How I was almost arrested/shot by the police

[Evil Queen]

1) This was MY personal weapon. What the hell is the point of carrying a gun if it isn't loaded?

3) Did you not read the part where the cops suggested that I move my wallet as well? This had not been an issue before, and I've always put my wallet in that pocket. So far it's been proving difficult to break this habit, even after this insane event. It would also be far more annoying to move my gun to a different position, and I don't like shoulder holsters either.

Point 1, is so you obviously don't shoot yourself with it! And another thing, isn't a convinence store one of those places where you're not allowed on premaces with a weapon, much less a loaded one?

Point 3, yes I read the part were the cop said to move your wallet but I was suggesting yuo move the gun since you complained about having a hard time breaking the habit of moving your wallet. You never said it was more annoying to move your gun nor did you mention your dislike of weapons. Excuse me, but I'm not psychic.

[Ree]

That's enough.

Move on or the thread will be closed.

If this thread begins to veer anywhere near fratching territory with a mention or discussion about gun control and the right to bear arms, this thread will be closed.

[TheRedHawk]

Point 1, is so you obviously don't shoot yourself with it! And another thing, isn't a convinence store one of those places where you're not allowed on premaces with a weapon, much less a loaded one?

Point 3, yes I read the part were the cop said to move your wallet but I was suggesting yuo move the gun since you complained about having a hard time breaking the habit of moving your wallet. You never said it was more annoying to move your gun nor did you mention your dislike of weapons. Excuse me, but I'm not psychic.

Okay, I can understand your second point since I didn't say anything like that in my first post. So I will make it clear now: The entire time I've owned a gun I've carried it on my right side. When I shoot at the range I practice drawing from the right hip. So I'm used to having it on my right, and it would take a lot more time and effort(retraining myself to draw from the left or a shoulder holster) than it would to train myself to keep my wallet in another pocket.

However, your first point just shows ignorance on your part, which isn't your fault. Arizona has very lax gun laws. You can carry a loaded weapon just about anywhere as long as it's visible and in a holster of some sort. The only exceptions being government buildings, bars(or any place that serves alcohol on site), school grounds, and polling places. And of course any place with proper signage that says guns are not allowed. If I wanted I could take my gun into a bank. I don't though, because that's just stupid. I also went through a program by a government-certified instructor, sent in my fingerprints for a background check to the Department of Public Safety, and received from them a state-issue CCW permit. This allows me to legally hide a weapon on my person.

Allow me to say this clearly: I broke no laws in this incident. I was not charged with anything. At no point during the entire ordeal was I handcuffed or read my rights. I did nothing wrong. Legally, at least. Stupidity isn't necessarily a crime.

I suggest we stop discussing this as I've seen threads turn into gun debates here before. They generally devolve into pointless back-and-forth crap and the mods come in and have to break it up or close the thread. I don't want that to happen here. This thread is not about gun control or gun rights or anything like that, it's about how the clerk clearly overreacted to the situation and how I could have been arrested or shot because of it.

Edit: See? The mods don't like this stuff so I suggest we knock it off. I'm done with this debate.

[StormCMage]

Yeah well how do you know he's not an undercover cop???? They dont have to announce to every single person they interact with, "Hey lady, I'm a police officer. That's why I'm packing heat." He shouldn't have to. He could have been on duty and on a lunch break. Just to automatically assume he's a nut case ready to snap and then screaming for the cops like he's already got his gun pointed at her head ready to pull the trigger is just ignorant. Sounds to me like she's been watching too many TV shows.

no they don't, espeically if they are doing a sting, the would get them killed so yeah the clerk had every right to be freaked, she didn't know and did what she thought was the smart thing

what he should have done is flash a badge, but those can be faked, to be honest if I where him, don't carry the gun off duty, cop or not, no member of my family that is a cop does so, probably for that reason, carry a tazer instead, they are more fun anyways

besides convinance store clerk is a more dangerous job then you think, they get robbed by loonies that would blow their heads off more often then most, so can you really blame her for being scared? although what happened sucked royally I can see why it did

[bainsidhe]

It's unfortunate the clerk didn't apologize, but I can understand why. The OP himself mentioned he was scared and went home to spend a good amount of time trying to calm down. Even though she was wrong, the clerk had the same experience, thinking someone with a gun was trying to rob her. Clearly she calmed down enough to allow the OP to purchase his beverage (the 3 cops standing there helped), but I bet she took a very long time to calm down herself. She was frightened, upset, and now embarressed as well. An apology would have been nice, but I can't blame her for not doing so.

[Broomjockey]

Edit: See? The mods don't like this stuff so I suggest we knock it off. I'm done with this debate.

Too late. After you saw that, you should have deleted the post. I'm closing this now.