Atlanta Peach Drop - Unlawful Weapons Ban Part 2 © 2018 Phillip Evans

!!!LATEST BREAKING NEWS!!! Even though APD has edited their bulletin for the Atlanta Peach Drop to remove "firearms" from the list of prohibited items, I've received word that Anne Torres (ATL Communication Director) is privately emailing people that licensed carry of firearms is STILL prohibited!

What kind of game is the City of Atlanta playing? Are they trying to get people in trouble? The Mayor has already stated below that licensed carriers who want to carry are a challenge to his police officers.

Is he trying to get people shot? Watch Atlanta's 11 Alive News this evening for further updates on this!

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Well well, looks like Atlanta's 11 Alive News is paying attention. They picked up on my Facebook comment in which I said:

"Will Mayor Reed have the guts to publicly admit to telling APD that no weapons will be allowed at a public city park, contrary to state law?"

Now, why did I say this? It's because I spoke with Sgt. Strozier of the Atlanta Police Department, Friday Dec 29th, and he told me that they (APD) was "told there will be no guns at the Peach Drop."

Now who commands APD? The Mayor's Office of course, you silly goose!

"I haven't heard anything about that," said Mayor Reed, in reference to the social media critiques of which one was mine. "I have high confidence in our police department, and our fire department and our corrections department. We're going to have an amazing New Year's Eve."

Looks like the Mayor is mum about who told the police to keep the guns out! CHICKEN!!!

Click here to read part one of my article.

The 11 Alive article above goes on to say at the end, "Even if that happens, nothing will change before Sunday."

So I suppose that means they still intend to unlawfully ban legally carried weapons at the 2018 Peach Drop.

The City of Atlanta does have Ordinance 142-88 (d) on the books banning firearms at large events. However, that ordinance is preempted by state law, that is, IT IS NULL and VOID.

The anti-liberty Facebook comments are hilarious talking "g-g-guns and alcohol...aaaah!!!"

What they fail to realize is that people who are licensed to carry are among the most responsible adults out in public. To suggest that they would get drunk and shoot up the place is simply stupid.

Twenty years of Florida statistics show that licensed carriers are SIX TIMES more law abiding than police!!! The article linked here also includes Texas statistics.

Does the City of Atlanta wish to waste even more tax dollars over lawsuits to make it come into compliance with state law?

No one should be forced to be unarmed and helpless by unlawful government conduct, especially in downtown Atlanta.

Mayor Reed's bragging about the police is especially ironic in this case, since APD's Sgt. Strozier told me that the police will NOT be screening entrants for weapons. Only a private security firm will be doing that.

And if they keep people out who are lawfully carrying a pistol or knife, that is AGAINT the law. 

Edit: NEWS FLASH!!!

APD has removed FIREARMS from the list of their prohibited items!

http://www.atlantapd.org/Home/Components/News/News/114/17

It's good to know a little activism in getting the word out to the public about the law can get things changed. I don't take full credit, but since 11 Alive News quoted me (without naming me, I might add), I do take some credit.

P.S.

At the Atlanta Police Department Facebook page, they marked the following comment of mine as spam:

"Just now saw where APD has edited their bulletin for the event and has REMOVED firearms from the prohibited list!

I guess someone got straightened out on state law and passed the word on to the police. 

That means you can OPEN CARRY or CONCEAL CARRY your firearms at the event.

Thanks to whoever tipped us off to the change. I just now saw it somewhere but can't find it again."

Now, why did they do that?

I just now posted this comment there:

"With firearms no longer on the APD list of prohibited items, that means the police should not give you a problem if you are legally carrying. If you have a valid weapons license, you may carry openly or concealed according to your choice at the event."

Let's see if they let that one stand.

P.P.S.

Here's how Mayor Reed reacts when asked about people who feel they have a right under state law to lawfully carry their firearm at a public event in a public park:

"We're not going to be distracted by some folks who might want to challenge our officers."

