seeing how theres not a lot of action on this board i figured id post a bit about what happened today on my first day OCing. This may be wall-of-textish but bear with me its a long story.
Today i went upstate to otisfield to fire off the first shots on my new glock19 and seeing as how there was family around, including little kids, i decided it would be best just to keep it on my hip I knew it would be safe. After the festivites i stopped at hannafords in westbrook to grab a few things and again I just OCed because it was the most convenient thing to do with the firearm. There were handfuls of employees around and atleast one manager in a suit and even though im sure a few of them noticed I didnt get a single comment or dirty look.
About ten minutes after i get home, hadnt even unholstered or anything yet, i get a few bangs on the door. Loud, aggressive sounding bangs and my first thought is that for some crazy reason a pissed off cop followed me here and wants to talk with me. So i go to the window the see who it is first and its my neighbor, a quick glance towards his house and i see that it is entirely engulfed in flames. Top and bottom floor windows, even the front door has flames licking out of it. I yelled to my stepfather to call 911 and ran outside to see what I could do... Which was pretty much nothing. Fortunately the only two people there, an elderly couple, were able to get out safely but not so fortunately, there longtime pet dog wasnt able to make it out. I love animals and it took every ounce of sense in me not to go in to take a quick look for him but it was just too dangerous. It was safe enough though, that i was able to move their van out of the way to make it easier for fire crew to get in and do their thing.
When i first came out it was just me, the couple and my stepfather. By the time 15 minutes had past there was probably 6 firetrucks, 4 officers, 2-3 ambulances and around a hundred people. Keep in mind, for anyone who knows the westbrook area over by sportsmans true value, that is a lot of people and the streets were PACKED. Through all the comotion and adrenaline i hadnt even remembered i was still carrying, i never had time to take it off because i needed to help.
Eventually an officer approached me and asks for my license...
Can i see your license?
You want to see my license?
Yes sir i saw you were carrying a firearm and i understand thats your right but i had a few people come over to me and express concern that you were carrying a gun. Whats your name?
Michael.
Ok can i see your license?
Why do you need to see my license?
Well like i said you are carrying a firearm and it is your right but i just need to see your license because we dont know why you are carrying the gun and we want to make sure you dont have any warrants or anything like that. Whats your last name, Michael?
I then explain to him that i had come back from a family gathering where we did some shooting and had not even been inside 10 minutes before i needed to come outside and help and that was the reason i was carrying at that point in time.
Thats ok i understand but can i see your license?
If im not required to give you this information then i would rather not.
At that point he looked at the ground and kind of nodded his head a couple times in acceptance. He then looked away from me, turned and walked away without saying another word. Up until this point i was fine with the interaction but i felt that it was rude of him to just walk away with out saying another word.
All in all not a whole lot of interesting OC stuff in the story but after standing around watching 6 hours worth of chaos i figured id get it all out. And for anyone interested in the non-OC portion of the story, the house was a total loss and it doesnt look like anything will be salvagable. If you want to read up about what happened im sure they will have a story in a day or two, fire was on Central Street in Westbrook.
Today i went upstate to otisfield to fire off the first shots on my new glock19 and seeing as how there was family around, including little kids, i decided it would be best just to keep it on my hip I knew it would be safe. After the festivites i stopped at hannafords in westbrook to grab a few things and again I just OCed because it was the most convenient thing to do with the firearm. There were handfuls of employees around and atleast one manager in a suit and even though im sure a few of them noticed I didnt get a single comment or dirty look.
About ten minutes after i get home, hadnt even unholstered or anything yet, i get a few bangs on the door. Loud, aggressive sounding bangs and my first thought is that for some crazy reason a pissed off cop followed me here and wants to talk with me. So i go to the window the see who it is first and its my neighbor, a quick glance towards his house and i see that it is entirely engulfed in flames. Top and bottom floor windows, even the front door has flames licking out of it. I yelled to my stepfather to call 911 and ran outside to see what I could do... Which was pretty much nothing. Fortunately the only two people there, an elderly couple, were able to get out safely but not so fortunately, there longtime pet dog wasnt able to make it out. I love animals and it took every ounce of sense in me not to go in to take a quick look for him but it was just too dangerous. It was safe enough though, that i was able to move their van out of the way to make it easier for fire crew to get in and do their thing.
When i first came out it was just me, the couple and my stepfather. By the time 15 minutes had past there was probably 6 firetrucks, 4 officers, 2-3 ambulances and around a hundred people. Keep in mind, for anyone who knows the westbrook area over by sportsmans true value, that is a lot of people and the streets were PACKED. Through all the comotion and adrenaline i hadnt even remembered i was still carrying, i never had time to take it off because i needed to help.
Eventually an officer approached me and asks for my license...
Can i see your license?
You want to see my license?
Yes sir i saw you were carrying a firearm and i understand thats your right but i had a few people come over to me and express concern that you were carrying a gun. Whats your name?
Michael.
Ok can i see your license?
Why do you need to see my license?
Well like i said you are carrying a firearm and it is your right but i just need to see your license because we dont know why you are carrying the gun and we want to make sure you dont have any warrants or anything like that. Whats your last name, Michael?
I then explain to him that i had come back from a family gathering where we did some shooting and had not even been inside 10 minutes before i needed to come outside and help and that was the reason i was carrying at that point in time.
Thats ok i understand but can i see your license?
If im not required to give you this information then i would rather not.
At that point he looked at the ground and kind of nodded his head a couple times in acceptance. He then looked away from me, turned and walked away without saying another word. Up until this point i was fine with the interaction but i felt that it was rude of him to just walk away with out saying another word.
All in all not a whole lot of interesting OC stuff in the story but after standing around watching 6 hours worth of chaos i figured id get it all out. And for anyone interested in the non-OC portion of the story, the house was a total loss and it doesnt look like anything will be salvagable. If you want to read up about what happened im sure they will have a story in a day or two, fire was on Central Street in Westbrook.
