Being searched at the door

[Ghost Tracker]

I was searched as a College Student to get into the infield at the Ky Derby. It was to assure we weren't smuggling any alcohol, 'cause they insisted that we buy & drink...THEIR alcohol! Being resourceful, I filled a quart-size ziplock baggie with dark rum & taped it to the front of my upper leg. The lady doing hundreds (thousands?) of fast security pat-downs hit the bag and asked to see what it was. I pulled up the cuff of my cargo shorts and showed her the corner of the vinyl bag filled with dark liquid, explaining it was my colostomy bag & asking if she wanted a confirming sniff. She patted my shoulder, said "You poor, poor boy. My Uncle has to wear one of those things." & she waved me past.

Since then I've had MUCH better (re: more expensive) seats at The Derby. I've never been searched. But somehow the drinks haven't tasted quite as good as those contraband Rum & Cokes.

 

[LiquidTension]

House of Blues in Myrtle Beach and whatever the big arena is in Charlotte are the only ones I can recall. Both used wands.

 

[Armored farmer]

Not long after 911, my family was in St Louis at the Arch. They had security checkpoint before you could go inside the Arch complex. I had to empty my pockets. When the security guy saw my old pocketworn Case Copperlock, he gave me the go-ahead nod. I have always wondered if a had a more offensive type of knife, if I would have been refused admission.
With that thought in mind, whenever I go somewhere that I might get searched.....I carry a SAK or Leatherman rather than a large-blade assist opening lockblade.

....just my $.02

 

[JVaughn]

Well, to me it is just bad customer service to search your patrons before you allow them into your place of business. Cruises are particularly distressing for me because they are taking you out of the US territory to foriegn lands. Who is protecting the passengers in the case of civil unrest in the foriegn country you are visiting? Does Captian Stubing have a seal team somewhere in the lower decks of the boat just keeping the passengers safe? That's why I told the wife that a cruise was off the table for vacation ideas for us.

 

[MedWheeler]

Several years ago, I was visiting a courthouse to be deposed in a civil case, and was X-rayed as I passed through. As my "metals" were returned to me, I volunteered to the officer that he stow the "pen" I carried until I returned to claim it. It was actually a pepper-spray weapon. He was impressed with it and told me he would have allowed it through.
My wife and I were checked pretty thoroughly at the Kennedy Space Center. She had a nice nail-care set with her I had bought her, and ended up having to return it to our car, which was almost parked in a different ZIP code, to avoid having to surrender it.
Now, here's one of the stranger ones: When I was 21, just before I got hired as a LEO, I was delivering pizzas full-time for a living. There was a port near the area that hosted a 475-foot gambling ship that, in addition to "day cruises to nowhere", made two trips each week to Grand Bahama Island. Before its midnight return those nights, several people on board would call us and order pies to have when they got back. It got to be so many that I would just back my truck of to the gangway, drop the tailgate, and start calling out names. However, one night, I only had two orders, and one had been delivered to a home before I arrived at the boat. After completing the boat delivery, I tossed the "hot bag" back into the truck bed and headed out. I'd gotten barely a mile outside the port entrance when I noticed a car bearing down on me fast, with a single blue beacon on the dash and alternate-flashing headlights pulsing away. I pulled to the side, and it dropped in behind me. A voice over a PA speaker bellowed: "United States Customs.. stay in your vehicle!" Two guys who could have walked off the set of Miami Vice (this was in 1987) approached me, badges swinging from their necks, and one told me "we just saw you come off the ship back there with a satchel, and we'd like to know what's in it." Though my truck had no signage, I was in uniform, and the company's logo was on the bag. I showed it to them, and even told them "it even smells like pizza. We're here just about every night they come in." They were satisfied, and I was released within a minute or two.
But, I was glad they didn't check the other "hot bag" on the right-front seat. That one, which had held the other order delivered to a shady neighborhood, still held my Taurus M66, which I had sometimes slipped under the order inside the bag as I approached houses in rougher neighborhoods. Though it was legal in the bag on the seat, it was not so on port property.

 

[armoredman]

but if you are too afraid to leave it behind once in awhile you should think about why.

Come work a prison yard with me sometime and lets talk about fear. I choose to be armed whenever and wherever I can, because I KNOW who's out there - we let them out on parole last week, court order.

MedWheeler, I wish more pizza delivery guys WOULD carry; that can be a dangerous job.

 

[Strykervet]

Okay. In WA, it is pretty clear in the law. Our law has to be read like it is written --without getting into politics, it is one of the reasons I just stayed here. No MG's, SBR-S but hey, I get by.

Anyway, here as I understand it they have to provide a check in. If I get jury duty for instance (there is a thread about exactly this in Tacoma a year ago) they have to check my weapon. There is no weapons check in the Capitol, and so the last I heard you can carry in there. Nobody really goes there much anyway.

I can't carry in "establishments that make X revenue to alcohol sales" which I interpret as "you know a bar when you see one". So drinking at a restaurant and carrying is okay, but not at a bar (I don't drink to intoxication, so leave that out please). Now if you go to a "club" which is basically a bar + meat market (what we called 'em a decade ago) and they do scans, then yeah, they can bar you from entering. They are well within the law.