Mayor Reed, it's NOT about challenging your officers. It's about being in compliance with state law. What is it about that, that you do not understand? 

Click here to read part 3...

Atlanta Peach Drop - Weapons Ban NOT Legal © 2017 Phillip Evans

According to an AJC article, weapons are banned from a public City of Atlanta park, namely, Woodruff Park:

"Chairs, coolers, firearms, umbrellas, drones, pets, bicycles, hoverboards and skateboards are all prohibited" (bold mine).

Photo by HYOSUB SHIN / HSHIN@AJC.COM

I posted the following comment on the Atlanta Police Dept. Facebook page for the event:

"Per APD, they got informed that no firearms will be allowed at Woodruff Park for the Peach Drop. Perhaps from the Mayor's Office??? However, according to state law, municipalities are forbidden to regulate the carrying of weapons on public property.

Off limits locations for weapons are regulated by state law alone. And state law authorizes the lawful carrying of weapons in ALL areas of the state, with certain exceptions, and public city parks ain't in the exception list. Period.

Just because the city hires Live Nation Entertainment to deejay and produce the event doesn't create a loophole in state preemption.

Sgt. Strozier told me that private security, not the APD, will be wanding for weapons.

Hopefully APD will follow state law and not partake in ejecting anyone from lawfully carrying a pistol or knife at the event. If anyone is barred from entry or ejected merely for lawfully carrying a weapon, I predict a lawsuit.

The City of Atlanta has ALREADY been successfully sued by Georgia Carry for trying to ban weapons in city owned parks.

If you are licensed to carry, here's how to get past the wanding:

Carry your pistol in a belly band type holster well below the waist. and wear a large metal belt buckle. The metal belt buckle will be your alibi for setting off the detector. They won't make you take off your pants. For ladies, they can carry their pistol in a hidden compartment in their purse, if they have one of that design.

Also, you can ankle carry. They will probably only be wanding at the waist, being too lazy to wand at the ankles. 

You don't and shouldn't have to be disarmed in a lawful carry location, especially in downtown Atlanta."

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Will Mayor Reed have the guts to publicly admit to telling APD that no weapons will be allowed at a public city park, contrary to state law?

Local Atlanta News stations and the AJC should be reporting on this.

Perhaps some Open Records Requests should go to the city to get a copy of the contract for the private security firm to see what it's costing the tax-payers on top of the extra police presence.

If the extra police were enough to keep people safe, then the private security is only being used to keep out lawful carriers of weapons. There should be a lawsuit over this. 

Oh wait, there was one. The City of Atlanta tried to ban weapons in city parks before, and lost to Georgia Carry. Another one is needed perhaps?

Concealed Carry Reciprocity Passed House © 2017 Phillip Evans

December 5th, 2017 H.R. 38 passed the U.S. House of Representatives with a 231 to 198 vote almost along party lines.

Fourteen Republican Turncoats voted no, and six Democrats voted yes. This shows that more than twice as many Republicans are willing to vote against their party platform than Democrats, at least on this issue.

Gun Owners of America

At least, thankfully, it passed. Now we will see what the U.S. Senate will do. Hopefully, they will not water it down or otherwise muck it up with any screwy amendments. 

This bill should be called the Stop Putting Decent Citizens Behind Bars Act.

Ask Shaneen Allen, a young Black mother of 27 back in 2015, who had been robbed and beaten twice in her South Philadelphia neighborhood. So naturally, when she drove into the communist state of New Jersey, she was armed with her pistol merely for self-protection. She was licensed to carry in Pennsylvania, and didn't know that upon crossing state lines with her loaded gun, that she'd be subject to a felony charge.

When stopped for a minor traffic violation, she even volunteered to the NJ police officer that she was armed. Apparently, being honest does not count in tyrannical states. We should thank good King Chris Christie for magnanimously pardoning this peasant subject.  He never lobbied in his state for removing such laws that trap good citizens in the first place, hence my cynicism filled thanks to him.

