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tmeeks
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| Joined: | Mon Oct 26th, 2009 |
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Posted: Mon Oct 26th, 2009 06:22 pm |
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I have found a little bit of information on this and I am wanting other peoples input can you open carry if you have a CCW in wichita and the surrounding areas
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marine0300
Regular Member
| Joined: | Sat Nov 15th, 2008 |
| Location: | Topeka, Kansas USA |
| Posts: | 35 |
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Posted: Tue Oct 27th, 2009 04:49 am |
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Wichita is licensed open carry. What that means if you have a concealed carry permit you can open carry a firearm.
The link is the thread with info on Wichita open carry. http://opencarry.mywowbb.com/forum24/25514.html
Be careful if you do decide to open carry. Supposedly most law enforcement in Wichita do not know the gun laws. So be prepared for anything.
Don’t let anything detour you from open carrying. If you have a right, do it!
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ACEllis
Regular Member
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Posted: Tue Oct 27th, 2009 12:08 pm |
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I'm just going to put this out there. I fully support OC. I miss doing it while I spent two years in Colorado. State preemption is beautiful. But I will warn you of this:
If you OC in Wichita, I can almost guarantee it will not end well. How do I know you ask? I work for Sedgwick County 911. I've seen things end poorly for people who would have been well within their rights in other states. That and the mentality of your average Wichitan is pretty squeamish around firearms.
Also take note a Deputy was killed a month ago via ambush from behind with a rifle and there are still people threatening weekly to repeat that same incident. The whole county has taken several steps up in ensuring officer safety, some I see as personally aggressive.
I'd urge you not to. Not at least until you can convince the D.A.'s office that you are within the right to and they concur.
My two cents.
Good luck regardless.
AC
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marine0300
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| Joined: | Sat Nov 15th, 2008 |
| Location: | Topeka, Kansas USA |
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Posted: Tue Oct 27th, 2009 06:45 pm |
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ACEllis,
I can’t tell you how much your post has stirred my emotions. Not that you offended or attacked me personally but that you would actually discourage someone from exercising their rights!!! And you’re in a position to bring about change in Wichita.
Me personally I would rather be dead than to allow someone or a government entity to intimidate me from exercising my legal rights.
I have to honestly say Wichita is a sad situation when it comes to open carry. You will get two responses when asking someone from Wichita about open carry.
1- One, don’t do it the cops will shoot you full of holes
2- Second, don’t tell anyone because they might take away our right if you do OC (supposedly the city council misread the concealed carry law and thought they had to allow open carry so that’s why OC is legal in Wichita with a valid concealed carry license) For the record I believe the council knew exactly what they were doing.
In Topeka we had a similar situation. I told someone we could legally open carry so they emailed the policy chief. His response to them was he would arrest anyone OC”ing in Topeka and that it was against state law and city ordinance. Well he was wrong on both accounts.
Upon hearing this I immediately called and emailed my city commissioner who emailed the city manager who emailed the chief of police who emailed the city attorney for an opinion. The city attorney emailed all of us back stating that it was not illegal to open carry in KS or Topeka!!! which I posted the attorneys email response on this site. Since then I have been on an information campaign to educate the Topeka law enforcement and public by starting an organization called Open Carry Topeka. OC Topeka is a watchdog organization sole purpose in protecting our OC rights and making sure the police and public are educated.
What has happed is now all the police force knows open carry is legal and people in Topeka are now starting to open carry without harassment.
Someone in Wichita needs to step up to the plate and organize an open carry picnic or trash pick up and invite the media and call the police to let them know what you’re doing. Only positive things will come of this just use Green Bay as an example. Yes this would cause a lot of stir in Wichita but once everything settled down the police and public would be educated and law abiding citizens would start to open carry.
This site clearly states on the very front page “a right unexercised is a right lost”
ACEllis why don’t you start an information campaign in Wichita to inform the police and public. You could start small by handing a copy of the city ordinance to every police officer you contact so they know it’s perfectly legal to open carry with a valid concealed carry permit. You would be surprise how fast the word would spread through out the law enforcement community. I started this way in Topeka with very good results. Yes you’re going to have people who disagree with you but don’t let that discourage you from your mission.
If you keep quite and don’t exercise your rights they will be taken away. They just won’t matter anymore. Please stand up and do something to make Wichita open carry friendly.
Respectfully,
Earl
Last edited on Tue Oct 27th, 2009 06:46 pm by marine0300
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ACEllis
Regular Member
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Posted: Fri Oct 30th, 2009 11:53 pm |
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Well I'm glad to see I'm not being flamed for expressing myself. It's nice we could discuss this civilly.
