vmathis12019 wrote:
Agreed. It's tough to know where to start in Alabama with the LE education. If we could get a group together with enough members, I think the best way to start would be to send letters to ALL the sheriffs in the state informing them of the legality of the OC, and asking what the consequences are for individuals in their county for licensees and non-licensees alike. If they reply in the negative, we go to the papers. This would be the best first step as far as I can see.
I believe however we approach this we need to try to bring LE in as a partner, not an adversary. This may be a far fetched idea, but one way to approach the educating the law enforcement officer's may be to offer something of value, like say firearms training.
May I ask, why would anyone want to "bribe" LEOs to obey the laws that they took an oath to uphold?
IMO, this is a matter of training, or a lack thereof, that we are dealing with....I see nothing else that it could be when LE goes contrary to what the courts and legislature have decided.
It would take a fairly large organization to support something like this, but I kind of have an idea that a group could sponsor a one or two day in service clinic and bring in a clinician like a Todd Jarrett or some other competitive shooter that's in that top level. Mixed in to that session would be some serious discussion on the subject of Alabama carry laws. In my opinion the best way to inform the average beat cop is toeducate the sergeants that train them. I believe we would get better results offering a cooperative approach than delivering an ultimatumbasically sayingagree with us or we'll go to the papers. I'm not saying back down on the RKBA position, just don't start off with
an agressive, condescending know it all attitude.
And how do LEOs act/react when they think they are right and you are wrong? Do you think that an LEO will value a mere citizens opinion over "academy training"?
If I put out money for a "clinician", I will be getting the training...you do realize that such training cost $100+ per person, per day right?
Also, final thing and I'll shut up for a while. As RKBA proponents we study our firearms laws in great detail. For a LEO, 13a-11 is onlya partof the many laws that they are responsible for knowing. I know in my daily job therewill always be areasI could improve my knowledge. This is part of being human.
As long as our civil rights are respected we should be as patient as possible while dealing with any LEO who may not have a complete understanding of all the firearm laws.
This is the issue, our rights are not being respected and ignorance is no excuse. If I carry a pistol, I am expected to know the laws regarding that activity or suffer the consequences of my ignorance....you say that it should be different for an LEO?
Again, IMHO, the issue isn't that they have an "incomplete" understanding....they have an understanding that is contrary to the law as the courts and legislature have put forth.