Open-Carry Demonstration

(Livermore, California) This past weekend, open-carry advocates demonstrated.

A group of more than a dozen people met at a downtown cafe Saturday afternoon, some of them had unloaded semi-automatic pistols holstered to their belts with their ammunition clips readily available. The demonstration was put on by members of the "open carry" movement.

The event at the Panama Red Coffee Co. was similar to others held recently in the Bay Area, at which gun owners exercise their rights to carry the weapons in public, said Livermore police Lt. Lance Bye. It is legal to carry an unloaded weapon without a special permit in most of California as long as the gun is unloaded and not near a school.

Bye said the group, which held a similar event in Livermore last month with no problems, called police beforehand to make sure the event would be in compliance. Officers met with a handful of them in a nearby parking lot, including to check the weapons.

"It was very low key, low profile," Bye said. "We received no complaints from the public."

Event organizers, who call themselves Bay Area Open Carry, could not be reached Monday but said they are planning another event on Feb. 6 in Walnut Creek.

So, a bunch of folks went about their business packing sidearms, albeit unloaded but with ammo handy, and no problems resulted. Imagine that.