Several months ago I got an email about a preemption violation by the City of Corbin. The Corbin Arena is a city owned facility and was posted with signs like this:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MYE2trnS5YKtK21Q0m3tv5EBlz0ZGPZD323dhbuWpHhcOzYPXDPKvhL7nno2QUTiJJ6cU1xxWBEvuE2x/view?usp=sharing
On the Arena’s website it said ‘No weapons”, “No firearms” and “No weapons of any kind" here(look under "Guest Courtesy Policy", about half way down the document):
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1anf7cYE4yU_4Q_pO5lMwfOmT2gEisB28sETmI6Z9IC0BO3a4z-2Dnd74yY9SVtkM58YHvY-QLe6Zm2EL/view?usp=sharing
and here (look under "General Rules"):
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xDXMIfLSwmKY2IEAQK5Vr1ZvFi6xKvplTvwoZHOccwB1xLoph0nN6GRsk_MbG-UswM7JglyPDkvW3F0Z/view?usp=sharing
A few weeks ago I talked to the Mayor of Corbin about this. Mayor McBurney is a nice enough fellow, but he had no understanding of the issue at all. He had never heard of open carry and couldn’t understand it. I exchanged several phone calls with the Mayor and several emails with him and other city officials. There was a big gap in their knowledge of the law, the constitution, guns in general and their authority. They have come a long way. Last week I got the following email from the Corbin City Manager:
Dear softpoint:
The (2) two signs at the Corbin Arena front doors regarding concealed
weapons issue will be corrected by tomorrow Friday (1-16-15), and the
website corrections also. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.
Sincerely,
Marlon Sams
Corbin City Manager
Corbin, Ky. 40701
I have checked the website and the word concealed has been inserted in front of the words “weapons” and “firearm” each time they are used. I’ll have to take his word for it that the signs were changed. I am not driving to Corbin to check. You can see the changes here:
http://thecorbinarena.com/search.php type “weapons” in the search box.
I have also been assured that all signs on Corbin buildings will be in accordance with the law. They also know that their employees need to be retrained to reflect the new policy. Whether or not that gets done is anybody’s guess. So, you can now OC in any Corbin city building, including the Arena. CC is still prohibited, but all you have to do is uncover and you're good to go.
Some may consider this issue too petty to address, but in my opinion, when you can stop any government agency from exceeding their authority, its worth the effort. These peple are not accustomed to being told that they can't do something. They have forgotten that there are limits on their authority. That is a very dangerous thing.