ThereThere seems to be some things that need to be cleared up so that everyone is talking about the same thing.
TN doesn't have an "open carry" provision in the law because
it isn't needed. TN's HCP is just that, a handgun carry permit. Open or concealed. The original law was a concealed carry law and carry advocates in TN worked very hard to get it converted to a straight carry permit where it didn't matter if your gun was showing or not. That's not a hole to be closed, that's a hole that existed that we closed by pushing the HCP over the CCP. Under the law as it has been for years, it doesn't matter in TN that your pistol is or isn't showing.
No where is it said he forgot he had his gun on him. Where that comes from I can't even imagine.
Officer Greene didn't know about Trevor until he walked past him exiting the WalMart. No one in the store called the police.
Officer Greene threatened to arrest Trevor on a made up charge. That's recorded on his cruiser tapes.
Trevor was never arrested or charged. Another LEO set Officer Greene straight on the actual law and the simple fact that Trevor had broken no law.
For the whole time Officer Greene has been serving on the KPD, TN has had a HCP and not a CCP.
Officer Greene claims that he confused the laws in his prior state of employment as a LEO with the law in TN. He claims that Ohio doesn't allow open carry and that he confused the law with TN law (This in spite of the facts that he's worked in TN for nearly 7 years and even that
Ohio does allow for open carry.)
Trevor didn't go to the news nor did he make a stink about it. He didn't even talk it around. He hasn't made himself out to be some martyr or outlaw. He followed official channels and filed a complaint with the KPD. The KPD reviewed the audio tapes of the encounter (remember Officer Greene was being taped to his cruiser recorder the whole time) and the statement of the other LEO and Officer Greene was disciplined as a result of the Internal Affairs investigation. Trevor received a written apology from the KPD Chief of Police. The tapes of Officer Greene's behavior made the case against Officer Greene. That ain't being hung out to dry by your department.
Tam and I know Trevor. He never made an issue about the incident. He simply followed the law in all particulars from the time he left work and went into WalMart to the day the KPD Chief of Police disciplined Officer Greene and issued a written apology for the officer's behavior.
This is an incident involving misbehavior on the part of a single officer. The reason that Officer Greene didn't go so far as to arrest Trevor on some fictional charge is that another LEO corrected his mistake and reigned him in. That officer's statement along with the tapes and Trevor's complaint led to disciplinary action being taken against Officer Greene.
http://knoxnews.com/news/2007/sep/22/gun-owner-receives-apology/