Concealed Carry at Public Events? (Moved from Legal)

Oh!! I hate clowns too, especially midget clowns.

CapnMac said:

the transit of the parking lot (or lots) probably exposes a person to greater risk than the event does itself.

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That's true of almost anywhere a person goes.

I am not opposed to entering a sports arena where everyone has gone through the metal detectors and have been stripped of their firearms.

BUT they DAMN well better provide a gun check where I can pick up my carry piece as I am leaving the venue! The closest stadium to me is in the crap part of Portland Oregon and I have never seen a "security officer" more then 20 yards away from the door (quite frankly I think the armed security is afraid to venture further than that from the stadium). That leaves me and my family walking a dozen or more blocks through the crapsville part of Portland Oregon unarmed where the street slime know for sure that I am unarmed. F-THAT!

I don't go to sports events or other performances any more. They don't get my money, they don't care, I don't care that they don't care.

Portland and all the slime ball import Californian politicians have declared Portland as a "sanctuary city" for gangs and criminals a decade or more ago.

old lady new shooter said:

Every time we discuss anything along these lines, people mention using a cane for self-defense. For a person with decent strength and agility it would be a good solution, and cane-specific training is available.

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A cane for self defense like criminal care about the law… they come with weapons and only one can put him/them down. Period!

Regarding contact weapons, or even empty hands for self-defense, well, robberies generally happen at contact distance. At contact distance, the #1 goal is not to place bullets into the attacker, but, to avoid injuries to one’s self and loved ones. Each individual circumstance is unique unto itself, but a handgun is not, necessarily, a best weapon at stick-‘em-up distance.

CapnMac said:

Given that Texas specifically prohibits carry at such events, it's a fait acompli. It does mean I give second considerations to attending such events--the few I have any remaining interest in, that is.

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Not true.

bdickens said:

Not true.

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Texas Penal Code 46.03

(4) on the premises of a racetrack;
(8) on the premises where a high school, collegiate, or professional sporting event or interscholastic event is taking place
(13) in an amusement park

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Now "amusement park" is pretty narrowly defined, has to be in a county of one million population and encompass at least 75 acres.

Almost all the sporting venues will either display 30.06 bans or have "51% alcoholic beverage premises," as will virtually all concert venues.

That leaves curst few venues per OP's initial declaration.

MikeInOr said:

I am not opposed to entering a sports arena where everyone has gone through the metal detectors and have been stripped of their firearms.

BUT they DAMN well better provide a gun check where I can pick up my carry piece as I am leaving the venue! The closest stadium to me is in the crap part of Portland Oregon and I have never seen a "security officer" more then 20 yards away from the door (quite frankly I think the armed security is afraid to venture further than that from the stadium). That leaves me and my family walking a dozen or more blocks through the crapsville part of Portland Oregon unarmed where the street slime know for sure that I am unarmed. F-THAT!

I don't go to sports events or other performances any more. They don't get my money, they don't care, I don't care that they don't care.

Portland and all the slime ball import Californian politicians have declared Portland as a "sanctuary city" for gangs and criminals a decade or more ago.

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Arizona has a law that government facilities that prohibit guns have to provide secure storage for same. I've only seen one library (in Scottsdale IIRC) that has such advertised.

old lady new shooter said:

Arizona has a law that government facilities that prohibit guns have to provide secure storage for same. I've only seen one library (in Scottsdale IIRC) that has such advertised.

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Utah does too. I was flat baffled when I went to visit a special needs family member in a mental health facility, and they asked us to use the lockers to secure our personal items before going inside.

mljdeckard said:

Utah does too. I was flat baffled when I went to visit a special needs family member in a mental health facility, and they asked us to use the lockers to secure our personal items before going inside.

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I think such a law is a fair compromise... unlikely some BG starts shooting up a library or hospital, but you have the parking lot and the drive back and forth to consider. One time my car farkled out on the freeway, at night, half an hour's drive from home. Thank G-d a car with two nice young women stopped and helped me... they pushed me all the way to my exit and then into a parking lot where I could leave it until morning, then asked what I was going to do, I said call an uber to take me home, and instead they drove me home, saying it was on the way to their destination.

It shouldn't be difficult to avoid problems as one leaves a large sporting event since when the event is finished everyone leaves at the same time and large amounts of people will be migrating towards parking areas. Even animals know that staying with the herd usually means safety so stay with others going the same direction and don't make side ventures or shortcuts through sketchy areas. If there are any drunk and belligerent people in the herd just keep your distance and mind your business.

When I first started doing security I was on the city contract in Colorado Springs.

Concealed carry was permitted on any city property except the police station or the police admin office but open carry was forbidden because some idiot attended several city council meetings with a shotgun.

Every city building I worked in had individual lock boxes for each gun someone wanted to check.

The City Administration Building had a rifle safe in case Mr. Ortega showed up.

We would sign in the gun and the owner would put it in the lock box and they would take the key.

I don't think I ever actually signed anyone's gun in but the option was there.

CapnMac said:

Texas Penal Code 46.03

Now "amusement park" is pretty narrowly defined, has to be in a county of one million population and encompass at least 75 acres.

Almost all the sporting venues will either display 30.06 bans or have "51% alcoholic beverage premises," as will virtually all concert venues.

That leaves curst few venues per OP's initial declaration.

