I stopped by the North Regional library today with my openly carried firearm on my hip. The unarmed security guy, a barely 21 year old guy, asks if I am LEO. Told I am not, he informs me I must not carry in the library. We have the usual chat with me explaining the law and, in fact, other libraries have the disclaimer on their signs about how the sign does not apply to permit holders.

He then asks if I will at least cover it up. Sure.

While I'm standing there waiting for something else, he asks about my gun and then says he just took the class for his "conceal and carry" permit. I ask him, since he has been wrong on all counts so far, from whom did he take his class. Now, before you all get ahead of me, no, it was not Coconut Charlie, although that was the answer I was expecting.

It was..............................................................................................................(big drum roll) Bill's.

We talked more and I explained government entities and their ability to post, that it is a permit to carry, concealed is not in the law, and several other facts. He seemed eager to learn. In fact, the library lady helping me also seemed impressed with my knowledge and understanding of the law. I did encourage him to go back to Bill's and either ask to take another instructor's class for free or get a refund. I also encouraged him to mention to his boss the need to get a refresher so correct info can be given to all the security guys.

We shall see.

Interesting.

I took my class at Bill's North from Nate Warren -- these topics were covered in some detail.

I'd love to know who he took his class from.
b

While I'm standing there waiting for something else, he asks about my gun and then says he just took the class for his "conceal and carry" permit. I ask him, since he has been wrong on all counts so far, from whom did he take his class. Now, before you all get ahead of me, no, it was not Coconut Charlie, although that was the answer I was expecting.

It was..............................................................................................................(big drum roll) Bill's.

There are also instructors who rent a space at bills.

How does the state regulate instruction programs? If they do.

I'm thinking that it doesn't matter to most people how the permit is labeled. They just care that they can carry.

To ensure that all readers of this opinion, legal and lay persons, have a common language, we have a commentary. The PPA has been widely known, debated, and discussed, under a nickname—the “conceal and carry” bill. Somehow, the nickname “conceal and carry” got on the bill and stuck like a porcupine’s quills in the nose of an overaggressive hunting dog. To set the record straight, both sides agree there is not now, nor has there ever been, any “conceal” in the laws surrounding the regulation and application for a permit to carry a handgun on one’s person. “Conceal” has never been a part of the PPA. The PPA allows you, if you have the permit, to carry the handgun openly or to have it beneath some article of clothing where it does not show. If you do not get the permit, it does not matter whether you wish to carry the handgun outside or inside your clothing. You cannot do it without being criminally liable. 2003 Minn. Laws ch. 28, art. 2, § 4. The same thing is true of the former handgun permit law, which the PPA supplanted. Under the prior law, in effect since the start of Minnesota’s handgun permitting laws (1975 Minn. Laws ch. 378 § 4, codified at Minn. Stat. § 624.714 (1976)), if you had a permit to carry a handgun, it did not matter whether you displayed it openly or concealed it. If you did not have a permit under the prior law to carry a handgun, it would also not matter whether you displayed it openly or concealed it. You could not. Thus, a more accurate short-term handle for the PPA at issue would be the “handgun carry” bill, nothing more.