Man nabbed at Fort Pierce police station for gun, knives in backpack: Said he wanted information on concealed weapons rules
September 30th, 2009 by TCPalm.comFORT PIERCE — A 49-year-old man was arrested after bringing a revolver and two knives in a backpack into the police station Monday morning, according to an affidavit released Tuesday.
Keith Dale Parrish, of the 3300 block of South Seventh Street, faces a charge of felony carrying a concealed weapon.
Parrish entered the police department about 8:20 a.m. and asked to talk to a detective about an earlier robbery.
Parrish had been speaking to an officer and at least one other person for about 10 minutes when he said he had a handgun in his backpack.
Police found a fishing knife and a hunting knife in the backpack along with a five-shot revolver in a latched, metal box. The revolver wasn’t loaded, but nine rounds of ammunition turned up as an investigator searched the backpack’s side compartments.
Parrish said he didn’t have a concealed weapons permit.
“I asked him why he had brought a gun and two knives into the police station, concealed, and he said to ask what the law was for carrying the gun,” the affidavit states.
Will Greenlee
Tags: arrest, concealed weapon, felony, handgun, knives
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October 2nd, 2009 at 9:42 am
This case will get thrown out. The firearm was obviously not placed into two seperate containers in any fashion to make it accessible to the person who was carrying it. Being that it was both unloaded and in a metal case inside of a backpack the officer definitely over reacted by placing the individual under arrest. This is nothing more than a citizen with a question, trying to do the right thing, who got jammed up by an overzealous officer who, rather than counseling the individual on his error in judgement and providing him with the sought after LEGAL means of handling his issue, took an easy stat and arrested this citizen for nothing more than asking a question. Unless this person was a convicted felon or otherwise should not have been allowed to posess a firearm, the case should be dropped.
October 2nd, 2009 at 9:55 am
Also, if this case is upheld and the person is convicted that would mean that every person who carries a gun to a firing range in a case who does not have a concealed weapons permit should be arrested for tha same charge. There is no difference here. The spirit of the law for carrying a concealed weapon infers that the person has the weapon concealed on his person and immediately accessible for use. In a backpack, and further, inside of a second sealed container is NOT ARTICULABLE as “ON HIS PERSON” is it unloaded and within two seperate containers and unloaded with ammunition in a SEPERATE container. This is, IN FACT, the same EXACT description of how a firearm should be transported (with the exception of a lock) according to TSA guidelines when checking in a firearm at an airport. There IS NO LAW IN FLORIDA STATING THAT YOU CANNOT CARRY A FIREARM ENCASED IN A CONTAINER WITHOUT A CONCEALED WEAPONS LICENSE. There is no crime here. The individual did make a mistake by bringing a firearm into a government building and not notifying the police that he had a firearm in his backpack earlier. But, clearly, there was ZERO unlawful intent to commit any crime, he was merely going to the police and attempting to ask them the legalities of staying within the law and obtaining the PROPER license for doing so.