CCW holder arrested on college campus

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Big Don

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Note the bold areas. He was tried and hung by the Assistant DA without a jury being present. One can only imagine the grief he's going to endure if he wants to get his CCW and firearms back (if he's not a nut case!)
Man with guns arrested at HACC
Posted by Tom Bowman/The Patriot-News June 20, 2007 12:57PM
Categories: Crime, Dauphin County, Education, Midstate
A man armed with a 9 mm pistol who police said talked about Virginia Tech was arrested yesterday inside Cooper Student Center at Harrisburg Area Community College.
The man approached a student and said he had guns in his car, Harrisburg Police Chief Charles Kellar said.
"It would be worse than Virginia Tech if someone broke into my car. I have guns in the car," Dauphin County First Assistant District Attorney Fran Chardo quoted the man.
John Sakkas of Lemoyne said he heard about a man with a gun at Cooper Student Center during his 8 a.m. speech class today.
The student told an armed HACC security guard that the man had a pistol, and the guards called Harrisburg police, then watched him until police arrived, said HACC spokeswoman Tracy Mendoza.
City police searched the man, found the 9 mm loaded handgun in his backpack, then took him to the police station, Mendoza said.
Kellar said the man had a concealed weapons permit and was legally allowed to carry a pistol. Police searched his car and found a second pistol there and another firearm in his home.

Police talked with Chardo about charging the man. Chardo said what the man said would not qualify as a terroristic threat because there has to be an intent to terrorize another person.

"Because of the statement I was greatly concerned about this fellow," Chardo said. "I contacted the sheriff and had his license to carry a firearm revoked. And I asked police to commit him under Section 302 of the mental health procedures act and that was done. He is now ineligible to possess firearms because he was committed involuntarily." :eek: :mad: Chardo said the law says a person cannot possess a firearm if they have been adjudicated incompetent or involuntarily committed for inpatient mental health care.
A source close to the police said the man lives in the 3700 block of Green Street, Susquehanna Twp. The Patriot-News is withholding the man's name because he has not been charged with any offense.
Neither HACC nor Harrisburg police released any information on the incident yesterday.
After the man was arrested, HACC chief spokesman Pat Early sent out an e-mail to the college staff explaining the incident. Early said he did not tell the students or the public about the incident.
"It was something that was handled quickly, quietly. There wasn't anything to tell," Early said. "Our (security) officers approached the man when the Harrisburg police arrived. They determined indeed he was carrying a weapon. He was taken into custody and removed from the campus."
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What's the PA law concerning firearms on campus and, more particularly, what is HACCs rules about the same?
 
"I contacted the sheriff and had his license to carry a firearm revoked. And I asked police to commit him under Section 302 of the mental health procedures act and that was done. He is now ineligible to possess firearms because he was committed involuntarily."
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It seems that this DA has this little gem in her repertoire of "things to do to CCW holders to disarm them forever". She will use it on others as well until she is stopped by a lawsuit by CCW holders.
 
First this CCW holder seems to have forgotten the "Concealed" part. Telling everyone you have a gun is not concealed. He is a moron! In light of VA Tech especially he should know to keep his mouth shut. I would carry too on campus but I wouldn't tell ANYBODY!!!! This guy is an idiot.

Having the DA decide this guy is mentally incompetent though is not good. This is a vast overstepping of the government's powers. How can a DA decide who is commitable? It seems she would have a LAW degree but not a PSYCHOLOGY degree. She is certainly not a practicing Psyychologist and I see no judge involved here.

This should be reversed but I wish the person in question wasn't an idiot.
 
The guy should sue her personally, not as an officer of the court, so she has no government entity backing her with taxpayer dollars. It is obvious that she overstepped her bounds with this decision; and unless her employer is willing to step forward and state that this is standard government procedure she would be toast.

Even when you are working it is not proper for one to make decisions that exceed or go outside the guidelines of the employer. If one does that, they are on their own.

I would be willing to bet that the guidelines are set so that a person may not be committed capriciously without a psychological evaluation by a licensed practitioner. It seems that she simply made this decision autonomously.
 
I didn't read where he specifically told the student that he was carrying a gun....but apparently he did. Apparently it was as student who didn't know him very well and he was mouthing off to some stranger. BAD MOVE. I have learned to be VERY selective about who I tell. It's sad that people are so effeminate these days and are weird about guns, but they are.

