"Yo, Junior, what are you doing?" That was one of Philly's finest to a young man who has been all over the news in my fair city for openly packing heat on a Philly street. Mr. Fiorino taped the entire encounter and Philly's finest didn't come out looking so good.
Sadly, they (the po po) weren't familiar with Philly's law as it relates to concealed weapons on city streets. (Yes, I know it's confusing and a little vague, but a police officer, of all people, should be familiar with it. You can carry openly if you have a license to do so.)
"On a mild February afternoon, Fiorino, 25, decided to walk to an AutoZone on Frankford Avenue in Northeast Philly with the .40-caliber Glock he legally owns holstered in plain view on his left hip. His stroll ended when someone called out from behind: "Yo, Junior, what are you doing?"
Fiorino wheeled and saw Sgt. Michael Dougherty aiming a handgun at him.
What happened next would be hard to believe, except that Fiorino audio-recorded all of it: a tense, profanity-laced, 40-minute encounter with cops who told him that what he was doing - openly carrying a gun on the city's streets - was against the law.
"Do you know you can't openly carry here in Philadelphia?" Dougherty asked, according to the YouTube clip."Yes, you can, if you have a license to carry firearms," Fiorino said. "It's Directive 137. It's your own internal directive."
The cops, department officials later admitted, were wrong. They didn't know that a person who has a license to carry a firearm can openly carry it in the city.
But the story doesn't end there. How could it?
After Fiorino posted his recordings on YouTube, they went viral. Members of pro-firearms forums on the Web took a particular interest in the incident.
The Police Department heard about the YouTube clips. A new investigation was launched, and last month the District Attorney's Office decided to charge Fiorino with reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct because, a spokeswoman said, he refused to cooperate with police.
Fiorino said he plans to sue the city whenever his criminal case is resolved.
Police spokesman Lt. Ray Evers said the department believes that Fiorino wanted to get into a confrontation with cops, that he wanted to see them lose their cool so he later could file a lawsuit.
Or, as one cop was overheard saying on the YouTube recording: "He set us the f--- up, that's what the f--- he did."
Terrified to be powerless
Fiorino, an IT worker who lives in Montgomery County, grew up in Feltonville.
A handful of his friends fell victim to random crimes over the years - a mugging here, a beatdown there, the kind of stuff that happens all the time in a big city.
It was enough to make him think about being able to protect himself if he ever ran into trouble. "It would be terrifying to me to be powerless," he said.
So, about a year ago, Fiorino said, he got a firearms license and began openly carrying his .40-caliber Glock.
"I did research for quite a few years leading up to making a decision to carry," he said. "I was ready to take on the responsibility."
His gun went with him everywhere - to the store, you name it.
After he began carrying, Fiorino said, he was stopped a handful of times by cops in Montgomery County and other parts of the state. The encounters were civil and quick, he said, and usually ended when an officer checked out his firearms license.
He also had encounters with Philadelphia cops last year near the Philadelphia Museum of Art and on South Street.
"Both times they told me what I was doing was illegal," he said. "They patted me down and said, 'We don't care what you consent to.'
"The second time, they did an official confiscation, and it took me five months to get back my gun." [More]
Sadly, they (the po po) weren't familiar with Philly's law as it relates to concealed weapons on city streets. (Yes, I know it's confusing and a little vague, but a police officer, of all people, should be familiar with it. You can carry openly if you have a license to do so.)
"On a mild February afternoon, Fiorino, 25, decided to walk to an AutoZone on Frankford Avenue in Northeast Philly with the .40-caliber Glock he legally owns holstered in plain view on his left hip. His stroll ended when someone called out from behind: "Yo, Junior, what are you doing?"
Fiorino wheeled and saw Sgt. Michael Dougherty aiming a handgun at him.
What happened next would be hard to believe, except that Fiorino audio-recorded all of it: a tense, profanity-laced, 40-minute encounter with cops who told him that what he was doing - openly carrying a gun on the city's streets - was against the law.
"Do you know you can't openly carry here in Philadelphia?" Dougherty asked, according to the YouTube clip."Yes, you can, if you have a license to carry firearms," Fiorino said. "It's Directive 137. It's your own internal directive."
The cops, department officials later admitted, were wrong. They didn't know that a person who has a license to carry a firearm can openly carry it in the city.
But the story doesn't end there. How could it?
After Fiorino posted his recordings on YouTube, they went viral. Members of pro-firearms forums on the Web took a particular interest in the incident.
The Police Department heard about the YouTube clips. A new investigation was launched, and last month the District Attorney's Office decided to charge Fiorino with reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct because, a spokeswoman said, he refused to cooperate with police.
Fiorino said he plans to sue the city whenever his criminal case is resolved.
Police spokesman Lt. Ray Evers said the department believes that Fiorino wanted to get into a confrontation with cops, that he wanted to see them lose their cool so he later could file a lawsuit.
Or, as one cop was overheard saying on the YouTube recording: "He set us the f--- up, that's what the f--- he did."
Terrified to be powerless
Fiorino, an IT worker who lives in Montgomery County, grew up in Feltonville.
A handful of his friends fell victim to random crimes over the years - a mugging here, a beatdown there, the kind of stuff that happens all the time in a big city.
It was enough to make him think about being able to protect himself if he ever ran into trouble. "It would be terrifying to me to be powerless," he said.
So, about a year ago, Fiorino said, he got a firearms license and began openly carrying his .40-caliber Glock.
"I did research for quite a few years leading up to making a decision to carry," he said. "I was ready to take on the responsibility."
His gun went with him everywhere - to the store, you name it.
After he began carrying, Fiorino said, he was stopped a handful of times by cops in Montgomery County and other parts of the state. The encounters were civil and quick, he said, and usually ended when an officer checked out his firearms license.
He also had encounters with Philadelphia cops last year near the Philadelphia Museum of Art and on South Street.
"Both times they told me what I was doing was illegal," he said. "They patted me down and said, 'We don't care what you consent to.'
"The second time, they did an official confiscation, and it took me five months to get back my gun." [More]
Mr. Fiorino, your ass is lucky to be alive. And why were you "terrified to be powerless"? Have you ever been a victim of a crime? I bet not. Yes, you can openly carry in Philly, but you must seriously have a death wish to do some dumb s&^% like that. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you have to do it. Look, I know you want to be a hero to the NRA crowd, so you leave home with your tape recorder running while looking for an incident. I am glad you have that luxury, but just remember, cops here have lost a few of their own, and they tend to be a little itchy with the trigger. So you might want to save your little social experiment for town where there are less killings every year.
The next time you go to the corner store conceal your weapon and don't go thinking you are Clint Eastwood playing out some damn Spaghetti Western. You recorded it all on tape, but that tape recorder wouldn't have stopped Michael Dougherty's bullet from putting a hole in your chest.
Oh well "Junior", you are going to learn the hard way how law enforcement works here. They didn't charge you with a crime for having your licensed firearm, but now you might have to fight that little reckless endangerment charged they just slapped on you.
That's the man for you ,"Junior", they just don't like you to show them up.
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