Posted yesterday on Glock talk, Carry Issues.

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Sorry if it was posted already, I didn't see it.

http://glocktalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=873876

Well I was arrested for open carrying today in Portland, ME. I was walking a path around the waterfront known as "Back Bay" with my USP Compact in plain sight on my hip.

A police officer drove by with lights and sirens, turned around, jumped out of his car and held me at gunpoint telling me to get on the ground. I complied with his order, but told him who I was and asked him what the problem was. He said nothing and just waited til two other officers arrived. While at gunpoint they then stripped the gun off me and searched me for other weapons. I had a couple SMALL knives in my pockets.

They charged me with three counts of carrying a concealed weapon even though I explained to them that the knives were tools I use at work and I had just got out of work (I work retail and use the knives to cut boxes and one has a screwdriver...)

They confiscated my knives and my gun with extra magazine and didn't give me a receipt when I asked for one.

They didn't seem to care, charged me with all three counts, and now I have a court date coming up.

Does anyone know where I can get a good weapons savvy attorney in Maine?
 
I bet he will get acquitted, but he shouldn't have been drug through the mud
to begin with. This is no doubt a side effect of Portland being one of the
most moonbat populated and anti gun cities in Maine.

-Mike
 
I would say contact goal and ask them, they might be able to point you in the right direction....
 
And read below for a moonbats reaction. It's funny in a very sad way.

Originally Posted by NC Bullseye
Just to show the TOTALLY different view from another set of eyes on this.

Found this while doing some research.

http://kellygreen514.livejournal.com/
or
For a more direct link

The headline for the entry of interest is "Why did that seem like a good idea?"


Why did that seem like a good idea?

In continuing with my theme of stupid yet dangerous situations this week...

Kim, Carrie & I were out walking Back Bay last night when we got passed by this kind of creepy looking guy. We ignored him and kept talking until we realized he was carrying a gun in a hoslter on his hip. Then we slowed the hell down and let him get waaaaaaay in front of us. There were two women walking their dog behind us and who had a cell phone & called the police.

This was close to the end of the section near 295. By the time we got over to near Payson Park and fields behind Cheverus the road had been shutdown and there were 5 cop cars about 7-10 cops and the guy was lying face down on the ground. He was eventually arrested and no one was hurt thank goodness.

In the news this morning they also said in addition to the gun he also had several knives on him as well. What the heck the man was thinking I have no idea....obviously nothing good.

So far this week I have been lucky enough to miss getting severely burned by a suddenly decompressing pressure cooker and passed by a moron with a gun. I believe everything comes in threes so I might just shut myself away because I really don't want to know what the third dangerous situation is going to be.


Just goes to show that the eyes of the beholder can really be blurry.

Best of luck to the OP and thanks for thinking of us to share with.
 
Well, I have to agree with her question "why did he think that was a good idea?" but not for the same reasons, I suspect.

The Portland PD is very anti-gun and this fellow apparently knew that. I'm not trying to justify the PPD's actions -- they were wrong. But the outcome was predictable.
 
I guess some poeple just don't like to bend over and take it...or roll with the punches. They'd rather exercise their right which is protected by the 2nd amendment and go about their lives. It's obvious he knew he'd face some moonbattery, but I think this situation in the end will be better off. Instead of eroding the ability to open-carry due to fear of "causing public disturbance", this chap took a stand and said it's his right to. Unlike MA, where it's a clearly defined right but we are all way too scared to exercise because of all the sheep. Sheepdog afraid of the sheep.
 
You can put this guy on a pedestal as a civil rights hero.

I don't buy it, however. He did not think through the predictable consequences of his actions and was thus unprepared when the expected happened.

If he was trying to make a point, not "bend over and take it", and commit an act of civil disobedience to make a point, then he would have carefully researched the laws and had a lawyer lined up ahead of time. He didn't. He knew he was likely to attract undesired attention from the Portland PD, but he didn't prepare himself for the likely results.

The Portland Police Department is entirely in the wrong on this. But that doesn't change the fact that he now has to defend himself against criminal charges.

Civil disobedience is when you know what the consequences will be and you choose to take the action as a way to make a political point. I respect that. But that is not what was happening here. He was just oblivious and now he gets to be a test case. Hope he can afford the attorney.
 
You can put this guy on a pedestal as a civil rights hero.

I don't buy it, however. He did not think through the predictable consequences of his actions and was thus unprepared when the expected happened.

If he was trying to make a point, not "bend over and take it", and commit an act of civil disobedience to make a point, then he would have carefully researched the laws and had a lawyer lined up ahead of time. He didn't. He knew he was likely to attract undesired attention from the Portland PD, but he didn't prepare himself for the likely results.

The Portland Police Department is entirely in the wrong on this. But that doesn't change the fact that he now has to defend himself against criminal charges.

Civil disobedience is when you know what the consequences will be and you choose to take the action as a way to make a political point. I respect that. But that is not what was happening here. He was just oblivious and now he gets to be a test case. Hope he can afford the attorney.

I guess your right, after further reading into the situation. Besides, even if he were making a statement, it's falling on deaf ears.
 
That link goes to nothing.

If you are talking about the link in my post. It's doesn't go anywhere because she took it down for some reason. Maybe she was getting responses she didn't want since the link was posted on GlockTalk. I'm sure they tore her a new one.

If you are talking about the link in the OP, It's working for me.
 
He did not think through the predictable consequences of his actions and was thus unprepared when the expected happened.

