Drizzt
Member
Tom Lyons
Concealed gun law is mum on liquid lunch
There are some gun rights advocates I hear from whenever they read about a citizen using a gun to thwart a criminal.
They love those stories. Some especially love it when the good guy has a concealed firearm permit. Such accounts prove that just about everyone who isn't a criminal should carry a gun, they tell me.
But none have contacted me about the arrest of concealed weapons permit holder Albert H. Rudolph III, who police say pulled a .45-caliber semi-automatic out of his shirt at Patrick's, a downtown Sarasota restaurant.
Witnesses said Rudolph cocked or "racked" the gun before setting it on the plastic tray his bill had arrived on. Employees later found a bullet that fell to the floor.
This is a case I would submit as evidence that some people who now carry firearms legally in Florida most certainly should not. It also shows a problem with Florida's concealed weapons law.
Rudolph, 75, wasn't trying to thwart a crime when he pulled his gun. He later told police he was just trying to get his gun out of the way so he could reach his wallet.
I don't doubt it, but Sarasota police Capt. Stan Duncan says the man's actions led a lot of people to put down their club sandwiches and wish they were somewhere else.
Police said Rudolph had downed four alcoholic drinks with his lunch. Though he says he didn't mean to frighten anybody, anyone drunk or stupid enough not to realize the effect such a gun display would have lacks a grasp of responsible handling of a firearm.
Rudolph may lose his permit to carry a concealed weapon, because it was illegal to turn his gun into an unconcealed firearm in that public place. Some alcohol-related counseling seems like a fine idea, too.
But when Capt. Duncan told a Herald-Tribune reporter last week it was illegal for the man and his gun to even be in that restaurant because alcohol is served there, he was overstating the case.
Florida's concealed firearm statute bans permit holders from carrying weapons into schools and courthouses and quite a few other places, including bars. But it is legal to have a concealed gun in a restaurant that serves alcohol, except in the area primarily devoted to alcohol.
And nothing in the statute clearly bans drinking in a public place while carrying a gun.
The man seems to have crossed a clear legal line only when he flashed that gun. But being armed while downing the liquid lunch that enables such bad judgment?
That's not mentioned in the statute.
Tom Lyons can be contacted at [email protected] or (941) 361-4964.
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20070911/COLUMNIST36/709110582
Is this really the case?
Concealed gun law is mum on liquid lunch
There are some gun rights advocates I hear from whenever they read about a citizen using a gun to thwart a criminal.
They love those stories. Some especially love it when the good guy has a concealed firearm permit. Such accounts prove that just about everyone who isn't a criminal should carry a gun, they tell me.
But none have contacted me about the arrest of concealed weapons permit holder Albert H. Rudolph III, who police say pulled a .45-caliber semi-automatic out of his shirt at Patrick's, a downtown Sarasota restaurant.
Witnesses said Rudolph cocked or "racked" the gun before setting it on the plastic tray his bill had arrived on. Employees later found a bullet that fell to the floor.
This is a case I would submit as evidence that some people who now carry firearms legally in Florida most certainly should not. It also shows a problem with Florida's concealed weapons law.
Rudolph, 75, wasn't trying to thwart a crime when he pulled his gun. He later told police he was just trying to get his gun out of the way so he could reach his wallet.
I don't doubt it, but Sarasota police Capt. Stan Duncan says the man's actions led a lot of people to put down their club sandwiches and wish they were somewhere else.
Police said Rudolph had downed four alcoholic drinks with his lunch. Though he says he didn't mean to frighten anybody, anyone drunk or stupid enough not to realize the effect such a gun display would have lacks a grasp of responsible handling of a firearm.
Rudolph may lose his permit to carry a concealed weapon, because it was illegal to turn his gun into an unconcealed firearm in that public place. Some alcohol-related counseling seems like a fine idea, too.
But when Capt. Duncan told a Herald-Tribune reporter last week it was illegal for the man and his gun to even be in that restaurant because alcohol is served there, he was overstating the case.
Florida's concealed firearm statute bans permit holders from carrying weapons into schools and courthouses and quite a few other places, including bars. But it is legal to have a concealed gun in a restaurant that serves alcohol, except in the area primarily devoted to alcohol.
And nothing in the statute clearly bans drinking in a public place while carrying a gun.
The man seems to have crossed a clear legal line only when he flashed that gun. But being armed while downing the liquid lunch that enables such bad judgment?
That's not mentioned in the statute.
Tom Lyons can be contacted at [email protected] or (941) 361-4964.
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20070911/COLUMNIST36/709110582
Is this really the case?
