Yuma, Arizona Police disarm any citizen with a gun

I was stopped a few minutes ago by a Yuma Police Department officer. I was running for exercise on the sidewalk along 24th street, with a Glock 17 in a Fobus paddle holster, carrying a 4 foot walking stick.

The walking stick is to discourage dogs from snapping at my heels. I would rather not have to shoot one.

At about 5:50 PM I noticed a Yuma Police Department squad pull along side the sidewalk, facing me. As I approached, a young officer got out. I thought he might want to talk, so I slowed a little to let him wave me down before I passed the car.

He approached me and asked what I was doing. I said that I was running for exercise. He asked me if I had a permit for the pistol. I said yes, I did, but I did not need one as I was carrying openly. He asked what I was carrying the stick for. I said that it was to keep dogs from nipping at me.

He asked if I had ID. I said that I did not. He asked if I was legally prohibited from carrying a gun, if I had any felonies. I said no.

He said he needed to check me out, and that he would have to disarm me while he did so. I said that it was a Fobus paddle holster, and he could get the whole holster off if he rotated it the right way. He tried once, then decided it was easier to unholster the pistol and unload it.

He mentioned that it was kind of unusual to see someone running with a gun in Yuma, and I said that yes, running with one was a little unusual, but carrying openly in Yuma was not uncommon.

He asked for my name and birth date, and I gave them to him. Then he asked if I remembered my social security number, and I said yes, but what you have should be enough. I am fairly well known in town.

He called in my name, and said, yes you can carry openly.

He said that I could lock and load, if I would just wait until he had left.

Most of the time during the interaction, I was running in place, as the whole idea of aerobic exercise is to keep the heart rate up for a minimum period of time.

He said that was ok, but kept saying that I needed to keep some distance from him (about five feet, I would guess).

Then he left, I loaded and finished my run. I have put it down quickly, so as not to lose too many details.

Overall, he was a nice young officer, and professional, though I think the taking possession of the firearm was unnecessary.

Now I will have to call the police department tomorrow and see if disarming armed citizens at every encounter is their policy.

The webmaster notes that these are the tyrannts that George Washington and Thomas Jefferson hated. A goverment thugs says citizens can't be trusted to have firearms around government rulers and disarms the citizens.

I guess you could say A goverment thugs says serfs and slaves can't be trusted to have firearms around government tyrannts and disarms the serfs.

Dean Weingarten had every right to tell the cop

"I am taking my 5th Amendment right and refusing to answer your questions, and I have done nothing wrong and I am refusing to let you disarm me."