Don Gwinn
Moderator Emeritus
I agree that, practically speaking, he should expect people to question it. That doesn't mean they're right, but clearly we all know it's going to happen.
However, being questioned is not the same as being disarmed by a police officer and detained and interrogated by the contents of FOUR patrol cars. Musta been a slow night. The admission that their "questioning" of what he was doing showed them that he was doing nothing wrong, but they're going to hassle him exactly the same way next time, is a clear statement that their actions had nothing to do with investigating or "questioning." They were intentionally setting out to intimidate him and make it more trouble than it's worth to carry a weapon.
They have decided that they cannot legally deny him his rights, so they'll do the next best thing and convince him to solve the "problem" himself by refusing to exercise his rights. And whether they realize it or not, they've got a whole lot of people who ought to know better willing to cover their behinds in that endeavor by pretending the victim is just making a fuss about being questioned about a his crazy behavior.
If a cop thinks the weapon I'm carrying is "a little out there," but he knows it's legal, he has the same rights as everybody else. Namely, he can say to himself and his buddies "that guy's a little out there, huh?" If he really wants to take things a little further than that, he has every right to strike up a conversation with me and say "Look, it's legal for you to carry that sharpened shovel in that sheath on your back, and I'm not telling you not to carry it, but you should know that some people are going to think it's a little 'out there' and they may try to make trouble for you. Just think about it, OK?"
However, being questioned is not the same as being disarmed by a police officer and detained and interrogated by the contents of FOUR patrol cars. Musta been a slow night. The admission that their "questioning" of what he was doing showed them that he was doing nothing wrong, but they're going to hassle him exactly the same way next time, is a clear statement that their actions had nothing to do with investigating or "questioning." They were intentionally setting out to intimidate him and make it more trouble than it's worth to carry a weapon.
They have decided that they cannot legally deny him his rights, so they'll do the next best thing and convince him to solve the "problem" himself by refusing to exercise his rights. And whether they realize it or not, they've got a whole lot of people who ought to know better willing to cover their behinds in that endeavor by pretending the victim is just making a fuss about being questioned about a his crazy behavior.
If a cop thinks the weapon I'm carrying is "a little out there," but he knows it's legal, he has the same rights as everybody else. Namely, he can say to himself and his buddies "that guy's a little out there, huh?" If he really wants to take things a little further than that, he has every right to strike up a conversation with me and say "Look, it's legal for you to carry that sharpened shovel in that sheath on your back, and I'm not telling you not to carry it, but you should know that some people are going to think it's a little 'out there' and they may try to make trouble for you. Just think about it, OK?"
