Sunday, July 19, 2009

Pennsylvania open-carrier acquitted

From the Keystone State [hat tip to reader Jim P. for the link]:
BEAVER, Pa. - A western Pennsylvania man has been cleared of criminal charges after bringing his handgun to a campaign rally for President Barack Obama.

John Noble, of Industry, wore the 9 mm on a holster and carried a Bible to the August rally to protest Obama's remark that Americans who felt left out by the system clung to guns and religion. The rally was in Beaver, about 30 miles north of Pittsburgh.

Police said the 51-year-old Noble wanted to be disruptive. They say he posted on the Internet that he was taking the gun to "test what would happen."

Friday, a jury acquitted him of a disrupting a public meeting and a judge acquitted him of disorderly conduct, but called his actions foolish.

Noble wasn't charged with gun offenses because he was legally carrying it.

Article here. This is another case where disorderly conduct charges were used to harass someone legally open carrying. And note that it took almost a year, and a criminal trial, to resolve the issue.

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