In regards to the two listed responses to OC in Wichita:
1- All the LE in the county have a pretty good track record in regards to necessary and unnecessary weapons discharges. The last time I knew of an officer shooting any humans (a few dogs can sometimes be shot monthly), was the suspect who murdered the Deputy. That occurred after a long standoff and search in which he was finally located after the suspect opened fire on SWAT, ATF, and KBI. I don't know of any before then, but I have only been living in Kansas again since Feb 2009. They are not infallible. Tazering a naked, deaf old man in his own home because someone called a fake shooting at his apartment is not good. It's down right negligent. Despite the thousands of successes, you'll hear the failures the loudest.
2- I've never bickered in city politics. I've only lived here since July. I'm not allowed to meddle in county politics due to my job...not even allowed to discuss it in the workplace (not that anyone does, its a dry subject.) We keep the County Commissioners butts slightly damp with kisses so we can continue to be funded, staffed, and expand with the growing needs of the population.
2a- Kansas gun politics is also new turf for me. I moved to Colorado right after my 21st B-day and always avoided Wichita before then. What the city intended or didn't intend is beyond me. I was under the impression the words "openly" never appeared in the state statue that is being drawn into question here. "Unconcealed" is what I remember. I'm not splitting hairs. Yes, you are right. I would interpret it as a validation of the open carry right, but the litigators could have intended something else. Maybe it was put there to protect CCer's from "printing" and accidental "brandishing" charges. Just mull that over for a few. Clearly written laws leave no room for interpretation, and this one doesn't quite have that aroma.
A few word on the Police Chief of Wichita... Norman Williams... I've never met the man. But every interaction I've had with him personally over the phone has been incredibly pleasant. I am a peon in my department, but he still takes time out of his day when he is trying to reach my supervisor to ask me how may day is going. He's checked first on scene of a gas station clerk getting shot in the face for someone elses gang initiation. He was in the area, in the middle of the night, plain clothes, no kevlar. He's was one of the first to arrive after two moving gang vehicles opened fire on one another in a residential neighborhood, likely in plain clothes on his own time again. He leads from the front and officer safety is his HIGHEST priority if he has to go out there and back them up himself. An ivory-tower, jackbooted thug he is not. Please don't let anyone try and convince you or anyone otherwise if we are to learn of an opposition to open carry he may harbor.
http://www.wichita.gov/CityOffices/Police/ChiefPolice.htm
In no way am I telling anyone not OC in the city of Wichita. Doing so without a CCH is illegal, at least we can agree on that, regardless if we like the law or not. Be informed on the areas outside the traditional city that are Wichita annexed. It is constantly growing and often patchwork and snake like. I'm merely suggesting to challenge the city prosecutors/legislators before anyone starts "testing the water." Rosa Parks may have been vindicated in the end, but she still spent time in jail before the wrongs were righted. I cannot be that martyr.
Nor can I be the boat-rocker. As much as I would love to be in the fight for gun rights, doing so could easily compromise me professionally here. I have random daily interactions with everyone from high ranking LE people, city/county/state officials, and even FEMA personnel. We even had representatives from London who are adopting the system we use for EMS, which they hope to have online by their next hosting of the Olympics. Most of the time I don't even know who anyone is until I read a badge, shirt emblem, folder logo, or ask.
I'd be happy to ask your everyday beat officer their opinions, likely reactions and their understanding of the city/state statues as well as their limitations. I'll even post their general retort sans their name. Just send me all the EXACT statues that pertain to OC legality in Wichita.
If that day comes where someone is walking along the Arkansas River on a sunny day with a pistol in their holster, and regardless of whether or not I know it is an OCer, two officers and possibly a patrol supervisor are going to try and contact that person. That will be a disgusting day for me, but I have to take the description from the concerned citizen and then dispatch the appropriate units. No call is disregarded when it involves any type of weapon. Sorry.
On a side note: I only recently met my 6 month residency and the 8 hours training to apply for my CCH. It will feel damn good to start carrying again once I send it out and get the card back. Wichita is a dirty, diseased, crime-ridden town. It is on the up and up with the social and mental health programs that are in the works or recently implemented. I believe this city will be on a very measurable up swing as soon as we can start getting the jobs back and putting asses in those seats.
AC
Last edited on Sat Oct 31st, 2009 12:02 am by ACEllis
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marine0300
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| Joined: | Sat Nov 15th, 2008 |
| Location: | Topeka, Kansas USA |
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Posted: Sun Nov 1st, 2009 02:32 am |
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Hey ACEllis,
Thank you for the post. We need to be friends. Open Carry in Kansas I believe is going to change for the better in the next couple of years.
One, if McDonald beats Chicago over the city gun ban law suit, not only will things change in Chicago but everywhere in the US. Bans of any type will go away. Hopefully!!!
No where in the Kansas open carry law does it state cities and counties can ban. Regulate is all the state gives localities. Municipalities have taken advantage of the regulate clause by banning.
Hopefully this will all change with the McDonald case. Pray he wins!! This case will hopefully help KS gun owners achieve full preemption with open carry. We have full preemption on concealed carry.
Have a great week
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