Actually, you don't know what he thought through, or what "the expected" was.

He probably expected to be stopped. We've heard of stories of this in NH, there was a poster on GlockTalk that says it happens in ME.

It seems that he did not expect to be charged with crimes for pocketknives. Who would have (if you weren't boarding a commercial airplane)?

He probably predicted they would take and hold his gun for a while, and then return it. It seems they only didn't return it because of the pending, albeit illegal, charges for concealed pocketknives. There seems to be no amiss regarding the gun, they didn't charge him.

Save for the built-in sense of the name, pocketknife, had he had it (them) clipped to the outside of his pocket, the police would have been at a loss.

commit an act of civil disobedience to make a point

I guess it qualifies as civil disobedience -- but it is a stretch. The local ordinance that was violated had already been declared invalid.

He knew he was likely to attract undesired attention from the Portland PD, but he didn't prepare himself for the likely results.

You (or even a pre-arranged lawyer) would have predicted a concealed weapon charge for a pocketknife?

There are few people anywhere that can afford a lawyer that smart.
 
You (or even a pre-arranged lawyer) would have predicted a concealed weapon charge for a pocketknife?

There are few people anywhere that can afford a lawyer that smart.

IMO a gun lawyer familiar with Portland would not be surprised one bit. Anti gun municipalities frequently "invent" bogus charges on a whim; even if they won't stick they do it anyways to make the gun owner's life
a living hell, because they know they can get away with the harassment most of the time.

The difference between this and say, NH, is that in NH the authorities are FAR more cognizant of the fact that open carry is legal. While many have been "hassled" I can't think of too many people falsely arrested in NH for carrying a gun, at least not in the recent past.

-Mike
 
If you are talking about the link in my post. It's doesn't go anywhere because she took it down for some reason. Maybe she was getting responses she didn't want since the link was posted on GlockTalk. I'm sure they tore her a new one.

If you are talking about the link in the OP, It's working for me.

Looks like she wiped her whole journal. I think a more appropriate article title might be, "Uptight resident unfamiliar with law calls down massive police response on law-abiding Eagle Scout she didn't like the look of."
 
Actually, you don't know what he thought through, or what "the expected" was.

He probably expected to be stopped. We've heard of stories of this in NH, there was a poster on GlockTalk that says it happens in ME.

Read through his posts on GT. He was clueless.
 
Read through his posts on GT. He was clueless.

I'll call you on this -- let me see your hand. I re-read thru the GlockTalk OP posts and didn't see cluelesness.

If it was there, it'd be very good for me to learn a lesson for the future in the hopes that I'm not clueless.
 
We all wonder why our rights erode away as we watch these liberal loons gather all the moonbats together with antigun t-shirts and lie down and protest for their side. We only got one guy in portland who isn't even laying down and disrupting anyone and we give him crap for it. All I'm saying is that the other side is motivated, and they get attention, and they're wrong. Our side is right, but all we have is one guy in portland who it's questionable wether or not he was willing to commit an act deemed as civil disobediance, but more importantly a peaceful act of doing nothing but going about his law obiding business, and even we are too quick to disown him.

People in portland better start stirring the pot, or you'll end up like people in Boston.
 
We all wonder why our rights erode away as we watch these liberal loons gather all the moonbats together with antigun t-shirts and lie down and protest for their side. We only got one guy in portland who isn't even laying down and disrupting anyone and we give him crap for it. All I'm saying is that the other side is motivated, and they get attention, and they're wrong. Our side is right, but all we have is one guy in portland who it's questionable wether or not he was willing to commit an act deemed as civil disobediance, but more importantly a peaceful act of doing nothing but going about his law obiding business, and even we are too quick to disown him.

People in portland better start stirring the pot, or you'll end up like people in Boston.

+1
 
I am 100% pro concealed carry/open carry or carry any way you want. I just feel open carry takes away the element of suprise if acosted by a BG. To me it is like showing your hand in poker before your bet.
The city of Portland has had a lot of trouble in the last couple of years with gang activity and in my opinion has become Boston north. The city of Westbrook just north of portland has banned firearms hunting as the signs are posted as you enter the city. Moonbatism is a social desease and it out of control and spreading.
 
I agree with .45acp, I'll support anyone's right to open or concealed carry, but you won't see me open carrying anytime soon.

Personally, I'd like to read the police report. It seems almost like a troll post that he made, but I'll bet there's more to the story.
 
The city of Portland has had a lot of trouble in the last couple of years with gang activity

Yeah, and the weirdest thing is, all these gangs are Open Carrying.

Wha....?

Nevermind.

But wait. If the bad guys don't even have holsters, why arrest a guy who is showing an open carry holster? Only the Portland PD can answer, and I'd guess that they won't.
 
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IMO a gun lawyer familiar with Portland would not be surprised one bit. Anti gun municipalities frequently "invent" bogus charges on a whim; even if they won't stick they do it anyways to make the gun owner's life
a living hell, because they know they can get away with the harassment most of the time.

The difference between this and say, NH, is that in NH the authorities are FAR more cognizant of the fact that open carry is legal. While many have been "hassled" I can't think of too many people falsely arrested in NH for carrying a gun, at least not in the recent past.

-Mike

Someone was arrested last night in NH on the way home.... loaded firearm in a car without a license.
 
but you won't see me open carrying anytime soon.

Tactically, it is sub obtimal. But, being unarmed completely is even more sub-obtimal. I don't have an (unconstitutionally?) required Maine permit to carry concealled.

Easy choice.
 
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