About a year and a half ago I was living with my father in St. Petersburg, FL while going to school at a local college. During spring break I decided to visit Orlando (my home town) to see my mother and visit some friends but I did not have a car at the time so I scheduled a trip on a Greyhound.
The bus was to leave St. Petersburg, stop for a layover in Tampa, and continue on to Orlando, where I would depart.
I had a suitcase full of clothes, school books, toiletries, etc. and a cased guitar with me and was carrying concealed IWB around 4 o'clock when I went to the bus stop to pick up my online-purchased ticket at the counter. The line was long and my suitcase weighed nearly 50 pounds so I decided to set it on the ground next to me. I figured while I was at it, I would rest my guitar case against my suitcase, but in order to do so I had to bend over in a precarious manner to position it it such a way as not to tip over.
Apparently, while I was bent at the waist, someone must have noticed me printing and notified an employee of the bus line. I boarded my bus without event and sat next to a nice old lady who was lonely and wanted to talk. She said she was on her way to MA to see her grandkids. Anyway, we arrived in Tampa and they told everyone to get off the bus and go stand in line to board again. I'm thinking, ***, that's kind of werid, but okay. So I grab my guitar and bag and get off the bus and get in line.
About five mintues later a security guard starts wanding people ahead of me, asking if they have any "dangerous weapons" and he's slowly working his way back in my direction. As this is happening I felt a huge adrenaline dump (don't know why), and was thinking of how best to deal with this situation.
When he got to me, he didn't even wave the metal detector around me, he just asked, "Sir, do you have any guns or knives?"
I said yes. HE asked which and I responded "both." At this point just about everyone in the line ahead of me gave me a funny look and one lady turned to her "baby daddy" and said, "he say yea."
The security officer asked me where the gun was and I informed him that I was carrying it in a holster in my waistband, whereupon he commanded me to hand it over slowly. I told him it wasn't going to work like that and I didn't feel comfortable disarming.
He then told me he was going to detain me while he called the police to have me arrested. IT was then that I produced my Concealed Weapon License and let him know that I was licensed to carry and familiar with Florida state law, which says that I can only be arrested for refusing to leave when asked to do so.
Long story short, I ended up having to call my mother in Orlando to come pick me up at the Tampa Marriot hotel because I couldn't board the bus to Orlando. HUGE inconvenience for both her and myself and then I had to hear the lecture from my stepfather: "Why do you need to carry a gun all the time anyway?"
