AK Open / Conceal Carry Question

[LittleRedToyota]

Originally Posted by fingers80002

IAMNE, You may be wrong.
I believe the law does state you cannot carry a long gun.

please post said law.

(i'm betting many dollars to a donut hole that it does not exist.)

[King 5.45]

Hmmph. People are talking about the legality of carrying around a loaded rifle, based upon the possession of a license the size of a freaking credit card, that in most cases is presumably going to be wedged somewhere in one's back pocket. Do you think they'll be able to magically perceive your LTCF before they get a frightful load of the EBR hanging off of your soon-to-be-riddled carcass?

I think, until the authorities issue us one-size-fits-all purple jumpsuits with LTCF HOLDER emblazoned upon them in an appropriately distinctive embroidered thread, so that we might be distinguishable from the mass of the illegally armed, that we would probably be best off if we didn't entertain such thoughts.

Besides that, purple just isn't my color.

[djturnz]

Just because you have a tax stamped SBR or SBS does not classify that weapon as a HANDGUN. It's really semantics though.

We don't have a License to Carry a Handgun, it's a license to carry a Firearm.

A firearm is defined in PA Law as a handgun, pistol, short barrelled rifle, or short barrelled shotgun.

Also, even a rifle with a >16" barrel with a folding stock is still a regualar long gun. The 26" comes in with the stock fully extended, even if you are not carrying it that way.

KING: If everyone used that thought process, no one would Open Carry, no one would do anything that wasn't universally popular, regardless of legality.

No, generally it would not be wise to OC a long gun, or even an SBR, but if it's legal, it should make no difference if it's an AR-15 or a NAA Mini.

Cops have to follow the same rules as we do with using lethal force. If you have an AK slung on your back, they can't just shoot you if you aren't pointing it at someone.

[LittleRedToyota]

Originally Posted by King 5.45

Hmmph. People are talking about the legality of carrying around a loaded rifle, based upon the possession of a license the size of a freaking credit card, that in most cases is presumably going to be wedged somewhere in one's back pocket.

the question was "is it legal" (the OP even said he was not actually going to do it).

people are talking about the legality of carrying SBRs based on the possession of an LTCF.

we are not talking about the legality of carrying a rifle that is long enough to not be an SBR (all rifles for which you do not need an NFA tax stamp), *based on the possession of an LTCF* because you do no need an LTCF to legally do it.

anyone who can legally own a non-NFA rifle (hunting rifles, regular ARs, regular AK clones, etc.) can legally carry it around on foot loaded concealed or open regardless of whether or not they have an LTCF (with the exception of in philly).

whether or not it is a good idea (prolly not in the vast majority of cases) does not factor into whether or not it is legal.

Do you think they'll be able to magically perceive your LTCF before they get a frightful load of the EBR hanging off of your soon-to-be-riddled carcass?

i would certainly hope that no one...LEO or otherwise...would open fire on someone just becuase they had an AR or AK slung over their shoulder.

anyone who does--LEO or otherwise--should spend the rest of their lives in prison.

we didn't entertain such thoughts.

wanting to know what is legal vs. illegal is a quite legitimate thought. everyone should want to know that.

even if the thought police don't want us to.

[King 5.45]

The issue here is that there are firebrands among us who will do something simply because it is legal, well-advised, or not.

I can assure you that marching down the middle of any street in Philadelphia with an AK or an AR, magazine inserted, is going to result in an instant "game-on" with the PPD, whether you've got it back-slung or at low patrol-ready. Heck, it'll probably get just about the same results in Quakertown, Doylestown, and Chester, too. You might not get shot, but you'll definitely be drawn on and commanded to drop everything and go prone.

Considering its legality is all fine and well, but the truth is that there's a certain amount of interest in taking such considerations from the proposed to the actual. Is that wise?

[Brown-Bear]

I wanna say 2 things,

1st, Carnes. You owe me one new laptop. That weenie comment made me spew soda all over my computer.

