OC activism

Robb Allen has a good post up about the mechanics of OC. He does a really good job of splitting the issue up between legality and activism. But it was comments by Jay G that piqued my interest.

It's my opinion that we as the firearms community, need to be even more proactive than we've been in the past as far as taking our rights back. Let me explain.

I hold a valid GA Firearms License (yeah, I know they changed the name), living in NW GA. I admittedly have no problems carrying concealed. But as my MS gets worse*, if I am to continue to carry, I'll need to OC (and that's more comfortable anyway).

But before I do OC, I'm going to cover all my bases, to prevent unwanted attention. I plan to first join Georgia Carry (as soon as I get some disposable income) and avail myself of the efforts of those who've gone before me. Then I plan to take this information to the district attorney, and make sure that he's aware that OC is legal in GA (and that he won't be taking any OC cases to court). Armed with that, I'll then have a sit-down with the sheriff and the chief of police, just to let them know that I plan to OC, and that the DA has already acknowledged that it's legal, and that he won't prosecute those cases.

My biggest challenge is going to be my daughter's school. The GA statute provides for GFL holders to carry while dropping off or picking up children, though I'm sure the legislature never thought about someone openly carrying. But if the DA says it's legal, then I'll talk to the school superintendant, as well as the principal at school.

Plan your work, and then work your plan.

So why is this not happening elsewhere?

I will not claim to know what the conditions are in MA (just that they're pretty bad for gun owners), but maybe they need to start poking the bear, just a little. Here's how.

Surely, somewhere in MA, there's a county with a sympathetic district attorney. Let the state gun organizations meet with him and get him to agree that OC is legal in the state. See if he'll help you (this may have political repercussions for him ). Then have him write an opinion attesting to that fact, and take it to the local sheriff. Ask him what he thinks. Will he follow the law?

This is the hard part: someone has to carry openly and risk getting arrested. It needs to be someone old enough to garner sympathy, yet in good enough shape not to risk serious injury. Maybe a retired LEO? This needs to be video recorded, if possible. Have the applicable laws handy, particularly if there's a statute that says carrying openly is legal. You might also have to check with some LE friends to find out what else police might charge you with (terror, breach of peace, etc) and get the standards regarding the charge. Be ready to challenge police about their version of things.

Let's see what happens.

Or maybe Alan Gura can advise us. Wouldn't it be nice if we were engineering the test cases, about the issues we wanted corrected, in the jurisdictions favorable to us? For a change.

pm

*I am under no illusions that I may, indeed, one day be unable to safely handle a firearm.