Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Arrest near Obama event sparks protest

|
|
 
  
Published: Sept. 1, 2008 at 2:41 PM

ALIQUIPPA, Pa., Sept. 1 (UPI) -- The arrest of a gun-carrying man near a Pennsylvania event for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama was unfair, a gun rights group alleges.

Members of OpenCarry.org contend the arrest of John Noble, 50, of Industry was uncalled for, alleging state police suspended a state law allowing the right to bear arms ahead of the scheduled presence of the Illinois senator at a nearby site, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported Monday.

Noble was arrested Friday in Beaver County near where Obama was to appear after police found him carrying a loaded semiautomatic handgun.

"I am a threat to no one," the 6-foot-3, 280-pound gun owner told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "Mr. Obama doesn't trump my constitutional rights. The president of the United States doesn't trump my constitutional rights."

Noble, who was handcuffed and questioned for about two hours, was told by state police he would receive two citations by mail for disorderly conduct.

Noble said he was only intending to hand out fliers about gun rights.

"I had a Bible in one hand and an apple in the other. I was going to pass out my fliers, but I never got the chance," he said.

OpenCarry.org officials have called on Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell to intercede, the Tribune-Review said.

Topics: Barack Obama
© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
Notable deaths of 2012 Scripps National Spelling Bee AmfAR Cinema Against AIDS gala
Indianapolis 500 Presidential Medal of Freedom Memorial Day around the nation
Additional Top News Stories
1 of 20
Singer Janelle Monae arrives at the 2012 MTV Movie Awards in Universal City, California
View Caption
Singer Janelle Monae arrives for the MTV Movie Awards at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California. UPI/Jim Ruymen
fark
Traveling to the U.S.? If invited to a dinner party, bring a gift of wine, but not cash or toiletries...
Man turns dead pet cat into remote-controlled helicopter, calls it art (w/WTF pics)
"Good News" clubs teach children in public schools the Biblical importance of killing all nonbelievers...
Five arrested in prostitution sting. Article lists their names, ages and distance from a church
Photoshop this power tower technician
Driving drunk and unlicensed, with a kid not even buckled let alone in a safety seat, en route to...