I went there yesterday.
It was raining HARD so I just walked in, gun on my hip, dripping water, and asked the librarian to call the police as I had a weapon to check.
She called and of all the questions she was asked, she was asked for her SS number. I guess they want to know that the call is authentic...
Anyway, she offered me a tissue to clean the rain off of my glasses with. Very nice. I asked her if she minded that I use the restroom. She said, "No, that's fine."
I was wet and it was cold outside, but I stepped out of the frint door anyway. There is an overhang and a bench there. I sat down and waited for the police to show up.
About 3-4 minutes after the librarian made the call, two city hired security guards (unarmed) came in the back door and started talking to the librarian. They looked a little confused, and even went into the restroom. After standing around for a minute or two, one of them came outside.
Looking at me, "Are you the one that want to check his gun?"
"Yes," I responded.
"Did you take you weapon into the building?"
"Of course I did. I had to use the restroom, and ask the librarian to call the police."
Getting a bit huffy, "Didn't you know that it's against the law to take a weapon in the building? Why didn't you leave it in your car?"
"I didn't leave it in the car because you weren't here to watch my car, and I had to go really badly. Would you have prefered that I pee out here?"
And then the classic line,
"I don't make the laws."
I just shrugged my shoulders and laughed.
He said, "There's a bathroom around the corner that you can use. It's technically part of the building, but you can enter it from outside."
"Oh," I responded, "So now there is a bathroom for 'gun owners' and a bathroom for disarmed people? What you are telling me is that I am to be treated as a second class citizen until my gun is removed from me? It sounds like bigotry and segregation to me!"
The rest of the conversation consisted of sound bites on his part, and he kept pointing to the sign that states that the carry of "deadly weapons" in the library was prohibited, but he didn't make the connection that someone with the intent to do harm would be better detered if there were people with the ability to defend themselves inside. He did, however, acknowledge that the sign would not stop a criminal. I guess when he was formed that connecting logic circuit was never formed.
I asked him why he was outside with me, and his reponse was "to keep an eye on me, becasue I was aggitated."
I asked him because of his unarmed status how he intended to stop me if I chose to get violent. He extended his arms and said, "With these."
It was most laughable. And I said so. Surprise would have taken him out of the game in a moment.
He went on to say that my entering the library was "endangering" the "librarians, mothers, fathers, and the children."
I asked how, and his response was that "they feel threatened."
I told him that is was pure ignorance, and that they had the right to
feel threatened, but just my being there was absolutely
not endangering them. In fact, the safest place for this gunis on my hip, because as soon as someone starts to handle it, the risk of a discharge increases exponentially.
He just didn't get it.
The cop arrived and calmly walked up to us and asked me if I was the one that needed to check my gun.
"Yes, I am." I said.
"What would you like me to do? If you're not going to be long, I could just hold it for you while you took care of what you need."
"No, I'll be about an hour."
"Okay, I'll have to check it then. May I get your information so that you can retrieve it?"
I handed him my driver's license. When he was done writting down the information he needed, he handed me my license and said, "Okay, I'll take the gun now."
"Would you like to get it, or shall I?"
"You do it."
"Would you like me to unload it, too?"
"Yes, please."
I pulled it out of my holster, pointed it into the corner and removed the magazine and the bullet in the chamber. I handed it locked open to him and asked that he double check.
He gave me his card and instructions on how to get it back. I asked him for a reciept, and he said he'd have to go back to the car to fill one out.
Fine.
In the mean time the rent-an-idiots tried to tell me how I was endagering people and asked why I
needed a gun in the library, and asked why, if I knew the law, didn't I stop at a convenience store on the way to the library to use the restroom, instead of "crossing the thresh-hold with a weapon in my possession"?
NOW I was getting aggitated, AND I was cold and shivering because I was wet and there was a slight breeze!
When the cop came back the rent-an-idiots left. He looked at me and asked if I was alright. "Yes," I said, "I just don't like being treated like a second class citizen."
He agreed with me that this "policy" that Glendale has fabricated is foolish. "If they are going to do something like this," he said, "Why don't they put in lock boxes, where you can place your gun and take the key, do your business, and then get it again?"
Then he said, "Get in there, and get warm!"
I shook his hand and thanked him.
All in all it took an hour out of my day to check my gun and retrieve it, and have it registered now with the city of Glendale.
Bigoted idiots. It is definately NOT about gun control, it's about control.
------------------
John/az
"When freedom is at stake, your silence is not
golden, it's
yellow..."
RKBA!
www.cphv.COM &
www.handguncontrol.NET are being sued by Handgun Control, Inc.!
See the "cease and desist" letter here:
www.cphv.com/lawsuit.html
.