“So, a state representative attempts to go through DIA security and ‘forgets’ that she is armed,” former cop Richard Mignogna writes in a letter to the editor. “Then, in a Sunday Denver Post op-ed, writer Mario Nicolais blithely excuses her forgetfulness by saying that he too conceal-carries and on more than one occasion has forgotten that he is armed. Really? . . .
Years ago as a police officer, whether on duty or not, I never “forgot” that I was carrying a lethal weapon. Ever present also was the realization that some bad guy might also want to separate me from that weapon.
A responsible gun owner does not merely “forget” that he or she is armed, especially going through a security checkpoint such as the airport. That didn’t cause Rep. Lori Saine to at least ask herself “Where is my weapon?” Perhaps a felony charge is not warranted, but their respective county sheriffs ought to at least question whether Ms. Saine and Mr. Nicolais are too “forgetful” to be issued a concealed-carry permit.
Hands up: I forgot I was carrying and entered a “gun-free” restaurant. The owner saw my gun printing amd called the cops. (Click here for the full story.)
I may be a bit biased, but I don’t reckon that’s grounds for revocation of my LTC (a.k.a., unconstitutional government permission slip). Who was hurt, exactly?
Anyway, have you ever forgotten you were carrying? Equally, have you ever forgotten that you weren’t carrying?
The bigger problem for me is when I have to leave my gun at home (always by necessity not choice) and I forget that I’m not carrying that day. At least once an hour I panic because my gun isn’t where its supposed to be.
I pocket carry and every morning I just slip it in my pocket with my wallet keys and phone. It is totally muscle memory. That being said I make a special point or remembering to disarm before I visit my parents in NJ. My “remember to bring” list is usually like “toiletry bag, clothes, NO GUN”
forgot that I wasn’t carrying, checked myself before entering the courthouse and almost had a panic attack when I couldn’t find my weapon
Yep, walked into work for an afternoon shift and sat down and logged in and had been working on my first issue of the day when I realized I still had my pistol. I was never told that guns were prohibited, but it had to be somewhere in that 3 inch thick binder they made me sign for when they hired me. I just took a short break and went out and left it in the car.
Just another footnote of mediocrity coming from the middle-of-nowhere, wide-spot-in-the-road, tourist speedtrap bunghole that is Valdosta, GA. It might be a decent place to stop to take a crap, if you can find a gas station that has actually seen the industrious use of a mop some time in the last decade. Otherwise, the only thing good to come out of that place is I-75 North.
No….never have I ever “forgotten” that I was carrying. Never! Only a couple of times have I ever left home and forgot to grab my gun and extra mag, but that was early in my EDC life. After a period of time it became like breathing. Even if I know that I’m going somewhere that I cannot be armed, I still have my weapon and secure it in my gun lock box in my vehicle. Once I come out of the “no gun zone”, it comes right back out. Just like Mastercard…..I never leave home without it!
One thing that I was guilty of early in my EDC life was constantly checking to feel that my gun was still where it was supposed to be. I imagine that many go through that when they first start carrying. I worked hard to break myself of that habit, because it’s a dead giveaway that you’re armed to anyone who may be paying attention.
Well, I was gonna come here and say no but, imagine my surprise when I realized I’m carrying right now.
Well, if we’re being honest, and I also always like to put myself onto both sides of arguments.
Its not so much that I have forgotten that I am carrying, but here’s things I have done.
Gone to a fire company convention and went to the judging section where the trophies for best apparatus and what not are handed out and while watching the presentation realize its a highschool football fields annex section. Which means even though its Saturday evening, its still a school zone, and illegal to possess firearms on.
I have ran into a post office quick and while waiting for stamps read a no firearms sign and realized, oh crap, federal building!
I have even driven into other states because I missed an exit by accident and since I’m carrying and Jersey and Maryland are assholes…. bingo…
Ended up on a military base once because that was the delivery address but wasn’t told it was a base.
So…. have I ever forgotten I was carrying? Not really.
Have I ever gotten complacent and it skip my mind that two and two can’t go together? oh yea!
Can I see a busy representative in a hurry not be thinking about it at the time… yea.
Hey, we’re just human.
As much as I’d like to be on the band wagon and hate when the “elite” get away with things I wouldn’t. I’d have to say I believe the story.
Should she be punished? Maybe.
But yea, it happens.
If you say you’ve never experienced anything like this in 30 years of carrying, well, either lucky you or you need to get out more.
No, I don’t ever forget. Because I never go out the door unarmed. I never leave my gun in the car for any reason either.
There is no place here where carrying the gun is not legal OC (except the post office), and I don’t visit the places that are supposedly no-no when I CC. Not an issue for me.
The fact that the percentages are as high as they are for all groups is an indication that the hype in the media is overblowing the actual risk mass shootings present. Statistically speaking, I will say to everyone in the country, “In the coming year, you will not be the victim of a mass shooting”. A year from now, I will have been right more than 320,000,000 times and wrong a couple of hundred times. That’s one hell of a batting average.
I’m not at all worried about a mass shooting harming me. I’m not terribly worried about being involved in most crimes (that whole avoid stupid places, people, times, thing). I worry a little about being robbed or carjacked or having my home invaded, but not much. I carry to deal with those eventualities.
I’m happy with my Ruger Precision Rifle at 1/5th the cost…
$5000??? Really???
Utag? You mean Utah?
Typo fixed. Thanks!
It’s more that i forget there are places i can’t carry.
Now at the Airport, i am always painfully aware.
Part of the ritual is locking up backup in my lockbox.
I have had to return to my truck from the security line to store my Case Stockman.
Guns not so much, but knives all the time. I have shipped myself my pocket knife from the airport more than once.
Sounds like the real criminal(s) here are the ones in the NJ legislature! Shame on them.
Feels compelled to decry the ability of US Citizens to own AR-15s, yet completely ignores the fact that his service (the Air Farce) facilitated the Sutherland Springs shooter obtaining his weapons by their systematic failure to report service members convicted of violent felonies to the FBI for inclusion into the NICS. Dumb enough to continue his rant even when warned by a US Senator that he was way out of line.
How about unloading the firearm before leaving it in the glove box with an infant in the car!
In the filing, the ATF references ATF Ruling 2006-2, which was a ruling overturning a private letter determination that the Akins Accelerator was not a machine gun. The Akins Accelerator was a stock, spring and some other parts that functioned as a bump fire stock and the forward force needed to make a bump fire stock work. That device didn’t use “a single function of the trigger” anymore than a bump fire stock does.
The Akins Accelerator was a much more effective bump fire device, but it was just a bump fire device. The trigger had to be pulled each and every time for a shot to be fired.
Additionally, the filing never mentions the legal definition of the term machinegun because they don’t want to point out the inconsistency.
Every question asked by the ATF in the filing has nothing to do with whether or not a bump fire device meets the legal definition of the term machinegun.
My prediction is that the ATF will change its position and declare bump fire stocks as machineguns.
I forgot to mention that the Chicago Reader is one of those free papers published by the radical left. You shouldn’t take anything you see there seriously.