Viper's OC log

[ViperGTS19801]

I hope none of them think they can simply take it under advisement and forget about it. If so, they're in for a rude awakening.

Please, please... don't do a black background with white text. It's so hard to read!!

Is that a little better?

[mingomom]

Is that a little better?

Much!! [phew]

[ViperGTS19801]

I stopped into We <3 Pets this afternoon to say hello to this gorgeous and sweet pit bull they have for adoption, and after playing with him for a while and heading out, a lady was leaving with me. She took one look at my hip and said, "Nobody's gonna dare mess with you..."

[ViperGTS19801]

So...I just got off the phone with the 8th Disctrict of the PPD, and they can't find any reference to the pedestrian stop I was involved in on August 1st, despite significant valiant effort from the woman who took my call.

That scares the shit out of me.

EDIT: never mind, they found it. I called IA and described the incident, they gave me the DC#, and I called the lady at the 8th Dist. back - turns out, the stop was filed under "unfounded" rather than "pedestrian."

[ViperGTS19801]

The mini-human and I went into the city of Philadelphia yesterday for some bike riding. When she asked if we could go for a ride in the morning, I couldn't say no.

So, we headed into the city and went to FDR park, just off of I-95 and Broad Street. We parked, rode a lap of the park, then went up Broad to seek out lunch. We stopped real quick to watch the Eagles practice for a few moments, and biked most of the way up to McDonald's.

When we stopped there, I hesitantly decided to leave our bikes out front, propped against a parking meter. I don't have a bike lock, and I mentally cursed myself out for that, but at this point there wasn't much of a choice. I left them there with the intention of keeping an eagle eye out on them from inside the store.

We went in, and not two seconds after we got in line, I noticed a man in his 50's with a white beard and a comfortable belly, who'd cheerfully said hello to us out front as we parked our bikes, stop near them, look them over, then say something to someone else nearby. I immediately headed back to the front of the store, while he motioned towards the bikes and said something else to his friend.

When I got to the front door, he was walking in.
"Can I help you?"
"Yeah - I'll keep an eye on your bikes for you while you're eating lunch."
He wore a "Reverend Steve" sticky nametag. I reached for his hand, giving him a firm, sincere shake. "Thank you so much. I don't have a bike lock yet and I really appreciate it."

So, we went in and ordered. While in line, I heard two comments about my open carry - one, a kid who was maybe 15 telling his mother that I "have a license to open carry," which made me grin like an idiot, and another mother child combo where the former told the latter that I was probably a cop. I would have clarified but they didn't seem too interested in really talking about it, so I didn't bother them.

We went back out and I gave him another enthusiastic handshake, thanking for his kindness.
He smiled brightly. "I see you're looking out for your little girl pretty well," motioning to the .45 on my hip, "so I thought I would help look after you. You have a blessed day."

How freakin' awesome.

As we were riding back down Broad Street, we stopped for a traffic light. As it turned green, a man called out, "excuse me, sir?"
"Yes? What can I do for you?"
He was jogging along the sidewalk to catch up to us. I told the little one to stay put while I figured out what was going on.
"I've never, in my life, seen someone out of uniform with a gun!" He had a huge grin on his face.
"Yeah? Where are you from?" He's a Philly guy and grew up there, having moved around the city at different times.
"I just moved to South Philly. So, is there, in Pennsylvania, or Philadelphia County..."
He struggled to find the words he wanted, so I anticipated his question and explained about open carry, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia's state-set prohibition, and the differences between open carry, concealed carry, and carry in a vehicle. We discussed an LTCF's expiration date, and I explained what it's like being stopped by the police for open carry, along with the differences between Philly and suburb stops. Then, we talked about the use of police force, and how certain demographics are treated differently than others.

He was a really cool guy, and he told me he is working on building a website about that last topic, at www.icantbreathe.org - he's bought the domain but hasn't worked on the site yet. We exchanged more pleasantries and went our separate ways.

[ViperGTS19801]

This morning, the little one and I were riding our bikes to the store and back, and on the way home, a man pulled up to a stop sign and said, "excuse me?"
"Yes?"
"Are you a cop?"
"No, sir."
"Can you carry a gun like that?"
"You can too!"
"...Interesting."
"Have a great day!"

