Monday April 27, 2009, 2:17 PM An apparent organized flexing of Second Amendment rights last weekend was a bit too Wild West for some local citizens and business owners.
Police and deputies responded to a number of complaints about citizens packing sidearms at restaurants, stores and other public areas.
None of the gun carriers was cited.
Michigan's 2001 shall-issue concealed weapons law greatly increased the number of citizens packing handguns. The public, however, does not notice the guns because they are hidden under clothing.
But a shopper with a handgun on his hip in Target is another matter. Security officers followed the man Saturday and contacted city police.
"One of our officers had contact with the man in the parking lot, and that was the end of it," Lt. Christopher Simpson said. "He was carrying legally."
Blackman Township officers responded to reports of a diner with a handgun in a hip holster at Bob Evans Restaurant on West Avenue, and another with a visible sidearm at Wal-Mart on E. Michigan Avenue.
"We verified they were legitimate side carries," Blackman Township Public Safety Director Jon Johnston said.
While the appearance of citizens carrying weapons is unsettling to some, it also is an expression of freedom.
"Sometimes it is a matter of educating the public that this is a constitutional right," Johnston said. "We do not take enforcement action against those who obey the law."
Sheriff's deputies, meanwhile, were called to Vandercook Lake to check out two suspicious males, each carrying a handgun on his side.
It was a father and son, and the father also was packing two concealed handguns, sheriff's Capt. Kevin Stellingworth said. The father has a concealed-weapons permit.
Stellingworth and Undersheriff Thomas Finco said that citizens who exercise the right to carry guns openly should realize it alarms the public and police.
"It hypes people up to see someone carrying a gun," Finco said. "What people don't realize is it is perfectly legal."
Aside from designated pistol-free areas, such as schools, bars, stadiums, churches and hospitals, most public and private areas in Michigan are open to both concealed weapons and open sidearms.
Stellingworth said law officers and business owners cannot become complacent regarding citizens showing weapons.
Because more citizens are choosing to carry weapons in public, police trainers are addressing that by incorporating scenarios in which officers approach those who could be exercising a right, or are up to no good.