From VCDL e-mail newsletter
Since carrying a gun is not illegal, a "man with a gun" call makes as much sense as a "man driving a car" call. There MUST be more information or the officers responding to such a call can end up needlessly endangering the lives of the very citizens they are supposed to be protecting.
This is a YouTube video of a guy who was pumping gas while OCing at a Sonoco gas station in Ohio about 5 minutes before the police video starts. Someone at the gas station apparently called 911 to report a "man with a gun." The cops pulled him over and ordered him out of the car at gunpoint with an AR-15. The guy asks the cops once he's in the back of the cruiser, "Did the person who called say the man with a gun was waving it around? Did they say he was touching or holding his gun in his hand?" The cop response is typical of what you seen on countless YouTube open carry stop videos: "Well, we don't get that much information. All we hear over our radios is "man with a gun."
It seems like this problem of police overreacting or even reacting at all by stopping someone for OCing could be avoided if 911 operators were simply required to ask people calling in about a "man with a gun" whether the man was waving it around or threatening someone with it, or if it was just in a holster. If dispatchers were then required to convey this crucial information to police in the field, there would be no reason for police to even stop OCers at all, since the 911 call would confirm that nothing illegal was going on. Is it possible to get the General Assembly to pass a law *requiring* 911 operators to ask these questions on man with a gun calls and then for police dispatchers to relay it to officers in the field before a decision is made about whether to make a stop?
This is a great memo from a PD in California. This is exactly the point of open carrying and exercising one's rights during an OC stop. I like that they are requiring their dispatchers to specifically inform officers of what the person is alleged to be doing with the gun so they can differentiate between OC and "man with a gun" calls, and respond accordingly.
I would go a step further and require that 911 operators inform "man with a gun" callers that OC is legal if a person is not brandishing or threatening people with their gun. These calls shouldn't even be forwarded to the police dispatcher in the first place.
Source: http://californiaopencarry.org/
Since carrying a gun is not illegal, a "man with a gun" call makes as much sense as a "man driving a car" call. There MUST be more information or the officers responding to such a call can end up needlessly endangering the lives of the very citizens they are supposed to be protecting.
This is a YouTube video of a guy who was pumping gas while OCing at a Sonoco gas station in Ohio about 5 minutes before the police video starts. Someone at the gas station apparently called 911 to report a "man with a gun." The cops pulled him over and ordered him out of the car at gunpoint with an AR-15. The guy asks the cops once he's in the back of the cruiser, "Did the person who called say the man with a gun was waving it around? Did they say he was touching or holding his gun in his hand?" The cop response is typical of what you seen on countless YouTube open carry stop videos: "Well, we don't get that much information. All we hear over our radios is "man with a gun."
It seems like this problem of police overreacting or even reacting at all by stopping someone for OCing could be avoided if 911 operators were simply required to ask people calling in about a "man with a gun" whether the man was waving it around or threatening someone with it, or if it was just in a holster. If dispatchers were then required to convey this crucial information to police in the field, there would be no reason for police to even stop OCers at all, since the 911 call would confirm that nothing illegal was going on. Is it possible to get the General Assembly to pass a law *requiring* 911 operators to ask these questions on man with a gun calls and then for police dispatchers to relay it to officers in the field before a decision is made about whether to make a stop?
This is a great memo from a PD in California. This is exactly the point of open carrying and exercising one's rights during an OC stop. I like that they are requiring their dispatchers to specifically inform officers of what the person is alleged to be doing with the gun so they can differentiate between OC and "man with a gun" calls, and respond accordingly.
I would go a step further and require that 911 operators inform "man with a gun" callers that OC is legal if a person is not brandishing or threatening people with their gun. These calls shouldn't even be forwarded to the police dispatcher in the first place.
Source: http://californiaopencarry.org/