law after law after law that night. they scared the heck out of a lot of children, humiliated alot of parents, and scraed off any witnesses who otherwise might have been thinking of legally obtaining a firearm. they basically ruined everyone's night.
police from other local PDs arrived as backup, but when they arrived, were irritated for having their time wasted on such nonsense. one officer i talked to asked why we were doing this. i told him that this wasn't some sort of protest, or to get publicity, which it wasn't. this was simply a get together of local gun owners. as a group, we hold these gatherings throughout PA; this was the first one i've been able to make it to. from what others have told me, this was the very first time they were ever hassled by LEOs. we talked for a minute or two more, then he said "good for you guys. i hope everything works out for you."
some might say that the problems started because of people who refused to show ID. others might say the simple act of OC started the problem. i respectfully disagree. one of the LEOs in question asked the restaurant manager what the problem was. she herself replied "there was no problem until you guys showed up." what happened that night was harrassment, plain and simple. they did not quietly pull any of us to the side and ask us to step outside, they were not professional, nor were they courteous. they walked in, looked around, pointed at me and others, and demanded we step outside to have a discussion. when i myself asked what was the problem, one officer said "i'm not discussing anything in here. you, and anyone else here who's armed needs to get outside right now, so we can straighten all this out. let's go." he said it in a tone and volume that managed to start my daughters crying out of fear. i've always taught my kids that the police are the good guys, and that they're here to help you, and that you should never be afraid of them. thanks to two jerks, ahem, officers, my kids are faced with a problem: either police are good, and daddy did something bad, or daddy didn't do anything bad, and the police are bad. i found myself having to defend the officers to my kids by saying "well, honey, they're not bad, they just didn't know they law too good," to which my 5 year old replied, "but don't police peoples supposed to know the laws?"
can't argue with that, can i?
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