Gun owner receives apology from police chief
Date: Sep 24, 2007 8:25 PM

http://knoxnews.com/news/2007/sep/22/gun-owner-receives-apology/Gun owner receives
apology from police chiefChief’s letter, more training follow officer’s
confusion, threat ofarrestBy Matt Lakin <http://knoxnews.com/staff/matt-lakin/>;
(Contact <http://knoxnews.com/staff/matt-lakin/contact/>)Saturday, September
22, 2007Trevor Putnam, who was stopped while he legally carried his gun inside a
Wal-Mart by an officer who was mistaken about the state’s gun permit laws, received
an apology from Police Chief Sterling P. Owen IV. <http://knoxnews.com/photos/2007/sep/21/10625/>Michael
Patrick <http://knoxnews.com/staff/michael-patrick/>Trevor Putnam, who was
stopped while he legally carried his gun inside a Wal-Mart by an officer who was
mistaken about the state’s gun permit laws, received an apology from Police
Chief Sterling P. Owen IV.Video* Trevor Putnam describes what happened at Wal-Mart<http://video.ap.org/v/Default.aspx?partner=en-ap&g=60f2a12e-3b23-42ca-94d8-28bb09c872f9&f=TNKNN&mk=en-ap>Related
documents and links* A copy of the Internal Affairs complaint form<http://web.knoxnews.com/pdf/0922putnam-case.pdf>;*
A copy of the summary and findings by Internal Affairs<http://web.knoxnews.com/pdf/0922putnam-findings.pdf>;*
A copy of the letter police chief Sterling P. Owen IV sent toPutnam <http://web.knoxnews.com/pdf/0922putnam-reply.pdf>;*
ColtCCO – A screened resolution of 39-17?1351 (Putnam’s account ofthe incident
on his blog) <http://www.coltcco.com/?p=187>Trevor Putnam knew the gun
laws. The officer who stopped him didn’t.”When I told him that I hadn’t
done anything, he said he’d find a reason to put me in jail,” said Putnam,
24, who works with guns every day as vice president of Coal Creek Armory in West
Knoxville.”It’s not that I have a problem with police officers. I deal
with police officers nationwide from Arizona to Maine every day. But I lost my confidence
in a legal right that I knew I had.”Knoxville police officers will get a refresher
course on the state’s gun permit laws after an officer who didn’t know the
law stopped, frisked and threatened to arrest Putnam for legally carrying a gun
inside a Wal-Mart this summer.Officer Glenn Todd Greene’s actions June 21 at
the store on Walbrook Drive in West Knoxville earned him a written reprimand and
remedial training for rudeness and not knowing the law, Internal Affairs records
show. He’s worked for the Knoxville Police Department for about seven years.Putnam
got a written apology from Police Chief Sterling P. Owen IV.”The officer was
wrong I want to personally apologize to you for any embarrassment or inconvenience
you may have suffered as a result of this incident,” the chief wrote.”The
Knoxville Police Department takes pride in the training offered to its officers,
and the training provided far exceeds state requirements. Unfortunately, officers
aren’t perfect, and sometimes mistakes are made. As you can see from the remedial
measures taken, we want to learn from our mistakes so they won’t be repeated
in the future.”The trouble started when Putnam and his girlfriend, Samantha
Williams, stopped at the store to buy groceries around 10 p.m. Putnam, who holds
a gun permit, carried his Colt handgun inside with him, holstered on his right hip.”It’s
like a seat belt or a fire extinguisher,” he said. “It goes everywhere
with me. It was warm that night, so I left my jacket in the car.”State law
allows gun permit holders to carry their guns openly or concealed. Putnam said he
usually tucks his shirt over the gun but forgot to that night.As they walked out,
Greene, who’d gone to the store to investigate a shoplifting call, told Putnam
to stop. Greene asked for Putnam’s identification, grabbed his arm when he reached
for his wallet and then asked why he carried a gun in public, records show.Putnam
ended up against a concrete wall being frisked as Greene took his gun.”It’s
called a concealed carry permit. State law says you carry it concealed, not in plain
view (with the) hammer back,” Greene said. “I’ve been doing this for
12 years. I can put you in jail for something. It’s called inducing a panic.”Greene
ultimately let Putnam go after talking with another officer but told him to pull
his shirt over the gun. He told Internal Affairs investigators he thought Tennessee
and Ohio, where he previously served as a police officer, prohibited open carrying.
Neither state does.”There’s an issue there where there could be panic,”
he said in a recorded statement. “I’m thinking the law is a concealed law.
I’m not going to deal with a guy that has a loaded gun until I secure a weapon.”Greene
said he asked other officers about the law and that they didn’t know, either.Investigators
reviewed video from Greene’s in-car camera and found him in violation of KPD
policy. They sustained part of Putnam’s complaint but ruled Greene hadn’t
used excessive force in putting him against the wall.Putnam questions that decision.”On
the one hand, I’m glad they didn’t ignore it,” he said. “On the
other, I don’t feel it was a wholly appropriate response to everything the officer
threatened to do.”The department trains all recruits on the state’s gun
permit laws, said KPD Lt. Jeff Stiles, who oversees training for the department.
All officers will get another dose of training during the next annual session, he
said.”We don’t get that many questions about it over here,” Stiles
said. “But we cover that aspect. We go straight to the experts to teach the
law. We don’t guess, and we don’t speculate.”

The Second Amendment IS Homeland Security !