Pretty interesting article in the "Fairfield County Weekly"

[krispos42]

It's a weekly free left-leaning newspaper. They had an article about concealed and open carry issues in Connecticut that I thought was well-balanced and highlighted some structural and procedural issues in the state's licensing system.

Straight Shooters
By Betsy Yagla
Wednesday, November 03, 2010 9:19am

Is Connecticut properly policing gun-owners or violating their constitutional rights?

Rich Burgess was drinking coffee and working on his laptop at the Old Saybrook Starbucks when several cops approached him about the gun he was carrying. Burgess always carries a gun in a holster on his right hip and two ammo clips on his left.

The officers took Burgess outside and questioned him. Burgess audio recorded the interaction and posted it to OpenCarry.com, a national gun activist website devoted to allowing gun owners to “open carry,” or display their guns rather than hide them under their clothing. (Laws on open carry vary from state to state.)

<snip>

Anyone can ask for a pistol permit by applying to their local police chief (or first selectmen if there is no police chief). If, after the state and FBI complete a background check, the police chief decides to deny the application, you can appeal to the Board of Firearms Permit Examiners (BFPE). Similarly, if the state Department of Public Safety (DPS) revokes a permit, you can appeal to the BFPE.

<snip>

That’s what happened when James Goldberg was arrested at Chili’s in June of 2007. The Glastonbury police seized his gun and permit. Then they contacted the DPS, which revoked his permit. At court a month later, the breach of peace charges were dropped, but Goldberg didn’t get his gun or permit back.

Instead, Goldberg had to appeal his permit revocation to the board. He didn’t get a hearing until 22 months after his arrest. He got his permit back in May 2009. So what does the state say about openly carrying a pistol? “That’s always been a bone of contention,” says DPS spokesman Lt. Paul Vance. Vance says that if the presence of someone’s gun breaches someone else’s peace then “it’s caused a problem.” But what would a state police officer do if he or she saw someone walking around with a gun on his hip?

<more>

http://www.fairfieldweekly.com/news/featured-news/straight-shooters

It's fairly long and highlights problems as viewed by both the police and the CCW applicants/holders.

Enjoy :hi:

[PavePusher]

1. Good find.

There are a few inaccuracies in the article, but it is very well balanced and neutral in tone, something it is getting harder to find in the world of modern "reporting".

Connecticut really needs to revise their firearms laws before they get dragged kicking and screaming to the higher courts. I suggest they use Vermont or Arizona as a model.

At the same time the need to purge their police forces of that nasty authoritarian streak rearing it's ugly head.

I dare say that should Lt. Vance apply for a LEO job here in Arizona, he might well be found "unsuitable", and rightly so.

[Euromutt]

2. Seems to me the problem goes deeper than just carry permits

Reading this article, I can't escape the impression that certain laws in Connecticut are written so vaguely that they give the police way too much room to perform arrests, or deny permits, in effect on a whim.

So what does the state say about openly carrying a pistol? “That’s always been a bone of contention,” says DPS spokesman Lt. Paul Vance. Vance says that if the presence of someone’s gun breaches someone else’s peace then “it’s caused a problem.”

Taking that position to its logical extreme, having anything about one's person that another finds disturbing--be it a t-shirt, button, tattoo, piercing, etc.--would constitute a "breach of the peace." That argument paves the way to allowing a bunch of Stepford wannabes to tyrannize their communities (is is a coincidence Stepford is in CT?).

[krispos42]

3. All a person has to do is freak out, and somebody can be arrested?

Irrational, unjustifiable reactions result, not in the reactee getting sent to a shrink, but the object of the reaction getting busted?


So if I wore one of Marc Maron's "Nerd cock" teeshirts, am I a felon?