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Boston Sports Club doesn’t want me to stash my gat in a locker. Their policy: lock it in your car bub. So I did. And then I drove to the drug store, where I had a DIFMG (D’oh I Forgot My Gun) moment. So I opened the passenger side door, reached into the glove box, retrieved my Glock and put it in my holster as quickly and discreetly as possible. And then I thought, uh-oh. What if someone saw me tooling-up? This being Rhode Island—where concealed carry is as rare as a bashful stripper—a concerned citizen might drop the dime on me. They didn’t. But Concealed Carry Weapons (CCW) permit holders holding permits in states without a gun culture run the risk of inadvertent brandishing unleashing a SWAT team. I kid you not. For a more telling example we turn to, where else? California . . .

Citrus School, Chico High School and Chico Junior High School — were all briefly put on lockdown this morning after police received a report that a man with a gun had been seen on The Esplanade.

About 10:17 a.m. Friday, a citizen reported seeing a man carrying what appeared to be a rifle north of Chico High School.

Police, including officers from the Chico State University Police Department, began searching the area, and then as a precaution the Chico police notified the schools, which were put on lockdown.

After about 20 minutes of searching, Chico police located an older man, whose clothes matched the description of the reported man with a weapon, but instead of a rifle, he was carrying a cane.

The Chico police officer who interviewed the man said he was carrying the cane in a way similar to how one would carry a rifle.

Thinking about it, I can remember seeing people carrying rifles in the boonies in RI when I was a kid and thinking not much of it—save COOL!

Anyway, how long before California outlaws holding an long cylindrical object in a way similar to how one would carry a rifle?

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18 COMMENTS

  1. This is why the OC crowd’s stated goal of normalization has some merit. There are some questions about individual execution, but when aren’t there? How many people would freak if they saw a cop lean back in his car to holster his firearm? In my mind the armed citizen should be as ubiquitous and as unimportant. Maybe OC has some value in establishing that environment.

    I realize that none of this does you any good in RI, Robert, but maybe the culture in America at large can be inched forward by activities in other states.

    JSG

  2. These old men with canes have to stop. How long must Californians endure them before Commissar Brown does something about it and makes the state’s parks and streets safe for families who need not fear men with canes?

    This is what happens, people. You make an object (or daresay and entire Amendment) foreign and people fear it, because they fear the strange and foreign. And before you know it, you have a state full of pathetic, dependent sheep.

  3. It’s amazing how active shooter scenarios have colored America’s perception of guns. Maybe normalization of open carry or concealed carry will make people less nervous. I remember the days when people could keep their hunting rifles in their cars on school grounds and no one would care.

  4. I guess this is how Rome fell.

    People scared of old Roman men who carried their canes like swords demanded they be banned.

    And so then after banning everything that was remotely usable as a weapon the Visigoths showed up. The rest is history.

  5. Gov. Moonshine, uh, Moonbeam just signed a bill outlawing open carry of unloaded canes. You can all sleep well tonight, Californicators. You have managed to f^ck up the whole nation.

    I used to “open carry” my .22 (in a soft case) on the way to rifle competitions when I was fourteen. On my bicycle. In New York. Nobody even blinked. And now an old man can’t carry a cane without calling out SWAT. WTF has happened to my country?

    • It’s the pop quiz syndrome. Where one law abiding citizen calls the cops on another to make sure we are all on the same page and obeying local legislation. The old gentleman just passed his refresher. Congratulations!

  6. Come now, canes are a dangerous weapon. In 1856 Representative Preston Brooks (D-South Carolina) attacked and nearly killed Senator Charles Sumner (R-Massachusetts) with a cane on the Senate floor. That old man could have killed a grade school student with that cane.

  7. In all seriousness this state of overreactive hyper vigilance is getting out of hand. Not that some caution is not prudent but if it is getting seniors rousted because dialing 9-1-1 is faster than taking a second look and applying commonsense something is drastically wrong.

    Most atrocity commiting “I am going to blast away at a crowd” shooters give no warning and come from nowhere. They hop out of their cars and at most pop the trunk before going postal on an area. The only person caught by a civilian in the act of public endangering with a weapon was the shooter in Jefferson County, Colorado who was tackled by a math teacher while reloading his bolt action rifle. He had been at it for some time and already had deployed his weapon for the commission of carnage. To date these maniacs have not been pre-empted. Crying wolf will not further that goal.

  8. Ive always wondered how the people who report these things dont get fined/arrested for filling a false complaint.

  9. I say that the government should charge the person who made the false report for the cost the law enforcement’s time. This type of reporting should come with some kind of penalty like slander or libel.

    • When my wife was pregnant she had a pinched nerve in her back, and had to use a cane for a bit. I taught her to defend herself with it using the bayonet tactics the army taught me:)

  10. So, has anyone seen or heard these “See something, say something” PSA announcements?

    These PSA announcements do not help to add “fear” to the equation. At least here in CT that are on during all the rush hour times and the NY TV stations have them on durning prime time.

    The boogie man is right around the corner and you citizen can stop it! Fear has been raised to a level such that everyone is waiting for the next Columbine. This fear then leads to people wanting to make laws for what they fear. Since we have become such a less self-relient society, we turn to govt because obviously they can help (not!) and because the bad guys will fear the law and stop in their tracks (not!). There was a time I am sure when someone would use their brain and go check things out or even go talk things out before escalating things, now we just call the cops.

  11. well the picture does show the “gentleman” with his left hand in some-what of a gun pose..i guess they (the cali po-po) could get him then for disturbing the peace then throw in a charge on the cane possion lets say banishing a weapon in public

  12. “Anyway, how long before California outlaws holding an long cylindrical object in a way similar to how one would carry a rifle?”

    Answer: Not very long.

  13. Maybe this is just because of where I come from, but if I saw someone in public with a weapon, I’d definately call the police.

    That said, I am from Canada. If you own a firearm here, you are in a very small group. To shoot your guns, you have to go to a proper range and call the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) to inform them you are doing so ahead of time.

  14. Canada:
    A reason to fight even the smallest restriction on our rights to legally own, possess, carry, load and fire our weapons.

    A reason to require our Doctors to maintain our confidentiality
    about anything we may or may not do in our private, personal lives!

    Should the MD also be required to report possible drug use that might become
    a public danger? Lots more druggies would be going down based upon hospital drug screens!

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