2nd, I agree with King here. The reason I hate seeing these type of " Is this leagal" threads, is this. Undoubtedly someone will point out that that laws do not say what you CAN do they say what you CANNOT do. So if there is no law against it, it must be legal. I agree with that deduction. However what scares me as a gun owner is that some dickhead is gonna go out and do it.

While I normally say that OC does not create a disturbance OC'ing an AR or AK will. This is not Isreal and most on this site are not as hot as the IDF Girls so.....Proceed at your own risk.

Dave

[GunLawyer001]

I would not walk the streets with a rifle over my shoulder, or do my grocery shopping with one of my AR's nestled in the kiddie seat, but mostly that's because I'm less useful to my clients if I'm defending myself in court.

The reality of gun rights, or other unpopular rights, is that we lose what we don't use. If we all play it safe (like I'm doing), then the rights we don't use can be casually stripped away as a rider to some bill that re-defines dogcatchers or declares January 1st to be "Beanie Baby Day".

If we limit ourselves to what at least 20% of the people do, and 75% of the people are comfortable seeing, then we will steadily shrink the list of things that we can do. It ratchets-down the universe of acceptable things, a one-way reduction, because unused rights disappear and nobody will push the envelope to create new rights.

People are comfortable seeing in real life what they've seen before. People don't see civilian non-cops walking around armed. In the movies, a person in public with a gun is probably a criminal, and is probably going to kill random people. Movies today show honest, normal people carrying guns about as often as we saw Ozzie and Harriet sitting on the toilet.

It would be nice if we had more of the organized, peaceful OC events, so that the reality that people see is more influential than the twisted Hollywood version. The problem is that the honest people carrying won't make the news unless some small-town Deputy Fifes make some dumbass mistakes. But some local gang-bangers showing up at the local carnival carrying their gats and waving them around at rival gangs will be national news.

Our rights are not limited by what the most irresponsible among us would do with them. Cars kill 30-50 thousand Americans every year, but I can still buy any car that I can afford. I should be able to do anything with guns that I won't abuse, not just the things that some 15-year old fatherless drug addict can be trusted with.

[knighthawk06699]

I thought you can carry during a state of emergency as long as you have a LTCF, just OC is suspended during that time.

[jujubee]

Knighthawk, you are right, I misread the booklet.


Back to the proposition of OC an AK or AR, again, I said in my original post I would NOT ever consider doing it. Basically because of what GunLawyer points out, people are not used to it and I would be labeled the bad guy, plus I do not feel that threatened walked the streets of PA.

To the people who ridicule a simple question like that, ease off. Again going off GunLaywer, if we do not use our rights, the PA gov could pass a law tonight at 2am banning OC slapped onto a Beanie Baby bill.

99% of PA residents would be like, "You mean before this law was passed, people could open carry?"

We live in America, not Soviet Azerbaijan, and not gunless England. Granted we do not live in Palestine and have to worry about firefights on our way to work, but we do have rights here protected by Federal and State constitutions. It was just a question.

[King 5.45]

Originally Posted by jujubee

To the people who ridicule a simple question like that, ease off. Again going off GunLaywer, if we do not use our rights, the PA gov could pass a law tonight at 2am banning OC slapped onto a Beanie Baby bill.

If the PA legislature were to pass a bill so limiting OC of firearms, and Ed Rendell were to sign it into law, they would first have had to do something about this:

"The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State shall not be questioned." - Pennsylvania Constitution, Article 1, Section 21

It isn't an anachronism that they can simply pretend doesn't exist. Ultimately, it's there to give citizens a measure of redress when civilization has gone to hell in a handbasket and the government has decided to not only rule us, but to do so by any means at their disposal, and with us disarmed. In the meantime, barring the beginning of true SHTF, it's there to allow us to defend ourselves from common criminals, and to provide for defense against those would attack the state from without and within in order to overthrow it and appropriate its lawful authority.