Open carry hubbub alive and well in Concord
By Josh Richman
Wednesday, December 14th, 2011 at 11:56 am in gun control.
The “open carry” debate is hot again in Contra Costa County with a demonstration tonight at the Sun Valley Mall in Concord, but a new law could make this one of the movement’s last public gasps for a while.
Members of Responsible Citizens of California, a gun-rights group, had planned to openly carry unloaded handguns as they meet for dinner tonight at the mall’s BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse.
Gun-rights activists have seized upon open-carry laws in states across the nation as a means of expressing their political beliefs, acting individually, or gathering to carry their weapons both as an exercise of constitutional rights and for self-protection. They say they’re both protecting their rights under current law as well as advocating for changes so that more people can get permits to carry concealed weapons, something that’s sharply limited under current law.
Opponents say open-carry practices should be banned for the sake of public safety, and to protect the safety and conserve the resources of police officers checking to ensure the guns aren’t loaded, in accordance with state law. The Legislature and Gov. Jerry Brown agreed: AB 144, a new law taking effect Jan. 1, will prohibit open carry of handguns, although open carriers have vowed to sue.
Concord police drew their ire last week, when two open carriers dining at the mall’s Johnny Rockets burger restaurant were confronted by several police officers and detained for about 20 minutes while police checked their names, their guns’ serial numbers and so on. Tonight’s event at BJ’s was intended to “educate the department” about open-carry rights.
Gun-control advocates got wind of this and decided to do a little educating of their own; the California Chapters of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence started working the phones.
Karen Arntzen, 58, of Pleasant Hill, the group’s services and advocacy coordinator, sent out an e-mail yesterday morning announcing that BJ’s “has announced a Gun-free Dining Policy and will not allow guns on the premises at any time. Manager Mike Gatto called the CA Brady Campaign to say he is trying to let the Open Carriers know ahead of time so they will not show up at the restaurant as planned on Dec. 14th.”
But, Arntzen noted, “Sun Valley Mall does NOT have a Gun-free Policy. The CA Brady Campaign has urged Security Manager Michael Fenley to implement a NO Weapons policy on Mall property for the safety of shoppers and employees.”
Alany Helmantoler, 38, of Concord is organizing tonight’s event and says the show must go on.
“We fully expected this type of thing occurs which is why we were meeting in front of BJ’s. We will guide people at the location,” she said in an e-mail late last night.
“The Brady Campaign has a history of terrorizing and scaring businesses to what is essentially a non-issue. This harassment of businesses will be addressed through their investors,” Helmantoler added. “AB 144 has limited enforcement abilities and is a nightmare for law enforcement agencies that are already suffering from cuts. The confusion over exemptions will create a whole new gamut of issues unintended.”
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December 14th, 2011 at 12:18 pm
Nothing like a gun rights demonstration at the mall to get everybody in the Christmas spirit. Mall cop can’t carry a gun, but the shoppers can. It would have been so much more fun if they had done this on Black Friday at Wal-Mart!
December 14th, 2011 at 1:00 pm
“Sun Valley Mall does NOT have a Gun-free Policy. The CA Brady Campaign has urged Security Manager Michael Fenley to implement a NO Weapons policy on Mall property for the safety of shoppers and employees.”
I’m sure the gang bangers and other assorted criminal scumbags would be deterred from packing at the mall.
December 14th, 2011 at 1:05 pm
@#1
John W, I’m surprised at you. Your posts are usually much better reasoned than this one.
The Black Friday incident at WalMart to which you refer was carried out by armed robbers, exactly the kind of people who are indifferent to any gun law the anti-gun nuts might get passed.
December 14th, 2011 at 2:34 pm
Open-carry, is just plain stupid. While you carry a holstered gun, in plain view, it scares the general public, but is know by many that it is un-loaded, therefore can be taken from you with little concern. You can’t pull it and load it in time if the bad guys see it first. It doesn’t scare who you want to scare.
If you want to carry a weapon.. fine, just get a concealed permit and carry it so that you know about it, can use it and you don’t scare the general public.
December 14th, 2011 at 3:38 pm
Re: #3
Elwood, I’m always truly devastated when one of my posts disappoints you.
My Black Friday comment was most definitely not in reference to the incident you mentioned. (Frankly, I was not even aware of that one.) We hear bizarre Wal-Mart Black Friday stories every year. This year, it was the lady in LA who pepper sprayed other shoppers in order to get an X-Box. My diabolical mind couldn’t help but wonder how interesting it might have been if the pepper spray lady and the Open Carry folks had encountered one another. Gun rights activists like to say, “an armed society is a polite society.” This would have been a good test of the theory.
December 14th, 2011 at 5:37 pm
“You can’t pull it and load it in time if the bad guys see it first.”
If you have a semi-automatic handgun on one hip and a loaded clip on the other, it takes about three seconds to load the gun.
Most of the bad guys have no marksmanship training and can’t hit a bull in the ass from a distance of three feet.
This is why so many innocent bystanders are hit when the gangbangers have their play time.
December 14th, 2011 at 6:30 pm
Everyone — Satan just opened the ice rink because…I agree with Hellwoody.
Glock 9mm with 10 round clip takes a max of 3 seconds to be loaded and aimed at the target of your choice with “cup and saucer” grip, and with the laser sighting on.
December 15th, 2011 at 12:45 am
Too bad Ms Arntzen has to resort to blatant untruths trying to garner support from the public. She has shown her lack of integrity once more. The Brady’s have been beaten time and time again by the pro-constitutional groups and are at their wits end. They know these anti-gun laws will not stand up under the scrutiny of the courts.