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Title: Gun-toting teens alarm residents
Source:
Spokman Review
URL Source: http://www.spokesmanreview.com/breaking/story.asp?ID=10097
Published: May 31, 2007
Author: Hope Brumbach
Post Date: 2007-05-31 23:34:25 by Eoghan
Keywords: None
Views: 103
Comments: 3
Zach Doty typically wears a tie and dress shirt to church. But lately, a new accessory of his is raising alarm in Post Falls. After turning 18 last month, the Post Falls teenager began strapping a loaded 9 mm Glock 19 handgun to his belt every day. He totes it in full view to Bible studies, the public library, city parks and neighborhood stores and on walks around town. His 15-year-old brother, Stephen, has joined him, carrying a loaded Ruger .22-caliber rifle slung over his shoulder. The brothers, who are home-schooled, say they're flexing their Second Amendment right, which allows citizens to bear arms. They say they're protecting themselves and others, deterring crime and making a statement about constitutional freedoms. "If you don't exercise a right, eventually it will go away," Zach Doty said last week, a handgun tucked in a holster on his hip. "I'd like to raise people's awareness that it's a right, and I hope to encourage others to exercise that right." ADVERTISEMENT The brothers are stirring up concern about citizen safety and gun responsibility. Residents have alerted police and complained to the city. Police officers have stopped the boys on several occasions in the past six weeks. And city officials say the brothers' action may lead to restrictions on carrying weapons on public property within city limits. At this time, the city doesn't have an ordinance that prohibits firearms in most public buildings. "It obviously has created some controversy in the community. …We are fielding a significant number of calls from concerned citizens about how we're going to react to this and how we're going to ensure their safety is upheld," Post Falls City Administrator Eric Keck said. "It really is a matter of defining things very carefully and balancing maintaining one's rights and what has become the norm of society. It's something we're really going to have to examine." Idaho law generally allows people over age 18 to carry a handgun that is in plain view, Post Falls Police Chief Cliff Hayes said. From age 13 through 17, teens may openly carry a rifle with permission from a parent or guardian. After age 21, citizens may apply for a permit to carry a concealed weapon. Firing a gun is unlawful within city limits, and guns are prohibited on school grounds, Hayes said. The teens are legally carrying the guns; Zach is 18, and Stephen carries a note from his parents, Hayes said. The practice, though, certainly is out of the ordinary. "I've been chief here for over 19 years, and we've never had anyone elect to exercise their rights this way," Hayes said. The public and law enforcement will need to grow accustomed to the sight, Hayes said. "I don't think it's necessary to overreact to two individuals who elect to exercise their right to carry a firearm," he said. The Police Department has fielded calls from concerned residents, and Hayes encouraged anyone with worries to notify the police. The boys have been contacted at least twice by Post Falls officers, who responded to citizen calls about seeing the teenagers. Officers must check in with minors to make sure they're old enough to carry a firearm, Hayes said. Officers first stopped Zach Doty on April 17 in response to a 911 call, when he was walking on Idaho Street to a Bible study at his church. Zach Doty doesn't carry picture identification – he doesn't have a driver's license – so his mother brought a medical card to prove his age, according to a Post Falls police incident report. Zach and Stephen Doty, who then began carrying a rifle, were stopped May 13 on Poleline Avenue in response to a citizen complaint. And on May 17, a Kootenai County sheriff's deputy approached the brothers as they hiked around Tubbs Hill in downtown Coeur d'Alene. In the deputy's report, he records that "several people were pointing at them." After being detained, the brothers gave the deputy Zach's birth certificate, a note from their parents and a copy of the Idaho Code regarding weapons carried by minors, according to the report. In Post Falls, Hayes has distributed Zach Doty's photograph to officers, so they're easily able to identify him, Hayes said. "You have to be really careful," Hayes said, "because they're exercising their legal right." Meet Zach and Stephen Doty, and they'll give you a firm handshake and politely open doors. They wear collared shirts buttoned snuggly at the top and tucked into slim-legged