I know this woman, and her father well. As does most of Fairbanks. She has assisted her father in the training of almost every person with a concealed carry permit in Central Alaska. Got this story from the Fairbanks Daily News Miner, today. Alaska is a right to carry state. Anyone legal to own a gun can carry it concealed or in the open. It is not uncommon to walk into the grocery and see a man walking around with a holstered gun on his hip, just like in the old west. We don't think anything about it since most of us are carrying ourselves. Only the newbie city folks get upset.
Woman files complaint against Alaska State Troopers' response to her carrying a legal handgun
by Jeff Richardson / jrichardson@newsminer.com
FAIRBANKS — A former Fairbanks police officer has filed a complaint against two Alaska State Troopers, saying they badly overreacted to her decision to legally carry an unholstered handgun while taking a walk last week.
Beth Allard said she was carrying a snub-nosed .38-special revolver while walking near her mother’s home off Farmers Loop on Thursday evening when she was contacted by two Alaska State Troopers.
Allard sent an e-mail with her version of the incident to local media on Monday and accused the troopers, Benjamin Enders and Dru Neason, of treating her in a demeaning and intimidating manner. She said they owe her a face-to-face apology and should receive a written reprimand.
“I couldn’t believe that’s the kind of judgment they’d use on a call like this,” she said.
Allard, who works as a process server, was a Fairbanks Police Department officer from 1980-82. She also is a certified firearms instructor and the daughter of Joe Nava, a prominent local gun safety and gun rights advocate. Nava has a weekly program, “Shooter’s Corner,” on KFAR radio.
Allard said none of that came up during the stop last Thursday.
“I never told them my background, because it shouldn’t matter,” she said.
Allard said she was taking a walk while carrying a handgun for protection. Without a fanny pack or holster to store the revolver in, she chose to carry it in her hand instead. Allard said she kept the small pistol, which is roughly the size of a water bottle, pointed down with her finger away from the trigger, a method she frequently uses while jogging.
She said Enders and Neason approached her with guns drawn as she walked on a dirt road off Auburn Drive. She was upset that the contact stretched on for about 20 minutes and, she said, included an angry exchange with accusations of her acting recklessly and carrying the weapon in an unsafe manner.
Allard was not arrested and said the troopers were correct in making the initial contact, but she believes she should have been released promptly because she was not violating any law. Allard said she has been carrying the small pistol that way for the past 15 years and had never previously been contacted by authorities.
In a statement, troopers apologized for any inconvenience to Allard and expressed regret that she felt the contact with troopers was inappropriate. The statement defended the stop, however, saying it was “reasonable” for troopers to demand that Allard secure the firearm while walking in a public area near a school.
Troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters agreed that Allard was not breaking any law by carrying the unholstered weapon, but she said a trooper response to such a situation is almost guaranteed.
Peters said a citizen report of a woman walking with a gun in her hand on Baylor Boulevard led to the initial contact by troopers. Pearl Creek Elementary School is located on adjoining Auburn Drive, which Peters said made the response even more urgent. Allard said she was more than a mile from the school when the contact was made.
“We’re trying to avoid any type of huge incident that ended badly,” Peters said.
Peters said the incident ended when Allard agreed to put the handgun in a small jacket pocket. Allard was hesitant to take that step, saying the tiny slit was too small to actually hold the revolver.
Peters declined to say whether either trooper involved in the incident faces any discipline, citing personnel confidentiality policies. The AST statement, however, asserts that “the responding troopers acted in the best interest of public safety.”
Contact staff writer Jeff Richardson at 459-7518.
