Discount Gun Mart, 626.9 Stupidity and Albertson's

So I went down to DGM yesterday to apply for a sales position and left feeling a little disappointed. I felt that my love of guns and the 2nd amendment would be best displayed by open carrying my Tracker but apparently, DGM feels that an "unloaded and holstered" gun is more dangerous than and isn't the same as an "unloaded and cased" gun (minor point of contention, come on!) and that the right to carry should be limited to LEOs and CCW permit holders. As such, the guys behind the counter asked me to remove my weapon and seemed to be quite offended over me exercising my rights.

EDITED on 3-2-09: Manager emailed me and has corrected the employee and has informed me that open carrying in their store is A-OK.

In addition, I would like to apologize to both Discount Gun Mart and all my readers for what I feel to be immature behavior on my part, as I acted hastily and with a vengeance unnecessary against DGM by posting up such an inflammatory review without giving the management the chance needed to make amends or inform me of correct policy. For this and scorning a friendly face on the firearms scene I apologize. As such, I have retracted all prior statements and look forward to doing business with DGM in the future.

After that little incident, I headed down to church in Old Town for the Ash Wednesday service. Since I was in a dark and strange area I naturally wanted to carry my weapon (Mak this time, believe it or not) with me but fearing a 626.9 conviction and complimentary sodomizing far more than a mugging I called the SDPD. After 3 minutes the operator on the main line comes online, I ask her about school zones and she said she has no clue and directs me to the Education Police (or something like that, they deal with all the schools). I called that number, wait 2 minutes and I ask the operator (new hire) the same question. By this point I was slightly late for Mass so I locked up my guns and started walking down the hill. I get to the church 3 blocks away and the operator still doesn't know. I mill outside for another 2 min trying to get an answer and FINALLY, there is one school 1 block away but no distances were given.

As one can now see, the frustrations and obstacles that one must surmount in order to be a law-abiding citizen in this state are nearly insurmountable. Not only do the LEGAL AUTHORITIES not have a way to answer questions on potential 626.9 violations in a reliable fashion, they probably can't even tell me distances. If I am supposed to make sure I am not violating 626.9, shouldn't the "authorities" be able to tell me whether or not I am?

This explains why people just CC and shutup about it.

After Mass, I went to my brother's house since I had school in the morning and I didn't want to drive home then back again in 11 hours. I called my sister and we made dinner plans of Mahi Mahi tacos so I walked to the Albertson's a few streets down and carried the Tracker. Nothing special there.

2/3 bad, 1/3 good... I guess the Law of the Averages works in my favor though.

CARRY ON!

-N8

UPDATE 3-1-09: Just emailed a letter DGM about their policies.