Open Carry in Lancaster

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boomhauer, Ive responded to this 'type' of thing before, so take it for what it worth. Were both relatively new to OCing... my point is if I were the mall cop I woulda booted you too (based solely on the attitude that I sense you conveyed at the time of the confrontation... as posted above). Yes, its your right to carry (openly) as much as its the property owners right to tell you to leave. I regularlyt carry at Lehigh Valley (albeit concealed) but on a few occasions have gone open at the outdoor shops. In the end game it all comes down to attitude and demeanor. From your tone you sound to me like you were looking for confrontation... I never go looking for it, but wil also use any opportunity (such as what presented itself to you by the mall cop) to educate....

i.e, why do you have that?

1) for protection - I reuse to be a victim
2) same reason I wear a seatbelt
3) you saw the news about what happened in Pittsburgh the other night

Pick a scenario and educate - Ive found that taking the high road in life will get you much further along than beating your chest about your rights (which are diminishing daily).

Carry some flyers - they are a great resource.

Sorry to hear you got tossed - but the end result is the mall owner has every right to tell you to leave.

Carry on!

[PennsyPlinker]

Speaking as a fat OC guy, I really don't care for your attitude at all. Maybe I'm just getting crotchety in my old age, but I get really impatient with people who have to denigrate others based on their physical appearance. It's private property bud, and they can throw you out for anything, including a bad attitude.

[riverpirate]

It was clearly posted at Park City that it was against rules to carry in the mall. It use to be posted at all the mall entrances. While i respect your right to open carry you need to understand and play by the rules. If they dont want you carrying there then that is their right. Putting down a persons appearance because you dont like the job they are doing is far from a good example of a law abiding gun owner. Mall security guys are just trying to pay the bills like the rest of us and deserve to be treated with dignity even if you dont like them. They earn there paycheck by dealing with people like you on a daily basis.

[fingers80002]

I was out with my family last night at Kohl's in the Park City Mall. Now I am relatively new to OC, and I thought this was the perfect opportunity to do so. I got a lot of puzzled looks in that particular store, but not much else. The real fun started when we headed out into the mall. As I was going up the escalator (I was holding my daughter's hand on my strong side), I heard a few people whispering behind us. Not much else...yet. When we got into the center mall, an extremely overweight mall pig passed us on my strong side, stopped, and looked directly at my hip. Then he looked up at me, put on his best tough-guy face, and said, "Do you think you're Rambo, or something? What do you need that for?" I responded back to him with "I'm simply exercising my 2nd Amendment right to bear arms." Then he gave me a little nod and walked away.
Not a minute later, they all came out of the woodwork. The next thing I knew, my family was surrounded by a dozen or so of these bastards. -All this literally happened in less than a minute, they must have little covert hiding places around the mall...- One of the older-looking mall pigs puffed up his chest like some kind of badass and told me that we would have to leave the premises immediately. Then all of them started shuffling us toward the nearest exit. The funny thing about this whole encounter was that as we were being "escorted" out by what seemed like every rent-a-cop in the city, they cleared a pathway for us through the crowd of other shoppers. All the while mumbling incoherently into their walkie-talkies. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. I mean, who do these guys think they are? A simple "Please leave the premises" would have been enough. But no, you'd think that we were dealing with highly trained operatives here.

Let me guess, you haven't hit 30 y.o., yet, have you?

[mikey]

..............

[fingers80002]

We can't all be "Old Farts" like you, now can we.




I have a fairly descent "Pennsy starter kit", myself, and could do without the derogatory descriptions.

There is obviously more to this encounter than you are letting onto here. I find it hard to believe that all the mall guards were called to escort you out, for merely stating you were simply exercising your 2nd Amendment right to bear arms. There must have been something in your tone or wording that made him alarmed enough to call in the troops.

It couldn't hurt to take the advice given so far, to improve on your next outing. Just my $.02. Take it or leave it.

No, but with age comes wisdom, and alot less cockiness.........

[ungawa]

Let me guess, you haven't hit 30 y.o., yet, have you?

You should have seen me at 32

[BerksCountyDave]

Your attitude is completely uncalled for. And for future reference, I don't know of a single mall that doesn't have a no guns policy. This is why I don't go to malls, ever.

[PGHxdguy]

Do you know or hang out with Mickey? You two seem to have the same mindset and, oddly enough, similar encounters. However your grammer is considerably better.

I go into these threads with an expectation to read a fair story about a responsible gun owners encounter with the public at large. 99% of the time that expectation is met. This is not one of those times. That expectation was tossed and your immaturity was shown with one simple word. Pig.

Understand that these men and women in security possitions are only doing their jobs. Do they get attitudes from dealing with snot nosed kids, bad attitudes, and angry shoppers? You bet. However, I'm willing to bet if you would have reponded to them with repect, the attitude that they have shown you would have been wildly different. Its human nature. I have reason to believe you immediatly showed them little, if any respect, as you have so elquently shown here, the respect that you hold for some people based soley on there line of work.

I have never worked as a security gaurd or a police officer. However I have worked a few years in a mall in my past, and became friends with the security staff. Guess what? They are real people too. Some are quite interesting.

One fellow in particular was a big dopey looking guy with a "high and tight" hair cut, standard military issue glasses, and arms bigger than my thigh. He was very quiet, soft spoken, and nice as hell. As it turns out, he just retired from navy, as seal. Honest to god, I didn't believe him, he showed me pics.

Another guy was a local cop. He could only get part time at a local PD, so he was doing what he could to support his family. I have met his family, and have since become very good friends with him. He is now a fulltime sherrifs deputy.

My point is, you need to grow up a bit. Show others some respect, especially if little ones are around. Their young minds are like sponges. They see you show little respect for authority figures, and they will do the same.

I don't care if you have kids or not, that alone does not make you mature enough to think and act like a respectful adult. I'm 27 and have a 1yr old boy, that doesn't make me any more or less mature than the 24yr old down the street or my 35yr old boss.

My final note is... Nevermind. It will probably fall on deaf ears. I'm a young dumb kid... What do I know...

Also, sorry for any spelling or grammar mistakes, I'm on my blackberry.

[coat4gun]

...you typed all that on a Blackberry... dang, I'm impressed.