On 2022-04-29 9:37 PM, BTR1701 wrote:
> On Apr 29, 2022 at 1:19:36 PM PDT, "Ed Stasiak" <edstasiak1067@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>>> Rhino
>>>
>>> Or would it be fair to say that protectees are effectively prohibited
>>> from carrying their own weapons because the Secret Service is
>>> handling their protection?
>>
>> Elvis gave President Nixon a handgun at the White House;
>>
>> https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f4/41/ba/f441baebd4ef77411c7ff75f4d5c0acf.jpg
>
> The Elvis gun is in the USSS armory at the Beltsville Training Facility. I've
> held it and dry-fired it.
>
> Bush used to shoot skeet at his ranch in Texas, so presidents do use firearms.
> And sometimes protectees carry them, too.

Interesting. And unexpected! I would have thought the Secret Service
would insist that protectees never EVER carry firearms as whatever the
protectee did in their own self-defense might interfere with what the
USSS was doing on his/her behalf.

> Yasser Arafat used to carry a .45
> with him wherever he went and when his DSS detail knocked on his hotel room
> door during a UNGA visit in New York, after getting no answer, they entered
> and found Arafat hunkered down behind the furniture, pointing his .45 at them.
> (He didn't trust that his American protective detail wasn't secretly working
> for the Israelis and he was convinced DSS was constantly planning to
> assassinate him.)
>
>
How did that not turn into a firefight that ended with Arafat dead
(although he might have taken some of the DSS with him)? (I assume DSS
is Diplomatic Security Service and that this is a special group that
protects only foreign diplomats and leaders on US soil.) I think Arafat
had some English but I don't know if it was enough for him to understand
the DSS people explaining that, no, they weren't there to kill him but
were trying to get him to the UN for his speech.

By the way, I remember reading that Molotov went to DC at least once
during WWII and stayed in the White House. At some point - the
circumstances were not explained - someone went into his luggage
(secretly I would guess) and discovered that it contained a handgun and
food, apparently on the theory that Molotov thought he might be held
against his will and not fed so that he might have to shoot his way out
of captivity.

--
Rhino