BANGOR — A Bangor police officer says he wasn’t allowed to cast his ballot when an election warden refused to let him vote while wearing his service revolver.

James Dearing said he was patrolling his beat Friday when he stopped to vote at the Bangor Civic Center. He said that’s where warden Wayne Mallar said he couldn’t vote unless he turned over his weapon.

Dearing refused, and then wrote a letter to Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap. Dunlap told the Bangor Daily News yesterday there is no state law prohibiting officers from carrying firearms while voting.

Mallar told the paper he wouldn’t comment other than to say he has the right to make determinations about safety.

For his part, Dearing said he wants two things — for the warden to admit he made a mistake, and to cast his vote.

Full Story Here:
Police Officer With Gun is Denied Voting Right

We hear all kinds of horror stories every time elections roll around.

We hear about the TEA Party members wearing a Gadsden Flag lapel pin not being allowed to vote because some *elections judge* is of the opinion that the TEA Party has co-opted that piece of history and made it representative of themselves.

We hear about police officers supposedly being fired from their Police Departments simply because they (the officers) were members of a local TEA Party.

Both of those stories are yet to be 100% confirmed.

We DO know, for a fact, that the Black Panthers of America stood watch over a voting place in the last presidential election in full Panther regalia, including night sticks for armament, and were allowed to intimidate WHITE voters. We also know that the DOJ, under Eric Holder, a BLACK man, has refused to bring charges against these individuals.

We’re hearing stories, right now, regarding voter fraud in this current election; votes for a straight ticket being cast automatically, voters in Nevada reporting their ballots showing up with a vote for Harry Reid already cast, who knows what else.

Now, from the land of Susan Collins (R)INO and Olympia Snowe (R)INO, this.

A POLICE OFFICER, in uniform, denied the right to vote? Denied that right by an *election judge* that is, without a doubt, far less than qualified to be a judge in a taco eating contest?

Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap told the Bangor Daily News there is no state law prohibiting officers from carrying firearms while voting, and apparently, while not widely publicized, the TEA Party in Dallas was told that there is NO law on the books that prohibits the wearing of a flag pin while voting either.

I know that here in Texas it IS illegal for a citizen to carry a gun into a polling place, even if that citizen is in possession of a Concealed Handgun License. It is illegal for a citizen to be in possession of a firearm within 100 feet of a polling place, even if that citizen is in possession of a CHL.

Those rules do NOT apply to sworn officers, and I have NO problem with that.

I have a very good friend that is a sworn officer, has been for 22 years. He doesn’t wear a uniform, he works in a position that requires him to NOT look like a cop in any way. But he does carry his badge, I.D. and Commission Card, as well as his sidearm.

A while back he was challenged for carrying a not too concealed pistol into a polling place when he went to vote, but once he presented his I.D. and badge, it was all good.

I know there will be some folks that rant and rave about WHY is it legal for a sworn officer to be allowed to carry in certain places and a citizen with a CHL not being allowed. Well, here’s where I use that logic from my friend Patrick Sperry concerning paper punchers, trained gunfighters and police officers.

There are some folks out there that have a CHL and in all truth and actuality, they have, in NO way, ANY business carrying a weapon regardless of the CHL and supposed qualifications.

And yes, I know, there’s some officers that have no business carrying a weapon too, but, for the most part, police departments weed them out if it turns out that they need to be taken off the street and removed from the public domain.

Police officers are SWORN officers, they are, for the most part, highly trained in the proper use of their weapon, all safety issues and the proper time and place to actually USE that weapon. They also are, for the most part, in a program of continuing education, one designed to increase their skills and abilities to safely perform their jobs. To deny them the ability to carry the tools of their trade, in ANY setting, is to deny the safety of the American public.

The *paper punchers*, CHL holders, are not subjected to the intense basic training and to the in-service training officers go through, and are not carrying their weapons as an officer of the law.

I am sincerely hoping this doesn’t become a Second Amendment discussion issue, it’s not about the 2A and citizens being denied a *right*, it’s about an officer of the law being denied his right to vote and being denied the ability to perform his SWORN duty at ALL times.