pants. They both have handled guns from an early age, hunting rabbits and deer. Both have taken a hunter's safety course in Washington, they said. Zach Doty, who has short-cropped hair and a fuzzy mustache and goatee, talks earnestly about gun regulations and routinely sprinkles his arguments with quotes from historical figures, including "An armed society is a polite society." "I understand there's going to be a certain number of people … uncomfortable with my exercising the Second Amendment," he said. "That's why it's put down as a right. There's no right in there to not be offended." He may start an open-carry group to bring more attention to the cause, Zach Doty said. "The problem is if we go another 20 years, it won't be just offensive, it will be illegal," Zach Doty said. "If I get enough people to do it with me, it won't be so out of the ordinary." The brothers have the support of their father, Jude Doty, who has a history of bucking the establishment. Jude and Angela Doty, who have seven children from ages 3 to 18, moved to Idaho two years ago during a protracted legal battle with Washington state concerning alleged violations of child labor laws. The family shares a philosophy: "Home birth, home school, home business." The Washington Department of Labor and Industries cited Jude Doty for allowing Zach and Stephen, 13 and 11 at the time, to work on construction sites. State fines eventually cost Doty, a house mover, his residence in Yakima. Jude Doty, 50, says he supports his sons in their public carrying of firearms, although he regrets making others in the community uncomfortable. "The boys haven't caused any trouble," he said. "People's thinking needs to be changed." Stephen Doty, a quiet boy with a spattering of freckles across his nose, said he and his brother have received some positive responses. "One guy gave me a thumbs-up and said, 'That's the way to do it,' " Stephen Doty said. "It's legal, so I carry it. … I think people need to see people with guns. It's not a bad thing." Others in the community worry about safety – of residents and the Doty boys. Some say the teens are digging into a sensitive issue, in light of recent shootings at Virginia Tech, where 32 people were killed by a student, and more recently in Moscow, Idaho, where a gunman killed three people, including his wife and a police officer, before killing himself . Robert Hunt, of Post Falls, said he worries that teenagers don't have the experience or mentality to safely deal with a possible emotional confrontation. "To let a 15-year-old and 18-year-old walk around with guns, it's a potential disaster," said Hunt, 61, a former state commander of American Disabled Veterans. "They'll probably do more to damage gun rights by walking around with a gun." He was upset about the pair carrying firearms last week at the Post Falls Public Library, where children were present. "It's disturbing to see them in a library with guns," Hunt said. "I understand their desire to carry guns in line with the Second Amendment. However, rights come with responsibility. And this society doesn't carry guns in public places." The library staff received complaints from patrons after the Doty brothers visited, assistant director Rebecca Melton said last week. The library doesn't have a policy governing firearms, but the library board plans to address the issue at its next meeting in June, Melton said. At the city level, Mayor Clay Larkin said last week he doesn't know if or when the city will address the issue. "I'm confident that our public is safe at this point in time," Larkin said. "And we will do everything we can to protect them and will give them a safe environment to live in and we will watch this as closely as the law lets us."
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#1. To: Eoghan, ChareltonHest (#0)
PING!
"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one." Edmund Burke
But the US Army has no problem giving them access to a .50 machine gun in Iraq to kill there.
BANG! I love these guys. They are here in my area God Bless'em. You can read updates that Zach posts, here: Confrontation With LEO in Post Falls Idaho In the last "confrontation", it was between Stephen and a gun-illiterate person in a car(He said walking around with a gun like that in the sun in dangerous because the heat will make the gun go off. LOL.). The man called the cops, the cops came by, shook Stephen's hand and talked with the man in the car. :P
Saw this on ElPee also.
#2. To: Eoghan (#0)
nd 18-year-old walk around with guns, it's a potential disaster," s
"The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men" Plato
#3. To: Eoghan, *bang* (#0)
C.H.
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