Mods: If this is incorrectly posted, please move. I just wanted to rant but wasn't sure if it was best placed in L&O or here.
So this happened to me & my boyfriend yesterday.
We had been on a mini vacation to Cape San Blas, FL & were driving back to McDonough, Ga. The route took us through a little town called Eufaula, AL. We were happy as could be, feeling relaxed & enjoying time together with our two dogs travelling peacefully in the back of the cab. I'm starting to get a little hungry & get a wild hair to stop at some local dining place rather than a chain. Now, since we had been eating seafood for the past few days, I had a hankerin' for some BBQ. We're in the middle of Nowhere, Alabama so there's GOT to be a good little dive around somewhere, right??
We see a billboard advertising for "Phil's BBQ 7 miles ahead, behind the Citco" & I suggest we stop there.
After pulling in & parking in the shaded area off to the side of the place, we step out to stretch & walk the dogs. Mind you, we've got a full truck bed of luggage & fishing gear & other items we had been traveling with so it was pretty obvious we were travelers.
My gun was in the center console but ZombieNinja's was on his waistband, open carry, in accordance with Alabama State gun laws.
We walked the dogs & put them back in the truck. ZombieNinja walked in while I was rolling down the windows for the dogs. He places our order & sits down. We're the only two customers in the place. It only seats about 20 as it so it's pretty small.
He gestures me to come sit beside him & we're just sitting there, full of that disgusting blissfulness of a happy couple. He gets up to go use the restroom & I hear the truck alarm start going off. The truck alarm NEVER goes off so I didn't even realize it was our vehicle for about 3-4 minutes. The kitchen staff lets me know it's my truck & I apologize to them about it & walk out to turn it off.
A police cruiser pulls up as I'm turning it off & we're walking to the door at the same time. He asks if I was the young lady who called for the police. I answered him "No, sir." & opened the first of two doors for him to enter before me since he had official business.
He opened the second for me, like a gentleman. We entered, & I walked back to my seat. He speaks with the staff & I hear them say "He's in the bathroom & she's sitting over there"
I turn around.. I'm the ONLY person here... Crap..
The officer calls me over to him & two other cruisers speed in bringing with them 3 other officers. The first officer asks me to stand by him & the other three knock on the door looking for ZombieNinja. He tells them just a sec, as he's currently washing his hands & when he opens the door, the officer asks him if he's got a weapon on. He answers truthfully &, with paper towel still in his hands, raises his hands & turns to his side so they can see it on his waistband.
About this time, 4 more cruisers have sped in & rush the place. One officer, who we will refer to as The Bulldog, immediately starts in on ZombieNinja with "It's against the law to carry concealed in the state of Alabama! I could take you to jail right now! What are you doing here?? Why do you have it on you concealed?? Step outside with me!"
I'm told to stay put & they all go outside. I haven't heard what the officer has said & still have no idea what's going on or what we did wrong.
After about 10 minutes, The Bulldog comes in & asks me if I know what's going on & I tell him that I honestly don't have a clue.
He begins to explain that it's because ZombieNinja had his gun on him & asked me if he has a permit to carry it. I answered him yes & he then asked me where it was. Now, the sass in me really wanted to come back with "Do I look like I control his every action? Do I look like I've got his balls in my purse, too? He's a big boy & I ain't his momma." but I really didn't want to poke the bulldog & really just wanted to get back on the road, so I answered that I assume, since it wasn't on his person, that he forgot it in the safe. He asked if I had a weapon & I answered yes, he asked where it was & I told him where in the truck, he asked what kind it was & I told him that as well.
He then asked to see my permit to carry & ID.
I complied even though I know I had every right to say no. I honestly did not want to be bothered with this any longer & wanted to leave the city & just get back on the road.
He then told me all about the laws for carrying & carrying concealed in Alabama. I answer him with "Sir, I can promise you that it was never our intention to break any laws or cause anyone any harm, as I'm sure he already told you, we're coming back from vacation with family dowe in Cape San Blas & we only stopped here because I saw a billboard & thought some local BBQ sounded good."
He started going into the statements of "I could take him to jail right NOW! He's breaking the law! You both need to understand the laws of the other states you're travelling through!!"
