I drove by there last night. I saw no sign on/near the front door of Borders Books. Valid posting requires a sign at "every" enterance.

I go to downtown Minneapolis about once a year so I hope the Borders on Hennepin Av. is in "Block E" (whatever that is?).

I have to preface this post by adding the story about when I told my wife I had my carry permit. When I told her she was shocked! She asked why I would want to go around shooting people, and how she didn't think it was safe etc. I told her I have been trained, have been in the Army, and am extremely safe with guns. She said she knew, but didn't like it. I told her it was the other people out there I was worried about, not me. I mentioned that it was a right I wanted to exercise, and one of the few NEW rights to come out of our Govt in a while.

After more back and forth she came to terms with it, but asked I didn't carry around the kids. (I agreed for the time being.)

Last night she asked if we could go out somewhere to get out of the house and the kids asked if we could ride the light rail so we went to the MOA and parked the car and rode the train downtown to block E and had dinner. On this one train ride downtown and back,(total time was 2 hours), we saw 2 women get into a fight in the train, saw a young man arrested for selling drugs, had about 10 crazy people ask us for money. (One guy asked my 6 year old for change, to which he replied, "No but my Daddy does!") Perfect!... Finally my Wife was propositioned by a guy who was about as out of it as possible. About the time we got back onto the train, and my Wife leaned close to me and asked if I was carrying a gun? I told her not around the kids like she asked. She told me that from now on it was up to me, and she wished I had a gun on me.

It might not be the wild wild West, but then again it ain't Mayberry either...

Mike

At least with the wild west, you know where you stood.
With the goofballs running around down town, who knows. I'll carry there every time.

I went thru similar with my spouse when I got my carry permit. But now she's pretty unphased by my carry. Especially when I accompany her to her place of employment late in the evening for certain outdoor work she has to do once and a while. Our city is pretty safe overall, but her employer is located smack dab in the middle of a bunch of lower quality rental property which generates the lions share of police calls in our city.
In fact, I was instrumental in guiding her boss, the business owner, thru the process of getting his carry permit.
He has to answer alarm calls at all hours of the evening, most false, but his business has been burglarized a couple times.

Yup. Including the loading dock, if any.

(Steve Kelley -- one of the smarter people on the other side of the issue -- noted that, and made a strong and thankfully unsuccessful argument to change that during the Senate debate last year.)

I drove around back of a posted mall the other day -- never mind quite where, for now -- not a single one of the dozens of entrances on the loading dock were posted.

I was going to throw in the "what did the legislature intend" question/arguement. This could be brought up in any legal matters. BUT, if Steve Kelley really tried (unsuccessfully) to argue this, then it's clear that the legislature intended EVERY entrance.

Yup. I was there, standing around with Joe Olson and John Caile as he was going on, and all three of us were grinning from ear to ear as soon as his amendment was voted down.

While I was, apparently, chopped liver.

Hmmmmm................that explains a lot !

Okay, I'll make that "Joe and John AND Andrew," okay?

Block E has special meaning for me. I took Joel’s class several months ago. Purchased the day my permit showed up and have been carrying ever since.

A friend and I were doing photography one day, ended up in the Block E area and wanted to grab some food. She does not know that I have a permit and carry. So we ended up wandering into the restaurant right by Game Works. As we walked in one could smell weed. No mistake about it. Guys that were waiting for the bus were smoking in between the double doors and no one did anything about it.

We got a booth and took our winter jackets off, set our (very expensive) cameras on the table. A shady fellow walked into the restaurant just as we were done settling in and noticed the cameras right away. I put mine down on the seat, between the wall and myself. He noticed that I had noticed and walked back into the lobby area.

While we were waiting for our food, something of a cat fight erupted (I think over boys or dope… sort of hard to tell with these persons sentence structure and colorful vocabulary) in the lobby area. My friend and the staff looked concerned. What made me concerned was the staff didn’t like what was going down so this was something that was not quite normal. Look around and there was no cover, and not much for concealment even. Yes that is a little bit paranoid, but I would rather be ready to go to my safe spot then stand there looking like a target if stuff really hits the fan. Anyways that died down, we started catching up on the last six months of not seeing each other and our food came. It was a pleasant experience for the rest of the time we were at the restaurant.

As we were leaving, the police showed up looking for the fight. This is 30-45 minutes after it ended. The aggressors were long gone. We went back to her place by bus because it was cold out by that point. Some more great looking characters on the bus, late at night, in cold weather, and at the back. No trouble though. We hung out at her place for a bit and then I was on my way to my car to go home. As I was stepping out of the door she said to watch out for people with knifes. They had a tendency to cut purse straps (or a camera strap in my case), or to stab people with them. I was clued in that it was not a great neighborhood when I pulled up earlier in the day and someone was sleeping outside on cardboard, but the knife thing made it sink in a little deeper.

On my way home I did some thinking. It was at that time that I learned two things.
1. The city is not for me. I don’t much care for shady people checking me out. I don’t care for people doing stupid things around me. Give me the country or even the ‘burbs. At least we have stars out here.
2. If any of the situations of interest started to go poorly, I knew I was ready for them. I know that that I have changed and that I will retreat from a threat (with friend in tow). If that was not possible and things really get ugly I know I can turn a problem of having my parents bury their son to one of dealing with the guilt of taking another’s life. I was OK with that.

Having recently visited MD where the gun grabbers roam freely and having a chance encounter with some drug dealers, I very much appreciate having a choice in the matter of who gets put six feet under if that is a requirement of the moment.

So this is long and rambling, but the point is: I now understand that the 2nd is important for self defense, and I understand that I own support to those that gained me the privilege to exercise my right in the state of Minnesota.

Thank You.

Someone1980,

Welcome to the board. I had a simular episode while walking through Block E with a group of 8 people and I don't think that was enough. I stay away from Henepin Ave area and City Center after dark and I'm not a small dude. You practiced good awareness and has opened your eyes. You are officially not a sheeple! Thank you for sharing.

That was quite the story. Saw it yesterday, just didn't get a reply in immediately. I haven't felt very comfortable at Block E, but I haven't witnessed as much as you did that time.

I am also someone from 1980, if that's what your username is in reference to...

Yup I would be around 25-26 in age.

I have read the board since I took the class, and it is really good to see what you guys (and hopefully gals) have to say!