Also, "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone for any reason", an old racist or possibly Jim Crow law (at least in roots, don't argue with me here --been all over and those antique signs were VERY popular where I grew up, as were old black/white bathrooms that are now men/women!) is now interpreted to be just as it says. So I suppose they can scan at doors and I can disarm and enter or screw off. I screw off. I agree --I DO NOT submit to any scan I don't want to WITHOUT A WARRANT. Waiting to see how that pans out with TSA when someone challenges it --it is a sticky area because they are doing warrantless searches AND the weapon is banned, but only from secure areas. I carry at the airport evertime I go, just not past the security points. Just too easy to throw you junk on the check-in counter. They tend not to lose that stuff so easy, and I carried an M4, a DPMS AR10, and a few handguns all in one case.

I can't carry in federal buildings or on federal property. So not in the VA hospital (try REAL hard to stay away from there and arms have nothing to do with it) or Post Office, which my rural one actually overlooks CC. I know because I've seen it done --but start some BS in there and you are looking at 25yrs. City PO may not be so forgiving, but I also don't think they'd dime you out. The VA would in a heartbeat. I've had a doctor that knew I carried pull some BS about checking my BP (he already had the rig there and everything, over seven years it is VERY unusual and I've never seen this doc do it before or since). He figured I had my pistol on though. I didn't, but I figured I knew how to play games better than he did, after all I studied in math analysis, statistics, philosophy, and have a penchant for game theory. I also had on an Underarmor shirt and know enough about medicine to know I don't need to take that off. So I walked away with a smile, he walked away beaten (and this doc does NOT like being beaten at his own games). Man, the VA and their games.

You know what? That is about all I can think of. I may be missing one, I think I am, but I'm pretty sure I have it covered. I have it covered to my own extent anyway.

I really feel for you folks that have businesses that can deny you your rights by hanging a sign in the door. So, so sorry.

Oh yeah, OC laws are a little different, for instance your car is NOT treated as you house here. It should though, you'd be surprised how many folks live out of autos here, mostly RV's, campers and such. But usually when I OC, it is in protest and I am showing up with others on a date, like Starbucks, Ground Zero Spanaway, on Feb. 14. There are other OC regulations I think too.

I have always wondered though, what about banks? I've heard they are federally insured and that you can't carry because of this. I ignore this one, banks don't have security. I did bank security (well, UL listed alarms, same deal, same vaults) and I'm saying it from experience. In our state law, it doesn't list them, and if it is federal it won't. This has always been my biggest grey area.

For the time being, I carry in banks. I'm not there to rob 'em, if I wanted the money I know how to cripple their alarm(s) and do it at night --but be quick! I figure if I needed it in a bank, unless something went horribly wrong that the folks there would be grateful. But I go very seldom.

 

[blarby]

The house decides what money is spent and what is not, not the President. Unless he is a socialist who ignores the Constitution.

Executive order is a pretty special privilege.........

 

[Strykervet]

Come work a prison yard with me sometime and lets talk about fear. I choose to be armed whenever and wherever I can, because I KNOW who's out there - we let them out on parole last week, court order.

MedWheeler, I wish more pizza delivery guys WOULD carry; that can be a dangerous job.

Pizza delivery guy invented the modern body armor, no?

Now for parolees... Some of those guys have it in for you, some want to get away. I knew a crack kingpin in TX that was busted, but went to the block he previously guarded. With a heavy fist. You ain't Bruce Wayne, so I'd recommend you refrain from his way of doing things. I also wouldn't want your job for may reasons and I joined the US Infantry. You guys need some kind of capacitor underwear with some high speed batteries that will smoke the snot out of any bad guy that touches you. A force field as it were.

Good luck, and were I you, I'd keep that piece in the car for afterwork everyday, and never go anywhere you frequently visit without being armed. Just my.02, I don't know the stats, but seems dangerous to me.

 

[MyGreenGuns]

Come work a prison yard with me sometime and lets talk about fear. I choose to be armed whenever and wherever I can, because I KNOW who's out there - we let them out on parole last week, court order.

I have family that does prison work. I wouldnt want your job. I have a pessimistic enough view of "human nature". I would never want to deal with the worst of it daily. I would snap and end up in there myself.

I was talking about places where you CANNOT take a weapon. Do you avoid those places entirely? I have a pretty active life and seem to be at a concert or sporting event 20-30 times a year. I know I cannot carry my gun in, but do I miss out on life just to carry my gun?

 

[MtnCreek]

Sorry, I didn’t read all the posts.

Just a note; if you’re going to a bar or club that searches everyone before entering, that should be a sign to you that this may not be the type of place you would want to be….

Due to past job, I had to go to the State capital on a regular basis. No weapons of any kind were allowed. The walk from the nearest parking area to the capital was pretty long and there were all kinds of nuts along the way. About 50yds from the front steps was a ‘free advertisement paper’ box. As I approached the box, I would palm my knife and put it in the back of the box and grab a paper. As I headed back to my truck, I would retrieve the knife and grab another paper. I always knew there was a chance I would return and the knife would be gone, but that never happened.

 

[Art Eatman]

The bottom line for the law is that those who control some private-property venue can set the requirements for entry. If "no weapons" is the deal, that's the end of the hunt. As said earlier, entry is optional and those who don't want to be unarmed need not enter.