Man Hassled at the polls for legally OCing

[lildobe]

http://www.pafoa.org/forum/concealed-open-carry-121/11309-hassled-polls-ocing.html

This is an excellent example of how L.E. can really come down on you hard, even if you aren't doing anything wrong.

The long and short of it...

The Poster was legally open carrying a firearm and was confronted by a State Constable about it. After a calm and reasonable back-and-forth, the constable admitted that the OP was well within his rights to open carry at the polls.

A few days later, the local sheriff revoked his CWP.

He is now in the process of fighting this, but I wanted to spread the word around a bit.[/b]

[CA CCWInstructor]

Guns and Polling places are not allowed. This goes back a long way in the days of voter intimidation.

[lildobe]

Not according to the laws here in PA... I can't find the actual law online right now, but the basic interpretation is that the no firearms restriction in PA only applies to LEOs. Even the Constable agreed with him on this after reading the regulation straight out of his reference book, according to the post.

[VegasGeorge]

Having the right to do a thing is very different from doing the right thing.

I am a strong believer in exercising my rights. However, I'm also a strong believer in acting in a judicious manner. I have a great deal of respect for the rights of others. I know that many folks are timid about seeing a gun being openly carried. In the supermarket, or around town, I consider that to be their problem. In a polling place, however, I would consider that to be my problem. As an American, one of my responsibilities is to make sure that I do nothing to interfere with others exercising their right to vote. However irrational it might be, the chance that my gun would frighten, or intimidate other voters would be sufficient to dissuade me from carrying openly at the polls. In my opinion, the fellow in the story should have carried concealed if legal, or left his gun behind when he entered the polling place.

Now, just to take the position of the Devil's advocate, I must say that I did notice that the only person complaining about the open carry was the constable. If it wasn't actually bothering other voters, I don't know why the constable would make such an issue about it. I sounds to me as if this might have been a case of a man invested with more authority than good judgment.

[lildobe]

I must say that I did notice that the only person complaining about the open carry was the constable. If it wasn't actually bothering other voters, I don't know why the constable would make such an issue about it. I sounds to me as if this might have been a case of a man invested with more authority than good judgment.

If you read way further down the thread (I think 6 or 8 pages in...) you'll find that no one at the poling place even gave him a second glance. All of the workers who were there were happy to assist him, and none of the other patrons even mentioned it.

So I'd say it was jsut someone trying to exercise the very VERY limited authority he had been given.

State Constables in PA have very little authority. They must buy all of their own equipment and uniforms, cannot carry guns unless they are Act 235 Certified (Lethal Weapons certification, mandatory for all privately employed persons who utilize any type of a lethal weapon in the performance of their work) can only "arrest" you if they witness you committing a crime, and then must wait for State or Local LE's to cart you away to jail, and they CANNOT affect traffic stops. Basically all they do is serve court papers and provide security at polling places.

So, in essence, they are a step above a Rent-A-Cop.