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Read further. "Premises" means inside the building and they have to give "effective notice" per 30.06.

ReggiesFree said:

Hey Studs,

I have become so accustomed to concealed carry, I feel a little awkward at public events like professional sports, concerts, and huge gatherings without my heat!!

I do my best to park strategically and close to entrances and utilize my handicap status. I do have friends that habitually sneak guns & knives under the radar so to speak, yet that's not something I'm interested in attempting.

Any experience or advice on this? Whats you guys self-defense methods at such events?

Thanks,

Reg

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You made me ask you the question.

What venue is so important that you are willing to risk great bodily harm that could be avoided ?.

My true answer to your question is "not allowed" on here,where normal men would normally answer such.

But I will avoid any place that I do not NEED to be [ admitted to hospital ] unless its a matter of life or death itself.

I could not live with myself if my error allowed me to be in real harms way,that I should have had an answer for.

Best of luck.

I pick and choose the events I attend as much as possible.

For example, the Indiana State Fair has a carve out that allows it to ban firearms with the force of law, the Kentucky State Fair does not. I attend the Kentucky Fair and carry.

old lady new shooter said:

Arizona has a law that government facilities that prohibit guns have to provide secure storage for same.

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mljdeckard said:

Utah does too.

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Yet, administrators of several secure government facilities (jails, courts) here in Utah have told me: "We have gun storage lockers, but we don't allow private citizens to use them. Leave your gun in your car."

Turns out that Sheriffs, presiding judges, and others sometimes wink at applying the law's requirements to their own operations.

See https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title76/Chapter8/76-8-S311.1.html


I'm not aware of any law forcing private property owners (like concert venues) to provide similar storage facilities for visitors to their properties or events.

ETA text of law and citation.

sparkyfender said:

I pick and choose the events I attend as much as possible.

For example, the Indiana State Fair has a carve out that allows it to ban firearms with the force of law, the Kentucky State Fair does not. I attend the Kentucky Fair and carry.

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Howdy, Neighbor! And, they use pass-through metal detectors now. Of course, the thugs know to pass things over to their buddies at an unwatched section of fence.

rhino465 said:

Howdy, Neighbor! And, they use pass-through metal detectors now.

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I had jury duty at the municipal courthouse in Colorado Springs one morning. I used to do security at the municipal courthouse so I knew better than to try to sneak in any gun or knife or anything like that. I walked through the metal detector wearing my Wilderness tactical belt and it went off. The guys looked at me, I looked at them. I said it's my belt do you want to see it? They just waved me through. And to be clear they never did check to see that it was my belt. Of course, that might have been because one of them knew me but they still should have checked.

I ended up sitting in the Jury Room for 2 hours. I got two free donuts and they paid me five bucks for my time.

rhino465 said:

Of course, the thugs know to pass things over to their buddies at an unwatched section of fence.

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I used to do security at a place that was right next to a halfway house for convicts coming out of prison.

One night I heard them announcing a Shakedown over the loudspeaker and I watched all the thugs run out of the barracks closest to my fence line and start throwing things over the fence.

I made a point of staying away from that section of the fence until they were done. Then I went and picked up anything that I thought might hurt my cats and threw it in the dumpster.

I'm pretty sure that one of my co-workers was letting people in to pass things over the fence. Since it didn't happen on my shift and I wasn't her supervisor I stayed out of it

I carried to the last 2 concerts I went to at a state fair.

I am not likely to be in a target rich "gun free" environment without my own firearm. The choice is not whether or not to go without my firearm. The choice is whether or not to avoid the event.

mljdeckard said:

There is something to be said for being aware that you are in the middle of a mass of easy targets when there's nothing you can do about it.

Having said that, music and concerts are a big part of my life, and I have no intention of giving them up entirely. I DO however, think really hard and assess risks and decide some events and places just aren't worth it. It's been a long time since I went to a concert that was filed with intoxicated hooligans. I have very little desire to attend public sporting events, or open-air street festivals, things of that nature. Concerts are reasonably well-protected. Everyone gets searched, they are well-monitored, there is a lot of armed security, and plan on being on camera pretty much everywhere. Notice the mass casualty events that have been associated with concerts mostly happen from outside, like the Vegas shooter or the Ariana Grande event that happened outside the venue. Bataclan was bad, but it was also a highly atypical event of brute force. To pull off a bad event at a concert it takes a lot of audacity and some pretty serious planning.

I don't let the threat of violence control my life. I do what I want, WHERE I want. That doesn't mean I can't weigh risks and decide some things just aren't important enough for me to attend.

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Agreed. I go to concerts, sporting events and travel around the world. I’ll keep enjoying those things till I can no longer do so.

like so many others here, I have simply stopped attending mass events. Here in Miami, there have been many robberies, assaults and altercation outside of the venue, and with no ability to defend yourself it's a crap shoot.

Mannlicher said:

like so many others here, I have simply stopped attending mass events. Here in Miami, there have been many robberies, assaults and altercation outside of the venue, and with no ability to defend yourself it's a crap shoot.

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Remember that carrying a gun makes one armed much like carrying a guitar makes one a musician. The mind is the weapon, the gun is just one of the available tools.

I refuse to live in fear. If I do the bad guys win. I carry where I can and don't where I can't. But I go where I want to go.