PA Bill Number: HB1661
Title: Further providing for schedules of controlled substances; and providing for secure storage of xylazine.
Description: Further providing for schedules of controlled substances; and providing for secure storage of xylazine. ...
Last Action: Act No. 17 of 2024
Last Action Date: May 15, 2024
Our View: Open-carry is legal, but won't always make sense :: 07/21/2015
Bryan Scott Wolfinger had a completely reasonable plan. But he forgot to consider the unintended consequences - which turned out to be pretty dramatic.
The 25-year-old 82nd Airborne infantryman wanted some professional photos of himself in combat gear. That included an assault-type rifle and a ballistic panel. A good plan for a soldier who sees his next career as a model and film actor.
But wearing that gear and carrying that rifle into Cross Creek Mall - the location of the photo studio - created an uproar among shoppers and shopkeepers. No surprise, given our steady diet of reports on mass shootings in public venues.
It didn't matter that the firing pin of Wolfinger's rifle was removed and it was unloaded. Security staff called the police and the mall was put on lockdown while a search was mounted for a possible shooter. Wolfinger was arrested at gunpoint and charged with "going armed to the terror of the public."
That's the problem with walking around with a gun in crowded places. You can create some terror. As a story in Sunday's Observer pointed out, you're within your legal - and Second Amendment - rights to do it, in many circumstances. But it might not work out well for you.
Across the country in the past few years, gun-toting groups have rallied to support open-carry rights. And in doing so, they have created tense confrontations with the public, with business owners and sometimes with the police.
Even gun shop managers told an Observer reporter that openly carrying became more trouble than it was worth for them.
Now that the issue has come home to Fayetteville, it's time for businesses to review their policies about customers carrying firearms. If you don't want it to happen, you need to post can't-miss signs around your business entrances that bar firearms. Wolfinger said he didn't see any such signs at the mall.
And gun owners who want to carry in public need to use some common sense too. No matter what your rights may be, your openly carried pistol, rifle or shotgun will scare the wits out of some of the people you encounter. If you want to carry in public places, best to get a concealed-carry permit (if you don't already have one) and keep your weapon out of sight.
Common sense is an infinitely better solution to this problem than more gun-control legislation. We don't need more mall lockdowns because someone has a lapse in judgment.
