# Miss. police: Open carry laws kept us from arresting shotgun-toting man who terrorized shoppers. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 23, 2015, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miss-police-open-carry-laws-kept-us-from-arresting-shotgun-toting-man-who-terrorized-shoppers/723257 "2015-06-23T16:41:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miss-police-open-carry-laws-kept-us-from-arresting-shotgun-toting-man-who-terrorized-shoppers/723257/41 "2015-06-23T20:14:22Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > Wasn’t that covered in the linked article? No? I guess there’s a lot of info missing from that article. > > Did this guy just buy the firearm? Did he just buy ammo for the firearm? Did he just walk in off the street and start cycling rounds thru a shotgun? Was it actually a shotgun? Does the media ever get their stories wrong? Apparently the police think that’s what happened, unless the media also got that part wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miss-police-open-carry-laws-kept-us-from-arresting-shotgun-toting-man-who-terrorized-shoppers/723257/42 "2015-06-23T20:22:48Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > I thought it was duck season? If you think you’ve got the _real_ answers to your questions, spit them out. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miss-police-open-carry-laws-kept-us-from-arresting-shotgun-toting-man-who-terrorized-shoppers/723257/43 "2015-06-23T20:25:53Z")
Okay, Rawstory is admittedly not exactly politically unbiased. So here’s a second and more local source, an ABC affiliate in Biloxi. > **[Papania: Open carry situation could have turned into 'violent misunderstanding'](https://www.wlox.com/story/29379669/papania-open-carry-situation-could-have-turned-into-violent-misunderstanding/)** > > Gulfport Police Chief Leonard Papania held a press conference Monday afternoon to discuss a situation that had many Walmart shoppers terrified Sunday evening. > [@](#): > > Gulfport Police have confirmed they are investigating reports that a man entered the Walmart Supercenter and Winn Dixie on Highway 49 Sunday evening, but it appears no shots were fired and no one was injured. As of 10:30 p.m., no one has been arrested for the incidents. > > Gulfport Police say they were called to the Walmart around 8:00 p.m. Sunday night after a reports of a man with a gun. Witnesses report seeing the man loading and pumping a shotgun. The store was evacuated before police arrived. > > Gulfport Police Chief Leonard Papania tells us officers did a sweep of the Walmart, when they found some employees in a safe room. Those employees showed police surveillance footage that suggested the suspect had already left before police arrived. There’s a quote from Police Chief Papania that I think makes a lot of sense. > [@](#): > > Papania pointed out a question he thinks people should ask themselves as we move forward with the gun laws conversation. > > “Gun laws should be such that it provides us security. As we look at this fact pattern, do you feel safer?” ---
**Author:** ![FuriousGeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecae2f/32.png) [@FuriousGeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FuriousGeorge)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miss-police-open-carry-laws-kept-us-from-arresting-shotgun-toting-man-who-terrorized-shoppers/723257/44 "2015-06-23T20:51:22Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > What does this have to do with someone carrying a weapon in Walmart? Please, tell me. That doe-eyed floozy in men’s wear looks good above my fireplace. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miss-police-open-carry-laws-kept-us-from-arresting-shotgun-toting-man-who-terrorized-shoppers/723257/45 "2015-06-23T21:02:09Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > Wasn’t that covered in the linked article? No? I guess there’s a lot of info missing from that article. Also missing from the article is a really good souffle recipe, a detailed biography Yuri Andropov, and directions on how to set up a home theater. Really, the amount of information that’s missing from that article just goes on and on, doesn’t it? > [@](#): > > Did this guy just buy the firearm? Did he just buy ammo for the firearm? Did he just walk in off the street and start cycling rounds thru a shotgun? Was it actually a shotgun? Does the media ever get their stories wrong? Do you ever actually engage in any debates on this board, or do you exist purely to throw chaff into whatever discussion you stumble into? ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miss-police-open-carry-laws-kept-us-from-arresting-shotgun-toting-man-who-terrorized-shoppers/723257/46 "2015-06-23T21:04:35Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > Wasn’t that covered in the linked article? No? I guess there’s a lot of info missing from that article. > > Did this guy just buy the firearm? Did he just buy ammo for the firearm? Did he just walk in off the street and start cycling rounds thru a shotgun? Was it actually a shotgun? Does the media ever get their stories wrong? So you’re withholding judgment until you get more information, at which point you will disregard it as probably inaccurate. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miss-police-open-carry-laws-kept-us-from-arresting-shotgun-toting-man-who-terrorized-shoppers/723257/47 "2015-06-23T21:05:25Z")
Chaff has value as animal fodder. **doorhinge** ’s posts are somewhat _later_ in the digestive process. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miss-police-open-carry-laws-kept-us-from-arresting-shotgun-toting-man-who-terrorized-shoppers/723257/48 "2015-06-23T21:10:26Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Chaff has value as animal fodder. **doorhinge** ’s posts are somewhat _later_ in the digestive process. I was thinking of [this kind of chaff](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaff_%28countermeasure%29), which, of course, is primarily useful in distracting people and leading them off-target. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miss-police-open-carry-laws-kept-us-from-arresting-shotgun-toting-man-who-terrorized-shoppers/723257/49 "2015-06-23T21:10:53Z")
Loading, racking, unloading a firearm is certainly more than ‘open carry’. It is Brandishing, it is an open threat in a public place and I see no issues with arresting him on those kinds of charges. I can’t tell you why this Sheriff decided otherwise other than fearing a bunch of nutcases descending on his town to prove some kind of wildassed point. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miss-police-open-carry-laws-kept-us-from-arresting-shotgun-toting-man-who-terrorized-shoppers/723257/50 "2015-06-23T21:18:07Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > Okay, Rawstory is admittedly not exactly politically unbiased. So here’s a second and more local source, an ABC affiliate in Biloxi. > [Papania: Open carry situation could have turned into 'violent misunderstanding'](http://www.wlox.com/story/29379669/papania-open-carry-situation-could-have-turned-into-violent-misunderstanding) > There’s a quote from Police Chief Papania that I think makes a lot of sense. Police Chief Papania said a lot of things in that article, including the fact that he would have liked to have arrested them simply because he wanted to. \*While openly carrying a firearm in Mississippi is legal, Papania said this situation could have turned into “a very violent misunderstanding.” According to authorities, the two men walked into the Walmart on Highway 49 around 8 p.m. Witnesses said the man holding the shotgun was actively loading and racking the firearm. Walmart does not have a policy about guns inside its stores. “If I were in a situation where I’m in the store shopping with my family and I see an individual loading a 12 gauge, and racking it, I’m not coming to the conclusion this is good,” said Papania. “While the actions of these two men are sanctioned by state laws, what they did negatively impacted our community.” Papania said his department’s resources were stretched thin while officers and the SWAT team responded to this situation. According to Papania, no one was threatened, no weapons were discharged, no one was shot and police officials and civilians responded to the situation appropriately. Gulfport police will not release the names of the men, because they did not violate the law. “If there was something I could have arrested these people for, I would,” said Papania.\* > **[Papania: Open carry situation could have turned into 'violent misunderstanding'](https://www.wlox.com/story/29379669/papania-open-carry-situation-could-have-turned-into-violent-misunderstanding/)** > > Gulfport Police Chief Leonard Papania held a press conference Monday afternoon to discuss a situation that had many Walmart shoppers terrified Sunday evening. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miss-police-open-carry-laws-kept-us-from-arresting-shotgun-toting-man-who-terrorized-shoppers/723257/51 "2015-06-23T21:22:06Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I was thinking of [this kind of chaff](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaff_%28contermeasure%29), which, of course, is primarily useful in distracting people and leading them off-target. Hahahaha. Distracting people by asking for facts. That’s a new one. I guess the anti-firearms mantra of - _Don’t let facts get in the way of a good anti-firearms story_ - is alive and well. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miss-police-open-carry-laws-kept-us-from-arresting-shotgun-toting-man-who-terrorized-shoppers/723257/52 "2015-06-23T21:23:16Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Loading, racking, unloading a firearm is certainly more than ‘open carry’. It is Brandishing, it is an open threat in a public place and I see no issues with arresting him on those kinds of charges. I can’t tell you why this Sheriff decided otherwise other than fearing a bunch of nutcases descending on his town to prove some kind of wildassed point. Your opinion seems to differ from the law. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miss-police-open-carry-laws-kept-us-from-arresting-shotgun-toting-man-who-terrorized-shoppers/723257/53 "2015-06-23T21:23:57Z")
So you’re reposting some of what I quoted, with some underlines. No one said that the men broke the law. No one said that WalMart had a policy about guns in the store. So you’re simply emphasizing points that no one here is disputing. What’s being debated is the wisdom of the current laws or lack of laws. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miss-police-open-carry-laws-kept-us-from-arresting-shotgun-toting-man-who-terrorized-shoppers/723257/54 "2015-06-23T21:25:17Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > So you’re withholding judgment until you get more information, at which point you will disregard it as probably inaccurate. So you’re getting you afternoon exercise by jumping to conclusions and “trying” to pass that off as debating a topic? ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miss-police-open-carry-laws-kept-us-from-arresting-shotgun-toting-man-who-terrorized-shoppers/723257/55 "2015-06-23T21:27:00Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > So you’re reposting some of what I quoted, with some underlines. > > No one said that the men broke the law. No one said that WalMart had a policy about guns in the store. So you’re simply emphasizing points that no one here is disputing. > > What’s being debated is the wisdom of the current laws or lack of laws. Or the failure of the media to include the Who, What, Where, Why, and How of a properly written story. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miss-police-open-carry-laws-kept-us-from-arresting-shotgun-toting-man-who-terrorized-shoppers/723257/56 "2015-06-23T21:29:38Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > If you think you’ve got the _real_ answers to your questions, spit them out. Did you have any _real_ answers to what actually happened before you reached your foregone conclusion? ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miss-police-open-carry-laws-kept-us-from-arresting-shotgun-toting-man-who-terrorized-shoppers/723257/57 "2015-06-23T21:30:49Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > Apparently the police think that’s what happened, unless the media also got that part wrong. Which part? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miss-police-open-carry-laws-kept-us-from-arresting-shotgun-toting-man-who-terrorized-shoppers/723257/58 "2015-06-23T21:32:44Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > Hahahaha. Distracting people by asking for facts. That’s a new one. Can you give us a single example of a thread where you “asked for facts” and then accepted them when they were given? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miss-police-open-carry-laws-kept-us-from-arresting-shotgun-toting-man-who-terrorized-shoppers/723257/59 "2015-06-23T21:32:46Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > Did you have any _real_ answers to what actually happened before you reached your foregone conclusion? Are you doing anything here except J.A.Q.ing off? You posted a bunch of questions-do you or do you not know the answers? ---
**Author:** ![Robert163](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4af34b/32.png) [@Robert163](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert163)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miss-police-open-carry-laws-kept-us-from-arresting-shotgun-toting-man-who-terrorized-shoppers/723257/60 "2015-06-23T21:33:59Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > Did you have any _real_ answers to what actually happened before you reached your foregone conclusion? on a scale of 1 to 100 what do you think are the chances that this guy was innocently shopping for a firearm and that the sheriff/swat surrounded the store and searched the premises for some guy who was just shopping for a gun? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miss-police-open-carry-laws-kept-us-from-arresting-shotgun-toting-man-who-terrorized-shoppers/723257.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miss-police-open-carry-laws-kept-us-from-arresting-shotgun-toting-man-who-terrorized-shoppers/723257.md?page=4)