My eight year old then asked, as we rode up the sidewalk, "Mark...howcome so many people ask you about your gun?"
"That's a part of why I open carry, so people can ask questions."
"Oh. Okay!"

[90volts]

Did she try the skate / bike park at fdr? My kids love it. As long as the older kids aren't there you're pretty safe. When they are you need to really keep am eye out cause they don't watch for littler ones. I've had to stop a bike or two on occasion.

If you ever want to take her up to the range we can arrange a Saturday sometime. My 8 year old is shooting clays with a 410, a 22 single shot and the bb range with his red Ryder so whatever she would like to do.

[LordTobias]

The mini-human and I went into the city of Philadelphia yesterday for some bike riding. When she asked if we could go for a ride in the morning, I couldn't say no.

So, we headed into the city and went to FDR park, just off of I-95 and Broad Street. We parked, rode a lap of the park, then went up Broad to seek out lunch. We stopped real quick to watch the Eagles practice for a few moments, and biked most of the way up to McDonald's.

When we stopped there, I hesitantly decided to leave our bikes out front, propped against a parking meter. I don't have a bike lock, and I mentally cursed myself out for that, but at this point there wasn't much of a choice. I left them there with the intention of keeping an eagle eye out on them from inside the store.

We went in, and not two seconds after we got in line, I noticed a man in his 50's with a white beard and a comfortable belly, who'd cheerfully said hello to us out front as we parked our bikes, stop near them, look them over, then say something to someone else nearby. I immediately headed back to the front of the store, while he motioned towards the bikes and said something else to his friend.

When I got to the front door, he was walking in.
"Can I help you?"
"Yeah - I'll keep an eye on your bikes for you while you're eating lunch."
He wore a "Reverend Steve" sticky nametag. I reached for his hand, giving him a firm, sincere shake. "Thank you so much. I don't have a bike lock yet and I really appreciate it."

So, we went in and ordered. While in line, I heard two comments about my open carry - one, a kid who was maybe 15 telling his mother that I "have a license to open carry," which made me grin like an idiot, and another mother child combo where the former told the latter that I was probably a cop. I would have clarified but they didn't seem too interested in really talking about it, so I didn't bother them.

We went back out and I gave him another enthusiastic handshake, thanking for his kindness.
He smiled brightly. "I see you're looking out for your little girl pretty well," motioning to the .45 on my hip, "so I thought I would help look after you. You have a blessed day."

How freakin' awesome.

As we were riding back down Broad Street, we stopped for a traffic light. As it turned green, a man called out, "excuse me, sir?"
"Yes? What can I do for you?"
He was jogging along the sidewalk to catch up to us. I told the little one to stay put while I figured out what was going on.
"I've never, in my life, seen someone out of uniform with a gun!" He had a huge grin on his face.
"Yeah? Where are you from?" He's a Philly guy and grew up there, having moved around the city at different times.
"I just moved to South Philly. So, is there, in Pennsylvania, or Philadelphia County..."
He struggled to find the words he wanted, so I anticipated his question and explained about open carry, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia's state-set prohibition, and the differences between open carry, concealed carry, and carry in a vehicle. We discussed an LTCF's expiration date, and I explained what it's like being stopped by the police for open carry, along with the differences between Philly and suburb stops. Then, we talked about the use of police force, and how certain demographics are treated differently than others.

He was a really cool guy, and he told me he is working on building a website about that last topic, at www.icantbreathe.org - he's bought the domain but hasn't worked on the site yet. We exchanged more pleasantries and went our separate ways.

This sounds like a great day to me.

[alpacaheat]

Awesome story about the Reverend and his reason for helping you.

[ViperGTS19801]

Did she try the skate / bike park at fdr? My kids love it. As long as the older kids aren't there you're pretty safe. When they are you need to really keep am eye out cause they don't watch for littler ones. I've had to stop a bike or two on occasion.

If you ever want to take her up to the range we can arrange a Saturday sometime. My 8 year old is shooting clays with a 410, a 22 single shot and the bb range with his red Ryder so whatever she would like to do.

We stopped and watched the kids do their thing. I didn't really want her on the ramps since she has no knee/elbow pads yet.

Also, thanks for the offer! Maybe one of the weekends coming up we can make this happen!