Well, it will be interesting to see how it plays out, and it seems the biggest point of contention on this thread is whether or not the sidewalk is school property, public property, school property but void of restrictions as it's a public area, etc.
Seems to me that regardless of whether this guys is technically on the right side of the law or not, that he's on the right side of the ethical CCW experience, and we should all take notice of the fact that there is even a debate about his situation.
To those that say it isn't a gun issue, I disagree, it may not have started out as a gun issue, and maybe shouldn't have escalated into one, but it is one now. Granted, there is still the original issue of whether or not he was on public property, and whether or not he had a legal right to refuse the officers 'request' or 'order' to go across the street. That is a legal question in and of itself. However, now that the gun is in play, there is also a related, but separate GUN ISSUE now.
The bottom line, to me, is all this gray area regarding where citizens can legally carry. I live on the border of NC and SC, so I have to keep up w/ two sets of state laws for firearms in general, let alone transporting and carrying legally, let alone the laws governing the actual USE of said weapons, i.e. self defense, etc.
So this issue is of particular interest and annoyance to me. In my case, I'm faced with daily annoyances that affect my ability to carry and or conceal on my person or in my vehicle, a defense firearm, in order to perform daily functions. Forget all the government buildings and courthouses for a second, just look at daily places for common people, schools and restaurants.
I work, I eat, I get my daughter from school, I eat, and start all over again.
So, since I'm no chef, if someone's not cooking for me, I'm likely going to eat out or on the go. I'm long since tired of fast food, and if possible prefer to eat the best restaurant equivalent of 'real food' whenever possible, be it for lunch or dinner.
Then, on the days I get my daughter from school, that usually means the wife is unavailable, working etc., which then means I'm responsible for the nourishment of not only myself, but the little one too. If I won't/can't cook ( try but have a limited menu of creations that get old fast, so at some point have to resort to other options) for myself, then I really need help to feed the two of us.
So, not only can I not carry to pick up my daughter, but I can't carry in many of the restaurants here because they also happen to sell beer. So, that's the basic outline, but now you try to figure out how to work with the law, while still protecting you and yours. So, my laws say I can't carry at the school, so I leave the weapon in the car, am I ok in the parking lot, or do I have to park across the street? So what if you go to a restaurant and don't realize they even sell beer, there's no liquor sign in the window, there's nothing you can see from the outside to tell you whether or not they sell alcohol, so you have to leave the firearm behind to be on the safe side, or you have to go inside and see if they sell, potentially breaking the law in the process.
So, let's say you're in your own car, try to obey the law, now I have to discretely from young child's view, and from public passerby view, remove my weapon from it's legally concealed position, handle a loaded weapon, and proceed to conceal it in the vehicle, so I may exit vehicle and enter establishment. So, you're risking scaring someone seeing you handle your weapon and then causing an issue, you're risking becoming a target of personal or property crime if a criminal sees you disarm, and leave your weapon behind. We all know gun crimes are committed with, for the most part, stolen weapons, but yet while the law makers complain that too many accessible guns equal too many stolen guns to later be used in other crimes, they write laws forcing us to leave said weapons behind to be stolen from our homes and vehicles when we're away, and leaving us unprotected in the process.
And what if you're not in your own car, maybe riding with someone, or walking, or whatever. You're hungry, or with people that or going into a restaurant, but you're carrying. Concealed is supposed to be concealed right, but now you have to choose to break the law, have an uncomfortable (for some) conversation w/ whoever you're with about why you can't go there, or leave your firearm in their car, or the other example you have no car, there's no where to leave it. I'm just saying it's way too complicated, for seemingly no real benefit to anyone for having these laws. And as for the school thing, in the states where the law extends to the school's property, sidewalk, street, parking lot, x number of feet, or whatever, what is anyone, faculty, parent, or otherwise, supposed to do to protect themselves to and from work, even if they're in agreement to not carry 'into' the school. Let alone the popular theory here (which I agree with) that having legal CCW in schools for legal permit holders would pose a serious deterrent to the psychos that plot to reak havock in these 'gun free zones'
Then there's countless threads in multiple states about the 'signs' whether you're state has special signs that really mean no CCW, or whether your state can say any scribbled sign is valid saying no CCW, and people argue over the rights of property owners, whether they can restrict you from the store for carrying, and whether there is a crime involved or not.
I think we should all work to have all the 'gun free zones' eliminated, and any time there's someone caught in any gray area like this, we should support them to the extent we can, unless they've given us cause not to, and cite these examples to their local officials and media, as well as our own, that these restrictions are not logical, don't serve anyone's best interests, and complicate legal citizen's lives to the point that they will either risk the citizen's lives by not allowing them protection, or by ruining their lives by getting caught in a technical infraction of a law they were trying to obey.
Regards,
Karz