What if I am wearing my face holster?
Is it okay to conceal my identity with my gun?
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Outside the well-deserved snark for this law, the article mentions that at least 10 states have similar laws. A couple questions:
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Given what happened in USSR, East Germany, totalitarian governments everywhere and given that we are now under constant video surveillance in most medium/big cities - how do we not have a right to be anonymous in public? (Yet another news item that makes the world of BKVās Private Eye make sense)
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As someone whoās white, but ethnic (even though my parents are Cuban I get mistaken for middle eastern all the time) I am sensitive to the racism aspect of the law. But as others have pointed out, itās a crime to commit a crime. So is the ostensible point of this law to be able to tack on more penalties? āYou committed a crime AND you wore a concealer! 20 years instead of 10!ā
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Good question. Some laws increase penalties if the crime is committed using a weapon, even if having or using the weapon in itself is not a crime.
Section 1301 as reported (thanks @CLamb) calls it (A.) āunlawfulā, rather than an aggravation of a crime, and (B.) a flat out crime to conceal oneās identity in a public place.
So, it might be presented as providing for an increase in punishment, but it seems to say itās a crime in itself.
That doesnāt sound goodā¦
but then it smells pretty strong as as a breach of your right to not self-incriminate yourself, like wearing gloves for conceiling your fingerprints.
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Anyone caught without a visible name tag will be severely punished.
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Thereās an exemption for safety or medical purposes, which I assume was added when they thought about construction workers wearing face masks to prevent them from inhaling paint fumes or dust.
From the bill: āProvided, the provisions of Section 1301 et seq. of this title shall not apply to the pranks of children on Halloween, ā¦ā
The average temperatures arenāt too ferocious, but we are prone to extremes and quick changes.
From Wikipedia:
also:
Anecdote of course, but my personal experience supports both of the above observations.
So, covering your nose, lips and ears to protect from cold, and protecting yourself from sun with a hat brim and sunglasses are both precautions that any reasonable person might take.
If the law passes, of course, the level of āreasonablenessā of a personās weather precautions will be heavily weighted by a snap assessment of their conformance to WASP male norms.
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Moving to a different state would be the precaution Iād take.
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Surely the kind of discretion that police use most responsibly is discerning āharmless shenanigans performed by kids just messinā around,ā from āsuspicious activities by probable/future criminalsā without any biasā¦
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I suppose you doubt those who can distinguish ātortureā from āfraternity pranksā. Discretion is applied always.
The existing law is actually, in part, an anti-Klan law. Kind of. They can still wear their Klan hoods in private meetings. But if you read the proposed amendment, it is trying to make it illegal to conceal your face BEFORE you commit a crime. And it adds a religious loophole, because when the original law was written, they probably had no idea what a burkha was or that one might ever be seen in OK. So you can still cover your face, as long as your intent isnāt to commit a crime. And itās so easy to codify intent into law, right? ;-). More like old white guy fears being made into laws. Absolutely absurd.
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Iām betting we can guess how he feels about officers who conceal their badge numbersā¦
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PDF of the proposed amended law. They are proposing to make it illegal to conceal your face in general, before any crime has been committed. Of course there are exemptions, of note is the religious one that was not there before, because they had plenty of experience with minstrel shows but not religious garb like burkhas. But from what I understand on reading it, part B is quite clear:
B. To intentionally conceal his or her identity in a public
place by means of a robe, mask, or other disguise.
So not while committing a crime (thatās part A), just intent to conceal.
Then follows the list of exemptions. So if you are trying to conceal your identity just to maintain privacy of identity in a public place, you are breaking the law.
I guess it will then make it necessary to get a Concealed Identity permit? I wonder which will be harder to get in OK, a Concealed Weapons permit or a Concealed Identity permit?
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Donāt worry, citizen, as part of our departmentās outstanding commitment to professionalism we purchased a high quality colorimeter, had it calibrated according to ISO 17025 standards(NIST traceable certificates are on view at the station), and will use this Objective, Scientific, apparatus for distinguishing between honest adolescent hijinks and melanized depravity!
No longer will sloppy application of officer discretion result in miscarriages of justice and general inaccuracy. Highly accurate absorption spectra of all perps beaten down by our boys in blue will be used to ensure the most scientific justice available.
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Lets seeā¦ yep, itās in there:
ā¦for safety orā¦
Itās all for YOUR safety. Now move along please, before someone get hurt.
Can you give me a Pantone reference for that? Iād like to tune my sunscreen use to keep me legal.
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I canāt imagine you had to think too hard to come up with the answer!
