Charlotte Police Chief Misleads On Open Carry
GRNC has been keeping you apprised of a developing situation in Charlotte in which the police chief is attempting to coerce the city council to pass an ordinance baring open carry in the city. On Oct. 10th they sent the motion back to the City Manager for 3 to 4 weeks of further study, likely designed to avoid a controversial issue until after the election.
HOW MAY COMPLAINTS? ZERO!
Supposedly, the call arose out of four 911 calls from concerned citizens regarding people carrying holstered handguns in plain view in the uptown area. On Wednesday, Oct. 19, the Charlotte Observer made a startling revelation; THERE WERE NO SUCH CALLS. No citizens were upset; these were internal police calls, not 911 calls.
Police spokesman Keith Bridges said, "There were no other citizens. There were no 911 calls. That was a misspeak because of misinformation."
City Council member John Tabor feels that the chief should have checked his facts more closely. He is quoted as saying, "When the chief comes to us with something as controversial as that, he sure as hell should have his facts right."
If GRNC and the Charlotte Observer had not pressed the matter, there is little doubt that the "misinformation" would have remained conveniently misspoken. There are two main possibilities here, did Police Chief DARREL STEPHENS deliberately "misspeak" (it seems that there is a 3-letter word for deliberately misspeaking) or was he just plain sloppy. Of course there is a third possibility; perhaps Chief Stephens is so driven by the opportunity to push an anti-gun agenda that he didn't care enough about the truth to get his facts straight before reporting the version most likely to accomplish his goal. Whatever the case, it raises serious questions about Chief Stephens's ethics and/or competence.
GRNC President Paul Valone had this to say when asked by the Observer, "Although (we are) accustomed to bureaucrats trying to undermine the right to self-protection, the audacity of lying to the City Council in order to create the perception of a problem when none exists stuns even us."
As stated before, no problems arose from the four incidents cited. The Observer reported Bridges as saying, "All four men were legally carrying guns and did not have any outstanding warrants." In two of the cases, he stated, that the men even placated the concerned officers by locking the weapons in question in their cars, despite the fact that they were not violating any laws.