Outside, during all this, ZombieNinja has leveled with the other officers & let them know that he actually was obeying the laws but since they knocked on the bathroom door & seemed urgent, he was washing his hands & hadn't taken the minute moment to unveil his weapon before seeing what they needed.
The Bulldog is still barking at me & begins to say that legislation is pushing to have ALL firearms registered so that they can know who the last owners were & "What if when we ran the numbers of your boyfriends gun, they came back to a crime???"
I Replied "Sir, we're gun rights advocates, & it's not law in our state to register the weapon with the government. We get our weapons through private sale most times &, in our state, all you need is a bill of sale to prove ownership should it ever come back stolen. Beyond that, we have friends who are LEO's & they run the numbers for us so we know they're clean upon purchase without registering them."
His response "Well does he have his bill of sale?!" , "Yes he do-. Wait... Do you mean in the truck with us?? No, he doesn't have his bill of sale for the clean firearm with him in the truck, it's in our safe, at home.."
After this, the bulldog went back outside & talked with ZombieNinja a bit more. I was signaled to come outside & here's what the bulldog said next.
"Okay, here's what's going on.. Your boyfriend is an asshole" (at this point, ZombieNinja is feeling the same & is repeating what this guy is saying, "Yep, I'm an asshole") "He's not going to forget his permit in the safe any longer & you having yours is saving his ass right now. We're going to let you go but the bullets are going to be in the front seat & the gun is going to be in the toolbox. You're going to have the keys & you can both leave."
I'm thrilled. As the other officers walk me over to the toolbox, one gently smiles & says "Don't mind him, he's just a little hyped up right now. You guys can pull this out as soon as we leave, we really don't care. Y'all weren't breakin' the law, these folks just got scared & called."
They we're even worried about where we put the gun in the toolbox so the gun didn't get scratched
The officers said they talked with the employees and that they were okay with us eating there but after what they put us through, we weren't going to waste another minute in their POS establishment.
Law abiding citizens, bullied for obeying the law.
I do NOT advise stopping in & eating at Phil's BBQ in Eufaula, Alabama. They do NOT support 2a rights even though they fain support.
I loved the touch of NRA support with the flyer I snapped a pic of that was on their front counter while the police were talking with ZombieNinja outside...
So this happened to me & my boyfriend yesterday.
We had been on a mini vacation to Cape San Blas, FL & were driving back to McDonough, Ga. The route took us through a little town called Eufaula, AL. We were happy as could be, feeling relaxed & enjoying time together with our two dogs travelling peacefully in the back of the cab. I'm starting to get a little hungry & get a wild hair to stop at some local dining place rather than a chain. Now, since we had been eating seafood for the past few days, I had a hankerin' for some BBQ. We're in the middle of Nowhere, Alabama so there's GOT to be a good little dive around somewhere, right??
We see a billboard advertising for "Phil's BBQ 7 miles ahead, behind the Citco" & I suggest we stop there.
After pulling in & parking in the shaded area off to the side of the place, we step out to stretch & walk the dogs. Mind you, we've got a full truck bed of luggage & fishing gear & other items we had been traveling with so it was pretty obvious we were travelers.
My gun was in the center console but ZombieNinja's was on his waistband, open carry, in accordance with Alabama State gun laws.
We walked the dogs & put them back in the truck. ZombieNinja walked in while I was rolling down the windows for the dogs. He places our order & sits down. We're the only two customers in the place. It only seats about 20 as it so it's pretty small.
He gestures me to come sit beside him & we're just sitting there, full of that disgusting blissfulness of a happy couple. He gets up to go use the restroom & I hear the truck alarm start going off. The truck alarm NEVER goes off so I didn't even realize it was our vehicle for about 3-4 minutes. The kitchen staff lets me know it's my truck & I apologize to them about it & walk out to turn it off.
A police cruiser pulls up as I'm turning it off & we're walking to the door at the same time. He asks if I was the young lady who called for the police. I answered him "No, sir." & opened the first of two doors for him to enter before me since he had official business.
He opened the second for me, like a gentleman. We entered, & I walked back to my seat. He speaks with the staff & I hear them say "He's in the bathroom & she's sitting over there"
I turn around.. I'm the ONLY person here... Crap..