It's like sitting in an airport and mentioning the word "bomb" or "gun" and if a "homeland" security hero hears you, then you are in trouble.

That said,
The DA is a thug. That guy had no business being arrested, the DA had no right to revoke his license and no right to commit him.
 
Without making any judgements as to the accuracy of the news story, if the guy did what they said he did, then he gets everything he deserves.

And I would worry about folks who dont think this fella did anyhting wrong.

The DA is a thug. That guy had no business being arrested, the DA had no right to revoke his license and no right to commit him.
Today 03:19 PM
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Doug, with all due respect, that statement is silly coming from a guy that wants to put a full auto on his roof for "rioters" or run around in armed dune buggys :)

Some of you guys need to get a grip.

WildunbelievableAlaska
 
Concealed

In Texas and most other States I have read statutes on concealed is defined as:
(3) "Concealed handgun" means a handgun, the presence of
which is not openly discernible to the ordinary observation of a reasonable
person.
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According to the report:
The man approached a student and said he had guns in his car, Harrisburg Police Chief Charles Kellar said.
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, again I don't believe he was charged?

Yet we now learn that
Telling everyone you have a gun is not concealed.
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Interesting. Not that I agree you need to tell people you have a concealed gun -- but it looks like all someone has to do is know you have a gun (maybe a friend told them?) or guess right and you're a moron that broke the CCW law?

I don't know anything about this case except what I read. I would not convict him yet... I do trust an average CCW holder over a liberal prosecutor though.
 
So, WA, we can all probably agree that given the information we have in the news article, the guy is an idiot/moron/dummy/you name it for saying something about having firearms in his vehicle, especially on a college campus. We'll make that a given.
What problem to you have with several of us disagreeing with the ADA for, according to the article, having his CCW yanked and then having him committed, involuntarily, so he loses his rights to own firearms?
Do you not think she might have an agenda here? That's a mighty heavy-handed and radical move on her part, I think. However, it certainly fits if she is anti-gun, especially given the new Federal law (not yet signed) that takes more advantage of the mental capacity or lack thereof aspect in denying citizens the right to own firearms.
 
Seems to me that in most places you are not involuntarily commited without the judges rubber stamp and some lawyering.I doubt the DA can send you to the loony farm on just His/her say so. Maybe the guy was nuts and dangerous.
 
"Because of the statement I was greatly concerned about this fellow," Chardo said. "I contacted the sheriff and had his license to carry a firearm revoked. And I asked police to commit him under Section 302 of the mental health procedures act and that was done. He is now ineligible to possess firearms because he was committed involuntarily."
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Hmmm..... I'm so glad that new bill is going through right now....... It's such a good bill because it will help keep mental cases from having a gun. :rolleyes:

I have now seen the error of my ways in assuming that HR 2640 could be a tool to keep more people from owning guns. What an idiot I was!
 
Without making any judgements as to the accuracy of the news story, if the guy did what they said he did, then he gets everything he deserves.
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I'll agree with this but question exactly how much he does deserve? ;)

Yes, concealed means concealed. You can not go armed and brag, boast, posture, or be prideful. I've had to swallow my pride more times than I care to admit but I recognize the higher standard of restraint of conduct when carrying a weapon, and the potential pitfalls if I do not...but I'm older.

This is a young college student? Clean enough to get a CCW but young enough to be bursting with pride and stupidly said the wrong thing at the wrong time? What's that deserve? One strike and you're out? C'Mon man, that's harsh. He deserves a stern official reprimand in light of no charges / no threats, but certainly not a violation of his due process and putting him down on paper as so e kind of mental incompetant. Geesh.:D
 
And I asked police to commit him under Section 302 of the mental health procedures act and that was done. He is now ineligible to possess firearms because he was committed involuntarily."
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She's wrong though. A temporary order of commitment for observation or evaluation would not meet the definition of ajudicated.
 
He is a moron, but I agree that taking away his CCW is too far. He should be fined, and forced to go to more CCW classes, where they will tell him about concealing, and how that means to keep your mouth shut about where and when you are carrying, and it's too much ask, but he should also be slapped around a little. ;)
 
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