H.R. 38 as currently written would put a stop to such evil treatment of free American citizens. It would turn back the clock on at least some Second Amendment Infringements.

It would also fix New York City's corrupt practice of issuing firearms carry permits to ONLY to the rich and/or politically connected. Visitors and NYC's own residents would no longer be FORCED by corrupt city politicians and other government officials to be unarmed in the face of criminals intent upon raping, robbing, and murdering them.

Don't get this fact wrong: Every single government official, politician, judge, and police officer who denies citizens exercising their right of self-defense HAVE BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS. Ask Carol Bowne about that. Oh, you can't. She'd dead, after waiting on a pistol permit approval that never came, while her life was under threat.

Folks, we are talking about a BASIC HUMAN RIGHT - a right that is NOT granted to us by government, but is rather ours just because we are human. It is a right supposedly GUARANTEED by our U.S. Constitution, but that hasn't worked so well. The fact that H.R. 38 is in the works is PROOF of that.

Now, here's your job: Contact your U.S. Senator and petition for H.R. 38 to be passed as written.

Some pro-liberty advocates fear that H.R. 38, while well intended, would have the bad effect of putting the Federal Camel Nose under the tent. My answer to that? We are well past that point my friends. Plenty of anti-liberty Federal laws and regulations already affect gun owners. Time for a few that turn the tide.

No state should have the authority to deny your basic humans rights. So called "states rights" was NEVER meant to go that far.

Politician - Don't Offend Robbers © 2017 Phillip Evans

Philadelphia Councilwoman Cindy Bass, a Democrat, authored a bill that would penalize small businesses who put up any sort of bullet resistant glass or plastic windows to protect their employees from getting shot by armed robbers.

“Right now, the plexiglass has to come down...We want to make sure that there isn’t this sort of indignity, in my opinion, to serving food through a plexiglass only in certain neighborhoods,” Bass told WTXF-TV.

The issue more important to her than employees not bleeding from bullet holes, is the feeling of "indignity" shoppers might get upon seeing such security measures as thick glass or plexiglass in front of a counter.

Hey, can someone please dial (215) 686-3424 and explain to Councilwoman Bass the indignity a store clerk could feel when a piece of lead from a robber's gun pierces their body?

Bass told WTXF-TV that stores could implement other security measures instead, such as cameras and security guards.

Apparently, according to Bass, security guards would not be offensive to customers. Well, that's a relief that no one would be offended at that. We must protect "feelings" after all.

Hey, here's an idea for the owners and clerks that work in these stores, if Bass's bill passes: 

EVERY SINGLE EMPLOYEE openly carry your holstered pistol on your hip while at work.

Philadelphia can't pass a law against being armed in public, if you're licensed to carry.

And if you can't have some thick glass shielding you, then wear a bullet-resistant vest as well. Of course, if you do that, Bass will want to make you adhere to a dress code of no body armor wearing while at work. 

To hear it from Bass, you must be vulnerable to armed robbers so as to not be offensive to your customers. I bet the career robbers are hoping her bill passes. You know they are!

The real issue is that Bass is a bigot who is embarrassed that most violent crimes in those neighborhoods are committed by Black criminals, and she wants to punish store owners, many who are Korean, who just want to be safe. Instead of them spending a few hundred dollars for some glass shields, she wants them to spend many thousands on security guards. 

Yeah, that'll teach Koreans for daring to have businesses in Black neighborhoods! Make them pay for making their unfair profits!

I really don't care what color criminals or victims are. Liberty guarantees we all have the right to protect ourselves and our own privately owned property as we, Free Americans, see fit.

When the goal and criteria for creating laws is protecting "feelings", much more than that could get hurt. People could die. Clearly, with Bass's bill, safety is NOT her concern. It's so typical of Democrats to be concerned with symbolism over substance.

Bass just wants to throw around her political weight as a "social justice warrior" to score racist points with those who agree with her bigotry.