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Gunreference1
08-04-2010, 08:59 AM
El Segundo Police policy on guns openly carried is obsolete

August 3, 7:18
PMLA Anti-Establishment Examiner
Charles Nichols

It has been more than two years now since the United States Supreme Court decision "District of Columbia v Heller (2008)." If the US Supreme Court wasn't clear the first time around they made it unmistakably clear the second time that we have a right to carry guns for the purpose of self-defense. The High Court made it clear that their decision in Heller applies to every town, city, county and State in the nation. If you don't believe me, read the US Supreme Court decision "McDonald v City of Chicago" which was released on June 28th of this year. The US Supreme Court has their own website here.

Despite the fact that it has been over two years since the Heller decision and over a month since the McDonald decision the El Segundo Police Department still relies on a memo from the California Police Officers Association dated December 4th 2008. Although the memo was released after the Heller decision it makes no mention of it. We have two US Supreme Court decisions regarding the right to openly carry firearms and the City of El Segundo has ignored both of them.

The California Police Officers Association is hardly a gun rights organization. Nor is it particularly known for its support of civil rights issues in general. It is an organization of law enforcement agencies and personnel. It is a self described advocate for the police.

As you may have gleaned from my other articles, I am a strong advocate of individual rights, so it should not be surprising to anyone that where the CPOA supports police powers over the right of the individual, I am on the other side, in favor of individual rights over the government.

The CPOA refers to people who lawfully and openly carry firearms as "anomalous." As a scientist and engineer, I tend to snicker at an occupation when it uses words like this, an occupation which does not even require a high school diploma for employment.

The few states which prohibit one from openly carrying a firearm in public are the anomalies. More than that, they are criminal and are defying the US Supreme Court if they continue to restrict the civil rights of those who openly carry firearms.
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I think the word the CPOA meant to use describing those of us who openly carry firearms was "anachronistic." If the Open Carry of firearms is anachronistic here in California, whose fault is that? Could the Los Angeles Police Department and its death squad have something to do with it? Formed in 1926, the then police chief ordered his "gun squad" to go out and murder anyone they saw carrying a firearm or anyone they found selling alcohol.

Could the 1967 law which required firearms openly carried within a city limits to be unloaded have a deterrent effect on Open Carry? Could the California Gun Free School Zones Act of 1995 which prohibits Open Carry on public sidewalks and streets illegal within 1,000 feet of a school have the effect of discouraging Open Carry? Do you know the location of every 1,000 foot boundary of these gun free school zones in your town, let alone cities you travel through? I've yet to meet a police officer who knows where the boundaries are in his city. If the law enforcement officers don't know, how can you be expected to know. By the way, you can openly carry in a school zone if you have written permission from the school. You probably thought you were all grown up now and no longer needed a schools permission for anything you did. Well, not according to the State of California. Fortunately, the United States Supreme Court has a different opinion, in fact two different opinions; both stating the individual has a right to carry a weapon for the purpose of self-defense.

Perhaps you should contact your local police chief and urge him to update his police manuals in light of the Heller and McDonald decisions before the city is subjected to numerous multi-million dollar lawsuits resulting from its failure to comply with the US Supreme Court.


CITY OF EL SEGUNDO POLICE DEPARTMENT
348 MAIN STREET, EL SEGUNDO, CA 90245
Telephone: (310) 524-22OO
MITCH TAVERA, CHIEF OF POLICE

Since the Police Chief is most likely to defer to the City Attorney's office for a decision, he can be reached here:
Mark Hensley
City Attorney
310-524-2304
mhensley@localgovlaw.com

The council members who appointed the City Attorney as well as the City Manager can be found here - http://www.elsegundo.org/.

http://www.examiner.com/x-30407-LA-AntiEstablishment-Examiner~y2010m8d3-El-Segundo-Police-policy-on-guns-openly-carried-is-obsolete

Steve