The officer calls me over to him & two other cruisers speed in bringing with them 3 other officers. The first officer asks me to stand by him & the other three knock on the door looking for ZombieNinja. He tells them just a sec, as he's currently washing his hands & when he opens the door, the officer asks him if he's got a weapon on. He answers truthfully &, with paper towel still in his hands, raises his hands & turns to his side so they can see it on his waistband.
About this time, 4 more cruisers have sped in & rush the place. One officer, who we will refer to as The Bulldog, immediately starts in on ZombieNinja with "It's against the law to carry concealed in the state of Alabama! I could take you to jail right now! What are you doing here?? Why do you have it on you concealed?? Step outside with me!"
I'm told to stay put & they all go outside. I haven't heard what the officer has said & still have no idea what's going on or what we did wrong.
After about 10 minutes, The Bulldog comes in & asks me if I know what's going on & I tell him that I honestly don't have a clue.
He begins to explain that it's because ZombieNinja had his gun on him & asked me if he has a permit to carry it. I answered him yes & he then asked me where it was. Now, the sass in me really wanted to come back with "Do I look like I control his every action? Do I look like I've got his balls in my purse, too? He's a big boy & I ain't his momma." but I really didn't want to poke the bulldog & really just wanted to get back on the road, so I answered that I assume, since it wasn't on his person, that he forgot it in the safe. He asked if I had a weapon & I answered yes, he asked where it was & I told him where in the truck, he asked what kind it was & I told him that as well.
He then asked to see my permit to carry & ID.
I complied even though I know I had every right to say no. I honestly did not want to be bothered with this any longer & wanted to leave the city & just get back on the road.
He then told me all about the laws for carrying & carrying concealed in Alabama. I answer him with "Sir, I can promise you that it was never our intention to break any laws or cause anyone any harm, as I'm sure he already told you, we're coming back from vacation with family dowe in Cape San Blas & we only stopped here because I saw a billboard & thought some local BBQ sounded good."
He started going into the statements of "I could take him to jail right NOW! He's breaking the law! You both need to understand the laws of the other states you're travelling through!!"
Outside, during all this, ZombieNinja has leveled with the other officers & let them know that he actually was obeying the laws but since they knocked on the bathroom door & seemed urgent, he was washing his hands & hadn't taken the minute moment to unveil his weapon before seeing what they needed.
The Bulldog is still barking at me & begins to say that legislation is pushing to have ALL firearms registered so that they can know who the last owners were & "What if when we ran the numbers of your boyfriends gun, they came back to a crime???"
I Replied "Sir, we're gun rights advocates, & it's not law in our state to register the weapon with the government. We get our weapons through private sale most times &, in our state, all you need is a bill of sale to prove ownership should it ever come back stolen. Beyond that, we have friends who are LEO's & they run the numbers for us so we know they're clean upon purchase without registering them."
His response "Well does he have his bill of sale?!" , "Yes he do-. Wait... Do you mean in the truck with us?? No, he doesn't have his bill of sale for the clean firearm with him in the truck, it's in our safe, at home.."
After this, the bulldog went back outside & talked with ZombieNinja a bit more. I was signaled to come outside & here's what the bulldog said next.
"Okay, here's what's going on.. Your boyfriend is an asshole" (at this point, ZombieNinja is feeling the same & is repeating what this guy is saying, "Yep, I'm an asshole") "He's not going to forget his permit in the safe any longer & you having yours is saving his ass right now. We're going to let you go but the bullets are going to be in the front seat & the gun is going to be in the toolbox. You're going to have the keys & you can both leave."
I'm thrilled. As the other officers walk me over to the toolbox, one gently smiles & says "Don't mind him, he's just a little hyped up right now. You guys can pull this out as soon as we leave, we really don't care. Y'all weren't breakin' the law, these folks just got scared & called."
They we're even worried about where we put the gun in the toolbox so the gun didn't get scratched
The officers said they talked with the employees and that they were okay with us eating there but after what they put us through, we weren't going to waste another minute in their POS establishment.
Law abiding citizens, bullied for obeying the law.
I do NOT advise stopping in & eating at Phil's BBQ in Eufaula, Alabama. They do NOT support 2a rights even though they fain support.
I loved the touch of NRA support with the flyer I snapped a pic of that was on their front counter while the police were talking with ZombieNinja outside...
